פירוש על בראשית 21:34

ימים רבים MANY DAYS (or, MORE DAYS) — More than those he sojourned in Hebron: in Hebron ho had stayed 25 years and here 26. For he was 75 years old when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4), and of that same year it is said (Genesis 13:18) “And he came and dwelt by the terebinths of Mamre [which are in Hebron]” — for we do not find that he had settled down anywhere prior to settling there (at Hebron), since in every place where he went he was only like a traveller who pitches his camp and then goes on journeying, as it is said, (Genesis 13:12:6) “And Abraham passed on”; (Genesis 12:8) “And Abraham removed from thence”; (Genesis 12:10) “And there was a famine in the land and Abraham went down to Egypt”. In Egypt, too, he stayed only three months, for Pharaoh sent him away (Genesis 12:20). Immediately (Genesis 13:3) “He went on his journeys” until (Genesis 13:18) “He came and dwelt by the terebinths of Mamre which are in Hebron”. There he resided until Sodom was overthrown, and immediately afterwards (Genesis 20:1) “Abraham journeyed from thence” on account of the shame he felt at Lot’s doings and came to the land of the Philistines. He was then 99 years old, because it was on the third day of his circumcision that the angels came to him. Consequently you have 25 years from the time he settled in Hebron (the year he left his father’s house) until he came to the land of the Philistines. Now, here it is written that he sojourned in the land of the Philistines ימים רבים more days, which means more than the preceding days in Hebron. Scripture does not intend by these words to leave the number indefinite, but to state it explicitly, for if the “more days” exceeded the former period in Hebron by two years or more, it would have said so plainly, so that you must admit that the excess was only one year — that gives 26 years in the land of the Philistines. He immediately left there and returned to Hebron, and that year was 12 years before the Binding of Isaac. All this is explained in Seder Olam (See Note on Genesis 10:25).

That year preceded the binding of Yitzchok by twelve years. Rashi was brought to explain this due to the following verse, “After (אחר) these events,” which [ostensibly] means right after, since אחר always implies right after—as Rashi commented earlier on 15:1. Yet the binding of Yitzchok was 12 years later, so why does it say אחר? Thus Rashi explains (on the following verse) that it means “After the words of Satan,” not after the just-mentioned events of Avraham and Avimelech.