Hasidut untuk Kejadian 26:16

"And all the wells that the servants of Avraham had dug" (Gen. 26:15) - at a first glance, how does this verse connected to this part? And also - what does this come to teach us? And we also have to understand why Avimelech said to him "go from us" (Gen. 26:16). And the verse says "And Itzchak went from there, and encamped in the river Gerar and settled there" (Gen. 26:17). And we need to understand how the verse understands that he settled and dug the wells, etc, wasn't he gone from there? And Rashi felt something here, see his commentary. And according to our way, the holy Torah is teaching us the ways of the people who are awakened to awe through the tzadik. And after that, if awe leaves them due to the fact that they were not persistent with it, with the clear goal of conquering the ways of Hashem, then it looks to them that they are full of awe, and even more complete than the tzadikim that serve God in truth, and this is the explanation for here. They saw that Yitzchak was conquering his awe and his holiness, and it appeared to them that his deeds were not proper, and were not like their own deeds, which were better than his. This mistake came to them because they stuck with the awe from the days of Avraham, and after that, they were exhausted due to it, and this is what the Text says "all the wells", meaning, the springs of awe and holiness that were awakened and dug and opened through Avraham Avinu, "the Philistines had stopped up" meaning, after that the springs of awe were stopped up "filled them with dust" meaning, with physicality, that is, people had lost the awe when doing mitzvot, as they did them just as a matter of course.

Therefore "and Avimelech said 'go from us because you have grown too much' etc" (Gen. 26:16) - meaning, that the awe of Yitzchak was seen by them as a new thing. And is this surprising? Yitzchak's deeds were not conforming to their deeds from the outset. What did Yitzchak do? "he went from there and encamped in the Nahal" - since the tzadik, who has a great light to the point that the tzadik can sow it in others, then it is on the tzadik to strengthen him/her/themselves in any way possible, with all their ability, so as to introduce awe in the hearts of people.