Comentário sobre Gênesis 26:18

וישב ויחפר AND ISAAC DIGGED AGAIN — those wells which they had dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up before Isaac left Gerar he once again dug.

אשר קרא להן אביו, in order to prevent anyone in the future to challenge the ownership of the wells.

וישב יצחק...אשר חפרו, the servants of his father.

Those wells that... in the days of his father Avraham... Rashi is answering the questions: Yitzchok already left, so how could he dig the wells, [which were in Gerar]? Furthermore, if Avraham already dug them, [and nothing happened in between, see next question,] why did Yitzchok dig them again? Also, why is it written: “And were plugged by the Philistines,” implying that the Philistines went and plugged them after Yitzchok dug them? Yet this is not so — nowhere does it say they plugged them after Yitzchok’s digging. Thus Rashi answers: “Which the Philistines had stopped up before Yitzchok departed from Gerar, he again dug them [before departing].” The Nachalas Yaakov writes at length, and maintains that the text of Rashi should say: ופלשתים סתמום קודם שנסע יצחק מגרר חזר וחפרן. Written like this, it is evident that [before Yitzchok left, the Philistines stopped them up, and] after he left and camped in the valley of Gerar, far from the city, he then returned and dug the wells.

כשמות אשר קרא להן אביו, “as had been their names when his father had named them.” He wished to draw attention to the fact that the success of these wells had been and continued to be due to the merit of his father. In order to prove that this was so, when he left the vicinity of Avimelech’s capital and settled where Avraham had lived for a while and [demonstrated that the success depended not on the quality of the earth and the skill of its farmers, but on the goodwill enjoyed by them in the heavenly spheres and] based on this he concluded a treaty with Avimelech.

כשמות, with the same names in order to maintain unbroken continuity of ownership.