Midrash sobre Gênesis 26:1

{(Gen. 26:1:) NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE. This verse is related (to Prov. 18:3): WHEN A WICKED ONE COMES, THERE IS ALSO DESPISING. Who was this < wicked > one? This was Esau the Wicked, who came upon his feet to Abbadon (i.e., to hell, the place of damnation). What is written?} ⁵As these braces indicate, Buber believed the whole paragraph to be superfluous.

“There was a famine in the land.” Ten famines came to the world. One during the days of Adam; one during the days of Lemekh; one during the days of Abraham; one during the days of Isaac; one during the days of Jacob; one during the days of Elijah; one during the days of Elisha; one during the days of David; one during the days when the judges judged; and one that is yet progressing and coming to the world.
One during the days of Adam, as it is stated: “Accursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17); one during the days of Lemekh, as it is stated: “From the ground that the Lord had cursed” (Genesis 5:29); one during the days of Abraham, as it is stated: “There was famine in the land and Abram descended to Egypt” (Genesis 12:10); one during the days of Isaac: “There was a famine in the land, beside the first famine” (Genesis 26:1); one during the days of Jacob, as it is stated: “For these two years there has been famine in the land” (Genesis 45:6); one during the days of Elijah, as it is stated: “There will not be dew or rain these years, except by my word” (I Kings 17:1); one during the days of Elisha, as it is stated: “There was a great famine in Samaria” (II Kings 6:25); one during the days of David, as it is stated: “There was a famine during the days of David, three years” (II Samuel 21:1); one during the days when the judges judged, as it is stated: “There was a famine in the land” (Ruth 1:1); and one that is advancing upon the world, as it is written: “I will send famine in the land, not famine for bread, not thirst for water” (Amos 8:11).
Rabbi Huna in the name of Rabbi Shmuel: It would have been appropriate for the main manifestation of them³⁹The years of famine during the days of David. to have been during the days of Saul, and it was not appropriate for them to have been during the days of David. [But] because Saul was an offshoot of a sycamore tree,⁴⁰The sycamore tree is frail. and would have been unable to withstand it, the Holy One blessed be He transferred it and brought it to David, who is the offshoot of an olive tree⁴¹The olive tree is sturdy. and [he] was able to withstand it. A parable says: Shila sinned and Yoḥana⁴²Generic names of that period. pays for it? So, all of them did not come upon lowly people, but rather upon mighty people who could withstand them. Rabbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar: [It is analogous] to a glazier who had a basket filled with cups of cut glass. When he sought to hang his basket, he would bring a peg, hammer it [into the wall,] and then hang his basket. So, all of them did not come upon lowly people, but rather to mighty people. Rabbi Berekhya would read in reference to them:⁴³David’s generation. “He gives strength to the weary” (Isaiah 40:29).
Rabbi Berekhya in the name of Rabbi Ḥelbo: Two [famines]⁴⁴That of Lemekh occurred while Adam was still alive. came during the days of Adam.⁴⁵In the parallel text of this midrash found in Bereishit Rabba 25:3 it says ‘Abraham’ instead of ‘Adam.’ Rav Huna in the name of Rav Aḥa: One was during the days of Abraham, and one was during the days of Lemekh. The famine that was during the days of Elijah was due to a drought. One year it produced [a harvest] and the other year it did not produce. But the famine during the days of Elisha was due to [economic] panic, as it is stated: “Until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty of silver” (II Kings 6:25). [Regarding] the famine that came during the days that the judges judged, Rabbi Huna in the name of Rabbi Dosa: They were forty-two se’a⁴⁶A measure of dry volume roughly equivalent to 8 liters. and they became forty-one se’a.⁴⁷The reference is to the amount of produce that could be purchased for one sela. Some commentators suggest that the text should be read: they were [sold] at a rate of two se’a [per sela] and became one se’a [per sela]. See Etz Yosef. But is it not taught: A person may not depart to outside the Land of Israel until two se’a⁴⁸Of wheat. are bought for a shekel?⁴⁹The reference is to the biblical shekel, which is the equivalent of the rabbinic sela. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: When is that so? It is when one cannot find anything [else] to buy. But if he can find [other food] to buy, even [at] one se’a for a shekel, a Jew may not leave the Land of Israel.⁵⁰Elimelekh was punished because his decision to leave the Land of Israel was not justified. But is it not taught: During a time of pestilence, a time of war, gather everyone inside, but during a time of famine, scatter? Why was Elimelekh punished? It is because he sank the hearts of Israel.
[It is analogous] to a prominent person who lived in a province, and the residents of the province would depend upon him, and would say that if drought years would come, he could provide food for the province for ten years. When a drought year came, his maidservant went out, and went into the market with her basket in her hand. The residents of the province said: This is the one who we relied upon, that if there would be a drought he could support us for ten years? His maidservant is standing in the market with her basket in her hand! So, Elimelekh was one of the prominent residents of the province, and one of the leaders of the generation. When the years of famine arrived, he said: ‘Now, all Israel will come around to my door, this one with his basket and that one with his basket.’ He arose and fled from them; that is what is written: “A man of Bethlehem of Judah went.”

Rabbi Abba bar Kahana began: “Raise your voice, Bat-Galim, [listen, Layish; destitute is Anatot]” (Isaiah 10:30). Isaiah said to Israel: Instead of reciting songs and psalms before idols, raise your voice in words of Torah, raise your voice in synagogues. “Bat-Galim” – just as these waves [galim] are conspicuous in the sea, so their ancestors were conspicuous in the world.
Another matter: “Bat-Galim” (Isaiah 10:30) – bat golim, daughter of exiles: daughter of Abraham, the one of whom it is written: “There was a famine in the land and Abram descended to Egypt [to reside there]” (Genesis 12:10); daughter of Isaac, of whom it is written: “Isaac went to Avimelekh, king of the Philistines, to Gerar” (Genesis 26:1); daughter of Jacob, of whom it is written: “He went to Padan Aram” (Genesis 28:5). “Listen” (Isaiah 10:30), listen to My commandments, listen to words of Torah, listen to words of prophecy, listen to perform acts of righteousness and good deeds.
“Layish [Laisha]” (Isaiah 10:30) – and if not, laisha,¹This is one of the biblical terms for lion. the lion will ascend upon you. This is the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, in whose regard it is written: “The lion has ascended from its lair” (Jeremiah 4:7). “Destitute [is Anatot]” (Isaiah 10:30) – destitute of righteous individuals, destitute of prophecy, destitute of mitzvot and good deeds. “Anatot” – and if not,²If you do not listen to all these warnings. “Anatot,” – that resident of Anatot will come and prophesy in your regard, as it is written: “The words of Jeremiah son of Ḥilkiyahu, of the priests who were in Anatot…” (Jeremiah 1:1). When the punishment arrived, he lamented over them, eikha.³Eikha means “how,” and is the opening word of the book of Lamentations, which begins: “How does the city that was full of people sit solitary?” (Lamentations 1:1). Eikha is also the Hebrew name of the book of Lamentations. The prologue to Eikha Rabba records how different Sages would begin their study of Lamentations. They would often begin by expounding a verse that in their view encapsulated the essence of the book, before beginning with the first verse. Thus, many of these introductions conclude with the word eikha, which is used as an expression of lamentation, as well as a reference to Lamentations 1:1 and a transition from the Sage’s introduction to his actual recitation or study of Lamentations (see Etz Yosef).

(Gen. 25:34:) SO ESAU DESPISED < HIS BIRTHRIGHT >. (Prov. 18:3:) WHEN A WICKED ONE COMES, THERE IS ALSO DESPISING. This refers to Esau, about whom it is stated: SO ESAU DESPISED. (Prov. 18:3, cont.:) {AND WHEN DISGRACE COMES}, [AND WITH DISGRACE, SHAME], since the famine came in his footsteps. Thus it is stated (immediately after the verse about Esau despising his birthright, in Gen. 26:1): NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND.

And a desparate struggle ensued between Esau and the two men that were with Nimrod, and ‎they yelled terribly at Esau; when Esau turned suddenly upon them smiting them to death ‎with his sword. And all the great men of Nimrod, who were out hunting with Nimrod in the ‎wilderness, when they heard the terrible yelling recognized at once the voices of those two ‎men, and they hastened to ascertain the cause thereof, and behold the king and the two men ‎that were with him lay dead in the wilderness. And when Esau saw from a distance the mighty ‎men of Nimrod coming towards him, he fled and escaped; and Esau took along with him the ‎costly garments of Nimrod, bequeathed to Nimrod by his father, and by virtue of which ‎garments Nimrod prevailed over all the people of the earth; and Esau ran hastily and ‎concealed those garments in his house. And Esau ran very swiftly with those garments. ‎towards the city, to escape Nimrod's men, and when he reached his father's house Esau was ‎wearied and exhausted and almost dead with excitement, as he approached his brother, ‎Jacob, and sat down before him; and he said unto his brother Jacob: Behold, I shall surely die ‎this day, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob acted cunningly with Esau in ‎this matter, and Esau sold his birthright unto Jacob, for thus it was the pleasure of the Lord. ‎And the share of Esau in the cave, which is in the field of Machpelah which Abraham had ‎bought from the Hittites for the possession of a burying place, Esau sold unto Jacob likewise, ‎and Jacob became the owner thereof for a consideration. And Jacob wrote down the whole ‎transaction in a book, and he had it testified to by witnesses and he annexed a seal thereto, ‎and the book remained in Jacob’s possession. And when Nimrod, the son of Cush, was dead, ‎his men took him up and carried him away midst great consternation, and they buried him in ‎his city. And all the days that Nimrod lived were two hundred and fifteen years when he died, ‎and the days of his reigning over the people of the earth were one hundred and eighty five ‎years. Thus Nimrod died by the sword of Esau in shame and disgrace, and his death was ‎caused by the seed of Abraham, as he himself foresaw it in his dreams. And after Nimrod's ‎death his kingdom became divided into many provinces, and all the countries ruled over by ‎Nimrod were restored to their previous kings who recovered them after Nimrod's death. And ‎all the people of Nimrod's household were enslaved for many days by the other kings of the ‎earth.

[(Gen. 26:1:) NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND.] This text is related (to Ps. 33:18): BEHOLD, THE EYE OF THE LORD IS ON THOSE WHO FEAR HIM.¹⁹Gen. R. 40:1. It is speaking about Abraham, of whom it is read that he feared God. Thus it is stated (of Abraham in Gen. 22:12): THAT YOU FEAR GOD. (Ps. 33:18, cont.:) ON THOSE WHO WAIT FOR HIS STEADFAST LOVE, since < Abraham > was waiting for the Holy One, for this reason: (Ps. 33:19:) TO DELIVER THEIR LIFE FROM DEATH, < i.e., > from his execution by Nimrod. (Ibid., cont.:) TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN THE FAMINE, the one which came in his days, as stated (in Gen. 26:1): NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND.

[Another interpretation (of Ps. 33:18): BEHOLD, THE EYE OF THE LORD < IS ON THOSE WHO FEAR HIM >.] This is Isaac. (Ibid., cont.:) ON THOSE WHO WAIT, since he was waiting for the Holy One. (Ps. 33:19:) TO DELIVER THEIR SOUL FROM DEATH, when Ishmael sought to kill him, as stated (in Gen. 21:9): THEN SARAH SAW THE SON OF HAGAR THE EGYPTIAN PLAYING. Now PLAYING can only mean "killing." Thus it is stated (in II Sam. 2:14): PLEASE LET THE YOUNG MEN ARISE AND PLAY BEFORE US.²²The result of their “playing” was that they all killed each other. See below, Exod. 1:24. (Ps. 33:19, cont.:) TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN THE FAMINE, since the famine did come in his days, as stated (in Gen. 26:1): NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND.

(Gen. 26:1, cont.:) AND ISAAC WENT TO ABIMELECH…. He had wanted to go down to Egypt, < but > the Holy One immediately appeared to him. He said to him (in vs. 2): DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT. Abraham went down < there >, but Isaac did not go down. Now why did he say, not to Abraham, but only to Isaac: DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT? R. Hosha'ya said: The Holy One said unto Isaac: Because your father came to the land from abroad, he went down to Egypt; but, since you were born in the land of Israel and < represent > a pure burnt offering, how could you be going down?²³Gen. R. 64:3. Ergo (in Gen. 26:2): DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT.

Another comment on I have been young, and now am old. This verse suggests that the Holy One, blessed be He, will never abandon the righteous during a time of famine, neither they nor their descendants. In fact, when a disaster envelops the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, decrees how they will survive. You find this to be so in the case of Elijah, whom He told how to survive, as it is said: Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee (I Kings 17:9). Similarly you find: Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there (ibid., vv. 3–4). And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine (Gen. 26:1); and there was a famine in the land; and Abraham descended (ibid. 12:10). Similarly, when the famine came upon Jacob, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed to him that Joseph would feed him in Egypt, as it is said: And Joseph fed his father and his brothers (Gen. 47:12). Hence, Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt.

(Gen. 26:3:) RESIDE IN THIS LAND. R. Hanan said in the name of R. Samuel b. R. Isaac: Why < was such a command necessary >? He would not have wanted to become unclean outside the land. < He wanted to leave > because a decree had been issued, as stated (in Gen. 26:1): NOW THERE WAS A FAMINE. It therefore says (in vs. 3): RESIDE IN THIS LAND. R. Joshua ben Levi said: In this world the righteous have been rejected (rt.: TRP), as stated (in Ps. 111:5): HE HAS GIVEN teref (rt.: TRP)²⁴In the context of Ps. 111:5, teref should be translated as FOOD, but here the context requires something with a negative meaning, such as REJECTION. TO THOSE WHO FEAR HIM; but in the world to come, (ibid., cont.:) HE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HIS COVENANT.²⁵Gen. R. 40:2.

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord ‎blessed him. And the man waxed great, for he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of ‎herds, and great many servants; and when the days of the famine had passed by the Lord ‎appeared unto Isaac, saying unto him: Arise and leave this place and return unto thy land, ‎even to the land of Canaan. And Isaac arose and returned to Hebron, which is in the land of ‎Canaan, he and all that were his, according to the command of the Lord. And soon after, ‎Shelach, the son of Arpachshad, died, in the eighteenth year of the lives of Jacob and Esau. ‎And all the days of Shelach were four hundred and thirty-three years when he died. At the ‎same time Isaac sent his youngest son, Jacob, unto the house of Shem and Eber to acquire the ‎knowledge of the Lord, and Jacob remained in the house of Shem and Eber for thirty-two ‎years. And Esau, his brother, went not with him, for he refused to go, and he remained in his ‎father's house in the land of Canaan. And Esau was always hunting in the field, bringing home ‎whatsoever he could procure. Such was Esau’s occupation all the time; and Esau was a man ‎cunning and deceitful, prevaricating, and “stealing the minds” of the people, yet he was very ‎courageous in the field, being on the hunt most the time, and going as far as Seir, which is ‎Edom. And he tarried in the land of Seir hunting in the fields for one year and four months. ‎And Esau saw in the land of Seir the daughter of a Canaanite, and her name was Judith, the ‎daughter of Beeri, the son of Epher, from the families of Heth, the son of Canaan; and Esau ‎took her to be his wife and he came unto her. And Esau was forty years old when he took her, ‎and he brought her to Hebron, which was the land of his father's dwelling-place, and he dwelt ‎there. And it was in those days in the one hundred and tenth year of Isaac’s life, which was the ‎fiftieth year of the life of Jacob that Shem, the son of Noah, died in that year; and Shem was ‎six hundred years old when he died. And when Shem died Jacob returned unto his father, to ‎Hebron, which was in the land of Canaan. And in the fifty-sixth year of Jacob’s life some ‎people arrived from Haran, bringing Rebekah tidings concerning her brother Laban, the son of ‎Bethuel. For Laban's wife had been barren in those days without any off spring, nor did the ‎maid-servants of Laban bare children unto him. And after some time the Lord remembered ‎Adinah, Laban's wife, and she conceived and bare two daughters, twins, and Laban named his ‎daughters, calling the name of the oldest one Leah, and the name of the youngest one Rachel. ‎And when those people arrived and told Rebekah these things, Rebekah rejoiced greatly that ‎the Lord had remembered her brother and that he had been blessed with children.

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord ‎blessed him. And the man waxed great, for he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of ‎herds, and great many servants; and when the days of the famine had passed by the Lord ‎appeared unto Isaac, saying unto him: Arise and leave this place and return unto thy land, ‎even to the land of Canaan. And Isaac arose and returned to Hebron, which is in the land of ‎Canaan, he and all that were his, according to the command of the Lord. And soon after, ‎Shelach, the son of Arpachshad, died, in the eighteenth year of the lives of Jacob and Esau. ‎And all the days of Shelach were four hundred and thirty-three years when he died. At the ‎same time Isaac sent his youngest son, Jacob, unto the house of Shem and Eber to acquire the ‎knowledge of the Lord, and Jacob remained in the house of Shem and Eber for thirty-two ‎years. And Esau, his brother, went not with him, for he refused to go, and he remained in his ‎father's house in the land of Canaan. And Esau was always hunting in the field, bringing home ‎whatsoever he could procure. Such was Esau’s occupation all the time; and Esau was a man ‎cunning and deceitful, prevaricating, and “stealing the minds” of the people, yet he was very ‎courageous in the field, being on the hunt most the time, and going as far as Seir, which is ‎Edom. And he tarried in the land of Seir hunting in the fields for one year and four months. ‎And Esau saw in the land of Seir the daughter of a Canaanite, and her name was Judith, the ‎daughter of Beeri, the son of Epher, from the families of Heth, the son of Canaan; and Esau ‎took her to be his wife and he came unto her. And Esau was forty years old when he took her, ‎and he brought her to Hebron, which was the land of his father's dwelling-place, and he dwelt ‎there. And it was in those days in the one hundred and tenth year of Isaac’s life, which was the ‎fiftieth year of the life of Jacob that Shem, the son of Noah, died in that year; and Shem was ‎six hundred years old when he died. And when Shem died Jacob returned unto his father, to ‎Hebron, which was in the land of Canaan. And in the fifty-sixth year of Jacob’s life some ‎people arrived from Haran, bringing Rebekah tidings concerning her brother Laban, the son of ‎Bethuel. For Laban's wife had been barren in those days without any off spring, nor did the ‎maid-servants of Laban bare children unto him. And after some time the Lord remembered ‎Adinah, Laban's wife, and she conceived and bare two daughters, twins, and Laban named his ‎daughters, calling the name of the oldest one Leah, and the name of the youngest one Rachel. ‎And when those people arrived and told Rebekah these things, Rebekah rejoiced greatly that ‎the Lord had remembered her brother and that he had been blessed with children.

[(Exod. 37:1:) THEN BEZALEL MADE THE ARK.] This text is related to (Prov. 9:9): GIVE TO ONE WHO IS WISE, AND HE WILL BE STILL WISER; INFORM ONE WHO IS RIGHTEOUS, AND HE WILL INCREASE IN LEARNING. <The verse> speaks about Noah.³²Tanh., Exod. 10:6; Exod. R. 50:2. When he made the ark, the Holy One said to him (in Gen. 7:2): OF EVERY CLEAN BEAST [YOU SHALL TAKE SEVEN PAIRS….] When he left <the ark>, he sacrificed some of the clean < animals >. He said: Did not the Holy One increase the clean animals simply so that I might sacrifice some of them?³³Gen. 26:1; 34:9. Ergo (in Prov. 9:9): GIVE TO ONE WHO IS WISE…. This is Noah.