Yitzchak Avinu, whose deeds we turn to in this week's parsha, continued the path of his father Avraham in many respects. One of these, however, raises a great puzzle once again.

At the opening of the parsha we learn that there was again a famine in the land, and Yitzchak Avinu moves to settle in Gerar:

"ויהי רעב בארץ מלבד הרעב הראשון אשר היה בימי אברהם, וילך יצחק אל אבימלך מלך פלשתים גררה... וישב יצחק בגרר. וישאלו אנשי המקום לאשתו, ויאמר אחותי היא, כי ירא לאמרו אשתי, פן יהרגוני אנשי המקום על רבקה, כי טובת מראה היא"

– There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Avraham, and Yitzchak went to Avimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar... So Yitzchak settled in Gerar. The men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, 'She is my sister,' for he was afraid to say 'my wife,' lest the men of the place kill him on account of Rivka, for she was fair to look upon.

His father Avraham had already acted this way twice (in Egypt and in Gerar), and each time it raises a great puzzle anew. It appears from the pesukim that Avraham and Yitzchak knew their wives would be taken by a strange man. Nevertheless, they went to these places, and the only step they took was to lie that she was their sister – in self-defense, so that they would not be killed by the men of the place. (When Avraham went down to Egypt, the Torah goes further and tells us that his reason was twofold: "למען ייטב לי בעבורך, וחיתה נפשי בגללך" – that it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you. Rashi explains there: "ייטב לי בעבורך – יתנו לי מתנות" – 'it may go well with me for your sake' – they will give me gifts!) This is astonishing.

Yet it seems that it is precisely Yitzchak's act in our parsha that can help us shed light on this mystery. First, the very fact that Yitzchak took the same step shows that there is indeed much logic in this course of action. That logic can be learned from the outcome of what Yitzchak and Rivka did.

Before we reach that, however, let us first go back and analyze the words of Avraham Avinu in the first episode. Note the explicit split Avraham makes in his reasons. He does not say, "אמרי נא אחותי את, למען ייטב לי וחיתה נפשי בגללך" – Say, please, that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me and I may live because of you – without the words "for your sake" – but rather, "למען ייטב לי בעבורך, וחיתה נפשי בגללך" – that it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch explains there that there is a difference between the word "בעבור" (ba'avur, for the sake of) and the word "בגלל" (biglal, because of). While biglal denotes a cause (rooted in the past), ba'avur describes a purpose, a future goal.

Avraham knew Sarah's beauty, and knew that the Egyptians would desire her. As long as the Egyptians had hope of winning her hand, one may assume they would go about it in this way. But if it turned out that she was a married woman, with no hope of winning her hand in the ordinary way, there was a serious danger that one of the men who desired her would murder Avraham and take the unfortunate Sarah into his home.

This, then, is Avraham's plan. By creating the false impression that she was his sister, he would have the Egyptians approach him in order to win her as a wife. This would allow Avraham to play for time with "deliberations" and negotiations over whom he would "give his sister" to (as was customary in those days, an unmarried woman was not under her own authority but under that of a "guardian," who was responsible for her and gave her in marriage as he saw fit). The Egyptians would treat Avraham well ba'avur Sarah – for her sake – in order to win her, and Avraham could play for time until they were able to return to the Land of Canaan.

Indeed, Avraham's plan worked well. When Avraham arrived in Egypt, no one tried to take his wife: "ויהי כבוא אברם מצרימה ויראו המצרים את האשה כי טובת מראה היא" – When Avram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was fair to look upon. At this stage, nothing happens. Afterward, however, a surprising event occurred that Avraham had not taken into account: "ויראו אותה שרי פרעה, ויהללו אותה אל פרעה, ותוקח האשה בית פרעה" – Pharaoh's officers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. Avraham did indeed "play for time," but in the meantime Pharaoh's officers saw her and spoke her praises in Pharaoh's house, and Pharaoh sent for her and took her into his house without Avraham's consent. Even Pharaoh, though, did not intend actually to marry her until Avraham gave his approval. Instead, he conducted the negotiations while she was already in his house, as a fait accompli (similar to what Shechem and Chamor did with Dinah): "ולאברם היטיב בעבורה" – and he treated Avram well for her sake – not biglalah (because of her). (See Rav Hirsch there, who also proves this from the order in which Avraham's possessions are listed in the rest of the pasuk, which differs from the order in which possessions appear elsewhere in the Torah.)

Only after some time did Hashem send great plagues upon Pharaoh and his household, until he understood on his own that it had probably come about because of Sarah, and he released her to Avraham.

Since the plan had worked as expected at first, and in the end nothing had indeed happened – Pharaoh held back until he realized his mistake in taking Sarah – Avraham and Sarah repeated the same approach in Gerar as well. There, however, things unfolded somewhat differently. There too it is unclear at what stage Sarah was taken, but Avimelech had no intention of winning Avraham over or asking his permission. So this time, immediately and urgently, "עצר ה' בעד כל רחם לבית אבימלך" – Hashem had closed every womb of the house of Avimelech, and that very night Hashem appeared to him and commanded him to return Sarah.

As mentioned, proof of this can be found in our parsha. Yitzchak and Rivka apparently thought that Avimelech and his household had learned their lesson and would refrain from taking a woman against her will. So they too adopt the same approach – and the approach indeed works: Yitzchak and Rivka live in Gerar for a long time, unharmed and undisturbed. No one dared take her against her will. Only "ויהי כי ארכו לו שם הימים" – when he had been there a long time – did Avimelech suddenly discover one day that Yitzchak and Rivka were married. He rebukes Yitzchak, because "אחד העם" – one of the people – might have seduced Rivka or taken her against her will, and brought guilt upon them.

This shiur was delivered on 29 Cheshvan 5786.

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