Genesis 26:1

WEB

There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

KJV

And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

Commentary

And there was a famine in the land,.... In the land of Canaan, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it: besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham; of which se e Gen 12:10 ; which was an hundred years before this: and Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar; where his father Abraham had sojourned before he was born; and therefore the present king of this place can scarce be thought to be the same Abimelech that was king of it in Abraham's time; but it is highly probable that this Abimelech was the son of the former king, and that this was a common name to the kings of Gerar or the Philistines, as Pharaoh was to the kings of Egypt. Isaac came to this place from Lahairoi, where he had dwelt many years, see Gen 24:62 ; which was at or near Beersheba, and was about eight miles from Gerar (a). (a) Bunting's Travels, p. 70.