26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” 1 He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, 2 “The men of this place will kill me to get 3 Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
26:8 After Isaac 4 had been there a long time, 5 Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed 6 Isaac caressing 7 his wife Rebekah.
1 sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.
2 tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.
3 tn Heb “kill me on account of.”
4 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”
6 tn Heb “look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.
7 tn Or “fondling.”
sn The Hebrew word מְצַחֵק (mÿtsakheq), from the root צָחַק (tsakhaq, “laugh”), forms a sound play with the name “Isaac” right before it. Here it depicts an action, probably caressing or fondling, that indicated immediately that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, not his sister. Isaac’s deception made a mockery of God’s covenantal promise. Ignoring God’s promise to protect and bless him, Isaac lied to protect himself and acted in bad faith to the men of Gerar.