Kejadian 10:14

10:14 Pathrusites, ¹  Casluhites ²  (from whom the Philistines came), ³  and Caphtorites. ⁴ 

Kejadian 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ⁵  in the days of Abraham. ⁶  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

[10:14]  ¹ sn The Pathrusites are known in Egyptian as P-to-reshi; they resided in Upper Egypt.

[10:14]  ² sn The Casluhites lived in Crete and eventually settled east of the Egyptian Delta, between Egypt and Canaan.

[10:14]  ³ tn Several commentators prefer to reverse the order of the words to put this clause after the next word, since the Philistines came from Crete (where the Caphtorites lived). But the table may suggest migration rather than lineage, and the Philistines, like the Israelites, came through the Nile Delta region of Egypt. For further discussion of the origin and migration of the Philistines, see D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 232.

[10:14]  ⁴ sn The Caphtorites resided in Crete, but in Egyptian literature Caphtor refers to “the region beyond” the Mediterranean.

[26:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ⁶ sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.