1)There’s only three Avimelechs!
In pasuk 26:1 Yitzchak goes to Avimelech, king of the Plishtim because of the famine in the land. Now we’ve heard the name Avimelech before; he was the Plishtim king in the days of Avraham. Was he the same person? The Tur al HaTorah gives two approaches here. Either he was the very same Avimelech, or Avimelech was a generic name given to the Plishtim king – just like Pharaoh in Egypt. This is why, says the Tur, there was an Avimelech in the days of David too.
2) MISGUIDED LOVE
In 25:28 we are told that Yitzchak loved Eisav, seemingly over Yaakov. Could Yitzchak really have got it that wrong in loving the wicked son over the righteous one? The Netziv notes that there are two types of love. The first is a real love for the person himself. The second type, however, is just a love in that one realises that this person can give you things/make you happy. It is this second type of love which Yitzchak had for Eisav; Yitzchak’s love for Eisav was merely the happiness at the fact that Eisav would constantly bring presents and food for him. Indeed, the Netziv shows how this is hinted to in the words of the pasuk too. Whereas normally when the Torah describes love it phrases it in terms of ‘loving to someone’ (e.g. love to thy neighbour as oneself; ve’ahavta le’reacha kamocha’) – denoting a real two-way relationship, the pasuk in our sedra merely says ‘Yitzchak loved Eisav,’ without the to – which denotes this lower form of love.
