Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 26/0
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Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 26
Wives and Sisters
Several stories in Tanakh discuss how famine led some of the Patriarchs to leave their home in search of food and to pass off their wives as their sister to protect himself.
Tools
- See Makbilot Bamikra for a listing of all of the stories that relate to famine in the land of Israel. Looking at those in Torah, one can note that of the three Patriarchs, Yitzchak is the only one who is commanded not to leave Israel in response to the lack of food.
- See Makbilot Bamikra for a listing of each of the stories in which one of the forefathers claims that his wife is his sister. Yaakov is the only one not forced to do so, as he descends to Egypt under the protection of Yosef and with a full clan.
- Tanakh Lab – Tanakh Lab1 indicates that the chapter most linguistically similar to Bereshit 26 (the wife-sister story of Yitzchak in Gerar) is Bereshit 12 (the wife-sister story of Avraham in Egypt). To compare the two, see here. Interestingly, though Bereshit 20 shares many of the same themes, and even takes place in the same locale as Bereshit 26, it has many fewer parallels, as seen here.
Articles
- See Endangering Sarai in Egypt for an exploration of the moral and strategic questions that arise about the behavior of the Patriarchs in the narratives in which they claim that their wives are their sisters.
- See Toldot: The Legacy of Rivka by R. Michael Hattin for an analysis of the ways that Yitzchak’s and Rivka’s experiences and legacies echo and strengthen those of Avraham and Sara, and how this role informs Rivka’s actions in Parashat Toldot.
Avraham and Sarah vs. Yitzchak and Rivka
There are many parallels between the stories of the lives of the first two Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
Tools
- Use the Tanakh Lab to compare the narratives and to see the many linguistic parallels between the two.
- Concordance – Among the parallels, there are several phrases which are unique to these two narratives, and others which appear within the two units and only a couple of more times elsewhere. The concordance2 shows that the phrases "וְיִירַשׁ זַרְעֵךְ אֵת שַׁעַר" ,"וְהִתְבָּרְכוּ בְזַרְעֲךָ כֹּל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ עֵקֶב אֲשֶׁר שָׁמַעְתָּ", and "לֹא תִקַּח אִשָּׁה מִבְּנוֹת כְּנָעַן" appear only here, while the description "וַיְהִי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ" and the word pair "וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמׇת" each occur in only one other verse. Finally, only two other people in Tanakh are described as an "עֲקָרָה", or as dying "זָקֵן וּשְׂבַע יָמִים".
Articles
- See Avraham and Yitzchak for a comparison of the two. The similarities and differences highlight that in contrast to Avraham's trail-blazing, Yitzchak's strength lay in his preservation and continuation of the tradition.
- See Toldot: The Legacy of Rivka by R. Michael Hattin for an analysis of the ways that Yitzchak’s and Rivka’s experiences and legacies echo and strengthen those of Avraham and Sarah, and how this role informs Rivka’s actions in Parashat Toledot.
