Genesis 26:1

“And there was a famine in the land, etc.] 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 (see <011210> Genesis 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…”

“SOJOURN IN GERAR. (Gen. 26:1-35) And there was a famine in the land . . . And Isaac went unto . . . Gerar--The pressure of famine in Canaan forced Isaac with his family and flocks to migrate into the land of the Philistines, where he was exposed to personal danger, as his father had been on account of his wife's beauty; but through the seasonable interposition of Providence, he was preserved (Psa 105:14-15).”

“26:1-35 In this digression from Jacob’s story, Isaac’s prosperity (ch 26) shows that the blessing had passed to him (cp. 25:11) despite his failures of faith. 26:1 This Abimelech is probably not the man in ch 20, for these events could have been 90 years apart. Possibly Abimelech was a dynastic name or title (a later King Achish, 1 Sam 21:10, was also called Abimelech, Ps 34:title).”