Chapter I

והריקותי לכם ברכה עד בלי די

"I shall fill you with more than sufficient blessings."1

This is to be understood according to the Ibn Ezra, who explains that the blessings will be so plentiful that they will be more than sufficient, in line with the [Gemara's] statement:2 "Until your lips will become tired of saying, 'enough.' " These blessings are promised to those individuals who observe the mitzvah of ma'aser , tithing. Our patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov observed this mitzvah3 and merited great wealth and success.

To better understand the matter: The verse states:4 "He [Yitzchok] moved away from there (the place where he had already dug two wells)5 and dug another well. This time it was not disputed, so he named it Wide Spaces (Rechovos). 'Now G-d will grant us wide open spaces,' he said. 'We can be fruitful in the land.' "

Yitzchok lived in the land of Canaan. When a great famine arose, he decided to go to Egypt, just as his father had done6 during a famine.7 Traveling from Canaan to Egypt, he stopped off in Plishtim,8 which lies on the shortest route. This is indicated by the verse:9 "And He did not lead them [the Jewish people upon their exodus from Egypt] through the land of Plishtim, though it was the closest route."10

Yitzchok thought that he would surely receive aid from Avimelech, king of Plishtim, during this period of great hunger,11 since Avimelech had forged a strong bond with Yitzchok's father, Avraham.12 When Yitzchok arrived in Plishtim he settled in Grar, where he realized his great error in thinking that Avimelech would greet him with open arms, for as stated in the Mishnah of Avos :13 "Be wary of those in power, for they befriend a person only for their own benefit; they seem to be a friend when it is to their advantage, but they do not stand by a person in his hour of need."

Suffering from hunger in Grar , Yitzchok decided to [continue his] journey to Egypt. But G-d appeared to him and told him to stay in Plishtim.14 Yitzchok therefore remained in Grar, where he suffered persecution at the hands of the local inhabitants until the king commanded that he and his family should cease being tormented.15

Yitzchok planted fields and G-d provided His blessing. Though the land was parched (it being a time of famine, with hardly any rain and much wind), his parched land produced with G-d's blessings over one hundred times more than was considered possible.16

In summary: G-d gives His bountiful blessings to those who observe the mitzvah of tithing. When a great famine gripped Canaan, Yitzchok decided to go to Egypt. Stopping off in Plishtim, he was astonished by Avimelech's indifference to his hunger, notwithstanding the treaty of friendship the king had made with his father Avraham. G-d then gave a wondrous blessing of bounty to Yitzchok's fields.