Bereshit 26:6-11 records that Yitzhak tried to conceal his marriage by claiming that his wife Rivka was his sister, but the ruse was revealed when Avimelekh, the ruler of the Philistines, saw them acting as man and wife. This is the only time this ploy is mentioned by Yitzhak, yet this incident is very similar to the two times that Avraham and Sara also tried to conceal their marriage, 12:10-20 and 20:1-18 (see our discussion on Bereshit 20:1,2 "The second abduction of Sara"). In all three cases, the patriarch attempted to conceal his marriage by claiming his wife was a sister, the ruler of the area castigated the patriarch, and the motive for the ploy as proclaimed by the patriarch was to protect his life. However, this incident is significantly different than the other two cases, since here Rivka was not abducted while Sara had been abducted twice. Therefore, here G-d did not have to intervene to save the matriarch and no presents are given to Yitzhak and Rivka.
Why would Yitzhak have tried to conceal his marriage by claiming to be Rivka’s brother when the ploy had failed twice by Avraham? S. R. Hirsch (1989, p. 432) points out that the danger to Yitzhak and Rivka was real since after Avimelekh learned that they were married, Avimelekh felt it was necessary to decree a death penalty for anybody who harmed them, 26:11. However, after what happened to Sara his mother, could Yitzhak really believe that this ploy was offering greater protection to Rivka than if they stated that they were man and wife? I believe there are four possible answers.
One, possibility is based on the Ramban's (12:11) idea that really Avraham and Sara used this ploy all the time and Torah only mentioned the two times it failed. If this is true, then Yitzhak was following the percentages, the plan usually worked.
A second possibility is that Yitzhak copied his father indiscriminately. The idea being that if it was good enough for my father, it is good enough for me. Possibly Yitzhak thought of his father with such awe that he could not recognize that the ploy was a bad idea.
A third possibility is that maybe Yitzhak did not know what happened to his parents. Both cases occurred before he was born and parents do not always inform their children about all of their deeds. Maybe Avraham and Sara thought it was better that Yitzhak did not know that Sara had twice been abducted. For example, Ramban (on 26:1) suggests that Yitzhak wanted to go to Egypt since he thought that his father had been honored there! If this was true, then Yitzhak only knew that Pharaoh gave Avraham presents but not the real reason for the presents.
A fourth possibility is that Yitzhak might have thought that everything that Avraham had done was because of G-d’s command, and this would include Avraham and Sara concealing their marriage by pretending to be brother and sister when they were in Egypt and in Gerar. Yitzhak might have come to this conclusion from the blessings he received prior to this incident, where G-d ended these blessings by saying that the blessings were because Avraham had listened to G-d’s voice, 26:2-5. If Yitzhak thought that Avraham had concealed his marriage due to G-d's command, then the failure of the ploy in the previous cases was irrelevant, and he and Rivka would also conceal their marriage when in Gerar.
Bibliography:
Hirsch, S. R. (1808-1888), 1989, The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy, second edition, Gateshead: Judaica Press.
Theologically, I like the fourth answer best, but the third answer (that Yitzhak didn't know) is intriguing, esp. when one considers the rumors that went around when Yitzhak was born (as brought down by Rashi at the beginning of Toldot).
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