Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
Then Isaac sowed. During his sojourn in that district he farmed a piece of land which, by the blessing of God on his skill and industry, was very productive (Isaiah 65:13; Psalms 37:19), and by its plentiful returns he increased so rapidly in wealth and influence that the Philistines, afraid or envious of his prosperity, obliged him to leave the place (Proverbs 27:4; Ecclesiastes 4:4). This may receive illustration from the fact that many Syrian shepherds at this day settle for a year or two in a place, rent some ground, in the produce of which they trade with the neighbouring market, until the people, through jealousy of their growing substance, refuse to renew their lease, and compel them to remove elsewhere. The place where Isaac sowed and reaped so abundant a harvest was in the neighbourhood of the capital, Gerar; and Dr. Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' vol. 1:, p. 298) says, that not far south of Gaza there is an extensive wady, 'the Khuberah, which is very fertile, and yields good crops of grain.' It was probably this very spot that Isaac chose for the scene of his agricultural labours.
And the Lord blessed him. Although the history of the East relates numerous instances of extraordinary fertility, the luxuriant harvest reaped from his fields, as well as the vast increase of his property, was the fruit of a special blessing. х Mee'aah (H3967) shª`aariym (H8180), a hundred measures; the Septuagint, apparently reading sª`oriym (H8188), ears of thrashed grain (2 Samuel 17:28), have rendered the words hekatosteuousan kritheen, a hundred-fold of barley]. Such an abundant crop in a year of famine convinced him that there was no necessity to migrate into Egypt. х Miqneh (H4735), wealth, possession, but always in cattle-sheep, goats, herds, excluding beasts of burden; great store of servants, ya`ªbudaah]. This Hebrew word, rendered 'store of servants,' which is found only in one other passage (Job 1:3), where it is translated "household," denotes either 'land under cultivation' or 'the labourers by whom it is cultivated,' or both. It might be rendered 'farm-service.' While Abraham, therefore, led a wholly pastoral life, Isaac must be considered to a certain extent an agriculturist as well as a breeder of cattle.