And Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Genesis 21:34 (NASB)
In Genesis 21, Abraham heeds his wife’s words at the instruction of God: he removes Ishmael from their home. The text says Abraham was deeply troubled.
The chapter ends with this ambiguous phrase: יָמִים רַבִּים (yamim rabbim): “for many days.”
It doesn’t seem like Abraham is too upset, as the text doesn’t seem to say much else about Abraham’s response, other than sending them off with some extra bread and water.
But there may be a clue hidden in here in the words.
You’d think a phrase like “many days” would appear all over the text, but in this exact form יָמִים רַבִּים, the phrase only appears twice in Genesis. Here, and then in Genesis 37. Look closely. It’s the same story.
So Jacob tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
Genesis 37:34-35 (NASB)
Perhaps this teaches us how God felt about Adam when sin entered the world and doomed him to die, too.
And perhaps this teachs us how God views all of us.