“It was when the time he was there was extended, Avimelekh king of the Philistines looked through the window, and behold, he saw Isaac playing with Rebecca his wife” (Genesis 26:8). “It was when the time he was there was extended” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: A bad dream, a harsh prophecy, and disproportionate mourning are nullified by the passage of extended time. A harsh prophecy, from where is it derived?

It is as Israel would say to the prophet: “The days will lengthen, and every vision will be void” (Ezekiel 12:22). Disproportionate mourning, the passage of extended time nullifies, from Isaac,13Isaac had been mourning for Abraham. as it is written: “It was when the time he was there was extended,” and immediately, “behold…Isaac was playing.” Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: Because extended time had passed, you began engaging in this matter?14A reference to conjugal relations.

This is the way the midrash interprets "playing." Did Rabbi Yoḥanan not say: One who engages in conjugal relations during the day, it is indecent, as Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Conjugal relations are only at night, as it is stated: “In the evening she would come and in the morning she would return” (Esther 2:14). Job cursed the day of his birth and the evening of his conception. That is what is written: “Perish the day I was born, and the night it was said: [A man has been conceived [hora gaver]]” (Job 3:3).

Rabbi Marinos bar Hoshaya said: Job said: ‘If only my mother had been a menstruant when he came to consort with her, as it is stated: “Hora gaver” – this is not the time to be impregnated [hora] by a man [gaver].’ Jeremiah curses the day of his birth and the day of conception, as it is stated: “Cursed be the day on which I was born” (Jeremiah 20:14) – this is the day of birth; “the day on which my mother bore me” (Jeremiah 20:14) – this is the day of conception.

Is it possible that Ḥilkiyahu,15The father of Jeremiah. See Jeremiah 1:1. a righteous man, would engage in conjugal relations during the day? It is, rather, because Jezebel was killing prophets, he came and engaged in conjugal relations during the day, and fled.