It is a rare thing in the Torah — a gentile king confessing, in plain terms, that he has seen God at work. But that is exactly what Abimelech does. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records his words with full weight. "Seeing, we have seen, that the Word of the Lord is for thy help, and for thy righteousness' sake all good hath been to us" (Genesis 26:28).
Then he admits more. "When thou wentest forth from our land the wells dried up, and our trees made no fruit; then we said, We will cause him to return to us."
The Memra again
Abimelech uses the same phrase God used to Isaac: the Word of the Lord, the Memra. It is the same promise Isaac received that night in Beersheba — "My Word shall be for thy help" — and Abimelech is now reporting it back, unprompted. He has seen it. His eyes have told him.
The Targum is doing something beautiful here. The same theological term that marks God's covenant with the patriarchs is being spoken in the mouth of an outsider king. The covenant is inward, but its effects are visible from outside. Even the Philistines can read them.
A treaty of awe
Abimelech is not asking Isaac for water rights or military alliance. He is asking for a covenant of peace — let there be an oath established between us, and kindness — precisely because he has witnessed that Isaac is blessed. The king of Gerar is signing a treaty with the blessing itself.
The takeaway: righteousness is not invisible. Pseudo-Jonathan teaches that when someone walks faithfully with God, even their enemies eventually show up asking for peace.