Genesis 26:7-35--Isaac Lives in Gerar

Genesis 26:7-35
World English Bible
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7 The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.” 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife. 9 Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”

10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”

11 Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

12 Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him. 13 The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. 15 Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

17 Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

18 Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water. 20 The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. So he called its name Sitnah. 22 He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. So he called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23 He went up from there to Beersheba. 24 Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

25 He built an altar there, and called on Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”

28 They said, “We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let’s make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of Yahweh.”

30 He made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 32 The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it “Shibah”. Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba” to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.

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A lot of this story is going to sound familiar because "Like father, like son," but the author wants us to know for sure that he is not just telling the story of Abraham over again.  This is a different famine at a different time and it is Isaac and Rebekah that flee to Philistia for safety and are told not to go down to Egypt.  Like Abraham, Isaac fears that he will be killed so that his beautiful wife might be taken into the king's harem, but this does not seem premeditated like with Abraham and Sarah.  Instead, it seems like the lie is what came to Isaac naturally in the heat of the moment--it was easier and more natural to lie than to tell the truth and trust God with the consequences.  I can sympathize here as that's what I was like in my natural state when I was controlled by my flesh, and we'll see this continue to be an issue for Jacob (whose name means "deceiver" or "trickster").

A little while later, Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, sees Isaac caressing his wife in a way no man should touch a woman who is not his wife, especially not his sister, so Abimelech confronts Isaac to knows Isaac is a liar.  Isaac says he was afraid for his life because of her (he was not willing to die to save or protect her--think of how much better of a Husband Christ is that He was willing to die for His Bride).  Abimelech sends Isaac away with instructions to all his people not to lay hands on or harm or even touch Isaac or Rebekah.  Part of sending them away was that they were becoming so numerous that there was not room for his people and Isaac's people to coexist, but Isaac is not going to see that side of things--he's only going to remember that he was sent away and not welcome.

Isaac planted and reaped a bountiful harvest and his flocks grew to be very large, and the LORD blessed him with many servants so that the size of his encampment grew.  As there were more crops, animals and people, there was a need for more water, so Jacob and his servants dug wells with their own hands to provide for their water needs so that they did not take water away from the Philistines.  However, the Philistines wanted to take the water from the wells they had no put in any effort to dig.  They claimed the well and its water belong to them because this was their land.  Instead of taking the issue to Abimelech for mediation like Abraham had done, Isaac retreated and just dug another well far away where there would be less conflict.  However, conflict will not be able to be avoided forever.

God speaks to Isaac at Beersheba to tell him that He has not forgotten the promise that He made to both Isaac and his father Abraham before him that the LORD was going to make a great nation out of them with an uncountable number of descendants.

Abimelech seeks out Isaac and renews his peace treaty with him and asks him to return.  He's very open with his reasons--the LORD is clearly blessing Isaac and his family and Abimelech wants to receive the runoff of those blessings that are being poured out on Isaac.  If Isaac lives among them and is being blessed, then the king and his people will also be blessed.  This sounds a lot like Abimelech understanding the Abrahamic Covenant--"I will bless those who bless you" and "curse those who curse you" and "Through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed."  Abimelech doesn't quite understand what all this means, but he understands that for now it's better to be friends with the people who are friends with the LORD than to be enemies with them.

The celebrated by making an altar where we would assume they made sacrifices to the LORD, dug a well together, and ate a feast together.  They also called the name of that place Beersheba, and it is the southernmost part of the Land where the Israelites live--"From Dan to Beersheba."  (Dan is to the north and Beersheba to the south, but this phrase comes to mean "the whole land" or "all the people of the Land.")

We end today's passage on a sad note though.  We see that Esau is rebellious against the wishes of his father and mother and takes multiple wives from among the women living in the land of Canaan.  He marries two Hittite women (the Hittites were one of the Canaanite clans), and this broke the hearts of Isaac and Rebekah.  They knew that it was important for Isaac to not marry from among the Canaanites, and they knew that it was important to the LORD., but this is evidence that Esau has decided to be one of the locals and has refused to see himself as a sojourner living among a people that he does not belong to.  He wants to be with them and of them, and we'll see him quickly become just that.  The prophecy that the LORD made about "Esau, I have cursed" is starting to make sense now, because Esau is going to make all the wrong choices that are going to lead to him being cursed.  However, Jacob is also going to make "all the wrong choices," but God is going to choose to do something with him anyways.  That's our story right there.  Any of us that are cursed are cursed because of our own choices we have made.  Though God knows the beginning from the end, we do not blame God for making us make those choices.  However, anything good that happens comes from God because we can do nothing good on our own, and none of us deserve to be used by God to accomplish His good plans and purposes.  None of us deserve to be saved, but that is the doctrine of Election, and we're starting to see it really play out here in the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God chose a people to bless and to use to bring blessing to the world for His good pleasure and to the praise of His glory.  No people on earth could be worthy or that choice or deserve it in any way.  God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong and the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.  Praise God that He still chooses to use imperfect people like you and me and accomplish His perfect plan to redeem a people unto Himself so that He can love them and they can love Him forever and ever.