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Isaac and Abimelech

Chapter 26:1-35

 

Another famine came in the land, as in the times of Abraham (chapter 12:10), and Isaac went north to Gerar, where his father was enriched among the Philistines, and probably where Isaac was born (Chapters 20-21).He went to meet with Abimelech upon arriving there, probably as an act of courtesy and to obtain his approval to camp with his flocks in his territory.

According to historians, the Philistines had migrated to an area on the coast of Canaan; their numbers were small, but they were considered fierce warriors, frequently hired by other people for their wars.Although they were friends of Abraham and Isaac, this small group became a nation which centuries later was a scourge to the Israelites.

This must have been another Abimelech from that involving Abraham, for almost a century had elapsed since the events of chapter 20.

Isaac had probably been tempted to go to Egypt, where there was plenty of pasture, as his father had done, but the LORD appeared to him, ordered him to stay in the land he indicate to him in Canaan, and upheld to Isaac his oath to Abraham: he would have immense progeny, all those lands would be given him, and in his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed, because Abraham had been obedient to what God had instructed him. Isaac then stayed in Gerar.

Isaac feared the Philistines would kill him for being the husband of the beautiful Rebekah. Following the example of his father, he said to the Philistines that she was his sister and hid the fact that she was his wife (in his case it was not a half-lie, but a whole lie!). Only much later did the Abimelech realize that they were married, so he reprimanded Isaac and instructed all his people not to touch them.

God kept his promise to bless Isaac, because he soon began to prosper, prospered and became very prosperous.

The Philistines were filled with envy. They had stopped up all the wells which his father´s servants had dug and were vital to the flock, and filled them with earth in order to get rid of him.The very Abimelech asked Isaac to leave, because Isaac had already become more powerful than he.

Isaac kindly left the town and pitched his tents in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. He was on the edge of the desert, where water was a very precious substance.When someone dug a well, he acquired the title to the land.Some were even locked up so the water would not be stolen.To fill them up, closing the well of someone, was an act of belligerence, considered one of the biggest crimes in that land.Isaac had every right to react when they did this to him, but preferred to keep the peace.Patiently he opened again the wells of his father, keeping the same names.

Some of the wells mentioned in the book of Genesis were given meaningful names:

Beer-Lahairoi“well of a living (One) my Seer” was so named because the handmaid Hagar had a meeting with the LORD there when she fled from Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 16:14, 24:62, 25:11). 

Beersheba"well of seven"or"well of the oath", so called because there Abraham gave seven ewe lambs of his flock to Abimelech, and by accepting them he acknowledged that it had been dug by Abraham and therefore belonged to him (Genesis 21:15 -33, 22:19, 26:23-25, 46:1-5).

Esek“quarrel"because there was strife between the herdsmen of Isaac and Gerar over it (Genesis 26:20).

Sitnah"strife" because there was strife also here (Genesis 26:21).

Rehoboth"streets" because he was allowed to use it, and so the LORD allowed him to prosper in the land.

After that he went to Beersheba, the place of the well that the Abimelech in Abraham's time had agreed belonged to him.This well had also been filled with rubble by the Philistines.

The same night the LORD appeared to Isaac and after identifying himself as the God of his father, He confirmed that He was with him, and would bless and multiply his seed for the love of His servant, Abraham.

Isaac immediately raised an altar there and worshipped the LORD, invoking his name. Then he pitched his tent, and sent his servants to unclog the well.

Then the Abimelech came to talk to him with a friend and the commander of his army, Phichol.Isaac was surprised to see them, after what had happened before, but it was obvious that Abimelech feared reprisals by Isaac because of the insults he had received from his people.

The Abimelech proposed a peace treaty, since the LORD was with Isaac.Isaac promptly responded with a banquet, after which both vowed to keep the peace among themselves, and Abimelech and his companions left in peace when it was dawn.

Here we see the peaceful and generous character of Isaac, an example for us, because God's Word tells us: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18, Hebrews 12:14, I Peter 3:11).

Soon after, on that same day, Isaac's servants gave him the good news that they had found water.Isaac called it the well of Shebah“seven”, or “seventh”, and the city that was built there took the name of Beersheba, “the well of an oath”.

Beersheba is mentioned among the cities given to the tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:2, 1 Chronicles 21:2, 2 Samuel 24:2).From Dan to Beersheba, a distance of about 200 km, became the proverbial way of designating the extent of the Promised Land (Judges 20:1, 1 Chronicles 21:2, 2 Samuel 24:2).

Although not mentioned in the New Testament, the city still is there, called by the Palestinian Arabs Bir es-Seba, "well of seven": there are two main shafts and five minor ones.It is almost midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea.

The chapter ends in a sad note on Esau: he took to himself two wives, both among the Hittites.These were a tribe of Canaanites who dwelt in a vast region between the Euphrates and Damascus.They were aggressive and they became a nation so strong that it rivalled the Egyptian and Assyrian empires.In the book of Joshua they are portrayed as the dominant race north of Galilee.

Let us remember that Abraham wisely did not allow Isaac to take a wife from the Canaanites, subject to the curse of Noah. Isaac, however, did not prevent his favourite son Esau from doing so, and these two wives became grief of mind to him and his wife: it was the prerogative of the parents to choose wives for their sons, but here it was Esau who took the initiative, revealing another aspect of his bad character.

 

R David Jones

 

1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, "She is my sister"; for he was afraid to say, "She is my wife," because he thought, "lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold."
8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.
9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die on account of her.' "
10 And Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us."
11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.
13 The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;
14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.
15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth.
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."
17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.
19 Also Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah.
22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba.
24 And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham's sake."
25 So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.
26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army.
27 And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
28 But they said, "We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you,
29 that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.' "
30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32 It came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."
33 So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35 And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis chapter 26