GENESIS
CHAPTER 26
The Lord promises Isaac posterity as the stars of heaven in number—In his seed all nations shall be blessed—The Lord prospers Isaac, temporally and spiritually, for Abraham’s sake—Isaac offers sacrifices—Esau marries Hittite wives to the sorrow of his parents.
1 AND there was a famine in
the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And
Isaac went unto Abimelech [Abimelech
was king during Abraham, too. It is probable that Abimelech is a title.
It means, son of the king.] king
of the Philistines unto Gerar.
2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
3 sojourn in this land, [ Stay here in King Abimelech's land. ] and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; [ The reconfers the covenant blessings to Isaac see Abr 2:9-11]
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: [ Not entirely false - she was his cousin. Is this what he has learned from his father with earlier experiences? ] for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.
8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. [ He was exercising liberities that were only taken by a husband and his wife. So it was obvious they were not brother and sister. Getting a little frisky as we might say. ]
9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
[ I wonder if the King is a little suspicious as this is the same thing his father did years ago with Sarah. ]
11 And Abimelech charged all his people, [ Made a proclaimation. ] saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. [ Abimelech the King has already come to know that you do not want to mess with Abraham or his children as the Lord God is their protector. ]
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. [ some scholars suggest that we're not getting the exact chronological order here. Maybe this period should be back in 25. Where we've got Keturah, all these kids, we've got Ishmael, all these kids and then the one that we're
counting on- Isaac no comment on his children as of this point, but he does have this great wealth, or the rest of the promised blessings. So maybe this belongs back in 25 where they are trying to have children? ]
13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: [ Prominent; wealthy. ]
14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines [ Those who were the subjects of King Abimelech. ] envied him. [ The people were jealous and rightfully so. He was given opportunities that they were not afforded - that will usually lead to jealousy. ]
15 For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, [ In October 1972 General Conference, Elder Theodore Tuttle. He took it from a verse in Genesis 26, speaking of Isaac called Altar, Tent, and Well, because that's what... Isaac built an altar and he called upon the name of the Lord and he pitched his tent and dug his well. He gives a perspective that I think that sometimes we can miss because Isaac is quieter. We don't see him so dynamic in these chapters. This is what he said, "Altar, Tent, and Well. Isaac did not become an Abraham or a Jacob. He did not reach the heights of Abraham, called the Father of the Faithful, nor is he as impressive as his son, Israel, Father of the 12 Tribes. Yet Isaac is loved and revered. He worshiped God, cared for his home, and pursued his work. He is remembered simply as a man of peace. The eloquent simplicity of his life and his unique ability to lend importance to the commonplace made him great. Altar, Tent and Well. His worship, his home, his work, these basic things of life signified his relationship to God, his family and his fellow men. Every person on earth is touched by these three." ] which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive [ Argue; water is a very precious resource. ] with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
22 And he [ Isaac. ] removed from thence, [ Moved away - rather he would move on and take the promises with the Lord forward in doing so. ] and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
24 And the aLORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.
[ The Lord appears now to Isaac and appears to renew the covenant that God made with Abraham, with Isaac. ]
25 And he builded an altar there, [ Showing that he still respected and worshipped the Lord. Notice how building an altar is one of the first things that is done everytime they move to a new area. ] and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.
26 ¶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
[ So the King goes to Isaac. Why? Because the people have run Isaac from the land which was his. Isaac has considerable wealth so he most likely would have considerable number under his employee. The King recognizes a few things one that Isaac does have wealth and some power, as well as he is blessed of the Lord. So it is better for the King to go to Isaac and make sure that they are ok with each other that Isaac is not his enemy. ]
27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
28 And they said, We saw certainly that the aLORD was with thee: [ We know that you have both the strength of wealth but also the strength of the Lord at your disposal. ] and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; [ So the King wants to make a treaty with Isaac that neither will hurt the other. ]
29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched
thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee
away in peace: thou art now
the blessed of the LORD. [ Even a wicked King named Abimelech was able
to see how abundantly blessed Isaac was. ]
31 And they rose [ Hebrew
- arose early. ] up betimes in the morning, and sware one
to another: [ This was the same thing that his
father Abraham had done a century before. In fact it was the reason that
Abraham had called the place "Beer-sheba" meaning "the
well of the oath". ] and Isaac sent them away, and they departed
from him in peace.
32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. [ Further knowledge to Isaac that the Lord is blessing him. You do not just go anywhere in the desert and find water. it is a blessing from God that they did find water and so quickly. ]
33 And he called it Shebah: therefore [ And this is the reason why. ] the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day. [ See verse 31. ]
34 ¶ And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith
the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon
the Hittite: [ Esau continues to show his contempt for his birthright by marrying women who will not raise children in righteousness. These two women he marries are both cannanites as a result their son's will not be allowed to hold the priesthood, and neither will their offspring. This decision must have broken Isaac's and Rebekah's hearts. He marry's two Hittite women and you hear Rebekah say, what good is my life? I mean, why are they doing this? Again, here's the genealogy, right? We got down to Isaac. Now we have two sons and here's the first one to marry and it's not good. The implication from everything else we read and their grief is the fact that they are not believers, they would not value the covenant and as a result will lead Esau and his children away from the covenant. Do we have Esau acting out in a way? Is he kind of saying I don't need my birthright, I don't need the covenant. A little streak of rebellion. ]