CHAPTER 26

(1804 B.C.)

ISAAC

¹And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham (it is not so difficult for Satan to break down the faith of a Believer; so small a matter as a famine is sufficient). And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar (Abimelech is a title, somewhat like President or Pharaoh; so this was not the same man who dealt with Abraham, a time of some 80 or more years having now passed).

²And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell you of (if it is disastrous to the Spiritual Life for the Christian to go down into Egypt, it is dangerous to go down unto Gerar, for it is a halfway house to Egypt):

³Sojourn in this land (the Land of Promise), and I will be with you, and will bless you (the Blessing was conditional on staying in the Promised Land, as the same Blessing is conditional presently in the spiritual sense); for unto you, and unto your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father; (Horton says: The reason Isaac could inherit the Promise and enjoy Gods Presence and Blessing was because Abraham obeyed God, fulfilled the obligations of God put on him, kept the requirements, commandments, rules, and instructions God gave him. Many times, our blessings are predicated on the obedience of someone else. We should not forget that, thinking that its our great faith.)

⁴And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed (basically, the Lord reaffirms the Promise He had already made to Abraham, and which He now makes to Isaac);

⁵Because that Abraham obeyed My Voice, and kept My Charge, My Commandments, My Statutes, and My Laws. (In essence, the Lord is telling Isaac that if he wants to continue to enjoy Gods Blessings, he must continue in the same sort of faith and obedience as did his father Abraham. Regrettably, much of the modern Church is trying to change the charge.)

ABIMELECH

⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: (There is no indication that the Lord told Isaac to go to Gerar. The indication is that he went there according to his own leading and direction. Events prove that.)

⁷And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: (The Patriarch practices deception here exactly as did his father Abraham. It is positive that Isaac knew in detail of his fathers episode in Egypt, and the wrongness of the act. So why did he follow the same course?) 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. (The Child of God must never act out of fear, but always from the position of faith.)

⁸And 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. (His deception is found out. The Lord always leaves a window.)

⁹And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is your wife; and how did you say, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. (Once again, Gods primary emissary on Earth is humiliated. In fact, sin always humiliates.)

¹⁰And Abimelech said, What is this you have done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lain with your wife, and you should have brought guiltiness upon us. (Matthew Henry said: There is nothing in Isaacs denial of his wife to be imitated, or even excused. The impartiality of the sacred historian records it for our warning, and to show that Righteousness comes not by the Law, but by Faith in Christ.)

¹¹And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. (The sin of Isaac was greater than the sin of his father Abraham. While no sin is to be excused, Isaac had this unsavory example before him, so there was no excuse for what he did.)

¹²Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. (We find here that God blessed Isaac materially, but we also find that there is a vast difference between material blessings and Spiritual Blessings.)

¹³And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great (we can never judge that a persons condition with the Lord is right because of prosperous circumstances):

¹⁴For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. (A man may, like Isaac, become rich in Gerar, but it is not recorded that Jehovah appeared to Isaac in Gerar. He appeared to him before he went there [in Lahai-roi] and, in fact, the very night of the day that he left.)

¹⁵For all the wells which his fathers servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth (did so after Isaac arrived).

¹⁶And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for you are much mightier than we.

ISAAC, THE WELL-DIGGER

¹⁷And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. (We find that Isaac still wasnt in the place where the Lord wanted him, as far as him dwelling in the Land was concerned. He is still in Gerar, which is Philistine country. How many do we see surrounded by Gods Blessings, but do not have Gods Presence?)

¹⁸And 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 (these wells had been stopped for some time): and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them (wells in that part of the world, then and now, are extremely important).

¹⁹And Isaacs servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

²⁰And the herdmen of Gerar (Philistines) did strive with Isaacs herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek (contention); because they did strive with him (many times the opposition we receive, while definitely wrong on the part of the one who is doing the opposing, still, the Lord uses these things, at times, to further His Cause in our lives).

²¹And they dug another well, and did strive for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah (hatred).

²²And he removed from thence, and dug another well; and for that they did not strive: and he called the name of it Rehoboth (there is room); and he said, For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. (Despite the fact that there is no contention for this particular well, Isaac seems to now understand that he still isnt exactly where God wants him to be.)

²³And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. (Several years of strife and contention could have been avoided had Isaac earnestly sought the Lord in the beginning as it regarded his dwelling place. The Lord wanted the Patriarch in Beer-sheba.)

²⁴And the LORD appeared unto him the same night (immediately when Isaac left Gerar and went to Beer-sheba, which was where the Lord wanted him, The Lord appeared unto him the same night), and said, I am the God of Abraham your father: fear not, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for My Servant Abrahams sake. (The Lord intends for Isaac to emulate his father, hence, Him holding up Abraham as an example. As well, Abraham is spoken of, although dead, but not as one who has ceased to be. In fact, Abraham right then was in Paradise, along with Abel, Enoch, Noah, and probably many others.)

²⁵And he built an Altar there (this typified Christ and the price He would pay; in fact, Jesus Christ and Him Crucified was what it was all about, and is what its all about; Isaac built no Altar in Gerar, because the Cross and disobedience do not go together), and called upon the Name of the LORD (there is a difference in calling on the Name of the Lord when one is outside the Will of God than when one is in the center of Gods Will; this calling is anchored in faith and victory, and will be rewarded accordingly), and pitched his tent there (because the Lord was there): and there Isaacs servants dug a well (the Hebrew word used here means that they opened the well, which had been stopped or closed by violence or neglect).

THE COVENANT

²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army (Abimelech now seeks peace with Isaac, because the fear of the Lord is on Isaac).

²⁷And Isaac said unto them, Why do you come to me, seeing you hate me, and have sent me away from you? (Williams says, It is when Isaac definitely separates himself from the men of Gerar that they come to him seeking blessing through him from God. All the time that he dwelt among them, it is not recorded that they approached him in this way. This is one of the many lessons in the Bible which teach the Christian that he best helps the world when living in separation from it.)

²⁸And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with you (the Hand of the Lord is now on Isaac for power and protection, which had not previously been; it was obvious even to the enemies of the Patriarch): and we said, Let there be now an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you (a covenant to settle the strife);

²⁹That you will do us no hurt, as we have not touched you, and as we have done unto you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace: you are now the blessed of the LORD. (Abimelech had enough sense to recognize that Isaac was now blessed of the Lord, and that he must act accordingly. Regrettably, many in the modern Church do not seemingly have even as much spiritual discernment as that heathen prince of long ago.)

³⁰And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink (the covenant was made).

³¹And they rose up at a certain time in the morning, and swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

³²And it came to pass the same day, that Isaacs servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said unto him, We have found water. (The water here is symbolic of the Water of Life which would be afforded by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.)

³³And he called it Shebah (which means the well of the oath; it was symbolic of the Covenant made by the Lord with Abraham concerning Redemption): therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.

ESAUS WIVES

³⁴And 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 (these girls were in the line of Ham and Canaan, which was cursed [9:25-26]; at this time the Lord recognized only the line of Shem, because through Shem the Messiah would come):

³⁵Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.