26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring 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 settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with1 Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘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 upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,2 because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.3 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,4 saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to 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 offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing 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 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah;5 therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and they made life bitter6 for Isaac and Rebekah.
Section Overview
We noted earlier the similarities (and differences) between the experiences of Isaac and Abraham. Both have barren wives, who require divine intervention to resolve their situations (Gen. 11:30; 25:21). In addition, both face a time when the Promised Land proves to be similarly barren through famine, leading to the temptation to go down to Egypt. Isaac receives a direct word from God that keeps him from going down to Egypt (26:2–5), as his father did (12:10), but he nonetheless still falls into the same sinful pattern of pretending that his wife is his sister—as Abraham did twice, latterly in Gerar, the same place where Isaac is sojourning at this point (20:1; 26:1). Both stories of interactions with the Philistines end with quarreling over water supplies and then the making of a covenant at Beersheba as the Philistines observe the reality of the Lord’s presence with Abraham and Isaac (21:22–34; 26:18–35).
Critics often assume that these stories are simply variant accounts of the same events, but such an assumption ignores the literary function of such type-scenes. The reader is intended to set the stories side by side and compare and contrast them, paying particular attention to repeated themes and divergent details. For example, in the Abraham narrative both episodes threaten the promise of seed, since Sarah appears lost into the harem of a pagan ruler, whereas in Isaac’s case the promised seed has already been born. In both the Abrahamic episodes God intervenes supernaturally to reveal the truth and to pressure the pagan ruler to restore Sarah to Abraham, whereas in Isaac’s case Abimelech makes the discovery by chance, as it were, and needs no chiding to restore Rebekah. Meanwhile, the quarreling over water supplies in Isaac’s story is triggered by jealousy on the part of the Philistines, which must be resolved before the larger story arc can find its resolution. Each of these stories ends with the patriarch’s receiving the Lord’s rich blessing, which enables him to bless his Gentile neighbors as well, insofar as his neighbors approach him with appropriate respect, just as promised in 12:2–3.
The episode with Isaac and Abimelech is thus in no sense a mere repetition of what has gone before. Its significance lies in the fact that the Abrahamic blessing has now been visibly passed on to the next generation in all its fullness, despite Isaac’s repetition of the sins of the previous generation. This passing on of the torch would be a message of considerable importance to the original audience to whom Moses is writing, who are themselves the second generation during the wilderness wanderings.
Section Outline
IX. The Family History of Isaac (25:19–35:29) . . .
B. Another Famine and Its Consequences (26:1–35)
Response
As noted earlier, the primary focus of the narrative is on Isaac’s reliving the story of his illustrious father, Abraham, and experiencing God’s blessing upon him, thus confirming the covenant with Abraham. This would have been very relevant for Moses’ first audience, who were themselves the second generation in the wilderness. They had not seen firsthand the great works of God during the exodus, but they needed to trust that the Lord would nonetheless be with them as they sought to enter the Promised Land. That lesson continues to be relevant to all of us: the God of our forefathers will continue to be with us as he has promised, granting us the blessing of peace for the sake of the true seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ.
To be sure, not all of us are children of Abraham via physical descent. The covenant Isaac makes with Abimelech and Phicol shows how those who are not physical heirs of the promise may nonetheless share in the peace the Lord gives as they come to Abraham’s seed and enter into relationship with him. This is exactly what Genesis 12:2–3 anticipates: that those who are children of Abraham by faith may be included in the Lord’s plan of blessing for the world. Yet even a righteous lifestyle will not always result in trouble-free relationships with those around us. The other side of Paul’s admonition to live at peace with our neighbors whenever possible (Rom. 12:17–18) is his sobering caution to Timothy: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Even in the midst of persecution our peace, gentleness, and patience may still point people to our God.
At the same time, not all those who are physically descended from Abraham are true heirs of the promise. Esau demonstrated his lack of interest in his birthright at the end of the previous chapter, and in this chapter he continues to show his true spiritual colors in his marriages to two Hittite women. Esau would rather attach himself to this world and enjoy its advantages than keep himself distinct as part of the holy people of God. Likewise, Christians may find themselves tempted to intermarry with those who do not share their faith, in contravention of God’s call on their lives (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14–18).
Ultimately, our hope does not rest in the strength of our faith, or in how faithfully we follow God’s law—important though that is. Our hope does not rest in Isaac, who is revealed in this chapter as a deeply flawed son of Abraham, a man who shares in his father’s sins as well as in his faith. Our hope rests in Jesus Christ, the only son of Abraham who is utterly without fault. In his case the nations did not seek him out to sign a nonaggression pact for mutual blessing. On the contrary, the nations conspired together with his own people to put him to death on a cross (Acts 4:27). Yet it was God’s sovereign purpose that through Jesus’ death on the cross he would bring his chosen ones to himself and thus unite Jews and Gentiles together into one body as heirs of the promises first given to Abraham (Acts 4:27–28).Genesis 26