God’s Promise to Isaac
In this digression from Jacob’s story, Isaac’s prosperity...
In this digression from Jacob’s story, Isaac’s prosperity (ch 26) shows that the blessing had passed to him (cp. 25:11) despite his failures of faith.
1Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
The Lord assured Isaac that the covenant promises...
The Lord assured Isaac that the covenant promises (cp. 12:2–3; 15:5–8; 17:3–8; 22:15–18; 28:13–14) would pass to him because Abraham faithfully listened to God and obeyed all his requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions. These terms were later used in Deuteronomy to describe God’s full legal covenant with Israel. An Israelite reader would immediately think of the complete Torah when hearing these words and be prompted to obey God’s law as Abraham did, though Abraham had only a few commands from the Lord. Through these words, the text emphasizes that Abraham would have obeyed the later commands if he had had them, because he was an obedient servant of the Lord.
2The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you. 3Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 4I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, 5because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Isaac Deceives Abimelech
While staying in Gerar, Isaac, like his father,...
While staying in Gerar, Isaac, like his father, deceived people into believing that his wife was his sister. Some suppose that this story duplicates the stories of Abraham’s deception (12:10–20; 20:1–18), but the differences are greater than the similarities, and the son’s repetition of his father’s lie is natural. Through numerous parallels with Abraham, ch 26 shows how God’s plan continued with Isaac. Even when Isaac jeopardized the covenant as his father had, God prevented disaster and preserved the marriage. Abraham’s descendants would be blessed because of Abraham, but they had to exercise their own faith to enjoy the blessings. Genuine faith in God’s promises engenders a fearless walk with him; cowering in fear endangers the blessing and mocks the faith.
6So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”
8When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”
Isaac, like his father, was rebuked by Abimelech...
Isaac, like his father, was rebuked by Abimelech (see study note on 20:1–18). This legal wording would remind Israel of how important it was to preserve marital purity. Abimelech recognized the danger to his own people. Though his decree preserved his own society, it was also a word from God that preserved the sanctity of Isaac’s and Israel’s marriages. If Isaac’s marriage had ended here, there would have been no Israelite society.
10“What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
Isaac’s Prosperity
Isaac lived in the land as a temporary...
Isaac lived in the land as a temporary settler, enjoying abundant prosperity because of God’s blessing; his crops flourished and he became very rich.
12Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, 13and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy.
The Philistines envied Isaac’s prosperity and filled his...
The Philistines envied Isaac’s prosperity and filled his wells with dirt. The king then ordered Isaac to leave that region because he was too powerful for them (cp. 21:22–23).
14He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.
16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”
Isaac moved... to the Gerar Valley (away from...
Isaac moved . . . to the Gerar Valley (away from the city of Gerar itself, 26:6, but probably still within ten miles) and reopened his father’s wells. Isaac was also opposed there, but chose not to fight back; he relinquished one well after another until God’s blessing outdid the opposition. Whenever Isaac reopened a well, and regardless of how often enemies caused them to cave in, he found water. God was blessing Isaac and that blessing could not be hindered. Finally, the Philistines left Isaac alone.
17So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.
19Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh water† there. 20But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek,† because they contended with him.
21Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.†
22He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth† and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
At Beersheba,... the Lord appeared to Isaac to...
At Beersheba, . . . the Lord appeared to Isaac to confirm his covenant (cp. 21:31–33). Isaac responded in faith as his father had done by building an altar to the Lord and proclaiming the Lord’s identity and nature (see study note on 12:8; 21:33).
23From there Isaac went up to Beersheba, 24and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.
Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech
This treaty is similar to the one an...
This treaty is similar to the one an earlier king had made with Abraham (cp. 21:22–31). This king acknowledged that God was blessing Isaac and realized that a treaty with Isaac would benefit him. No opposition can hinder God’s blessing—it will flourish, and other nations will see it and seek peace with God’s people to share in the blessing.
26Later, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
27“Why have you come to me?” Isaac asked them. “You hated me and sent me away.”
28“We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you 29that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”
30So Isaac prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31And they got up early the next morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
32On that same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We have found water!” they told him. 33So he called it Shibah,† and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.†
Esau’s Wives
Esau’s marriages illustrate how unfit he was to...
Esau’s marriages illustrate how unfit he was to lead the covenant people into God’s blessings, and how foolish was Isaac’s later attempt to bless Esau (27:1–40). Esau later married a third wife in a vain attempt to do the right thing (28:6–9).
34When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.