Genesis 26
26
Isaac Lies to Abimelech
1Once there was a time of hunger in the land. This was besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar. He went to see Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your descendants all these lands. I will keep the agreement I made to Abraham your father. 4I will give you many descendants. They will be as hard to count as the stars in the sky. And I will give them all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed. 5I will do this because your father Abraham obeyed me. He did what I said. He obeyed my commands, my teachings and my rules.”
6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7Isaac’s wife Rebekah was very beautiful. The men of that place asked Isaac about her. Isaac said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to tell them she was his wife. He thought they might kill him so they could have her.
8Isaac lived there a long time. One day as Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out his window, he saw Isaac. Isaac was holding his wife Rebekah tenderly. 9Abimelech called for Isaac and said, “This woman is your wife. Why did you say she was your sister?”
Isaac said to him, “I was afraid you would kill me so you could have her.”
10Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of our men might have had physical relations with your wife. Then we would have been guilty of a great sin.”
11So Abimelech warned everyone. He said, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death.”
Isaac Becomes Rich
12Isaac planted seed in that land. And that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much. 13Isaac became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14He had many slaves and many flocks and herds. The Philistines envied him. 15So they stopped up all the wells the servants of Isaac’s father Abraham had dug. (They had dug them when Abraham was alive.) The Philistines filled those wells with dirt. 16And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become much more powerful than we are.”
17So Isaac left that place. He camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there. 18Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells. After Abraham died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19Isaac’s servants dug a well in the valley. From it a spring of water flowed. 20But the men who herded sheep in Gerar argued with Isaac’s servants. They said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Argue because they argued with him. 21Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. The people also argued about it. So Isaac named that well Fight. 22Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one argued about this one. So he named that well Room Enough. Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made room for us. We will be successful in this land.”
23From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24The Lord appeared to Isaac that night. The Lord said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid because I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants. I will do this because of my servant Abraham.” 25So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.
26Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. Abimelech brought with him Ahuzzath, who advised him, and Phicol, the commander of his army. 27Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to see me? You were my enemy. You forced me to leave your country.”
28They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. We will make a promise to you. And we would like you to make one to us. We would like to make an agreement with you. 29We did not hurt you. So promise you will not hurt us. And we were good to you, and we sent you away in peace. Now the Lord has blessed you.”
30So Isaac prepared food for them, and they all ate and drank. 31Early the next morning the men made a promise to each other. Then Isaac sent them away, and they left in peace.
32That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We found water in that well.” 33So Isaac named it Shibah# This name sounds like the Hebrew words for “seven” and “promise.” and that city is still called Beersheba even now.
34When Esau was 40 years old, he married two Hittite women. One was Judith daughter of Beeri. The other was Basemath daughter of Elon. 35These women brought much sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.
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Genesis 26
26
Isaac Settles in Gerar
1Now there was a famine in the land [of Canaan], besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to #26:1 This is not the Abimelech of ch 20. Abimelech may actually be a dynastic title, like Caesar or Pharaoh, instead of a proper name. The events recounted in chapters 20 and 26 are separated by almost a hundred years.Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I will tell you. 3Live temporarily [as a resident] in this land and I will be with you and will bless and favor you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will establish and carry out the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. [Gen 22:16-18; Ps 105:9] 4I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, [Gen 22:18; Acts 3:25, 26; Gal 3:16] 5because Abraham listened to and obeyed My voice and [consistently] kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7The men of the place asked him about his wife, and he said, “She is my #26:7 When Abraham used this ploy, it was a half-truth; when Isaac said this it was a complete lie. At this time Isaac was at least seventy-five years old; Rebekah’s age at this time is not known.sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife”—thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is very beautiful.” 8It happened when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac #26:8 The name “Isaac” is based on the Hebrew verb translated “caressing,” whose primary meaning is “to laugh” (cf 17:19).caressing Rebekah his wife. 9Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “See here, Rebekah is in fact your wife! How did you [dare to] say to me, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might be killed because of her [desirability].” 10Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the men [among our people] might easily have been intimate with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us [before God].” 11Then Abimelech commanded all his people, “Whoever touches this man [Isaac] or his wife [Rebekah] shall without exception be put to death.”
12Then Isaac planted [seed] in that land [as a farmer] and reaped in the same year a hundred times [as much as he had planted], and the Lord blessed and favored him. 13And the man [Isaac] became great and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and extremely distinguished; 14he owned flocks and herds and a great household [with a number of servants], and the Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with dirt. 16Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from here, because you are far too powerful for us.” 17So Isaac left that region and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.
Quarrel over the Wells
18Now Isaac again dug [and reopened] the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had filled them up [with dirt] after the death of Abraham; and he gave the wells the same names that his father had given them. 19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing [spring] water, 20the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek (quarreling), because they quarreled with him. 21Then his servants dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so Isaac named it Sitnah (enmity). 22He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over that one; so he named it Rehoboth (broad places), saying, “For now the Lord has made #26:22 I.e. broad places.room for us, and we shall be #26:22 Lit fruitful.prosperous in the land.”
23Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,
“I am the God of Abraham your father;
Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
I will bless and favor 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 [in prayer]. He pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Covenant with Abimelech
26Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, his [close friend and confidential] adviser, and Phicol, the commander of his army. 27Isaac said to them, “Why have you [people] come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28They said, “We see clearly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘There should now be an oath between us [with a curse for the one who breaks it], that is, between you and us, and let us make a covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you, 29that you will not harm us, just as we have not touched you and have done nothing but good to you and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed and favored of the Lord!’ ” 30Then Isaac held a [formal] banquet (covenant feast) for them, and they ate and drank. 31They got up early in the morning and swore oaths [pledging to do nothing but good to each other]; and Isaac sent them on their way and they left him in peace. 32Now on the same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, saying, “We have found water.” 33So he named the well #26:33 This could mean “oath” or “overflow, abundance.” Likewise, the name Beersheba could mean “well of abundance,” or “well of the oath,” or “seven wells.”Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. [Gen 21:31]
34When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite as his wives; 35and they were a #26:35 Lit bitterness of spirit.source of grief to [Esau’s parents] Isaac and Rebekah.
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