After having been introduced to the sons of Isaac in Esau and Jacob, and after having seen
the dubious trade of the birthright from the older brother to the younger brother, we come to learn
of a famine that strikes the land - this being a second famine besides the one in Abraham’s time.
With this famine Isaac went to the king Abimelek of the Philistines in Gerar for assistance.
Now, many might notice the parallel here between Isaac’s story and Abraham’s where we saw Abraham
once visit a king Abimelech when the famine struck his land. In fact, we saw Abraham go south towards
Egypt, which Isaac appears to emulate in an effort to find resources to feed his family. The bible
references the town of Gerar here - the same Gerar where Abraham once nearly offered his wife Sarah
to yet another king Abimelech - Abimelech perhaps being not a name, but instead a royal title.
But in Isaac’s decision to travel the same route his father had done during his famine,
The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell
you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you.
For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to
your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will
give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands,
my decrees and my instructions.” (Genesis 26:2-6) With this, Isaac stayed in Gerar.
Here, we see God relay very specific instructions to Isaac,
perhaps even warnings, that he should not go down to Egypt.
This is likely because as the son of Promise, Isaac had to live in the Promised land of Canaan.
If he ventured into Egypt and found succour there, then the promised land would be without its ruler
and thus, would no longer be the promised land. This is similar to the case where Abraham sends
his servant to find Isaac a wife, instead of allowing Isaac to go and do this himself,
for Isaac was never meant to leave the land which was promised to him. God continues that if Isaac
did not go to Egypt and if he was obedient to his commands, then the covenant made with Abraham
would truly have been made with Isaac and upon his descendants. By showing this here in the bible,
we can see that God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be blessed, also came true,
for with Isaac’s obedience, God blesses him too. The moral here that believers might derive from
this section is that God is true to his word and that if he says something is going to happen,
then it makes good sense to trust him. Furthermore, God promises to Isaac that
the same Covenant made with his father is now being offered to him, for he promises an almost
identical deal with Isaac, where his descendants will be numerous and all will be blessed.
But whilst in Gerar, we see Isaac succumb to the same follies as his father and I’m reminded of
Shakespeare’s quote, ‘The sins of the father are laid upon the children.’ In an effort to protect
himself, Isaac, like his father, asks his wife to pretend to be his sister, for if the men of Gerar
suspected her of being his wife, they would have killed him and taken her for themselves. The bible
tells us, “When the men of that place asked him about his wife, Isaac said, “She is my sister,”
because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me
on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” So exactly like Abraham, Isaac came to believe
that his wife’s beauty would enrapture the men of the land and because these were not righteous men,
they would lust after Rebekah and kill him to get to her. But if they believed she was his sister,
they would not antagonise him and through this deception, they would pursue Rebekah instead. We
see Isaac here show the same cowardice his father had done in virtually the exact same situation,
where he does not trust God to keep him safe and instead takes it into his own hands.
He uses deceptions and lies in order to facilitate his own well-being,
but in the process subjugates his own wife to the advances of the men in Gerar.
It can be determined that this was Isaac’s weakness, that he feared the men of Gerar
far more than he feared God. But it could also be a sign of Abraham’s bad example
and that whilst he did do a lot of good for Isaac, (minus attempting to sacrifice him),
he was far from a perfect father. Indeed, this could be a lesson in itself,
in that the bible is trying to show believers that even the great men such as Abraham and
Isaac were fallible and that it is from their mistakes, that one can try to do better.
It would appear though that Isaac’s ruse was successful… until one day, Abimelech,
the king of the Philistines saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. Coming to the logical conclusion
that Isaac had lied and that Rebekkah was not his sister, he summoned Isaac and berated him, saying,
“She is really your wife! Why did you say, “she is my sister?”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your
wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” We see here that despite not being God-fearing,
Abimelek and his people are outraged at such a deception.
His rebuke, ‘What is this you have done to us?’ is very similar to Pharaoh's response who arguably
had slept with Sarah as a result of Abraham’s deceptions. He continues that with Isaac’s lie,
one of the men might very well have slept with her had he not discovered the truth and that if that
was to happen, it would bring guilt upon them as a people. With this, we can see that the people of
Gerar did have some principles and even virtues, in that if they had been duped by Isaac’s deceit,
they would feel awful for it and perhaps, even be anxious over God’s potential punishment for them.
In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Abimelek gives the order to all of his people,
that if anyone harms Isaac or his wife Rebekah, then they will be put
to death. Whilst many will see this as simply Abimelek taking precautions against Isaac’s God
by enforcing protection around him, some have interpreted Abimelek’s actions as having been
influenced by God and that this was God showing his favour to Isaac, despite his previous sins.
We are then told that Isaac remained in the land and that he planted crops.
Because the Lord had blessed him, the crops grew in abundance and Isaac became a very rich man.
Through this, we understand more about Isaac’s character,
in that despite having received all of Abraham’s inheritance (which would have been more than
enough to have lived off), he still chooses to work and does not allow himself to become idle.
Because of this way of thinking, God blesses him, suggesting that those who work hard and
honourably, at least, in the name of God, will be rewarded. But as a result of his success,
he also earned the envy of the Philistines and the bible tells us that all the wells
that Abraham’s servants had dug up, were sabotaged by the Philistines as they filled them with dirt.
With this, Abimelek brings caution to Isaac, telling him “Move away from us;
you have become too powerful for us.” It is not determined whether Abimelek says this
out of envy himself and that Isaac’s success turns him bitter, or whether he is warning Isaac
that he has become so notorious, that he can no longer fulfil his promise of protection - and
thus, did not want to earn the wrath of his God for failing his obligation. In any case, Isaac
does heed the words of Abimelek and moves away to camp in the Valley of Gerar, where he settles.
He proceeded to reopen the wells that had been sabotaged and gave them the same name
his father had given them. Now, it should be noted that the Philistines sabotaging the wells
was no small slight and because of how precious water was in the desert regions, this was truly
a malicious attack, furthermore demonstrating the level of envy in which the Philistines had
for Isaac. In fact, in some capacity, some might have even seen this as a long term attempt
on Isasac’s life by the Philistines, who wished for him to not only die,
but to suffer as he succumbed to thirst. With this, Isaac does leave as per Abimelek’s words,
but he goes not in fear of the Philistines, but perhaps in faith that God will protect him.
Unlike Abraham, it would appear that Isaac was quick to learn after his previous folly
that God was on his side and that nothing bad would come to him if he truly believed.
The bible continues, “Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there.
But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “the water is ours!”
So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him.” (Genesis 26:19-20)
So we see here that Isaac finds fresh water amongst the wells that had already
been sabotaged and one might suppose that this was God yet again supplying Isaac
with exactly what he needed. But naturally, when the herders of Gerar found out about this,
they deemed that the well belongs to them, which leads Isaac to name it
‘Esek’, thought to mean ‘contention’ on the account that it made others jealous.
The second well that was dug up by Isaac’s servants was named Sitnah and this well was
also quarrelled over. But the third well which was dug up away from the valley was not quarreled over
and it was named Rehoboth - or ‘roominess’ because it was away enough from Gerar to
not be contested. With this, Isaac recognised the well as a testament of God’s favour and blessing,
where he states “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
Isaac then went up to Beersheba, where Abraham had been before and 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 will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
This is one of the first appearances of God that Isaac experiences
and these appear to be quite few and far between when compared to his father Abraham,
who appeared to get visits from God quite often. This might be because Abraham was one of the first
men to form a consistent relationship with God and therefore required more mentorship and guidance.
But Isaac, having learned the ways of God from Abraham, required much less intervention.
God tells Isaac not to be afraid, perhaps seeking to placate the anxieties that Isaac might’ve had
when considering the tensions between himself and the herdsmen of Gerar. He also promises
Isaac directly that he will bless him and that he will increase the number of his descendants,
much as he had promised Abraham. WIth this,
Isaac knows God’s words to be true and so, became even more trusting in the Lord.
So Isaac built an altar there to the Lord and pitched a tent in this very same space. As a
result of his continued faith, his servants were able to dig yet another well - perhaps, another
sign of God’s favour and the blessings that one can receive if they put their trust in him.
The bible continues, “Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar,
with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. Isaac asked them,
“Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?” (Genesis 26:26-27)
They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, There ought to be a sworn
agreement between us’ - between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that will do us no harm,
just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully And now you
are blessed by the Lord.” (Genesis 26 28:29) Interestingly, we understand that Abimelech
recognised the covenant between Isaac and God and could see that there definitely was some higher
power blessing him, for how could Isaac have not only been blessed with crops, but also survived
out in the valleys in spite of his sabotaged wells. In fact, one might argue that because of
the additional wells dug up by his servants, Isaac didn’t just survive in the valley, but thrived.
He had also held his own against the herdsman of Gerar and despite moving out further from
even them, he had still found water and still prospered. To Abimelech, there was no denying
that Isaac was truly blessed by his God and so, he grew even more wary of God’s power
and what might happen to him if something bad happened to Isaac. So Abimelech comes asking
for peace so as to spare him of any backlash as well as blessing, so that perhaps, some of Isaac’s
favour with the Lord would rub off on him too. Now holding all the cards in his hand, Isaac might
have used this leverage of God to his advantage and made Abimelech succumb to his demands.
But instead, Isaac does not repay Abimelech with the same discourteousness that he had been shown
when he was kicked out of Gerar, but instead shows kindness and acceptance of Abimelech. The
bible tells us, “Isaac made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. Early the
next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way,
and they went away peacefully.” (Genesis 26:30-31) With this, we see that Isaac establishes something
of his own covenant with Abimelech - a covenant of peace, if you will, that is sealed by the
sharing of food over the feast. We see that when Isaac sends them on their way, they depart
peacefully and no further ramifications of conflicts appear to be on the horizon.
The chapter concludes with Isaac receiving yet another blessing - maybe on the account
that he had shown kindness to Abimelech, when he might’ve shown him spite for having been
banished from Gerar. The bible tells us, “That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well
they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the
town has been Beersheba.” (Genesis 26:32-33) Let me know in the comments below what you
thought about the confrontation and resolution between Isaac and Abimelech and as always,
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