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  

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,  

if you’ve enjoyed today’s episode  of Biblical Stories Explained,  

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content just like this. Until next time!