Genesis 26

However, God has a message for us in the life of Issac just as he has a message for us throughout the entire Bible.

Remember again what Paul tells us in Romans 15:4, For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

This is a chapter teaches patience, and many of us need that, particularly myself.

But patience isn’t all God wants us. We also have examples of God’s expectation of us in men like Abraham, like Jacob, and like David.

These men who were aggresive go–getters just as much as they were patient in thier trust od God.

The message in the life of Isaac has a great message for us and we shouldn’t forget the words of 2nd Timothy 3:16-17, that All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So, with that in mind, let’s come to this chapter.

Isaac, the beloved son, has the covenant that God gave to Abraham, his father, confirmed to him. Then we find him dropping into the same sin of unbelief as Abraham had done. Like father Like Son.

Finally, we see him digging wells in the land of Gerar. It may not seem very exciting but there’s a message here for us; so let’s not miss it.

Starting off in Genesis 26 with verses 1 and 2 we read,  There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. 

This is now the second famine that’s been mentioned. You remember the famine in the days of Abraham when Abraham and Lot took off for Egypt.

Verse 2,  Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 

Now, why did God say that to Isaac?

Well, if he’d have acted the same as his father he’d have run off down to the land of Egypt. This reveals the fact that “like father, like son,” sins are carried from father to son. There’s no generation gap in sin. Generally, the son makes very much the same mistakes that the father did, unless something intervenes.

So God gives definite instructions to Isaac in this famine in that He’s adamant that Issac must not go down to Egypt. Then God confirms the covenant which He had made with Abraham.

Verses 3 and 4 and we’re in Genesis chapter 26,  Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 

And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 

God says to Isaac, “Don’t leave this land, don’t go down to Egypt. I want to confirm with you the covenant which I made with Abraham.” And He repeats the threefold promise: (1) The land; “to you and your descendants I give all these lands, (the land of Canaan)”; (2) The nation; “I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven”; (3) The blessing; “and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

Verse 5 now,  because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” 

Now, at this point God had not yet given the Mosaic Law; Abraham was not under the Mosaic system. However, the important thing is that, when God told Abraham something, he believed God and acted on it. He demonstrated his faith by action.

Friends, its action based on our faith that produces the reality of God in our lives. We can’t just sit in the corner, twiddling our thumbs, saying, “I believe,” and then expecting some great happening to take place. It just doesn’t happen that way. When you believe God, you act on His promises.

Faith is what you act on. Faith is something that you step out on. We learn through study just what it is that God’s promised us. The more we understand God and learn exactly what it is He’s promised the more certain we become that the promises are real and God cannot lie. Our actions will then follow that which we believe.

For example, if we believe God’s promise of eternal life and we do what he says we must do to inherit it, that is believe on the Lord Jesus, why would our actions be to cower in fear of death?

Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness. God’s now telling Isaac that He wants him to be that same kind of man.

Now we read verse 6  So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 

Gerar is to the south. Abraham and Isaac both lived in the southern part of that land. Actually, Abraham had come into the land up north to Shechem, but he ended up living down in the southern part at Hebron, the “place of communion.”

To verse 7  And the men of the place asked about his (Issacs) wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” 

You see, Isaac’s repeating the sin of his father.

God had warned him not to go to Egypt; so he didn’t go but he went to Gerar instead. In Gerar he must have seen the men ogling Rebekah, obviously because of her beauty; so he says to her, “You tell them that you’re my sister, not my wife.”

The only difference between Abraham and Isaac is that Abraham told half a lie and Isaac told a whole lie

Genesis 26:8,  Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. 

The word sporting here means they were laughing and playing together.

Verses 9 and 10, Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ” And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” 

Isaac had put these people in danger of committing a sin.

Verse 11,  So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” 

Abimelech became a very good friend of Isaac’s. Isaac had the respect of the community just as Abraham had had. Both of them were outstanding men. I mention that here because from the rest of the chapter we might not get the impression that Isaac is an outstanding man.

Genesis 26:12,  Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. 

God is with him, as we can see. That’s the blessing that God promised to these people from the day He called Abraham. It was an earthly blessing.

Later on, when God put them into that land, He told them He would bless them in their basket; that is, it would be filled with foodstuff. God made that promise good when they were walking in fellowship with Him.

We must remember that He’s not promising us that blessing.

He’s promised spiritual blessings to us. We’re told that we’re blessed with all spiritual blessings, and that’s our portion today.

We must be careful to know exactly what God has promised us before we start “believing” for a bulging bank account and unlimited material belongings. Sure all our needs are met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, but our lusts are not met the same way.

Our blessings today are on the same terms as Abraham and Issac. They depend on our walk with God. If we’ll permit Him, He wants to bless us abundantly in our spiritual life. We find here that Isaac is greatly blessed.

Now verse 13,  The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; 

Let’s not miss the fact that Isaac is greatly blessed. His field brings forth a hundredfold! The impression some of us have is that Abraham was outstanding, and Jacob was also, but not Isaac. Well, Isaac is also outstanding.

Isaac’s life is tied in with that of Abraham. Isaac’s birth and his life are interwoven with Abraham’s experiences. Although Isaac was important when he was offered there on that altar, it was Abraham and Isaac together. We’ve already seen that all these things happened to them for examples to us and the relationship between Abraham and Issac presents a wonderful example of the intimacy between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father. Jesus said in John 14:9, “… He who has seen Me has seen the Father …”. And in the prayer Jesus prays to the Father in John 14:4, He said, “… I have finished the work which You have given Me to do”. Also, He said in John 5:17, “… My Father has been working until now, and I have been working”. Therefore, it’s only right that the story of Isaac and the story of Abraham are identified together.

Now here in this chapter before us we see Isaac standing on his own two feet, and he doesn’t look real attractive. Either Abraham didn’t teach Issac about the lapses in his own faith and the mistakes he made or Issac wasn’t listening because he shows the same weaknesses and repeats the sin of Abraham. However, the Word of God makes it clear that Isaac was a very great man in that land—

On we go to verse 14,  for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. 

The Philistines couldn’t stand to see all this prosperity—

Verse 15,  Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 

Now, Abraham had been going round digging wells in that land, and now Issac, his son comes along and the wells become his.

But he would go out in the morning and find that the wells were all filled up. This was done by the Philistines and, by the way, this is the first mention of the enmity of the Philistines. This led to continual warfare later on in the days of David.

Chapter 26:16,  And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” 

Notice Isaac’s importance.

Verse 17,  Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 

This bloke Abimelech said, “You’re causing a great deal of difficulty now, and it’d be better if you left.” He had great respect for Isaac, as you can see.

Now this is a part of Isaac’s life that looks like weakness, but it’s not. Notice that he returns back to the land where his father Abraham had been—

To Genesis 26:18,  And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. 

Verse 19, Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. 

and verse 20 , But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.

This reveals the struggle that was going on.

Here we can say that the water is a picture of the Word of God. We’re to drink deeply of it. It’s called the “water of the Word” and it’s for drinking purposes to satisfy our spiritual thirst, and it’s also for washing. Jesus said that we’re cleansed through the Word which He has spoken.

You can’t have life without water. In our extensive travels wandering around Australia, we’ve seen millions of acres of arid land. Then all of a sudden we’ll come across an area that’s lush and green and fertile. There’s only one explanation. Water.

Also, friends, water is the explanation for the differences between God’s children in any church—the water of the Word of God. There’s a great difference in the lives of believers who study God’s Word. And there’ll be a struggle. We’ll always have to pay a price if we’re really going to study the Word of God. The devil will permit you to do anything in this world except get into the Word of God.

Genesis 26:21-22, Then they dug another well, and they quarrelled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. 

And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” 

Then he calls the well Rehoboth. It means “there is room for us.”

Before that he’d dig a well and the Philistines would take it away from him. He’d move up, dig another one, and they’d take that away from him. He would just keep moving up.

This certainly reveals that Isaac is a man of peace and a man of patience. David wouldn’t have done this, I can tell you that. Simon Peter wouldn’t have done that.

And I wouldn’t have done that either. It’s a real lesson for us here that’s especially applicable when we apply it to the study of the Word of God.

Genesis 26:23-24,  Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” 

God appears to Issac to comfort him. God appeared to all the patriarchs with the exception of Joseph. He appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Verse 25,  So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. 

He goes on again, digging wells. You can always put a well down next to Isaac. You can put an altar down next to Abraham, and you can put a tent down next to Jacob, as we shall see later on.

Let’s look at verses 26 to 29 now,   Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” But they said, “We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.’ ” 

Although Isaac almost seems weak in his dealing with the men of Gerar, the king of Gerar was so impressed that he followed Isaac to Beer–sheba in order to establish good relations. The influence of Isaac in that land wasn’t that of a weak man.

Verses 30 to 33,  So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 

Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 

It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 

So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. 

God is obviously blessing Isacc’s way of carrying himself in the presence of those outsiders. Another great lesson for us.

Finally, in this chapter we have verses 34 and 35,  When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

In the next chapter, we will see Jacob in his true colours. Thereby hangs a tale or in other words watch this space there’s more to the story.

In the next chapter, we will see Jacob in his true colours. Thereby hangs a tale or in other words watch this space there’s more to the story.