64 | Genesis 26:3
3 Stay in this land for a while , h and I will be with you and will bless you . i For to you and your de scen dants I will give all these lands j and will con firm the oath I swore to your fa ther Abraham . 4 I will make your de scen dants as nu mer ous as the stars in the sky k and will give them all these lands , and through your off spring a all na tions on earth will be blessed , b l 5 because Abraham obeyed me m and did ev ery thing I re quired of him , keep ing my com mands , my decrees and my instructions .” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar .
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife , he said , “ She is my sis ter , n ” because he was afraid to say , “ She is my wife .” He thought , “ The men of this place might kill me on ac count of Re bekah , be cause she is beau ti ful .”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time , Abim e lek king of the Phi lis tines looked down from a win dow and saw Isaac ca ress ing his wife Re bekah . 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said , “ She is really your wife ! Why did you say , ‘ She is my sis ter ’?” Isaac an swered him , “ Be cause I thought I might lose my life on ac count of her .” 10 Then Abim e lek said , “ What is this you have done to us ? o One of the men might well have slept with your wife , and you would have brought guilt upon us .” 11 So Abim e lek gave or ders to all the peo ple : “ Any one who harms p this man or his wife shall surely be put to death .”
12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hun dred fold , be cause the Lord blessed him . q 13 The man be came rich , and his wealth con tin ued to grow un til he became very wealthy . r 14 He had so many flocks and herds and ser vants s that the Phi lis tines envied him . t
15 So all the wells u that his fa ther ’ s ser vants had dug in the time of his fa ther Abraham , the Philistines stopped up , v fill ing them with earth . 16 Then Abim e lek said to Isaac , “ Move away from us ; you have be come too pow er ful for us . w ” 17 So Isaac moved away from there and en camped in the Val ley of Ge rar , where he settled . 18 Isaac re opened the wells x that had been dug in the time of his fa ther Abra ham , which the Phi lis tines had stopped up af ter Abra ham died , and he gave them the same names his fa ther had given them .
19 Isaac ’ s ser vants dug in the val ley and dis cov ered a well of fresh wa ter there . 20 But the herd ers of Ge rar quar reled with those of Isaac and said , “ The wa ter is ours !” y So he named the well Esek , c be cause they dis puted with him . 21 Then they dug an other well , but they quar reled over that one also ; so he named it Sit nah . d 22 He moved on from there and dug an other well , and no one quar reled over it . He named it Re ho both , e say ing , “ Now the Lord has given us room and we will flour ish z in the land .”
23 From there he went up to Be er sheba . 24 That night the Lord ap peared to him and said , “ I am the God of your fa ther Abra ham . a Do not be afraid , b for I am with you ; I will bless you and will in crease the num ber of your de scen dants c for the sake of my ser vant Abra ham .” d
25 Isaac built an al tar e there and called on the name of the Lord . There he pitched his tent , and there his ser vants dug a well .
26 Mean while , Abim e lek had come to him from Ge rar , with Ahuz zath his per sonal adviser and Phi col the com mander of his forces . f 27 Isaac asked them , “ Why have you come to me , since you were hos tile to me and sent me away ? g ”
28 They an swered , “ We saw clearly that the Lord was with you ; h so we said , ‘ There ought to be a sworn agree ment be tween us ’ — be tween us and you . Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm , just as we did not harm you but al ways treated you well and sent you away peace fully . And now you are blessed by the Lord .” i
26:3 h Ge 20:1 ; 28:15 i Ge 12:2 ; 22:16-18
j Ge 12:7 ; 13:15 ; 15:18
26:4 k Ge 15:5 ; 22:17 ; Ex 32:13 l Ge 12:3 ; 22:18 ; Gal 3:8
26:5 m Ge 22:16
26:7 n Ge 12:13 ; 20:2 , 12 ; Pr 29:25
26:10 o Ge 20:9 26:11 p Ps 105:15
26:12 q ver 3 ; Job 42:12
26:13 r Pr 10:22
26:14 s Ge 24:36 t Ge 37:11
26:15 u Ge 21:30 v Ge 21:25
26:16 w Ex 1:9 26:18 x Ge 21:30 26:20 y Ge 21:25 26:22 z Ge 17:6 ; Ex 1:7
26:24 a Ge 24:12 ; Ex 3:6 b Ge 15:1 c ver 4 d Ge 17:7
26:25 e Ge 12:7 , 8 ; 13:4 , 18 ; Ps 116:17
26:26 f Ge 21:22 26:27 g ver 16 26:28 h Ge 21:22
26:29 i Ge 24:31 ; Ps 115:15 a 4 Or seed b 4 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings ( see 48:20 ) c 20 Esek means dispute . d 21 Sitnah means opposition . e 22 Rehoboth means room .
26:3 – 5 God accompanies his instructions to Isaac with assurances that resonate with the promises he gave to Abraham . Through Isaac God will “ confirm the oath ” ( v . 3 ) that he swore to Abraham ( 22:16 – 18 ). Since Isaac was present when God made that oath , he would easily recall the occasion . By associating this oath with Abraham ’ s obedience and by underlining that Abraham kept God ’ s commands , decrees , and instructions , God encourages Isaac to obey him . Obeying God takes many forms . 26:7 Famine forces Isaac to relocate to a new region ( see v . 1 ). Like Abraham ( 12:10 – 20 ; 20:1 – 18 ), Isaac pretends that his wife is his sister in order to safeguard his own life .
Isaac ’ s behavior implies that the region was far from peaceful . It also reflects his lack of trust in God . 26:8 – 11 When Abimelek discovers Isaac ’ s deception , he acts with integrity , fearful that unknowingly he and his people may become guilty of adultery . Abimelek ’ s reaction contrasts sharply with what Isaac expected . This incident parallels Abraham ’ s earlier ruse ( 20:1 – 18 ; cf . 12:10 – 20 ). 26:12 the Lord blessed him . God ’ s favor or blessing is associated with those who belong to the unique lineage Genesis traces . Like Abraham , Isaac prospers materially ( v . 13 ). 26:14 – 16 Isaac ’ s prosperity causes the Philistines to become envious and fearful of Isaac , so Isaac moves away . 26:17 – 23 Isaac ’ s move brings him to a location where earlier Abraham dug wells . Since the Philistines subsequently stopped up these wells ( presumably to discourage seminomadic herdsmen from settling there ), Isaac reopens them ( v . 18 ). Unfortunately , his actions provoke protests ( vv . 20 – 21 ), which eventually cause him to move further away from Gerar ( vv . 22 – 23 ). 26:26 – 31 When Isaac relocates to Beersheba , Abimelek comes to him seeking to make a treaty . This event recalls 21:22 – 32 , which records that Abraham and the king of Gerar made a similar peace treaty in Beersheba .