UST GEN Chapter 26

God Establishes His Covenant with Isaac

26:1-5

26 Now there was another severe food shortage in the region. This was a different shortage from the one that had happened years before, while Abraham was still alive. So Isaac and his family went to the city of Gerar to ask for help from King Abimelech, who ruled over the Philistines. 2 Then Yahweh appeared to Isaac and commanded him, “Do not go to the country of Egypt, rather stay in this land where I tell you to live. 3 Live as a foreigner in this region, and I will stay with you and prosper you. In fact, I will give all the surrounding regions to you and your descendants, and I will continue to keep the vow that I made to your father Abraham 4 that I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will also give them all these regions. In fact, through your descendants I will bless all the people groups on the earth. 5 I will do all that because Abraham obeyed me and did everything that I ever commanded him to do.”

Isaac Lies about His Wife Rebekah to the Philistines

26:6-11

6 Then Isaac did what God said and settled with his family in the city of Gerar. 7 Now Rebekah was very beautiful, so the men in that city started asking Isaac about her. Isaac was afraid they might kill him in order to have her, so he lied and told them she was his sister. 8 One day after Isaac had lived there a long time, the Philistines’ King Abimelech looked down from a window of his palace and saw to his surprise that Isaac was showing affection to his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and scolded him, “It is obvious that Rebekah is actually your wife! So why did you tell us that she is your sister?” Isaac answered him, “I said that because I thought someone might kill me in order to have her as a wife.” 10 Then Abimelech scolded him further, “You have treated us very badly! Sooner or later, one of my men could have slept with your wife, and you would have caused us to be guilty of adultery!” 11 Then King Abimelech warned all his people, “I will definitely execute anyone who harms Isaac or his wife!”

Isaac Has Conflict with the Philistines over His Wells

26:12-33

12 Isaac planted crops in that area, and that year he gathered a huge harvest that was a hundred times more than what he had planted. Yahweh continued to bless him, 13 so that he became richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy. 14 He owned many sheep and cattle and he also owned many servants. As a result, the Philistines were jealous of Isaac. 15 So they filled up with dirt all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug while he was still alive.

16 Then King Abimelech said to Isaac, “Please move away from us, because you are so powerful that you are a threat to us.” 17 So Isaac moved from the city of Gerar and pitched his tents in the Gerar Valley and stayed there for a while. 18 Then Isaac had his servants dig the dirt out of the wells that Abraham’s servants had dug and that the Philistines had just filled with dirt. He gave the wells the same names that his father had given them.

19 Next Isaac’s servants dug at a new place in the valley and discovered a source of fresh water there. 20 But the herdsmen from the city of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “That well is ours!” So Isaac named the well Esek, which means “argument,” because they argued with him about it. 21 Then Isaac’s servants dug another well, but Gerar’s herdsmen argued with them about that one too, so Isaac named it Sitnah, which means “hostility.” 22 Then Isaac and his family moved from there and he had his servants dig a third well. This time Gerar’s herdsmen did not argue about it, so he named it Rehoboth, which means “space,” because he said, “Finally Yahweh has provided space for us, so that we will prosper in the land.”

23 From there Isaac and his family went south to the city of Beersheba. 24 That night Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, “I am the God whom your father Abraham serves. Do not be afraid, because I will always be with you. I will bless you and make your descendants numerous, just as I promised to Abraham, who serves me.” 25 So Isaac built an altar there at Beersheba and worshiped Yahweh by name. He also set up his tents there, and his servants started digging another well there too.

26 Then King Abimelech went to Isaac from the city of Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, especially since you have been hostile toward me and forced me to move away from you?” 28 They answered him, “It is very obvious to us that Yahweh is with you and blessing you, and we decided that we should make a vow with you to live in peace with one another. So please let us make a peace treaty with you, 29 that you will never harm us, just as we never harmed you, but only treated you well and sent you away in peace. As a result, Yahweh has now blessed you.” 30 Then Isaac prepared a feast, and they all ate and drank together. 31 Early the next morning they got up and made vows to one another that they would keep their treaty. Then Isaac said goodbye to them, and they went home from him in peace.

32 That same day Isaac’s servants came to inform him about the well that they had been digging and announced, “We have struck water!” 33 So Isaac named the well Shebah, which means “vow.” That is why even today the name of that city is still Beersheba, which means “well of the vow.”

Esau’s Foreign Wives

26:34-35

34 When Esau was forty years old, he married two Hittite women: Judith, whose father was Beeri, and Basemath, whose father was Elon. 35 Isaac and Rebekah were very distressed that their son had married foreign women rather than a woman from their own religion and people group.