We will begin this lesson with Genesis 26:23
“And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.”
I must lay a little ground work for this lesson. In the last lesson,
Abimelech had asked Isaac to leave, and he had gone to the valley Gerar.
There his herdsman and the herdsman of the land had trouble over two of the
wells. They finally dug the third well over which there was no dispute. The
third well was named Rehoboth. Now, it appears Isaac had gone up to
Beersheba. “Beersheba” means well of the oath, or of seven.
Genesis 26:24 “And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said,
I [am] the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I [am] with thee, and
will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
God reassured Isaac that he was not only with his father, but that he
was with Isaac, also. This reconfirmed God’s oath to Abraham. This was a
three-fold blessing. “….I am with thee, will bless thee, will multiply thy
seed…..”
Genesis 26:25 “And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name
of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a
well.”
Isaac was a believer, also. The first thing he did was build an altar,
and worship God. He settled there where he met God. Again, Isaac had his
servants to dig a well. Isaac could have digged a well anywhere, and there
would have been water.
Genesis 26:26 “Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one
of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.” Genesis 26:27
“And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and
have sent me away from you?”
Isaac was confused, Abimelech was the one who told him to leave. Now,
here, he was and with two of his men. Isaac could not understand why they
would follow him. Isaac even felt that they hated him, but I believe it was
closer to jealousy.
Genesis 26:28 “And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with
thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, [even] betwixt us
and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;”
It was no secret that God was with Isaac. His crop that produced a
hundred fold was one witness. The four wells that he dug, that produced in
such a dry land, was another. Even someone looking on, who was not
acquainted with God, could easily see that Isaac was blessed above other
men. Abimelech wanted an agreement that there would be no trouble between
them. He knew which one God will help in a battle, and it would not be him.
God and one is a majority. There was no question who would win.
Genesis 26:29 “That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched
thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee
away in peace: thou [art] now the blessed of the LORD.”
Abimelech was reminding Isaac that he did not harm him in any way. I do
not believe it was out of the goodness of his heart that this was so.
Abimelech knew that God was with Isaac, and he feared to do him any harm,
because of the reprisal from God. He forgot his men gave Isaac a hard time
about the first two wells, and Isaac just moved on to keep from having
trouble with them.
Genesis 26:30 “And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.”
Genesis 26:31 “And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to
another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.”
Isaac was a good host. He made them a feast and they ate, drink, and
fellowshipped together. They got up the next morning and agreed on a peace
treaty between them. They sealed this agreement with an oath. I do not
believe that the statement “Isaac sent them away” meant “forcefully”. He
just let them go in peace.
Genesis 26:32 “And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants
came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto
him, We have found water.”
You know, it was a well like this where Jesus talked to the woman at
the well. It was spoken of that Abraham had dug the well. These wells that
God blesses never go dry. They flow generation after generation. At any
rate, this well that Isaac’s men dug like all the others, found water. Water
symbolically can mean so many things (the Word, the Holy Spirit}. Without
water {spiritual and physical}, it would be next to impossible to live.
Genesis 26:33 “And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city
[is] Beer-sheba unto this day.”
“Beersheba” means well of the oath, as we mentioned before. This was a
favorite place for Abraham and Isaac. This city was located in the southern
part of Palestine, about half way between the Mediterranean and the Dead
Sea.
Genesis 26:34 “And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife
Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of
Elon the Hittite:” Genesis 26:35 “Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and
to Rebekah.”
This sorrow, that Esau brought on his family, had several facets to it.
Hebrew men were not to marry out of their faith. These two women were from
the Hittites. God had forbidden Hebrew men to intermarry with them. To
marry two of them made it doubly bad. This son was of marrying age {40}. He
broke the custom of the Hebrews. Esau went out on his own and sought wives
of his own choosing, not the one his father and mother had chosen for him.
Easu was a rebellious son, who did not like authority. He would be nothing
but grief to his mother. He was attempting to satisfy his lustful flesh,
rather than to wait and marry someone God had chosen for him. His children
would be worldly. He didn’t regard spiritual things very highly, or he would
not have sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. We are looking at a very
selfish man, who thought only of himself.
For the next lesson, study chapter 27