Genesis 26 "Issac and Abimelech"

v32 "And it came to pass the same day that Issac's servants came and told him concerning the well which they had digged and said unto him, We have found water."

v33 "And he called it Shebah therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day."



V1 "And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Issac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar."

Issac went on the move now, I suppose to find food and water for his people and cattle. God warned him not to go to Egypt as Abraham had done. God also tells Issac that He will carry on the promise with him as with his father. v5 "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws."

So Issac camped near Abimelech and told him that Rebekah was his sister. We've heard that trick before and it did not do well the other time. God protects Rebekah and the truth comes out. Issac made a crop there and reaped a hundred fold. Abimelech sees that Issac is becoming very strong and prosperous and so asks him to leave, most likely out of fear. So, Issac goes up to Beersheba.

During this time he is again digging the wells that Abraham hd originally dug. For some reason, the Philistines had filled them in with dirt. It seems every time they dug a well the herdsmen of Gerar would strive for it. Letting Issac's people do the work then wanting the water for themselves. Finally they dug a well and noone else claimed it. Then, he went to Beersheba where the Lord renewed the promise and there Issac built an altar and prayed.

Abimelech then comes to find Issac to make peace with him and to get a promise that Issac would do him no hurt and so they made the agreement.

There is a note at the end that Esau married two women and that they were a 'grief of mind' unto Issac and to Rebekah. Perhaps we will understand what the significance of that verse is later on in our study. Or perhaps it is a clash of culture coming into the family since the women were of the Hittites of the Cannanites. If you remember chapter 24 Abraham told his servant "...thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the canaanites, among whom I dwell." It appears Esau had broken tradition(at least) by marrying the Hittite women.

Proverbs 23:22 "Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. v26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways."