Events in Isaac’s life
1 There was a famine in the land—a second one after the famine that had taken place in the time of Abraham—and Isaac went to Gerar, the land of Abimelech, king of the Philistines.
2 For Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land I shall tell you of.
3 Remain in this land, and I will be with you and I will bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your race, and I shall keep the oath I swore to your father, Abraham. For I told him:
4 I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the heavens, and to them I will give all these lands; and through your descendants all nations in the world will be blessed
5 because you were obedient and kept my charge, my commandments, my decrees and my laws.”
6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7 When the men of that place questioned him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” He would not say, “She is my wife,” for he was afraid and he thought, “The men of this place might kill me because of Rebekah who is very beautiful.”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, it happened that Abimelech, looking out of a window, saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9 Abimelech called Isaac and said, “So she really is your wife! Why did you tell me that she was your sister?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought that they might kill me on her account.”
10 Then Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of my people could have slept with your wife and you would have brought guilt on us.”
11 So Abimelech gave an order to all the people: “Whoever molests this man or his wife will be put to death.”
12 Isaac sowed crops on this land and that same year he harvested a hundredfold. Yahweh blessed him
13 and he prospered. He continued to prosper until he was very rich.
14 He had flocks and herds and many servants so that the Philistines envied him.
15 All the wells dug by his father’s servants in Abra ham’s time were stopped up by the Philistines and filled with earth.
16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us for you are more powerful than we are.”
17 So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
18 Isaac opened up again the wells that had been dug in the time of his father, Abraham, and that the Philistines had blocked up after Abraham’s death. He gave these wells the names his father had given them.
19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered there a fresh water spring.
20 The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they squabbled about it.
21 They dug another well and there was quarreling about that as well, so he called it Sit nah.
22 He moved away from there and dug another well and as no one quarreled over it, he called it Rehoboth saying, “Now the Lord has made room for us, we shall prosper in the land.”
23 From there Isaac went to Beer she ba,
24 and Yahweh appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham, your father; do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and increase your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of Yahweh. It was there he pitched his tent and there his servants dug a well.
26 Abimelech went to him from Gerar together with Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phicol, the commander of his forces.
27 Isa ac said to him, “Why have you come after me seeing that you hate me and have sent me away?”
28 They answered, “We have clearly seen that Yahweh is with you, so we said: Let peace be sworn between us and you, and let us make a treaty:
29 you will do us no harm, just as we have not interfered with you, but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. We know that you have Yahweh’s blessing.”
30 Isaac then made a feast for them and they ate and drank.
31 Next morning they rose early and swore an oath to each other. Isaac then set them on their way and they left him in peace.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him of the well they had dug: “We have found water.”
33 He called the well Shibeah and that is why the name of the town has been Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite.
35 They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
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Comments Genesis, Chapter 26
• 26.1 About verses 7-11, see 20:2.
In chapters 12–33 we become acquainted with two realities in the lives of the patriarchs: they are nomads who live in tents; they roam in search of water and dig wells (see 21:21-34).
They live in camping tents, that is to say, as transients without a permanent home. The Bible appreciates the work of people who build something lasting in this world. Those who found a home, plant a vineyard or build a house are praised (Dt 20:5-7) since all of this is connected with the creative mission of women and men. Yet, the Bible also remembers the nomadic life of Israel’s fore fathers as an ideal which should not be lost (Jer 35). The believer does not become attached to anything in this world… to family, homeland or lifestyle. He pitches his tent wherever he can but does not settle in any one place. Living as a stranger in this world, it will be easier for him to en counter God who also passes as a stranger among us (in Jn 1:14 the exact translation should be: the Word pitched his tent among us). See Ex 33:7; 40:34; 2 S 7:7; Sir 24:8; 2 Cor 5:1-4; 1 P 2:11.
The patriarchs dig wells. They do not find fountains of spring water in the desert, instead they must painfully dig wells which make the desert fertile and provide drink for their flocks. At times the water runs out; at other times, the Philistines plug up their wells with dirt. All of this symbolizes human effort to find wisdom; people are often left thirsty and there are always those who muddy the fountains of wisdom. People will run from one well to another until Christ gives them the spring water springing from the Rock which is himself. See Ex 17:1; Jn 4:5-10; 7:38; 1 Cor 10:4; Jer 2:13.