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

2And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

4And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

5Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

6And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

7And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She ismy sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

8And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

9And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

10And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

11And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.

13And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

14For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

15For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

16And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

17And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

18And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

19And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

20And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.

21And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.

22And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

23And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

24And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I amthe 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.

25And 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.

26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

27And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?

28And 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;

29That 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.

30And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.

31And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32And 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.

33And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

34And 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:

35Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the dayes of Abraham. And Isaac went vnto Abimelech King of the Philistims, vnto Gerar.

2And the LORD appeared vnto him and said, Goe not downe into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of.

3Soiourne in this land, and I wil be with thee, and will blesse thee: for vnto thee, and vnto thy seed I will giue all these countreys, and I wil performe the othe, which I sware vnto Abraham thy father.

4And I wil make thy seed to multiply as the starres of heauen, and will giue vnto thy seed all these countreys: and in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed:

5Because that Abraham obeyed my voyce, and kept my charge, my Commandements, my Statutes and my Lawes.

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

7And the men of the place asked him of his wife: and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because shee was faire to looke vpon.

8And it came to passe when he had bene there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistims looked out at a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

9And Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, of a suretie she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said vnto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

10And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done vnto vs? one of the people might lightly haue lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest haue brought guiltinesse vpon vs.

11And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, Hee that toucheth this man or his wife, shall surely bee put to death.

12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and receiued in the same yeere an hundred fold: & the LORD blessed him.

13And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew vntill he became very great.

14For he had possession of flocks, and possession of heards, and great store of seruants, and the Philistims enuied him.

15For all the wels which his fathers seruants had digged in the dayes of Abraham his father, the Philistims had stopped them, & filled them with earth.

16And Abimelech said vnto Isaac, Goe from vs: for thou art much mightier then we.

17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

18And Isaac digged againe the wels of water, which they had digged in the dayes of Abraham his father: for the Philistims had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

19And Isaacs seruants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

20And the heardmen of Gerar did striue with Isaacs heardmen, saying, The water is ours; and hee called the name of the well, Esek, because they stroue with him.

21And they digged another well, and stroue for that also: and hee called the name of it, Sitnah.

22And he remoued from thence, and digged another well, and for that they stroue not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth: and he said, For now the LORD hath made roome for vs, and we shall be fruitfull in the land.

23And he went vp from thence to Beer-sheba.

24And the LORD appeared vnto him the same night, and saide, I am the God of Abraham thy father: feare not, for I am with thee, and will blesse thee, and multiply thy seede, for my seruant Abrahams sake.

25And he builded an altar there, and called vpon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaacs seruants digged a well.

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chiefe captaine of his armie.

27And Isaac saide vnto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and haue sent me away from you?

28And they said, we saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and wee said, Let there be now an othe betwixt vs, euen betwixt vs and thee, and let vs make a couenant with thee,

29That thou wilt doe vs no hurt, as we haue not touched thee, and as we haue done vnto thee nothing but good, and haue sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.

30And he made them a feast, and they did eate and drinke.

31And they rose vp betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

32And it came to passe the same day, that Isaacs seruants came, and tolde him concerning the well which they had digged, and said vnto him, we haue found water.

33And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the citie is Beer-sheba vnto this day.

34 And Esau was forty yeeres old, when he tooke to wife Iudith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

35Which were a griefe of minde vnto Isaac and to Rebekah

I == Gen 12:10 ; 20:2

 

 

II == Gen 12:1

 

III == Gen 12:2 ; 13:15 ; 15:18 ; 20:1 ; 22:16 ; 28:15 ; Ps 39:12 ; 105:9 ; Heb 11:9

 

 

IV == Gen 12:3 ; 15:5 ; 22:17 ; Acts 3:25

 

 

 

 

 

VII == Gen 12:13

 

 

 

X == Gen 20:9

 

XI == Ps 105:15

 

XII == Gen 24:1 , 35 ; 25:3 ; Job 42:12 ; Matt 13:8 ; Mark 4:8

XIII == Gen 24:35 ; Ps 112:3 ; Prov 10:22

XIV == Gen 37:11 ; Eccl 4:4

 

XV ==Gen 21:30

 

XVI ==Ex 1:9

 

 

XVIII Gen 21:31

 

 

 

XX == Gen 21:25

 

XXII == Gen 17:6 ; 28:3 ; 41:52 ; Ex 1:7

 

XXIV == Gen 15:1 ; 17:7 ; 24:12 ; 26:3-4 ; 28:13 ; Ex 3:6 ; Acts 7:32

 

XXV == Gen 12:7 ; 13:18 ; Ps 116:17

 

XXVI == Gen 21:22

 

XXVII == Gen 26:16 ; Judg 11:7

 

XXVIII == Gen 21:22-23

 

XXIX == Gen 24:31 ; Ps 115:15

 

XXX == Gen 19:3

XXXI == Gen 21:31

 

XXXIII == Gen 21:31

 

XXXIV == Gen 36:2

 

XXXV == gEn 27:46 ; 28:1 , 8

1 There was a famine in the land (distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham), and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.

2 The LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt, but continue to camp wherever in this land I tell you.

3 Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing - 

5 this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate (my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions)."

6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

7 When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, "She is my sister." He was afraid, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was very beautiful.

8 But when he had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, happened to look out of a window and was surprised to see Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.

9 He called for Isaac and said: "She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "I thought I might lose my life on her account."

10 "How could you do this to us!" exclaimed Abimelech. "It would have taken very little for one of the men to lie with your wife, and you would have thus brought guilt upon us!"

11 Abimelech therefore gave this warning to all his men: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall forthwith be put to death."

12 Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the LORD blessed him,

13 he became richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy indeed.

14 He acquired such flocks and herds, and so many work animals, that the Philistines became envious of him.

15 (The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.)

16 So Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us; you have become far too numerous for us."

17 Isaac left there and made the Wadi Gerar his regular campsite.

18 (Isaac reopened the wells which his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death; he gave them the same names that his father had given them.)

19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the wadi and reached spring water in their well,

20 the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's servants, saying, "The water belongs to us!" So the well was called Esek, because they had challenged him there.

21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one too; so it was called Sitnah.

22 When he had moved on from there, he dug still another well; but over this one they did not quarrel. It was called Rehoboth, because he said, "The LORD has now given us ample room, and we shall flourish in the land."

23 From there Isaac went up to Beer-sheba.

24 The same night the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

25 So he built an altar there and invoked the LORD by name. After he had pitched his tent there, his servants began to dig a well nearby.

26 Abimelech had meanwhile come to him from Gerar, accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army.

27 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have driven me away from you?"

28 They answered: "We are convinced that the LORD is with you, so we propose that there be a sworn agreement between our two sides - between you and us. Let us make a pact with you:

29 you shall not act unkindly toward us, just as we have not molested you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. Henceforth, 'The LORD'S blessing be upon you!'"

30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

31 Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace.

32 That same day Isaac's servants came and brought him news about the well they had been digging; they told him, "We have reached water!"

33 He called it Shibah; hence the name of the city, Beer-sheba, to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.

35 But they became a source of embitterment to Isaac and Rebekah.

 

 

v 1-5. this famine was similar to the one during which Abraham went to Egypt, but the Lord warned Isaac to stay in the land, and he would be blessed according to the promises God had made to Abraham. Note his obedience in v 5.

V 5 Written languages were common use before the days of Moses.

v 6-11. Isaac obeyed, but he made the same mistake Abraham had made in calling his wife his sister. This could have had serious consequences if he had not been caught giving his wife loving caresses. Abimelech rightly rebuked him, but he also placed an order of protection about Isaac and his wife.
Jacob and Esau were not along or there would not have been this fear. They probably kept the limited number of herds in the famine stricken area, and the family will rejoin in chapter 27.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 12-17. The Lord abundantly blessed Isaac because of the covenant, not his actions. This aroused the Philistines’ envy and fear of his power, so they asked him to leave, which he did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 18-22. Abraham’s wells represented possession of the land, so the Philistines had stopped them. When Isaac reopened them and the Philistines claimed the water, he quietly moved on instead of confronting them as Abraham did. Isaac was not necessarily weak, but showed forbearance and patience. Esek meant contention. Sinah meant strife. Rehoboth meant wide place, or plenty of room (for him from God). 

LATITUDE: That is, wideness, or room.

TORRENT: A channel where sometimes a torrent or violent stream had run.

 

 

 

 

v 23,24. Isaac returned to the well of the sevenfold oath between Abraham and Abimelech, and God renewed His promise.

 

 

v 25. The altar represented spiritual things, the tent his home, and the new well his business. Notice Isaac put first things first.

v 26--29. This Abimelech was probably the son of the one of Abraham’s oath. In recognition of Isaac’s growing power, the neighbors thought it wise to make a peace agreement with him

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 30,31. Isaac graciously made a formal dinner for them, showing his peaceful intentions. Before they left next morning they made an oath of peace.

 

v 32,33. That same day the well diggers struck water, so he named it Sheba, or oath, just like the other well.

 

v 34,35. Esau’s lack of spirituality was shown in his taking heathen wives and without his parents consent. This deeply grieved the spiritual parents.