Genesis 26:1-17

Isaac and Abimelek

1 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar.

2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.

3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring^[a] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[b]

5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”

6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”

10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him.

13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.

14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.

15 So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.

16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled.

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Genesis 26:1-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 26

This chapter treats of Isaac's removal to Gerar, occasioned by a famine, Ge 26:1; of the Lord's appearance to him there, advising him to sojourn in that place, and not go down to Egypt; renewing the covenant he had made with Abraham, concerning giving that country to him and his seed, Ge 26:2-6; of what happened unto him at Gerar on account of his wife, Ge 26:7-11; of Isaac's great prosperity and success, which drew the envy of the Philistines upon him, Ge 26:12-15; of his departure from hence to the valley of Gerar, at the instance of Abimelech; and of the contentions between his herdsmen, and those of Gerar, about wells of water, which caused him to remove to Beersheba, Ge 26:16-23; of the Lord's appearance to him there, renewing the above promise to him, where he built an altar, pitched his tent, and his servants dug a well, Ge 26:24,25; of Abimelech's coming to him thither, and making a covenant with him, Ge 26:26-31; which place had its name from the oath then made, and the well there dug, Ge 26:32,33; and lastly, of the marriage of Esau, which was a great grief to Isaac and Rebekah, Ge 26:34,35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 35

1. S Genesis 12:10; S Deuteronomy 32:24
2. S Genesis 10:14; Judges 10:6
3. S Genesis 20:1
4. S Genesis 12:7; Genesis 17:1; Genesis 18:1
5. Genesis 46:3
6. S Genesis 12:1
7. Genesis 20:1; Genesis 28:15
8. S Genesis 21:20; Genesis 27:45; Genesis 31:3,5; Genesis 32:9; Genesis 35:3; Genesis 48:21; Exodus 3:12; Exodus 33:14-16; Numbers 23:21; Deuteronomy 31:23; Joshua 1:5; Isaiah 43:2; Jeremiah 1:8,19; Haggai 1:13
9. ver 12; S Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:16-18
10. S Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:18; Acts 7:5
11. S Genesis 17:19
12. ver 24; Genesis 48:4
13. S Genesis 12:2; S Numbers 10:36; Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Exodus 32:13
14. S Genesis 12:7
15. S Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Acts 3:25*; Galatians 3:8
16. S Genesis 18:19; Genesis 22:16
17. Psalms 119:80,112; Ezekiel 18:21
18. Lev 18:4,5,26; Leviticus 19:19,37; Leviticus 20:8,22; Leviticus 25:18; Leviticus 26:3; Numbers 15:40; Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 6:2; Deuteronomy 11:1; 1 Kings 2:3
19. S Genesis 20:1
20. S Genesis 12:13; Genesis 20:2,12; Proverbs 29:25
21. S Genesis 10:14
22. S Genesis 12:19
23. S Genesis 12:18; Genesis 20:9
24. 1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Samuel 26:9; Psalms 105:15
25. S Genesis 20:3
26. Matthew 13:8
27. S ver 3; Job 42:12
28. S Genesis 13:2; S Deuteronomy 8:18; Proverbs 10:22
29. S Genesis 12:16; S Genesis 24:36; Genesis 32:23
30. Genesis 37:11
31. S Genesis 21:30
32. S Genesis 21:25
33. ver 27; Judges 11:7
34. Exodus 1:9; Psalms 105:24-25
35. S Genesis 20:1

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or "seed"
[b]. Or "and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings" (see 48:20)