Abimelek and Sister Lies, Redux

Genesis 26

Isaac and Abimelek

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. 

The taxes and tributes that are given to a (good) king are held in reserve for aid during drought and famine. It looks like Isaac was going to Abimilek in Gerar, but was also considering going to Egypt for aid if Abimilek didn't provide help.  This famine echoes the one in Abraham's time, about 103 years earlier. The Abimilek mentioned is not the same guy that Abraham met - Abimilek is like a job title for the ruler in Gerar.

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

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 

So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

God spoke; Isaac listened and obeyed.

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.”

I mean, if this lie worked twice for Dad - stick with it.  I guess, too, that the women in Sarah's family line (like Rebekah) are quite the lookers.

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. 

PDA in full effect.

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.”

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.”

Also known as, "Dude - do you think I just fell off the turnip truck?"

And, in the back of his mind - Abimelek must be wondering about these habitual lying neighbors that come from Abraham's family..  

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

Because, you know, I heard that story when Grandpa said Yahweh called him a dead man, and I am NOT going to die on account of any of my people even touching those psychos.

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 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.

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

So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek [Dispute], because they disputed with him. 

There is a Jewish legend that claims, in water disputes like these - the entire phrase is something like, "Yes - the well is yours, but the water is ours!"

Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah [Opposition]. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth [Room], saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

From there he went up to Beersheba. That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid,for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

God speaks to Isaac (in a dream?) to reassure him of the blessing and remind him of the promise.  In response, Isaac settled in and began calling (preaching) on the name of the Lord.

Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”

I thought Abraham and Abimelek, Sr. had already made this treaty.

Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.

That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!”  He called it Shibah [Oath or Seven], and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba [Well of the Oath, or Well of the Seven].

Then, meanwhile, we take a peek at what Esau has been doing with his life...

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

They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

In this chapter, God appeared to Isaac to provide instruction, and later God appeared to Isaac at night to remind Isaac of the promises and blessing operating in his family line.

And we hear no accusation or recrimination from God about Isaac's lack of faith and his lying.