Genesis
Chapter 26
Isaac in Gerar
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.
For the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land I shall tell you of.
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 keep the oath I swore to your father, Abraham. For I told him:
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
because you were obedient and kept my charge, my commandments, my decrees, and my laws.”
So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
When the men of that place questioned him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” He wouldn’t say, “She is my wife,” because he was afraid and thought, “The men of this place might kill me because of Rebekah, who is very beautiful.”
When Isaac had been there a long time, it happened that Abimelech, looking out of a window, saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
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.”
Then Abimelech said: “What have you done to us? One of my people could have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”
So Abimelech ordered to all the people: “Whoever molests this man or his wife will be put to death.”
Wells
Isaac sowed crops on this land, and that same year, he harvested a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,
and he prospered. He continued to prosper until he became very rich.
He had flocks, herds, and many servants, which caused the Philistines to envy him.
All the wells dug by his father’s servants during Abraham’s time were stopped up by the Philistines and filled with dirt.
Abimelech told Isaac: “Go away from us, for you are more powerful than we are.”
So Isaac left that place, encamped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there.
Isaac reopened the wells that his father, Abraham, had dug, which the Philistines blocked after Abraham’s death. He gave these wells the names his father had given them.
Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a freshwater spring.
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.
They dug another well and quarreled over it too, so he called it Sitnah.
He moved away from there and dug another well; since no one quarreled over it, he named it Rehoboth, saying: “Now the Lord has made room for us; we shall prosper in the land.”
From there, Isaac went to Beersheba,
and the Lord appeared to him that 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.”
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.
Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his friend Ahuzzath and Phicol, the commander of his forces.
Isaac asked him: “Why have you come after me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away?”
They replied: “We have clearly seen that the Lord is with you, so we said: Let peace be sworn between us and you, and let us make a treaty.
You will do us no harm, just as we have not interfered with you, but have always treated you well and sent you away in peace. We know that you have the Lord’s blessing.”
Isaac then hosted a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
The next morning, they rose early and made an oath to one another. Isaac then sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
That day, Isaac’s servants came and informed him about the well they had dug: “We have found water.”
He named the well Shibeah, which is why the town’s name has been Beer-sheba to this day.
When Esau was forty, he married Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hivite.
They caused hardship for Isaac and Rebekah.
Commentaries
Isaac in Gerar.
Verses 1-5 remind us of the same situation already experienced by Abraham; however, here the second patriarch is explicitly told not to leave the country. This framework serves to confirm the promises made by God (2-4), emphasizing that this divine attitude of favoring Isaac arises from Abraham’s faith and obedience (5). Once again, Abimelech appears on the scene, the same one mentioned in chapter 20—a man who is fearful of God and respectful of those who believe in the God of the semi-nomads inhabiting his territory.
Wells.
The same deception of Abraham in Egypt and Gerar is repeated. Both father and son are more focused on saving their own lives than those of their respective wives. It is clear that in this deceitful attitude, the only beneficiary is the male; the lives of both Sarah and Rebecca are at risk, and this seems to matter little to either Abraham or Isaac. Strangely, there is no “pronouncement” against this course of action. However, if it appears in the Abrahamic and Isaacic traditions, it may indicate that, despite the devious actions of the patriarchs, God continues to guide history prodigiously. The incidents and the dialogue between Abimelech and Isaac reflect the everyday secular struggles to defend a piece of land and the possibility of having it irrigated for cultivation or livestock. Land and water are two vital elements that run through all biblical thought. The mention of Esau in verse 34 prepares for his future rejection in 27:46.