Gen 26:1-16 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. “Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob” (Gen 25:28).
Genesis 26 is the only whole chapter in the book that is about Isaac alone. We read it in two lessons: this lesson is the first half, and the next lesson is the second.
1There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2The LORD appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
3Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
5because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6Isaac lived in Gerar.
7The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.”
8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”
10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”
11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him.
13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.
14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
Another famine. “There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar” (v. 1).
Don’t go down into Egypt. “The LORD appeared to him, and said, ‘Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about’” (v. 2). God told him, “I will be with you, and will bless you” (v. 3), and said, “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky … In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (v. 4). This was the oath God had sworn to Abraham, and now God told Isaac, “I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father” (v. 3).
She is my sister. “Isaac lived in Gerar” (v. 6). “The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, ‘She is my sister’” (v. 7). The passage gives the reason: “for he was afraid to say, ‘My wife’, lest, he thought, ‘the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at’” (v. 7).
Looking out at a window. “When he had been there a long time” (v. 8), Abimelech “looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife” (v. 8). He called Isaac and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” (v. 9). Isaac named his fear again: “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her’” (v. 9).
What is this you have done to us? Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” (v. 10). He commanded all the people: “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death” (v. 11).
A hundred times over. “Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him” (v. 12). “The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great” (v. 13). But “The Philistines envied him” (v. 14), and the wells Abraham’s servants had dug they “had stopped, and filled with earth” (v. 15). Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we” (v. 16).
The same words. Isaac’s father Abraham had said the same thing. Once in Egypt, he said to Sarai: “Please say that you are my sister” (Gen 12:13); and once in Gerar: “Abraham said about Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister’” (Gen 20:2).
The chapter opens by pointing back: “in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham” (v. 1). That time, “Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land” (Gen 12:10).
This time, God said to Isaac: “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about” (v. 2).
Readers can see this: father and son met the same kind of famine, and what God said to the son was, “Live in this land, and I will be with you” (v. 3).
Perhaps you, too, are in a ‘famine’ right now: the job is gone, the money is not enough, the things around you leave you uneasy. Perhaps, like Isaac, you have clearly heard God’s promise, and when it mattered, you were still afraid.
This lesson does not speak up for Isaac, and it does not say he was never afraid again. What it shows you is this: God first said, “I will be with you” (v. 3); Isaac was afraid and said something untrue, and the passage records it as it was; and then the passage records, “The LORD blessed him” (v. 12). A psalm says: “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you” (Ps 56:3).
This week: Think of the thing you are most afraid of right now and write it down. Beside it, write “I will be with you” (v. 3). Read it once each day this week, and hand this thing over to God.
Scripture: World English Bible.