Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Genesis 26:1) And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. (2) And the LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down into Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you."
The first famine referred to here is from Genesis 12:10, when Abraham was still Abram, and he "went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land." However, God told Isaac not to go to Egypt, so we might assume he was on his way there, as his father had gone. It appears he had gone as far as Gerar when God told him not to go to Egypt. This Abimelech was probably a son of the Abimelech who was king during Abraham's time.
(3) "Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and to your seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. (4) And I will make your seed multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; (5) Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."
God told Isaac to dwell in this land, the land of Canaan, of which Gerar was a part, and repeated His promise to Abraham now to Isaac, that He would give him all these countries, inhabited at that time by the Canaanites and the Philistines. God told Isaac as He had told Abraham before him that He would multiply his descendants as the stars in heaven, and through his descendants ALL the nations of the earth would be blessed, which is most assuredly a reference to the Messiah who would come from his descendants. This promise is for Isaac, too, because his father Abraham had first obeyed the Lord and kept His charge, or whatever he was given to be in charge of or observe. It's interesting that God mentioned three different things that sound and seem essentially the same. A commandment is a law or ordinance that was commanded, and Strong's defines the original word used here for "law" as "precept" or "statute", which brings us to "statute", the original meaning of the word being "ordinance" or "appointment", but also "custom" or "manner". It is the way of God to repeat things two or three times because that is how a thing is firmly established, but it may be that these words had slightly different significances. There were natural laws of God, as laws of nature, that just were and are; there were customs; there were those things which were commanded outright; and Abraham was obedient in all, and therefore the promise was being passed down to Isaac.
(6) And Isaac dwelt in Gerar; (7) And the men of the place asked about 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 she was fair to look upon."
It's almost unbelievable that Isaac should do exactly the same thing as his father in the same place! Isaac, as his father before him, feared, rather than trusting in the Lord who told him to stay there. In their fear, they even exposed their wives to harm and shame. It seems like an odd thing to be duplicated, so I suppose this could be an illustration of how we can inherit bad traits and habits. We are certainly born into sin and our natures are sinful. The Bible is full of messy sinful people who, despite their natures, circumstances, and surroundings, followed God. It should be very encouraging to us when we read of the flawed people God loved and blessed.
(8) And 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. (9) And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife; so how could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die for her.'"
As always, our lies catch up with us, and Abimelech accidentally saw Isaac laughing and playing with Rebekah, obviously a little too familiarly to be brother and sister. He called Isaac and asked why he would lie about his relationship with Rebekah. Unlike his father who could claim that his wife really was a sister, Isaac had to admit to lying and explained why. He was afraid that someone would kill him to have Rebekah!
(10) And Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guiltiness on us."
This question of this Abimelech echoes the one asked by the first Abimelech of Abraham. Why would Isaac do such a thing to them? Either because he recognized God's blessing on Isaac, or because he himself recognized adultery as sinful, or maybe a little of both, Abimelech knew Isaac's lie made it easier for his men to sin against God unknowingly.
(11) And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
As soon as Abimelech discovered that Rebekah was Isaac's wife, he ordered the people of his kingdom not to touch Isaac or Rebekah, either one, or else pay by penalty of death.
(12) Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. (13) And the man became great, and went forward and grew until he became very great; (14) For he had possession of flocks and possession of herds and a great number of servants; and the Philistines envied him.
So Isaac stayed there at Gerar and sowed in that land, and being blessed by God, reaped 100 times what he sowed. Isaac had already been given all that his father Abraham had and continued to grow and became very great and propserous, and the Philistines envied him.
(15) For all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth.
This may mean the Philistines stopped up all the wells Abraham had previously dug because they were envious and wanted to cause harm to Isaac. However, it had occurred during the time of Abraham as well (Genesis 21:25), so it appears the envy and retaliation was an ongoing problem.
(16) And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."
Whether it was a mere suggestion because of the Philistines' envy and as a solution to the problem of the jealous people stopping up his wells, or a banishment command because Isaac had grown so large that there was reason to fear him, Isaac was sent away from there. Perhaps it was a little of both. Perhaps because Isaac had become so great, Abimelech feared what would happen if Isaac decided to retaliate against the jealous Philistines.
(17) And Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
Isaac left Gerar and dwelt in the valley of Gerar, so he may have left the city of Gerar and dwelt in the valley. However, with so many flocks and herds, I can't imagine him in the midst of the city. I believe that the word "nachal" translated as "valley" here, may be better defined as a "stream or river" in this case. Indeed that translation is used elsewhere in scripture, maybe even more often than as "valley". So as a river named for a city often travels well out of the city and sometimes even into another country, I think it can be assumed Isaac moved well away from where he had been.
(18) And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
These appear to be the same wells mentioned in verse 15 that Abraham's servants had dug and that the Philistines had stopped. Isaac again dug the wells and called them by the names his father had called them.
(19) And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of running water. (20) And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours", and he called the name of the well Esek, because they strove with him.
Then it appears Isaac dug another well and found running water, but the herdsmen of Gerar claimed it was theirs, striving, that is, probably arguing with words, rather than striving physically. I say that because if Isaac were truly mightier than them all, I wouldn't think they would pick physical fights. Therefore Isaac called the name of the well "Esek", which literally means "strife" or "contention".
(21) And they dug another well, and strove for that also; and he called the name of it Sitnah.
Isaac dug another well and had to strive over that one, as well. He named that one "Sitnah", which literally means "strife" from what I see in Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs; however, some of the scholars of old wrote that it actually meant "hatred". Dr. John Gill wrote that "sitnah" comes from the root word, "satan", which means "attack" or "accuse", and of course, it's from that word that Satan got his name.
(22) And he moved from there and dug another well, and for that they did not strive, and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
It does seems that Isaac was of a peaceful sort. When he dug a well that was in controversy, he named it so, and moved on. He finally dug a well we can assume in a place far enough away that it was not in contention, and he named that one "Rehoboth", which literally means "wide places or streets" or "spaciousness". Here he proclaimed that the Lord had made room for him and his family, and his flocks and herds, and that they would increase and be prosperous.
(23) And he went up from there to Beersheba. (24) And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father; do not fear, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your seed for My servant Abraham's sake."
Then Isaac went or returned to Beersheba, as that was the place of his father, named by Abraham meaning "well of an oath", where he had dug the well and made the agreement with Abimelech that this was indeed his well (Genesis 21). Immediately upon returning, God appeared to Isaac and reassured him that he was with him and reiterated his promise to Abraham and to him.
(25) And he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well.
So it appears that Isaac planned to stay there after receiving confirmation and reassurance from the Lord. He pitched his tent and his servants dug a well. He also built an altar and prayed to the Lord, undoubtedly in thanksgiving to Him.
(26) Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
Interestingly, here came the next generation of Abimelech, at least I am assuming the son of the Abimelech who first swore the oath to Abraham there at Beersheba. With him came his friend, and also Phichol, the chief captain of his army. It was said Phichol was also the first Abimelech's chief captain, so is this the same Phichol some hundred years later, or also a son named after his father? Actually, as "Phichol" means "mouth of all", perhaps that was the name of his position rather than his given name, as he was perhaps a spokesman for all the people to the king.
(27) And Isaac said to them, "Why do you come to me, seeing you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
Isaac wondered why they had come to him, citing specifically that they hate him, giving credence to the opinion of ancient scholars that the name of the afore-mentioned well, "Sitnah", did indeed mean "hatred".
(28) And they said, "We saw certainly that the LORD was with you, and we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, between us and you; and let us make a covenant with you, (29) That you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace; you are now the blessed of the LORD.'"
They responded that they could plainly see that the Lord was with Isaac and had greatly blessed him, and they didn't want to be at odds with him. So this Abimelech, as his father before him with Abraham, also requested a covenant between his people and Isaac's. Abimelech and his men admitted they may have sent him away, but they wanted to stress that it was in peace; no harm was done to Isaac personally. Abimelech wanted an oath from Isaac that he, in turn, would not harm them.
(30) And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. (31) And they rose up early in the morning and swore one to the other; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
After eating and drinking and sleeping on it, they did indeed swear an oath to have peace among them, and Isaac sent them on their way.
(32) And it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water." (33) And he called it Shebah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
Apparently, this is the well that the servants dug in verse 25. "Shebah" means "oath" or "seven", the "sacred full one", which gave the sense of fullness or completeness. Therefore the city was called Beersheba "to this day" because Isaac renewed the "well of the oath" that Abraham had so named a hundred years earlier. The oath was renewed and confirmed.
(34) And Esau was forty years old when he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, (35) Which were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.
Esau married Canaanite women, troubling to Isaac and Rebekah, because they would not have wanted either of their sons to marry the pagan women of the land, but would have wished for God's people, as when Abraham sent his servant to look for a wife for Isaac.
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