XIV - Chapter 26 - Jacob and Esau

Chapter 26 - Jacob and Esau

Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old. Isaac died when he was 180. Isaac was never an aggressive personality, but he was smart and obedient. His life was overshadowed by his father Abraham and his dynamic son Jacob. Chapters 25 and 26 give a rather brief accounting of Isaac's life in Gerar and Beersheba, on which we must base much of our knowledge of him. Isaac quietly appreared on the scene, fulfilled God's purpose for his life, then quietly slipped away. But he is still listed as one of the major patriarchs of the Bible and the nation Israel.

  Chapter 26 - verse 1: Another famine in the land of Canaan. This isn't the first one and won't be the last. A famine marks a period of time that renders the ground barren, unable to produce enough crops for the people or the livestock to eat. In order for a "drought" to become a famine, it must span beyond two years and two crops. We don't hear about modern day famines in that part of the world because it has so much oil, they can buy all the food they want.

Notice that God sent Isaac north. God sent both Abraham and Jacob south to Egypt to escape the drought, but sent Isaac north. Note that the north was also drought-stricken. This makes me think a little more highly of Isaac.

He went north to Gerar, in the land of the Philistines. Abimelek was still the king of that land. Remember Abimelek? Abraham dealt with him successfully due to Abimelek's respect for the God of Abraham. God repeats His promise to Isaac at Gerar. God repeats His promise to these patriarchs many times. Perhaps as a reminder or an encouragement. Bear in mind the number of years that pass from one reminder to the next. Vs. 5: ......because Abraham obeyed Me.........

Interesting in verse 7 that when in Gerar, isaac told the same lie about Rebekah that Abraham told about Sarah, also in Gerar, which was under the rule of the same king Abimelek. The only thing I can figure about this is that Isaac thought that if it worked for Dad and Mom, it'll work for me and Rebekah. Like Sarah, Rebekah was beautiful and Isaac, like Abraham, feared for his life. -

But Isaac got careless. Abimelek saw Isaac and Rebekah with each other and concluded that they were definately NOT brother and sister. (Maybe Abimelek was a Peeping Tom (just kidding))

Abimelek confronted Isaac with this in verse 9. I'm surprised he didn't say "You're just like your father!" Abimelek had the right to scold Isaac (vs 10), but Abimelek had an unusually great fear of the God he did not worship. However, Abimelek told Isaac to move on because of the size of his estate.

 Vss 12-16: Isaac was a smart farmer, rancher, and business man. He became very wealthy in drought-stricken conditions. This made the Philistines envious. So they filled up Isaac's wells. What a great bunch of guys! Sabatoging water wells in those days was considered an act of aggression, leading to many wars between neighboring clans. Isaac could have retaliated or appealed to Abimelek, but remember what kind of man Isaac was. He was peaceful and passive. Therefore he just kept moving around away from the trouble being caused by the Philistines. The problems kept following Isaac because the Philistines knew that they just had to fill up a water well to get rid of him. They filled up one and Abraham called the well Esak (means dispute). He moved on, dug another well, which the Philistines filled up and he called it Sitnah (means opposition). He moved on and finally dug one in a place later called Beersheba and they left him alone. He called that well Rehoboth (means room) as God gave him room to flourish undisturbed.

After Isaac settled in Beersheba God spoke with him, repeating His promise once again. Isaac did the proper thing and built and altar to honor God.

Vs 26: Abimelek came to Isaac in Beersheba, bringing two high-ranking officials with him. Isaac does not greet him in a friendly manner because Abimelek treated him harshly earlier.

Abimelek couldn't help but notice that everywhere Isaac went, he prospered at the same time all the Pilistines were subdued by the famine. So, Abimelek wanted to make a treaty with Isaac, which I think was a smart move. Chapter 26 closes with and interesting last two verses: When Esau (first born) was forty, he married two Hittite women. Big mistake and Esau should have known better. Vs 35 says that these two women were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. This was quite a blow to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau's wives were not members of the ancestral family. That was then, and would continue to be, a fatal mistake for any Israelite first-born son to make.

Next posting: The Stolen Blessing