When famine struck in Genesis 26:1, Isaac thought it best to head off down to Egypt. But, verse 2, “The Lord appeared to Isaac” and told him not to, but rather, “Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you” (3). Don’t run, stay, and I’ll work everything out.
Because that’s the promise God made to Abraham and all his offspring based on Abraham’s obedience (4-5). So Isaac didn’t run, he stayed – but then gets hit with more problems. Not only is he stuck in a famine, he also steps on the same land mine his Dad did, by heading off to see “Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar” (1).
And the same thing happens. The men of the region like what they see in Rebekah, just like an earlier Abimelech liked what he saw in Abraham’s wife Sarah (20:1-2). And Isaac, being a chip off the old block, resorts to the same lame tactic as his Dad to save his own skin, by claiming Rebekah is his sister too (26:7).
No comment from YHWH was needed because Abimelech did it for him, yelling at Isaac (in our terms), “What on earth were you thinking?” (26:10) – especially when Isaac knew God’s promise to Abraham was through their own family line, not through a random Philistine sleeping with his wife.
And more problems as well, when Isaac becomes so rich the Philistine locals get jealous and plug up all his wells (12-15). And when he moves to another area and his servants “discovered a well of fresh water” the locals claim the water is theirs (19-20). It’s like being in a situation where nothing you say or do will make people happy. But rather than quarrel and make things worse, Isaac moves away again – which seems terribly unfair when none of these disputes were his fault – but not to worry because when he digs another well, there’s blissful silence from the locals – which Isaac puts down to “YHWH creating an open space for us where we can spread out and flourish” (22).
Isaac named the well Rehoboth, meaning “open space,” in celebration of some breathing room at last, and an escape from all the drama. So this was how YHWH worked things out for Isaac, by bringing him to a place of peace. And that’s how Jesus is still working things out for us in the drama of our day too: “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you,” John 14:27. Is it that peace, then, that explains why Abimelech said to Isaac in Genesis 26:28, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 