Genesis 26:2

2 The LORD appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt but settle temporarily in the land that I will show you.

Genesis 26:2 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 26:2

And the Lord appeared unto him
In a vision or dream, when he was at Gerar: and said, go not down into Egypt;
as his father had done in the like case, and where Isaac thought to have gone, and the rather, as that was a fruitful country; and so the Targum of Jonathan,

``and it was in the heart of Isaac to go down into Egypt, and the Lord appeared unto him''

and charged him not to go thither; partly to try his faith in him, and dependence on his providence for support in this time of famine, and partly lest he should think of continuing there, and be unmindful of the promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham's seed: dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of;
even the land of Canaan, which he was now about to give him on account of the promise of it to Abraham and his seed, and to renew it to him and to his seed.

Genesis 26:2 In-Context

1 When a famine gripped the land, a different one from the first famine that occurred in Abraham's time, Isaac set out toward Gerar and toward King Abimelech of the Philistines.

2 The LORD appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt but settle temporarily in the land that I will show you.

3 Stay in this land as an immigrant, and I will be with you and bless you because I will give all of these lands to you and your descendants. I will keep my word, which I gave to your father Abraham.

4 I will give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all of these lands. All of the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants.

5 I will do this because Abraham obeyed me and kept my orders, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions."