Genesis 26:2

2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Don't go to Egypt. Stay where I tell 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 There was a famine in the land in addition to the earlier one during Abraham's time. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines in Gerar.

2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Don't go to Egypt. Stay where I tell you.

3 Live here in this land for a while, and I will be with you and bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your descendants. I will keep the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give all these lands to your descendants. Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

5 I will bless you because Abraham obeyed me and completed the duties, commands, laws, and instructions I gave him."