Genesis 26:17

17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

Genesis 26:17 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 26:17

And Isaac departed thence
At once, peaceably and quietly, though to his loss and disadvantage, without taking himself either to argument or arms, in favour of himself; he departed immediately, as soon as he perceived his abode was disagreeable to the king and his people; which gives us a very agree, able idea of the calm and peaceable disposition of Isaac: and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there;
at some distance from the city of Gerar, as Jarchi observes. Josephus F7 says it was not far from it; but how far is not certain; very probably it was not out of the country, though on the borders of it. Some render it, "the brook of Gerar" F8, and interpret it, that he pitched his tent, and dwelt by it; and the word used does signify a brook as well as a valley; and there was a brook of Gerar, which Sozomen F9 makes mention of.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 18. sect. 2.
F8 (rrg lxnb) "ad torrentem Gerarae", V. L.
F9 Eccl. Hist. l. 6. c. 32.

Genesis 26:17 In-Context

15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth.
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."
17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
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. He called them by the names which his father had called them.
19 Also Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.