Genesis 26:1-17

Isaac Settles in Gerar

1 Now there was ¹a famine in the land, besides * the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to ²Abimelech king of the Philistines.

2 The LORD ³appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; ⁴stay in the land of which I shall tell you.

3 "Sojourn in this land and ⁵I will be with you and ⁶bless you, for ⁷to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish ⁸the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.

4 "⁹I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and ¹⁰by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

5 because * Abraham ¹¹obeyed * Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws."

6 So Isaac lived in Gerar.

7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, "¹²She is my sister," for he was ¹³afraid to say, "my wife," thinking, "the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is ¹⁴beautiful."

8 It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.

9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, 'She is my sister '?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'I might die on account of her.' "

10 ¹⁵Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."

11 So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "He who ¹⁶touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."

12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold *. And ¹⁷the LORD blessed him,

13 and the man ¹⁸became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy;

14 for ¹⁹he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.

15 Now ²⁰all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth.

16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are ²¹too powerful for us."

17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there.

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Genesis 26:1-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 26

This chapter treats of Isaac's removal to Gerar, occasioned by a famine, Ge 26:1; of the Lord's appearance to him there, advising him to sojourn in that place, and not go down to Egypt; renewing the covenant he had made with Abraham, concerning giving that country to him and his seed, Ge 26:2-6; of what happened unto him at Gerar on account of his wife, Ge 26:7-11; of Isaac's great prosperity and success, which drew the envy of the Philistines upon him, Ge 26:12-15; of his departure from hence to the valley of Gerar, at the instance of Abimelech; and of the contentions between his herdsmen, and those of Gerar, about wells of water, which caused him to remove to Beersheba, Ge 26:16-23; of the Lord's appearance to him there, renewing the above promise to him, where he built an altar, pitched his tent, and his servants dug a well, Ge 26:24,25; of Abimelech's coming to him thither, and making a covenant with him, Ge 26:26-31; which place had its name from the oath then made, and the well there dug, Ge 26:32,33; and lastly, of the marriage of Esau, which was a great grief to Isaac and Rebekah, Ge 26:34,35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 21

1. Genesis 12:10
2. Genesis 20:1, 2
3. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 17:1; Genesis 18:1
4. Genesis 12:1
5. Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:15; Genesis 31:3
6. Genesis 12:2
7. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:18
8. Genesis 22:16-18; Psalms 105:9
9. Genesis 15:5; Genesis 22:17; Exodus 32:13
10. Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:8
11. Genesis 22:16
12. Genesis 12:13; Genesis 20:2, 12
13. Proverbs 29:25
14. Genesis 12:11; Genesis 24:16; Genesis 29:17
15. Genesis 20:9
16. Psalms 105:15
17. Genesis 24:1; Genesis 26:3; Job 42:12; Proverbs 10:22
18. Proverbs 10:22
19. Genesis 24:35; Genesis 25:5
20. Genesis 21:25, 30
21. Exodus 1:9

Footnotes 16

[a]. Lit "dwell"
[b]. Lit "seed"
[c]. Lit "seed"
[d]. Lit "seed"
[e]. Lit "seed"
[f]. Or "bless themselves"
[g]. Lit "hearkened to My voice"
[h]. Lit "dwelt"
[i]. Lit "lest...place"
[j]. Lit "found"
[k]. Lit "great"
[l]. Lit "great"
[m]. Lit "and possessions of herds"
[n]. Lit "and filled them"
[o]. Lit "much mightier than we"
[p]. Lit "dwelt"