Genesis 26:12-22

12 Yitz'chak planted crops in that land and reaped that year a hundred times as much as he had sowed. ADONAI had blessed him.

13 The man became rich and prospered more and more, until he had become very wealthy indeed.

14 He had flocks, cattle and a large household; and the P'lishtim envied him.

15 Now the P'lishtim had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells his father's servants had dug during the lifetime of Avraham his father.

16 Avimelekh said to Yitz'chak, "You must go away from us, because you have become much more powerful than we are."

17 So Yitz'chak left, set up camp in Vadi G'rar and lived there.

18 Yitz'chak reopened the wells which had been dug during the lifetime of Avraham his father, the ones the P'lishtim had stopped up after Avraham died, and called them by the names his father had used for them.

19 Yitz'chak's servants dug in the vadi and uncovered a spring of running water.

20 But the herdsmen of G'rar quarreled with Yitz'chak's herdsmen, claiming, "That water is ours!" So he called the well 'Esek [quarrel], because they quarreled with him.

21 They dug another well and quarreled over that one too. So he called it Sitnah [enmity].

22 He went away from there and dug another well, and over that one they didn't quarrel. So he called it Rechovot [wide open spaces] and said, "Because now ADONAI has made room for us, and we will be productive in the land."

Genesis 26:12-22 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.