Genesis 26:12-22

Conflicts over Wells

12 Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped^[a] a hundred times [what was sown]. The Lord blessed him,

13 and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy.

14 He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.

15 The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father's slaves had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt.

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us."^[b]

17 So Isaac left there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

18 Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Moreover, Isaac's slaves dug in the valley and found a well of spring^[c] water there.

20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Quarrel^[d] because they quarreled with him.

21 Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Hostility.^[e]

22 He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Open Spaces^[f] and said, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit found
• [b]. Or are more numerous than we are
• [c]. Lit living
• [d]. Hb Esek
• [e]. Hb Sitnah
• [f]. Hb Rehoboth