Genesis 26:20

20 But also strife of [the] shepherds of Gerar was there against the shepherds of Isaac, and they said, The water is ours; wherefore of that strife that befelled, Isaac called the name of that well False Challenge. (But the shepherds of Gerar also quarreled with Isaac's shepherds, and they said, This water is ours; and so for the strife that befell, Isaac called the name of that well Esek, or Quarrel.)

Genesis 26:20 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 26:20

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen
About the well which was dug in the valley; and this shows it was near Gerar or at least was upon the border of the country, and so it was a disputable point to whom it belonged: saying, the water [is] ours;
though the well was dug by Isaac's servants, yet they laid claim to the water, pretending it was their ground, being on their borders: and he called the name of the well Esek:
which signifies "contention": the reason of the name follows, because they strove with him;
wrangled, contended, and disputed with him about whose right it was.

Genesis 26:20 In-Context

18 And he digged again other wells, which the servants of Abraham his father had digged, and which the Philistines had stopped sometime, when Abraham was dead (and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died); and he called those wells by the same names, by which his father had called (them) before.
19 They digged in the strand (And they dug in the valley), and they found quick, or welling up, water.
20 But also strife of [the] shepherds of Gerar was there against the shepherds of Isaac, and they said, The water is ours; wherefore of that strife that befelled, Isaac called the name of that well False Challenge. (But the shepherds of Gerar also quarreled with Isaac's shepherds, and they said, This water is ours; and so for the strife that befell, Isaac called the name of that well Esek, or Quarrel.)
21 And they digged another (well), and they strived also for that, and Isaac called that well Enmities. (And they dug another well, and they also quarreled over that one, and Isaac called that well Sitnah, or Enmity.)
22 And he went forth from thence, and digged another well, for which they strived not, [and] therefore he called the name of that well Breadth, either Largeness; and said, Now God hath alarged us, and hath made us to increase on [the] earth. (And he went forth from there, and dug another well, which they did not quarrel over, and so he called the name of that well Rehoboth, or Broad Places; and he said, Now God hath enlarged us, and we shall be fruitful in this land.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.