Genesis 26:12-25

Isaac’s Prosperity

12 Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,

13 and he became richer and richer, until he was exceedingly wealthy.

14 He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.

15 So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.

16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Depart from us, for you are much too powerful for us.”

17 So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.

18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.

19 Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh water ^[a] there.

20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, ^[b] because they contended with him.

21 Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. ^[c]

22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth ^[d] and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

23 From there Isaac went up to Beersheba,

24 and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

25 So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.

Genesis 26:12-25 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] Or flowing water or living water
• [b] Esek means contention.
• [c] Sitnah means enmity or hostility.
• [d] Rehoboth means broad places or open spaces.