Join us this week on "Mysteries of God's Word" as we uncover Isaac's incredible journey in Gerar, where his act of sowing reaps an extraordinary hundredfold harvest, marking divine favor. However, this blessing brings with it significant challenges, including envy and expulsion by King Abimelech. Follow Isaac as he navigates disputes over water rights, reopens his father Abraham’s wells, and ultimately finds peace and divine reassurance in Beersheba, setting the stage for a new chapter in his life marked by God's unwavering guidance.
We'll also explore the ancestral lineage of the Hittites as we examine Esaw's marriage to two Hittite women setting the stage for his brother Jacob taking his blessing in next weeks episode.
Join us this week on "Mysteries of God's Word" as we uncover Isaac's incredible journey in Gerar, where his act of sowing reaps an extraordinary hundredfold harvest, marking divine favor. However, this blessing brings with it significant challenges, including envy and expulsion by King Abimelech. Follow Isaac as he navigates disputes over water rights, reopens his father Abraham’s wells, and ultimately finds peace and divine reassurance in Beersheba, setting the stage for a new chapter in his life marked by God's unwavering guidance.
We'll also explore the ancestral lineage of the Hittites as we examine Esaw's marriage to two Hittite women setting the stage for his brother Jacob taking his blessing in next weeks episode.
Welcome to the Mysteries of God's Word. Today we're going to continue to study the life of Isaac as he settled in the city of Gerar. To give some context, it is some time after the famine and the king of the Philistines, abimelech, has warned all the people of Gerar not to touch Isaac or his wife Rebekah. And picking up in verse 12, and Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him and the man became rich and gained more and more until he became very wealthy and he had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. In these first two verses we see that the Lord blessed Isaac, as he had promised to back in verse 3. Isaac is the only patriarch mentioned to have settled down and farmed, sowing grain into the soil, and this year he reaps 100-fold an amazing harvest and truly a sign of God's blessing. However, we also read that Isaac increased his flocks of sheep and his herds of cattle and the Philistines began to envy him. The Lord had blessed Isaac so much in all that he did that his Philistine neighbors began to wonder what's going on. And I want what Now verse 15 says. And Abimelech said to Isaac Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we. So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham, his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham, and he gave them the names that his father had given them. We see that all the wells that Abraham had dug in this desert region had been filled up by the Philistines. Now, wells in the desert region were essential to daily life and filling up somebody else's well like this would be a deliberate attack. It could even lead to war. And this notation on the wells appears to be for the area which Isaac is about to travel toward, the Valley of Gerar. And Abimelech had said to Isaac Go away from us. And Abimelech had said to Isaac Go away from us. The Hebrew wording here implies that Abimelech is banishing Isaac from the city of Gerar. So Isaac picks up his campsite and heads to the valley of Gerar.
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Now, the valley of Gerar must have been some distance away from the city, as Isaac has been banished from the city and went to live in the valley of Gerar. And while he was there. Isaac initially reclaimed the wells of his father that had been filled up by the Philistines. The Hebrew word translated wells, is the same word for well. We're not certain if Abraham had one or more wells here, but in this area Isaac is trying to settle in the valley of Gerar. He's digging again the same water source that his father had dug and he names it the same name that his father, abraham did Verse 19,. But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying the water is ours. So he called the name of the well Isaac, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well and they quarreled over that also. So he called its name Sikna. And he moved from there and dug another well and they did not quarrel over that one. So he called its name Rehobot, saying For now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land.
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In verses 19 through 22, we see that there were other herdsmen already established in the valley of Gerar and when Isaac was digging a well there they were claiming that all of the water in the valley was theirs. Now the first well that Isaac dug was clearly a well that his father, abraham, had dug, but it didn't matter to those men that had already been settled in the valley. So Isaac dug another well and the men also argued over that. After the quarreling, isaac names the first well, isaac, which means argument, and he named the second well, sitna, which means hostility. After these two arguments over the water in the valley, he moved from there and dug another well. So Isaac moved far enough away from the other herdsmen in the valley that there was no contention, and when he dug the third well, they did not make an issue over it and he called the name of that well Rehoboth, which means open spaces. This tells us that Isaac finally camped in a place that was open, far enough away from the other herdsmen, and he was no longer perceived as a threat to anyone.
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Verse 23 says From there he went up to Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him that same night and said I am the Lord of Abraham, your father. Fear not, for I am with you and I will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake. So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well. So we see that Isaac had spent some time in the open spaces near the valley of Gerar, but from there he went up to. Beersheba is roughly 15 miles southwest and the description of going up refers to going up into the hill country from the valley. And we see that the Lord appeared to him that same night.
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Again, the Lord appears with a physical manifestation and speaks to him personally. That same night he enters Beersheba. This is the second physical appearance of the Lord mentioned in scripture to Isaac, the first being when he traveled to Gerar and now the second happening when he moved from Gerar to Beersheba. In the Lord's previous personal visit with Isaac, when he was settling in the land of Gerar, the Lord told him to stay there, and now that Isaac's been forced out of that land the Lord appears again to Isaac and reassures him here in Beersheba that he is with him and he reaffirms two of the four Abrahamic covenant promises that the Lord will bless him and that the Lord will multiply his offspring. So Isaac builds an altar and calls on the name of the Lord. It's a significant milestone that Isaac builds an altar here. It was also at Beersheba that Abraham had planted a tamarisk tree and he called upon the name of the Lord back in Genesis 21-33. Abraham also built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord at special times in his life. So we see this reflected in the life of Isaac.
Speaker 1:
So Isaac pitches his tent at Beersheba and his servants dig yet another well in Beersheba for their new campsite. This is the fourth well dug since leaving the city of Gerar, verse 26. When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Azuhat, his advisor, and Philco, the commander of his army, isaac said to them why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and you've sent me away from you? They said we see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said Let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have not done anything to you but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord. So he made them a feast and they ate and they drank. In the morning they rose and they exchanged oaths and Isaac sent them on their way and they departed from him in peace. That's the same day, isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug and they said to him we have found water. He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
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In verses 26 through 33, we see that King Abimelech of the Philistines, along with his advisor and the commander of his army, paid a special visit to Isaac After all of this conflict with the wells. And yet Isaac continues to prosper, even though Abimelech had sent him away from the protection of the city. Abimelech now fears that perhaps Isaac will turn against him and Abimelech comes to make peace with Isaac. So Isaac prepares a feast, as it was customary to have a meal when entering a covenantal agreement, and they ate and they drank. And the next morning they exchanged oaths. The very next day, early in the morning, they began the day by exchanging oaths. And after they exchanged oaths, isaac sent this noble party back to Gerar and the Philistine kingdom. And that very day, after the oaths were exchanged, his servants came and told him they found water in the well. And Isaac calls the well Sheba. The word Sheba is similar to the word for oath, which is also what Abraham had named the well when he dug it. Isaac is reclaiming the well that his father had dug and made an oath with Abimelech 75 years ago. Therefore, the city is named Beersheba. In fact, it is still named Beersheba in 2024 AD.
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There's one final notation in Genesis 26, verse 34. When Esau was 40 years old, he took Judith, the daughter of Beri the Hittite, to be his wife, and Basmath, the daughter of Elan the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. In these last two verses we see that Esau took two wives from the Hittites at age 40. And this notation helps us to recognize where Esau's heart was, even before we enter into the next chapter, where Jacob takes Esau's blessing. Esau taking two wives from the Hittites shows that he had already deliberately ignored the standard by which his grandfather, abraham, had set for taking a spouse. It helps us to see that Esau is already making life choices. That shows he cares very little for his position and his role in the family. Esau would later take a third wife, mahalath. Esau's choices for his wives brought bitter grief to his parents' hearts.
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Just a note on the genealogy of the Hittites. The Hittites are ancestors of Heth, the great-grandson of Noah, and they come from the line of Canaan. Thank you for joining me today. Join me next week as we begin to look at how Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob rather than Esau. God bless you this week.