Another famine came, leading Isaac to see the king of the Philistines in Gerar. God tells Isaac to stay in Gerar and he would be blessed, and the land would be given to him as part of the land promised to Abraham.
Dejavu – Isaac lies about his wife Rebekah
While there, the men asked about his wife Rebekah, and out of fear of being killed, he said she was his sister. Abimelek discovered that Rebekah was his wife and was upset, then gave orders that no one should harm Isaac or Rebekah.
Double take.. Didn’t Abraham already try this trick twice? (See Genesis 12 and 20) And how is it that whenever they get caught in a lie, the king treats them even better?
Isaac’s blessings continue, and he fights over wells
Isaac plants crops and gets a huge yield because God blessed him. He became very wealthy to the point that Philistines became jealous and filled his wells with dirt, and Abimilek told him to move away.
Isaac moved and reopened the wells that the Philistines had filled. But the herders there fought with Isaac over the water. Finally Isaac dug up a couple more wells and the dispute was settled. Isaac then went to Beersheba, and God once again promised him that he would be blessed because of the covenant he made with Abraham. Isaac built an altar, and his servants dug another well.
Abimelek catches up with Isaac and, apparently afraid of the power Isaac had because of God’s blessing, asked to make an oath that neither group of people would bring harm to the other. They feasted together and promised peace, and the next day, Isaac’s servants found water in a well they dug, leading to the name of the town being called Beersheba.
I wonder why the emphasis on wells in this story.
Esau marries a Hittite against his parents’ will
At the end of Genesis 26, Esau marries a Hittite, which Isaac and Rebekah do not approve of. It strikes me as more tribalism, and interestingly we still have these sorts of problems today – parents who disapprove of their children marrying certain types of people.