Read: Genesis 26
A famine in
the land (v. 1) leads Isaac to leave Beersheba and go to Gerar. God appears to Isaac and warns him not to go
down to Egypt (v. 2). God then reaffirms the promises to him that were made to
his father Abraham (v. 3-5). When Isaac
settled in Gerar he committed the same sin as his father by saying that Rebekah
was his sister (v. 7) except this time it was a complete lie not a
half-truth. Sarah was Abraham’s
half-sister, Rebekah was Isaac’s cousin.
Isaac feared that he would be killed and Rebekah would be taken by
another man – sounds familiar! But the
truth comes out when Isaac is caught doing something with Rebekah that made it
obvious they were married (v. 8). The
king confronts Isaac on this and he admits to lying (v. 9-10). Abimelech scolds Isaac for potentially having
brought wrath upon him and his people and tells his people not to touch Isaac
or his wife (v. 10-11). Abimelech was
acting rightly in desiring for impurity to be avoided by himself and his
people. He understood that taking
another man’s wife was adultery of which the penalty was death. It is important to note that the Abimelech in
this chapter was probably a descendant of the Abimelech that had similar
discussions with Abraham back in chapter 20.
Isaac become
quite wealthy in this land (v. 12-24) as the land produced a hundredfold and he
gained the possessions of flocks and herds and many servants. In fact, he became so rich that the
Philistines envied him (v. 14). This
leads Abimelech to ask Isaac to leave their region (v. 16). Isaac listens and moves to the valley of Gerar
(v. 17). He reopens the wells that were
dug by his father and had been filled by the Philistines (v. 18) and also digs
new wells (v. 19-22). In such times a
good well was a great possession and often there were predatory wars in where
it was usual for the enemy to fill the wells with earth or sand in order to
cause distress. The filling up of
Abraham’s wells by the Philistines was corrupt as they had made a treaty in
Gen. 21:25-31. We can see in these
verses how Isaac chose to move on instead of cause strife and contention over
the well disputes. God blesses him for
this.
Isaac then
returns to Beersheba and the Lord appears to him to renew the promise (v.
24). Isaac responds by building an altar
and worshipping the Lord (v. 25).
Abimelek comes to him from Gerar, along with his personal adviser and
Phicol the commander of his military (v. 26).
Isaac questions why they came to him, subtly accusing them of unkindness
for sending him away (v. 27). They beg
him to make a covenant with them (v. 28-29).
Isaac responds by preparing a feast for them and making the covenant (v.
30-31). Isaacs servants then discover a
new well (v. 32) which they call Beersheba, restoring the ancient name for that
place. The chapter concludes by
mentioning that Esau (Isaac’s oldest son), at age 40, marries two wives of the
Hittites, at which Isaac and Rebekah were grieved (v. 34-35). This was probably because Esau married for
secular power and influence without consideration of the idolatry and carnal
ways of the Hittite people.
Prayer and Journaling
1. God
warned Isaac about not heading to Egypt but He doesn’t tell him why he
shouldn’t go there (v. 2). This shows
God’s love and concern for His children and that He is to be obeyed, even when
we don’t fully understand why. It is
often hardest to obey and trust when we can’t see what God is doing and when we
don’t know why He is doing what He is doing.
It is hard to obey when His actions seem irrational but we must remember
that God loves and is just and fair and that it is often our own
interpretations that are incorrect. Has
there ever been a time in your life when you didn’t understand what God was
doing and why? Are you in that place
now? Ask the Lord to grow your trust in
Him. Ask Him to help you learn to trust
Him, even when you don’t fully get it.
Pray for strength to follow and obey in these times.
2. In
this chapter we see that Isaac commits the exact same sin as his father,
Abraham. As parents we need to break
generational strongholds of sin in our lives so that they don’t get passed down
to our children. We do this by first
acknowledging our sin and confessing it.
The following are lists of things that can be generationally inherited:
· General Health Predispositions - high blood
pressure, heart problems, diabetes, cancer, etc.
· Temperament - shyness, aggressiveness, anxiety,
fear, etc.
· Spiritual Weaknesses – attitudes or behaviors
· Demonic Influences and Curses
Often the big issues that we deal with
in our lives are generational, meaning that they have been problems for our
parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents. These things often become problems for our
children too. Ask the Holy Spirit to
reveal to you any generational issues that are affecting you or your children
(write them down in your journal, don’t discard anything – even if it seems to
be irrational or insignificant). Now go
through each, one by one, confessing and breaking any generational tie that may
exist. For bigger issues, commit to
doing this regularly or consider booking a personal prayer ministry appointment
or attending after service prayer.
3. Esau was foolish in marrying two wives and even
more foolish to choose to marry pagan women.
It seems here that Esau didn’t just despise his birthright but that he
also didn’t care about the religion of his family. Esau didn’t care about heavenly things. If you have children, pray that they will
grow in their walk with God and that they will care about following the
Lord. Pray that they will focus on
heavenly things and not be overtaken by the cares of this world. Pray specifically that they will choose to
marry a person that is also following the Lord and walking in His ways.
