Isaac and Abimelech 2 – Genesis 26:17-36

The Abimelech whom Isaac deals with could be the same Abimelech his father Abraham interacted with, or a successor.  The name Abimelech means “my father is king,” and may have become a title all kings of this area took to themselves, like Pharaoh in Egypt.  He probably doesn’t worship Yahweh as God, at least not exclusively, but he definitely recognizes Yahweh’s blessing on Isaac, and this is a testimony to just how powerful Yahweh is.

[17] So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. [18] 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. [19] But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, [20] the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. [21] Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. [22] And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

[23] From there he went up to Beersheba. [24] And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” [25] 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.

[26] When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, [27] Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” [28] 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, [29] that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.” [30] So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. [31] In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. [32] That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” [33] He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

[34] When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, [35] and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. (Genesis 26:17-36, ESV)

Even though Abraham had previous dug wells and had agreements with Abimelech and others that they were his and were not to be destroyed, at Abraham’s death all agreements were off.  So Isaac has to dig again the wells of his father amid opposition and envy.  The locals don’t want this powerful, wealthy non-native to prosper in their land.  Two of the three wells he digs are contested, the locals saying the water is theirs, even though they did not work to get it.  But the third well is dug it is accepted and Isaac sees Yahweh’s hand in this.  Yahweh then appears to him again and once again restates the covenanted promise and Isaac builds an altar to worship the God who has so blessed him, and he dwells there.  It is holy ground.

Walton suggests that this moving around and digging wells has finally spread Isaac and his herds and those of this area out enough that they can be at peace with his presence there: “After the protagonists are sufficiently spread out across the land, the conflict is resolved and they eventually ally themselves together by oath. Perhaps most important to the author, the men of Gerar recognize God’s blessing on Isaac and, as the covenant has suggested, they seek to join themselves to him.”

God had promised Abraham, and now Isaac, that he would be a blessing to the nations.  We see this promise being fulfilled in Abimelech’s desire, after shooing Isaac away, to have a pact between them that will spread some of the blessing Isaac is experiencing from Yahweh.  They make the pact with a feast and the exchange of oaths.  Immediately after Isaac’s servants successfully dig a well and reinstitute the name Abraham gave to it, Beersheba.

Whereas God is blessing Isaac immeasurably on the land and ally front, in his own family the marriage of Esau to two Canaanites has brought discord and pain.  Esau is not honoring his parents, nor is he honoring God’s purposes for him.  Moses is transitioning us to a major conflict and change in the family.