Genesis 26
Dear RTB’ers,
Today is our last day in Genesis for a while. Tomorrow we return to Luke to cover another third of his gospel; then after about three weeks we’ll come back to Genesis.
Today’s reading covers a series of events in Isaac’s life. It’s the only occasion where the focus is on him, where his father and his sons are not the main characters. However, even in this chapter we see Abraham mentioned eight times, including such important verses as (God speaking): “I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father … because Abraham obeyed My voice…” (Gen. 26:3b-5a) and “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.” (Gen. 26:24b). So Isaac inherits the oath that God gave his father. Still, let us not diminish the fact that Isaac is a person to whom the Lord has appeared (Gen. 26:2,24), whom the Lord is directing, protecting and blessing. And I have met many more men and boys named Isaac than are named Abraham! 😊
We again meet Abimelech, previously known as “the king of [the city of] Gerar” (Gen. 20:2) when Abraham sojourned there, but now known as “the king of the Philistines” (Gen. 26:8). Isaac’s deception follows the same pattern as his father’s, but the Lord delivers him and makes him so prosperous that Abimelech sends him away. Even though this chapter ends with a peace treaty between Isaac and Abimelech (Gen. 26:26-31), with this event we see the beginnings of hostilities between the Israelites and the Philistines. These hostilities will continue throughout our Old Testament readings.
Blessings!
Just a side note that “Abimelech” is likely a title (like “Pharaoh”) and not a proper name, so the Abimelech that Isaac interacts in Genesis 26 may or may not be the same individual that Abraham encountered in Genesis 22. I’m guessing this Abimelech is the prior Abimelech’s son or grandson — or they may not even be related.