Old Testament · Law

Genesis chapter 26

Now a hit the land — not the earlier one that happened during Abraham’s time — so Isaac went to , king of the , in Gerar. to him and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Settle in the land I tell you about.Stay in this land as an , and I will be with you and . Because I’m giving all these lands to you and your descendants. I’m keeping the I made to your father Abraham.I will make your as countless as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. Every nation on earth will through your descendants —because Abraham and kept my requirements — my commands, my rules, and my .”So Isaac settled in .When the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “.” He was afraid to say “my wife” because he thought, “The men here might kill me to get Rebekah, since she’s so beautiful.”After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from his window and saw Isaac his wife Rebekah.Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She’s clearly your wife! Why did you say, ‘She’s my sister’?” Isaac told him, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of my people could have easily slept with your wife, and you would have brought down on all of us!”So Abimelech issued an order to all his people: “Anyone who this man or his wife will be put to death.”Isaac planted crops in that land and harvested what he sowed that same year. Yahweh was .The man became and kept getting richer and richer until he was extremely wealthy.He owned flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and a large household of servants. The Philistines became of him.All the that his father’s servants had dug back in Abraham’s day — the Philistines had stopped them up and filled them with dirt.Then Abimelech told Isaac, “Leave us. You’ve become way for us.”So Isaac left and camped in the Gerar , and settled there.Isaac re-dug the wells that had been dug during his father Abraham’s lifetime — the ones the Philistines had filled in after Abraham died. He gave them the his father had given them.Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of there.But the herders of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herders, saying, “That water belongs to us!” So he named the well , because they fought with him over it.Then they dug another well, and there was a dispute over that one too. So he named it .He moved on from there and dug yet another well. This time nobody fought over it, so he named it and said, “Now Yahweh has for us, and we will in this land.”From there he went up to .That night Yahweh appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. , because I am with you. I will take care of you and multiply your descendants because of my Abraham.”So Isaac built an there and . He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar, along with his personal advisor and his military commander.Isaac said to them, “Why are you coming to me? You hate me — you threw me out!”They answered, “We can clearly see that Yahweh is with you. So we said, ‘Let’s make a between us — between us and you. Let’s make a deal.’Promise that you won’t harm us, just as we haven’t touched you and have only done good to you and sent you away in peace. You are now .”So Isaac prepared a for them, and they ate and drank.They got up early the next morning and to each other. Then Isaac sent them off, and they left .That same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had been digging. They said, “We found water!”He named it . That’s why the city has been called to this day.When Esau was , he married Judith daughter of Beeri the , and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.They for Isaac and Rebekah.