Genesis 26:1-35

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ¹  in the days of Abraham. ²  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. 26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ³  settle down in the land that I will point out to you. ⁴  26:3 Stay ⁵  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ⁶  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ⁷  and I will fulfill ⁸  the solemn promise I made ⁹  to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them ¹⁰  all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. ¹¹  26:5 All this will come to pass ¹²  because Abraham obeyed me ¹³  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ¹⁴  26:6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ¹⁵  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ¹⁶  “The men of this place will kill me to get ¹⁷  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

26:8 After Isaac ¹⁸  had been there a long time, ¹⁹  Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed ²⁰  Isaac caressing ²¹  his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really ²²  your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” ²³ 

26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? ²⁴  One of the men ²⁵  might easily have had sexual relations with ²⁶  your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches ²⁷  this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” ²⁸ 

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ²⁹  because the Lord blessed him. ³⁰  26:13 The man became wealthy. ³¹  His influence continued to grow ³²  until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had ³³  so many sheep ³⁴  and cattle ³⁵  and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous ³⁶  of him. 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up ³⁷  all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

26:16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, ³⁸  for you have become much more powerful ³⁹  than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. ⁴⁰  26:18 Isaac reopened ⁴¹  the wells that had been dug ⁴²  back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up ⁴³  after Abraham died. Isaac ⁴⁴  gave these wells ⁴⁵  the same names his father had given them. ⁴⁶ 

26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing ⁴⁷  water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ⁴⁸  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ⁴⁹  named the well ⁵⁰  Esek ⁵¹  because they argued with him about it. ⁵²  26:21 His servants ⁵³  dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it ⁵⁴  Sitnah. ⁵⁵  26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ⁵⁶  named it ⁵⁷  Rehoboth, ⁵⁸  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

26:23 From there Isaac ⁵⁹  went up to Beer Sheba. 26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 26:25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped ⁶⁰  the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. ⁶¹ 

26:26 Now Abimelech had come ⁶²  to him from Gerar along with ⁶³  Ahuzzah his friend ⁶⁴  and Phicol the commander of his army. 26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me ⁶⁵  and sent me away from you.” 26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see ⁶⁶  that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be ⁶⁷  a pact between us ⁶⁸  – between us ⁶⁹  and you. Allow us to make ⁷⁰  a treaty with you 26:29 so that ⁷¹  you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed ⁷²  you, but have always treated you well ⁷³  before sending you away ⁷⁴  in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” ⁷⁵ 

26:30 So Isaac ⁷⁶  held a feast for them and they celebrated. ⁷⁷  26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. ⁷⁸  Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. ⁷⁹ 

26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. ⁸⁰  26:33 So he named it Shibah; ⁸¹  that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba ⁸²  to this day.

26:34 When ⁸³  Esau was forty years old, ⁸⁴  he married ⁸⁵  Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 26:35 They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety. ⁸⁶ 

Genesis 3:19

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ⁸⁷  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ⁸⁸ 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ⁸⁹ 

Jude 1:24

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, ⁹⁰  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, ⁹¹  without blemish ⁹²  before his glorious presence, ⁹³ 

Luke 1:80

1:80 And the child kept growing ⁹⁴  and becoming strong ⁹⁵  in spirit, and he was in the wilderness ⁹⁶  until the day he was revealed ⁹⁷  to Israel.

Luke 2:40

2:40 And the child grew and became strong, ⁹⁸  filled with wisdom, ⁹⁹  and the favor ¹⁰⁰  of God ¹⁰¹  was upon him.

Luke 2:52

2:52 And Jesus increased ¹⁰²  in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.

[26:1]  ¹ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ² sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.

[26:2]  ³ sn Do not go down to Egypt. The words echo Gen 12:10, which reports that “Abram went down to Egypt,” but state the opposite.

[26:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “say to you.”

[26:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.

[26:3]  ⁶ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

[26:3]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[26:3]  ⁸ tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.

[26:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”

[26:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your descendants.”

[26:4]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 22:18). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[26:5]  ¹² tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[26:5]  ¹⁴ sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.

[26:7]  ¹⁵ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

[26:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.

[26:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”

[26:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”

[26:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.

[26:8]  ²¹ tn Or “fondling.”

[26:9]  ²² tn Heb “Surely, look!” See N. H. Snaith, “The meaning of Hebrew ‘ak,” VT 14 (1964): 221-25.

[26:9]  ²³ tn Heb “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” Since the verb “said” probably means “said to myself” (i.e., “thought”) here, the direct discourse in the Hebrew statement has been converted to indirect discourse in the translation. In addition the simple prepositional phrase “on account of her” has been clarified in the translation as “to get her” (cf. v. 7).

[26:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “What is this you have done to us?” The Hebrew demonstrative pronoun “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to us?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[26:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “people.”

[26:10]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb means “to lie down.” Here the expression “lie with” or “sleep with” is euphemistic for “have sexual relations with.”

[26:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “strikes.” Here the verb has the nuance “to harm in any way.” It would include assaulting the woman or killing the man.

[26:11]  ²⁸ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the imperfect makes the construction emphatic.

[26:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a hundredfold.”

[26:12]  ³⁰ tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.

[26:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Isaac’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are included.

[26:13]  ³² tn Heb “and he went, going and becoming great.” The construction stresses that his growth in possessions and power continued steadily.

[26:14]  ³³ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[26:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “possessions of sheep.”

[26:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “possessions of cattle.”

[26:14]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew verb translated “became jealous” refers here to intense jealousy or envy that leads to hostile action (see v. 15).

[26:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with dirt.”

[26:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Go away from us.”

[26:16]  ³⁹ sn You have become much more powerful. This explanation for the expulsion of Isaac from Philistine territory foreshadows the words used later by the Egyptians to justify their oppression of Israel (see Exod 1:9).

[26:17]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and he camped in the valley of Gerar and he lived there.”

[26:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he returned and dug,” meaning “he dug again” or “he reopened.”

[26:18]  ⁴² tn Heb “that they dug.” Since the subject is indefinite, the verb is translated as passive.

[26:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and the Philistines had stopped them up.” This clause explains why Isaac had to reopen them.

[26:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wells) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “called names to them according to the names that his father called them.”

[26:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “living.” This expression refers to a well supplied by subterranean streams (see Song 4:15).

[26:20]  ⁴⁸ tn The Hebrew verb translated “quarreled” describes a conflict that often has legal ramifications.

[26:20]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:20]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and he called the name of the well.”

[26:20]  ⁵¹ sn The name Esek means “argument” in Hebrew. The following causal clause explains that Isaac gave the well this name as a reminder of the conflict its discovery had created. In the Hebrew text there is a wordplay, for the name is derived from the verb translated “argued.”

[26:20]  ⁵² tn The words “about it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:21]  ⁵³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Isaac’s servants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:21]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and he called its name.” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:21]  ⁵⁵ sn The name Sitnah (שִׂטְנָה, sitnah) is derived from a Hebrew verbal root meaning “to oppose; to be an adversary” (cf. Job 1:6). The name was a reminder that the digging of this well caused “opposition” from the Philistines.

[26:22]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:22]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and he called its name.”

[26:22]  ⁵⁸ sn The name Rehoboth (רְהֹבוֹת, rehovot) is derived from a verbal root meaning “to make room.” The name was a reminder that God had made room for them. The story shows Isaac’s patience with the opposition; it also shows how God’s blessing outdistanced the men of Gerar. They could not stop it or seize it any longer.

[26:23]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and he went up from there”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:25]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “called in the name of.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 21:33). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116.

[26:25]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and they dug there, the servants of Isaac, a well.”

[26:26]  ⁶² tn The disjunctive clause supplies pertinent supplemental information. The past perfect is used because the following narrative records the treaty at Beer Sheba. Prior to this we are told that Isaac settled in Beer Sheba; presumably this treaty would have allowed him to do that. However, it may be that he settled there and then made the treaty by which he renamed the place Beer Sheba. In this case one may translate “Now Abimelech came to him.”

[26:26]  ⁶³ tn Heb “and.”

[26:26]  ⁶⁴ tn Many modern translations render the Hebrew term מֵרֵעַ (merea’) as “councillor” or “adviser,” but the term may not designate an official position but simply a close personal friend.

[26:27]  ⁶⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, expressing the reason for his question.

[26:28]  ⁶⁶ tn The infinitive absolute before the verb emphasizes the clarity of their perception.

[26:28]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “And we said, ‘Let there be.’” The direct discourse in the Hebrew text has been rendered as indirect discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:28]  ⁶⁸ tn The pronoun “us” here is inclusive – it refers to the Philistine contingent on the one hand and Isaac on the other.

[26:28]  ⁶⁹ tn The pronoun “us” here is exclusive – it refers to just the Philistine contingent (the following “you” refers to Isaac).

[26:28]  ⁷⁰ tn The translation assumes that the cohortative expresses their request. Another option is to understand the cohortative as indicating resolve: “We want to make.’”

[26:29]  ⁷¹ tn The oath formula is used: “if you do us harm” means “so that you will not do.”

[26:29]  ⁷² tn Heb “touched.”

[26:29]  ⁷³ tn Heb “and just as we have done only good with you.”

[26:29]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “and we sent you away.”

[26:29]  ⁷⁵ tn The Philistine leaders are making an observation, not pronouncing a blessing, so the translation reads “you are blessed” rather than “may you be blessed” (cf. NAB).

[26:30]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:30]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “and they ate and drank.”

[26:31]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “and they got up early and they swore an oath, a man to his brother.”

[26:31]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “and they went from him in peace.”

[26:32]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “and they said to him, ‘We have found water.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:33]  ⁸¹ sn The name Shibah (שִׁבְעָה, shiv’ah) means (or at least sounds like) the word meaning “oath.” The name was a reminder of the oath sworn by Isaac and the Philistines to solidify their treaty.

[26:33]  ⁸² sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of an oath” or “well of seven.” According to Gen 21:31 Abraham gave Beer Sheba its name when he made a treaty with the Philistines. Because of the parallels between this earlier story and the account in 26:26-33, some scholars see chaps. 21 and 26 as two versions (or doublets) of one original story. However, if one takes the text as it stands, it appears that Isaac made a later treaty agreement with the people of the land that was similar to his father’s. Abraham dug a well at the site and named the place Beer Sheba; Isaac dug another well there and named the well Shibah. Later generations then associated the name Beer Sheba with Isaac, even though Abraham gave the place its name at an earlier time.

[26:34]  ⁸³ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making this clause subordinate to the next.

[26:34]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “the son of forty years.”

[26:34]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “took as a wife.”

[26:35]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “And they were [a source of ] bitterness in spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.”

[3:19]  ⁸⁷ tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ⁸⁸ sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ⁸⁹ sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[1:24]  ⁹⁰ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ⁹¹ tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

[1:24]  ⁹² tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ⁹³ tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”

[1:80]  ⁹⁴ tn This verb is imperfect.

[1:80]  ⁹⁵ tn This verb is also imperfect.

[1:80]  ⁹⁶ tn Or “desert.”

[1:80]  ⁹⁷ tn Grk “until the day of his revealing.”

[2:40]  ⁹⁸ tc Most mss (A Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï) read πνεύματι (pneumati, “in spirit”) after “became strong,” but this looks like an assimilation to Luke 1:80. The better witnesses (א B D L N W pc lat co) lack the word.

[2:40]  ⁹⁹ sn With the description grew and became strong, filled with wisdom Luke emphasizes the humanity of Jesus and his growth toward maturity.

[2:40]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Or “grace.”

[2:40]  ¹⁰¹ sn On the phrase the favor of God see Luke 1:66.

[2:52]  ¹⁰² tn Or “kept increasing.” The imperfect tense suggests something of a progressive force to the verb.