Genesis 13:7

13:7 So there were quarrels ¹  between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. ²  (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) ³ 

Genesis 26:15-22

26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up ⁴  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, ⁵  for you have become much more powerful ⁶  than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. ⁷  26:18 Isaac reopened ⁸  the wells that had been dug ⁹  back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up ¹⁰  after Abraham died. Isaac ¹¹  gave these wells ¹²  the same names his father had given them. ¹³ 

26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing ¹⁴  water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ¹⁵  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ¹⁶  named the well ¹⁷  Esek ¹⁸  because they argued with him about it. ¹⁹  26:21 His servants ²⁰  dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it ²¹  Sitnah. ²²  26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ²³  named it ²⁴  Rehoboth, ²⁵  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

Exodus 2:16-17

2:16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw ²⁶  water ²⁷  and fill ²⁸  the troughs in order to water their father’s flock. 2:17 When some ²⁹  shepherds came and drove them away, ³⁰  Moses came up and defended them ³¹  and then watered their flock.

[13:7]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.

[13:7]  ² sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.

[13:7]  ³ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.

[26:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with dirt.”

[26:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Go away from us.”

[26:16]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he camped in the valley of Gerar and he lived there.”

[26:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “he returned and dug,” meaning “he dug again” or “he reopened.”

[26:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “that they dug.” Since the subject is indefinite, the verb is translated as passive.

[26:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the Philistines had stopped them up.” This clause explains why Isaac had to reopen them.

[26:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ¹² tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wells) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “called names to them according to the names that his father called them.”

[26:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “living.” This expression refers to a well supplied by subterranean streams (see Song 4:15).

[26:20]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb translated “quarreled” describes a conflict that often has legal ramifications.

[26:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he called the name of the well.”

[26:20]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn The words “about it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Isaac’s servants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[26:21]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he called its name.”

[26:22]  ²⁵ 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.

[2:16]  ²⁶ tn The preterites describing their actions must be taken in an ingressive sense, since they did not actually complete the job. Shepherds drove them away, and Moses watered the flocks.

[2:16]  ²⁷ tn The object “water” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[2:16]  ²⁸ tn This also has the ingressive sense, “began to fill,” but for stylistic reasons is translated simply “fill” here.

[2:17]  ²⁹ tn The definite article here is the generic use; it simply refers to a group of shepherds.

[2:17]  ³⁰ tn The actions of the shepherds are subordinated to the main statement about what Moses did.

[2:17]  ³¹ sn The verb used here is וַיּוֹשִׁעָן (vayyoshi’an, “and he saved them”). The word means that he came to their rescue and delivered them. By the choice of words the narrator is portraying Moses as the deliverer – he is just not yet ready to deliver Israel from its oppressors.