Genesis 26A (2011) We ve been watching several generatins grwing up under Gd s hand Abraham was the first, and nw that he s gne the prmises and blessing f Gd mve n dwn the line We knw the sn f Gd s chsing, Isaac, has received thse prmises But last week Mses had already skipped past Isaac and begun t talk abut the his twin bys We re already lking at hw Gd is wrking t deliver His prmises t that next generatin But wait a minute...we ve hardly learned anything abut Isaac He s still the hlder f the prmises f Gd and he is still the patriarch The narrative seems t be getting ahead f itself a little And s it was, because in chapter 26 Mses presents us with a few key mments frm the life f Isaac Truly, this chapter gives us just abut we might knw abut Isaac as the patriarch Frankly, there isn t much here, especially cmpared t Abraham and Jacb Abraham has abut 13 chapters while Jacb receives at least as many Fr Isaac, it cmes dwn t a single chapter S we have t see this chapter in a certain light Isaac lives lnger than his father Abraham, s his life was lng and full It didn t see the same ups and dwns as Abraham, nevertheless there are a few imprtant mments And Mses chses t highlight three experiences in Isaac s life t teach us three imprtant pints cncerning his life 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 2 f 11 Gen. 26:1 Nw there was a famine in the land, besides the previus famine that had ccurred in the days f Abraham. S Isaac went t Gerar, t Abimelech king f the Philistines. Gen. 26:2 The LORD appeared t him and said, D nt g dwn t Egypt; stay in the land f which I shall tell yu. Gen. 26:3 Sjurn in this land and I will be with yu and bless yu, fr t yu and t yur descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the ath which I swre t yur father Abraham. Gen. 26:4 I will multiply yur descendants as the stars f heaven, and will give yur descendants all these lands; and by yur descendants all the natins f the earth shall be blessed; Gen. 26:5 because Abraham beyed Me and kept My charge, My cmmandments, My statutes and My laws. Gen. 26:6 S Isaac lived in Gerar. If we wanted t give chapter 26 a title, it might be back t the future The little we re ging t learn abut Isaac fllws a very familiar stryline Fr example, Isaac lived in the land during a time f famine Mses clarifies that is nt the same famine that Abraham knew This ne has cme many decades later During that earlier famine, Abraham fled t Egypt t find fd As we studied back then, this was nt the step f faith Gd wanted Here again, Gd is bringing a famine upn the land This time, Isaac begins t mve away frm the famine We we re tld in chapter 25 that Isaac settled in Beer-lahai-ri Nw he mves nrthwest t Gerar Gerar was the land f Abimelech, king f the peple wh wuld later becme the Philistines Ntice that Isaac desn t mve suth t the Egyptian brder like Abraham did in his day 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 3 f 11 Instead, he mves away frm the high desert muntain ranges t the valleys near the Mediterranean Sea cast This mve makes sense since it places his flcks in a better grazing envirnment But anytime a famine cmes t a desert land, the situatin becmes desperate very quickly S even after this mve, Isaac desn t have enugh t feed himself and his flcks This famine gives the Lrd an ccasin t appear t Isaac fr the first time This is a significant mment in the stry f the patriarchs Up t this mment, nly Abraham had received a visin frm the Lrd All that Isaac knew cncerning the Lrd came frm Abraham s testimny and reprts Isaac himself had never seen r heard anything t validate Abraham s claims cncerning a cvenant We knw that Isaac had already demnstrated faith in Gd and was expecting t receive the cvenant prmises But nw he receives that assurance in persn Gd repeats all the majr elements f the prmise that we ve already seen Abraham receive Gd admnishes Isaac t stay in the land; dn t g t Egypt Gd will be with Isaac and bless Isaac And Isaac will receive these lands These lands refers t the entire land prmised in the blessing given t Abraham in Genesis 15 The land frm the Mediterranean Sea t the Euphrates River in Iraq Isaac s descendants will innumerable and will inherit these lands as well 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 4 f 11 And thrugh them, all the natins f the Earth will be blessed t We nted back in chapter 12 that the prmises Gd made t Abraham were uncnditinal Gd s prmises weren t dependent n anything that Abraham did S why des Gd say in v.5 that this cvenant is cming t Isaac because Abraham beyed Gd? The answer is that the English text desn t capture the meaning prperly The Hebrew wrd fr bey is shama, which is the wrd fr hear Abraham heard Gd and kept r guarded Gd s cmmandments Isaac has the benefit f these blessings because Abraham heard frm Gd and then believed what he was tld Belief in Gd s wrd makes everything happen Jhn 6:28 Therefre they said t Him, What shall we d, s that we may wrk the wrks f Gd? Jhn 6:29 Jesus answered and said t them, This is the wrk f Gd, that yu believe in Him whm He has sent. Abraham didn t earn the blessings f the cvenant; He heard Gd s wrd and He believed it And Abraham s belief prduced a change in his behavir It didn t make Abraham sinless...mses accunt makes that clear But his faith did grw him int a man wh trusted in Gd and in HIs wrds This is the nrmal, expected transfrmatin that Scripture calls all believers t expect and pursue Our faith changes us spiritually, and that change is expected t prduce utward changes f behavir 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 5 f 11 1Jhn 2:3 By this we knw that we have cme t knw Him, if we keep His cmmandments. 1Jhn 2:4 The ne wh says, I have cme t knw Him, and des nt keep His cmmandments, is a liar, and the truth is nt in him; 1Jhn 2:5 but whever keeps His wrd, in him the lve f Gd has truly been perfected. By this we knw that we are in Him: 1Jhn 2:6 the ne wh says he abides in Him ught himself t walk in the same manner as He walked. 1Jhn 2:7 Belved, I am nt writing a new cmmandment t yu, but an ld cmmandment which yu have had frm the beginning; the ld cmmandment is the wrd which yu have heard. Jhn warns that smene wh claims t knw Jesus shuld shw evidence f that knwledge in their life Jhn s test isn t that we lead perfect lives r even necessarily that we have a mature walk But the central truth is in v.6 The ne wh says he abide in Christ ught t walk in the same manner Ought means we shuld, d s We shuld expect it in urselves and in thers But ught als gives rm fr the pssibility that a few Christians might d therwise The flesh is s pwerful, and it will trap sme Christians in a life f disbedience Fr a few, the ught means they aren t there yet They aren t willing t acknwledge the pwer f sin repent and make the hard chices that will lead t putting sin aside and mving frward But fr the majrity f Christians, the ught means we - like Abraham - will shw prgress in ur lives And ntice that Jhn says in v.7 that this cmmandment t walk in bedience t Gd s wrd is nt a new cmmandment It s an ld cmmandment, frm the beginning 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 6 f 11 And the beginning refers t the wrd Adam received in the garden All mankind has been called frm the beginning t walk accrding t the wrd f Gd What effect did Gd s wrd have n Isaac? We see in v.6 Isaac remained in Gerar While he might have been cntemplating mving t Egypt, as his father had dne, nw he decided t stay where he was In fact, Isaac is the nly patriarch wh never left the land in his entire lifetime And he did s because the Lrd had directed Isaac t d s S the first thing Mses wanted t teach us abut Isaac was he was a man wh beyed Gd s wrd Perhaps even mre s than Abraham - and certainly mre than Jacb - Isaac was cntent t hear the wrd f the Lrd and d it If Abraham was the father f faith, then perhaps Isaac was the father f bedience Gen. 26:7 When the men f the place asked abut his wife, he said, She is my sister, fr he was afraid t say, my wife, thinking, the men f the place might kill me n accunt f Rebekah, fr she is beautiful. Gen. 26:8 It came abut, when he had been there a lng time, that Abimelech king f the Philistines lked ut thrugh a windw, and saw, and behld, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. Gen. 26:9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behld, certainly she is yur wife! Hw then did yu say, She is my sister? And Isaac said t him, Because I said, I might die n accunt f her. Gen. 26:10 Abimelech said, What is this yu have dne t us? One f the peple might easily have lain with yur wife, and yu wuld have brught guilt upn us. Gen. 26:11 S Abimelech charged all the peple, saying, He wh tuches this man r his wife shall surely be put t death. Once mre, it s back t the future 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 7 f 11 Isaac is living in a freign land, thugh irnically this is land he will receive as an inheritance This land is wned by the frerunners f the Philistines And Isaac s fear f the Philistines was understandable They were a particularly brutal and pagan peple A sea peple that migrated frm Crete primarily in the 12th century BC, but sme appeared earlier like thse in Isaac s day Universally hated (e.g., Egyptians thught f them as pirates) Others frm Crete were ften called cretins as a demeaning term S, Isaac pulls a page frm dad s play bk and calls Rebekah his sister The men frm the regin inquire abut Rebekah There is nly ne reasn t inquire abut a wman Yu are interested in marrying her Issac shuld have simply said she is my wife, but he feared he was vulnerable and weak and culd be killed easily S he tells the men that Rebekah is his sister Once again, a man puts his wife at great risk t save his wn neck At least this time there is n indicatin that Rebekah is asked t lie with him as Sarah was tld Isaac s pprtunity t make this claim wuld have depended n being childless S these events must have ccurred befre Jacb s and Esau s birth in Chap 25 Where befre Abraham and Sarah were in fact half siblings, nw Isaac and Rebekah are cusins But f curse, that relatinship desn t change the fact that bth Abraham and nw Isaac are lying 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 8 f 11 Rebekah is his wife Like his father befre him, Isaac is displaying a belief that the ends justify the means We said befre that any frm f deceptin reflects a lack f trust in the Lrd When we g against the Lrd s cmmands t suit ur wn purpses, we declare by ur actins that we dn t place ur trust in Gd s plan If it were Gd s intentin that Isaac die at the hands f the Philistines r the famine, then death wuld have been the best thing Isaac s deceptin is sn discvered Abimelech, king f the Philistine peple, lks ut a windw t see Isaac caressing Rebekah This is prbably the sn f the king wh met Abraham in chapter 20 The term Abimelech is a title given t the king f the Philistines Still, it culd be the same king since we re less than 100 years since the previus encunter and men are still living 175 years in this day The wrd fr caressing is actually the wrd fr laugh, which if yu remember is the rt wrd fr Isaac S, the text actually says smething like Isaac was isaacing with Rebecca By the cntext, we get the pint Isaac was engaged in behavir with Rebekah that brthers dn t nrmally d with sisters It was smething that husbands d with wives And Abimelech immediately gets the pint Isn t interesting that this was enugh t tell Abimelech that this visitr was lying 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 9 f 11 Isaac s behavir gave a mre accurate testimny cncerning the truth than did Isaac s wrds This is s irnic given we just saw hw Isaac s behavir was cause fr cmmendatin a mment earlier He stayed in the land t bey the vice f the Lrd But nw Isaac s behavir becmes a witness against his wn wrd Once again the principle f 1Jhn 2 is prved true What we d tells us mre abut ur hearts than what we say What led Abimelech t see Isaac s behavir? Wuldn t we credit Gd with this discvery? Back when Abraham went int Egypt, Gd revealed that Sarah was Abraham s wife by bringing plagues Later when Abraham did the same thing t Abimelech, Gd revealed the truth thrugh a dream Nw Gd has simply given Abimelech the pprtunity t see the truth in a natural mment Gd is capable f revealing ur sins in cuntless ways, but we shuld expect Him t d s sner r later Expsing ur sin is the first step t ending it in ur lives Dn t expect it t remain hidden frever If nt in this life, certainly in the next life Luke 8:17 Fr nthing is hidden that will nt becme evident, nr anything secret that will nt be knwn and cme t light. As with Pharah and the earlier Abimelech, this king is livid at the discvering the deceptin Once again, a freigner has stepped int the land and lied abut his wife 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 10 f 11 And by that lie, Isaac brught the pssibility that anther man - perhaps even the king - might be guilty f adultery Wuldn t it be nice t live in a day and culture where peple wrried this much abut vilating marriage? Where even the leader f a natin was threatened by the prspect f cmmitting adultery? In this day, this prblem was serius Remember that Isaac is a wealthy man, and his wealth pses a threat t Abimelech S Abimelech has his wn reasns t avid a cnflict S the king admnished Isaac and declares that n ne may tuch Rebekah His declaratin is assurance t Isaac that he had nthing t fear in the first place And s Mses teaches us a secnd imprtant fact cncerning Isaac He wasn t sinless, n mre than his father But Gd cntinues t bless and prtect Isaac nnetheless In fact, lk at the result f Isaac s remaining in the land as Gd directed Gen. 26:12 Nw Isaac swed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfld. And the LORD blessed him, Gen. 26:13 and the man became rich, and cntinued t grw richer until he became very wealthy; Gen. 26:14 fr he had pssessins f flcks and herds and a great husehld, s that the Philistines envied him. Isaac grew strng and sn was a real threat t this king, just as his father had been in the earlier generatin The peple in the land becme increasingly jealus f Isaac Remember this harvest cmes during the years f a famine It s likely that Isaac alne is seeing this increase since the famine has prbably decimated the herds and crps f all thse arund him 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 26A 11 f 11 It must have been a remarkable testimny fr Isaac t be rich in the midst f a famine Isaac s life has resumed being a witness t Gd s pwer and mercy and grace He lived in the land, he depended upn the Lrd, he stpped lying t prtect himself And s Gd s presence in Isaac life shines thrugh But des His presence cause the Philistines t respnd in kindness and understanding Nt at all...the wrld will respnd as enemies f Gd and Gd s peple A yung man saw an elderly cuple sitting dwn t lunch at Burger King. He ntices that they rdered ne meal, and an extra drink cup. As he watched, the gentleman carefully divided the hamburger in half, then cunted ut the fries. One fr him, ne fr her, until each had half f them. Then he pured half f the sft drink int the extra cup, and set it in frnt f his wife. The ld man began t eat, and his wife sat watching, with her hands flded in her lap. The yung man decided t ask if they wuld allw him t purchase anther meal fr them s that they didn't have t split theirs. The ld gentleman said, "Oh, n. We've been married 50 years, and everything has always been and will always be shared, 50/50." The yung man than asked the wife if she was ging t eat, and she replied, "Nt yet. It's his turn t use the teeth." 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.