Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” (Genesis:26:2-5)
God made the exact same promise to Abraham, "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Geneis 22:17-18) So far, what we've learned about Isaac, he also learned from his father, Abraham, to not keep God's charge, commandments, statutes and laws.
We must never forget whom the seed is, Christ Jesus, Whom made it very clear to the Jewish religious leaders who wanted to deny the truth of Who He was. Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:54-58)
So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. (Genesis 26:6-8)
Well, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"! Isaac did the same thing his father, Abraham did twice (Genesis 12:10-20; 20), acting like his wife was his sister so that the men of the Gentile country wouldn't kill him to take her for themselves. But fortunately, us like with Abraham, God would not allow the men of the country to touch Rebekah. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
Is there ever a time to that's right to tell a lie? The answer is NO! That's why God never allowed anything to happen to Abraham or Isaac's wives before the truth was revealed. But in spite of them lying, God blessed Abraham and Isaac afterwards to gain more possessions than when they first arrived to those countries. Why? If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (II Timothy 2:13) “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy..." (Deuteronomy 7:9) God had promised Abraham and then Isaac "to you and your descendants I give all these lands", and Isaac would continue to enlarge his territory.
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” (Genesis 26:10-16)
Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” (Genesis 26:17-22)
Who controls the land? Whoever controls the water supply, because everyone has to have water; therefore, God finally allowed him to dig a well that the men of Gerar did not quarrel with Isaac over. Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” (Genesis 26:23-27)
But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. (Genesis 26:28-31)
Well then, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) There are certain promised we have from God, if we do as Abraham and Isaac did, and obey His voice and kept His charge, His commandments, His statutes, and His laws. In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Psalm 56:11; 118:6) For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You! (Psalm 84:11-12) "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:17)
It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. (Genesis 26:32-33) AMEN!
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