Genesis 26:1-11 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Genesis 26:1-11. Let’s go!
Genesis 26:1-6 (NIV)
1 Now there was a famine in the land–besides the earlier famine of Abraham’s time–and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar.
2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.
3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.
4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
5 because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.”
6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
On verses 1-6: Because of a famine in the land, Isaac moves his family to Gerar where they live among the Philistines and their king Abimelech. Isaac was thinking about then moving his family to Egypt, but God appears to Isaac and tells him instead to stay in this land because God will be with him, will bless him, and will give him this land and other lands as God promised his father Abraham. In verse 4 God gives the same promise to Isaac that God gave Abraham in Genesis 22:17-18: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (v4). The reason God gives for giving Isaac this promise is “because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements…” (v5). Isaac believes in God’s promises and by faith decides to stay in Gerar.
It’s worth noting that Isaac’s father Abraham did something similar years before: when there was a famine in the land he was living in, Abraham moved his family in Egypt (Genesis 12:10). There was even a time when Abraham also lived in Gerar and dealt with a king Abimelech (Genesis 20). Is this the same king Abimelech? Maybe not. “Abimelech” may have been a royal title similar to “Pharaoh”.
What can we learn from this?
1. Isaac had a plan to go to Egypt, but because of God’s promises Isaac decides to stay in Gerar. Likewise, you and I may make plans, but may we be humble enough to surrender those plans to God and to let God determine our steps. May we be willing to obey God even when what God tells us to do is different from what we originally planned.
2. Just as Isaac was blessed with God’s promises because someone else – his father Abraham – obeyed God, so we are blessed with God’s promises because someone else – Jesus Christ – obeyed. Also, when you read the Old Testament with New Testament eyes, you’ll see that the reason God tells Isaac that all nations on earth will be blessed through Isaac’s offspring is because the offspring God is ultimately referring to is Jesus Christ himself.
Genesis 26:7 (NIV)
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
On verse 7: Here we see some striking similarities between the way Isaac dealt with fear and the way his father Abraham dealt with fear. While living in Gerar, Isaac is afraid that the men living there would harm him if they found out that he was married to Rebekah, since Rebekah was beautiful. So Isaac hid the fact that they were married and told everyone that they were siblings only. Abraham did the exact same thing in Genesis 21 with his wife Sarah.
What can we learn from this? Consciously or unconsciously, we may be inclined to deal with fear or to sin in the same way that the generations who came before us did. To the extent that the generations that came before us dealt with fear and temptation in sinful ways, we must be intentional about recognizing where our previous generations went wrong, being committed to not repeating the same mistakes, and trusting in the power of Jesus’ name and word to empower us to blaze a new trail for our future generations.
Genesis 26:8-10 (NIV)
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10 Then Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
On verses 8-10: King Abimelech personally finds Isaac caressing his wife and calls Isaac on his lack of honesty. I find Abimelech’s response to Isaac interesting: “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” (v10) Abimelech would respond similarly to Abraham in Genesis 20:9-10. It’s as if in both cases Abimelech is recognizing that adultery is a sin and that it impacts not only the individuals involved and their families but the surrounding community as well.
Genesis 26:11 (NIV)
11 So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
On verse 11: Despite Isaac not being forthright with Abimelech, Abimelech orders all the people in his jurisdiction not to harm Isaac or Rebekah. This was God’s grace and mercy on Isaac’s life, as God spares Isaac from the king’s wrath. God showed Abraham similar grace and mercy after Abraham had behaved in a similar way (see Genesis 20:14-16).
What can we learn from this? From generation to generation, God shows himself to be a gracious and merciful God. It is grace and mercy we don’t deserve, unmerited favour. Thank God today for the grace and mercy He has shown you in times when you deserved much worse. The greatest example of God’s grace and mercy on our lives is His sending Jesus Christ to pay for our sins when we deserved to face the wrath of God our king.
Heavenly Father, thank You so much that even when I behave badly, Your grace and mercy on my life persist. Thank You for Your unmerited favour and undeserved goodness in my life. May I not take Your grace for granted or abuse it. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
