Isaac and Abimelech
We saw Abraham in a great variety of situations, by means of which sometimes his excellencies and sometimes his failings became the more conspicuous. Isaac has hitherto been but
* Ram. ix. IJ — !(), 31,- 32, little tried, and therefore his character is at present but little known. In this chapter, however, we shall see him roused from his retirement, and brought into situations in which, if there be some things to lament, there will be many to admire.
Ver. 1 — 6. We now see him in affliction, by reason of “a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham.” There seem to have been more famines in the times of the patriarchs than usual; and which must not only be atilictive to them in common with their neighbours, but tend more than a little ro try their faith. Every such season must prove a temptation to think lightly of the land of promise. Unbelief would say, It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants: it is not worth waiting for. But faith will conclude that he who hath promised to give it, is able to bless it. Thus Abraham believed, and therefore took every thing patiently; and thus it is with Isaac. He first went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. His father Abraham had found kind treatment there about a hundred years before, and there was a covenant of peace between them.* It seems however, as if iie had tiiouo’ht of ooinq; as far as Egypt; but the Lord appeared to him at Gerar,
* Genesis xxi.
312 ISAAC AND ABIMELECH. lDis.35^
and admonished him to put himself under his direction, and go no where without it — “Dwell, saith he, in the land that I shall tell thee of: sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and T will bless thee.” In times of trouble we are apt to cast, and forecast, what we shall do: but God mercifully checks our anxiety, and teaches us by such dispensations in all our ways to acknowledge him. To satisfy Isaac that he should never want a guide, or a provider, the Lord renews to him the promises which had been made to his father Abraham. Had he met with nothing to drive him from his retreat by the well of Lahai-roi, he might have enjoyed more quiet; but he might not have been indulged with such great and precious promises. Times of affliction, however disagreeable to the flesh, have often proved our best times.
Two things are observable in this solemn renewal of the covenant with Isaac.’ — (1.) 77ie good tiling.^ promised. “I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and Mill give unto thy seed all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The sum of these blessings is, the land of Canaan, a numerous progeny, and what is the greatest of all, the Messiah, in whom the nations should be blessed. On these precious promises Isaac is to live. God provided him with bread in the day of famine; but he ‘*’ lived not on bread only, but on the words which proceeded from the mouth of God.” It was in reference to such words as these that Moses said unto Hobab, “We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.” — (2.) Their being given for Abrahams sake: “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” We are expressly informed in what manner this patriarch was accepted of God, namely, as “believing on him who justifieth the ungodly;” and this accounts for the acceptance of his works. The most “spiritual sacrifices” being offered by a sinful creature, can no otherwise be acceptable to God than by Jesus Christ: for, as President Edwards justly remarks, •’ It does not consist with the honour of the majesty of the king of heaven and earth, to accept of any thing from a condemned malefactor, condemned by the justice of his own
holy law, till that oandemnation be removed.” s s But a sinner being accepted as believing in Jesus, his works also are accepted for his sake, and become rewardablc. It was in this way, and not of works, that Abraham’s obedience was honoured with so great a reward. The blessings here promised are called “the mercy to Abraham..“* Hence we perceive the fallacy of an objection to the new-testament doctrine of our being forgiven and blessed in Christ’s name, and for Ids sake; that this is no more than was true of Israel, who were blessed and often forgiven for the sake of Abraham.” Instead of this fact making against the doctrine in question,” says a late judicious writer,” it makes for it: for it is clear from hence that it is not accounted an improper, or unsuitable thing in the divine administration, to confer favours on individuals, and even nations, out of inspect to the piety of another to whom they stood related. But if this principle be admitted, the salvation of sinners out of respect to the obedience and sufferings of Christ, cannot be objected to as unreasonable.. To this may be added, that every degree of divine respect to the obedience of the patriarchs M’as in fact no other than respect to the obedience of Christ, in whom they believed, and through whom their obedience, like ours, became acceptable. The
* Mis« vii. 20. light of the moon which is derived from its looking, as it were, on the face of the sun, is iio other than the light of the sun itself reflected. But if it be becoming the M’isdom of God to reward the righteousness of his servants, and that many ages after their decease, so highly, (which was only borrowed lustre) much more may he reward the righteousness of his Son from whence it originated, in the salvation of those that believe in him.”*
The renewal of these great and precious promises to Isaac in a time of famine, would preserve him from the fear of perishing, and be more than a balance to present inconveniences. It is not unusual for our heavenly Father to m.ake up the loss of sensible enjoyments by encreasing those of faith. We need not mind where we “sojourn,” nor what we endure, if the Lord “will be with us and bless us.” When Joseph was sold into a strange land, and unjustly cast into prison, it was reckoned a sufficient antidote to add, *’but the Lord was with Joseph, “f
Ver, 6 — 1 1. After so extraordinary a manifestation of the Lord’s goodness to Isaac, avc mioht
* JVilliams’s Letters to Beldam, i)p. 156 — ir)S. t Genesis xxxix. S S 2
have supposed he would have dwelt securely and happily in Gerar: but great mercies are often followed with great temptations. The abundance of revelations given to Paul were succeeded by a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. It is suid of our Lord himself, after the heavens were opened, and the most singular testimony had been borne to him at Jordan, “Thenw3.s Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”* Hea« venly enjoyments are given us in this world, not merely to comfort us under present troubles, but to arm us against future dangers; and happy is it for us if they be so improved.
Isaac had generally lived in solitude; but now he is called into company, and company becomes a snare. “The men of the place asked him of his wife.’’ These questions excited his apprehensions, and put him upon measures for self-preservation that involved him in sin. — Observe, (1.) He did not sin by thrusting himself into the way of temptation; for he was necessitated, and directed of God to go to Gerar. Even the calls of necessity and duty, may, if we be not on our watch, prove ensnaring; and if so, what must those situations be in which we have no call to be found? — (2.) The temptation
* Matt, iv, I.
Gen. 26.] ISAAC and abimelech. S17
of Isaac is the same as that which had overcome his father, and that in two instances. This ren« dered his conduct the greater sin. The falls of them that have o-one before us are so manv rocks on which others have split; and the recording of them is like placing buoys over them, for the security of future mariners. — (3.) It was a temptation that arose from the beauty of Rebecca. There is a vanity which attaches to all earthly good. Beauty has often been a snare both to those who possess it, and to others. In this case, as in that of Abraham, it put Isaac upon unjustifiable measures for the preservation of his own life; measures that might have exposed his companion to that which would have been worse than death. Man soon falls into mischief when he sets up to be his own guide.
And now we see, what we arc grieved to see, a great and good man let down before heathens, and reproved by them for his dissimu* lation. He had continued at Gerar “a long lime” uninterrupted, which sufficiently shewed that his fears were groundless: yet he continued to keep up the deception, till the king observing from his window some freedoms he took with Rebecca, from which he inferred that she was his wife. The conduct of Abimelech on this occasion was as wortjiy of a king, as that of Isaac had been unworthy of a servant of God.
318 ISAAC AND ABIMELECH. [DlS. 35.
Ver. 12 — 17. Things being this far rectified, we see Isaac engaged in the primitive employment of husbandry; and the Lord blessed him, and encreased him, so that he became the envy of the Philistines. Here again we see how vanity attaches to every earthly good: prosperity begets envy, and from envy proceeds injury. The wells M’hich Abraham’s servants had digged, Isaac considered as his own, and made use of them for his flocks: but the Philistines, out of envy to him, “stopped them up, and filled them with earth.” Had they drank of them, it might have been excused; but to stop them up was downright wickedness, and a gross violation of the treaty of peace which had been made between a former Abimelech and Abraham. The issue was, the king perceiving the temper of his people, entreated Isaac quietly to depart. The reason he gave for it, that “he was much mightier than they,” might be partly to apologize for his people’s jealousy, and partly to soften his spirit by a compliment. If Isaac was so great as was suggested, he might, instead of removing at their request, have disputed it with them: he might have alleged the covenant made M’ith his father, the improvement of his lands, &c. But he was a peaceable man, and therefore without making words, removed to the “valley of Gerar,” either beyond the borders of Abimelech’s territory, or at least farther off from the metropoHs. A little with peace and quietness is better thaa much with envy and contention.
Ver. ] 8 — 22. Isaac, though removed to another part of the country, yet finds “wells of water which had been digged in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistines had stopped up after his death.” It seems whereever Abraham went, he improved the country; and wherever the Philistines followed him, their study was to mar his improvements, and that for no other end than the pleasure of doing mischief. Isaac however is resolved to open these wells again. Their waters would be doubly sweet to him for their having been first tasted by his beloved father; and to shew his filial aflfectioa still more, he “called their names after the names by which his father had called them.” Many of our enjoyments, both civil and religious, are the sweeter for being the fruits of the labour of our fathers; and if they have been corrupted by adversaries since their days, we must restore them to their former purity. Isaac’s servants also digged 7iew xcells and which occasioned new strife. While we avail ourselves of the labours of our forefathers, we ought not to rest in them, without making farther progress, even though it expose us to many unpleasant disputes. E7ivy and Strife may be expected to follow those whose researches are really beneficial, provided they go a step beyond their forefathers. But let them not be discouraged: the wells of salvation are worth striving for; and after a few conflicts, they may enjoy the fruits of their labours in peace. Isaac’s servants dug two wells, which, from the bitter strife they occasioned, were called Esek and Sitnah, contentiGu and hatred: but peaceably removing from these scenes of wrangle, he at length digged a mcU for which “they strove not.” This he called Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
Ver. 23 — 25. The famine being now over, Isaac returned to Beersheba, the place where he and his father had lived many years before.* It may seem strange, after God had made room for him at Rehoboth, that the next news we hear is, that he takes leave of it. This however might be at some distance of time, and Beersheba was to him a kind of home. Here, the very first night he arrived, the Lord appeared to him, probably in vision, saying, “I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.” Isaac was attached
* Chap. xxi. 31 — 33.
Gen.Q6.] isaac and abimelfch. 321
to the wells which his father had digged, and ta the place where he had sojourned; and doubtless it would add endearment to the Tcry name of Jehovah himself that he was the God of Abraham, especially as it would remind him of the covenant Mhich he had made with him. A self-righteous spirit would have been offended at the idea of being blessed ybr another s .sake; but he who walked in the steps of his father’s faith would enjoy it: and by how much he loved him for whose sake the blessing was bestowed, by so much the greater would his enjoyment be. The promises are the same for substance as were made to him on his going to Gerar. The same truths are new to us under new circumstances, and in new situations. To express the grateful sense he had of the divine goodness, he arose and “built an altar, and called upon the name of the Lord:” and now the very place being rendered doubly dear to him, “there he pitched his tent, and there his servants digged a well.” Temporal mercies are sweetened by their contiguity to God’s altars, and by their being given us after we have first sought the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Ver. 26 — 31. One would not have expected
after driving him, in a manner, out of their
country, that the Philistines would have had any T t
322 ISAAC AXD ABIMELECH. [DlS. 35.
thing more to say to him. Ahimelech, however, and some of his courtiers pay him a visit. They were not easy when he was with them, and now they seem hardly satisfied when he has left them. I believe they were afraid of his growing power, and conscious that they had treated him unkindly, wished for their own sakes to adjust these differences before they proceeded any farther. Isaac, while they acted as enemies, bore it patiently as a part of his lot in an evil world: but now they want to be thought friends, and to renew covenant with him, he feels keenly, and speaks his mind. “Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you r” Wq can bear that from an avowed adversary, which we cannot bear from one in habits of friendship. li xvas not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it. To this they answer, “We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.” Had they any regard then for Isaac’s God, or for him on that account? I fear they had not: they felt however a regard to themselves, and a kind of respect for him which is very commonly seen in men of no religion towards them that fear the Lord. We do not blame them for wishing to be on good terms with such a man as Isaac: but they should not have pretended to have “done unto him nothing but good,” when they must know, and he must have felt the contrary. But this is the very character of a self-righteous heart, when seeking reconciliation with God, as well as man. It palliates its sin, and desires peace in return for its good deeds, when in fact its deeds are evil. Isaac being of a peaceable spirit admits their plea, though a sorry one, and treated them generously. Next morning they arose; and having solemnly renewed covenant with each other, parted in peace.
Ver. 32, 33. The same dav in which Abimelech and his courtiers took leave, the news came out of the field that Isaac’s servants had discovered a well. It is the same well as they are said to have digged in verse 25, only there the thing is mentioned without respect to the time. Here we are told that the news of the discovery of the well arrived immediately after the mutual oath which had been taken between Isaac and Abimelech, and he for a memorial of the event called it “Shebah,” afi oath; and a. city being afterwards built on the spot was from hence, it seems, called “Beer-shebah,” the zvell of the oath. Indeed this name had been given it by Abraham above a hundred years before, and that on a similar occasion: but what was now done would serve to confirm it.
324 ISAAC AND ABIMELICH. [Dis. 35.
Ver. 34, 35. The Lord had promised to ‘’multiply Isaac’s seed;” and they are multiplied in the person of Esau; hosvbeit not to the en crease of comfort, either in him or in Rebecca. Esau went into the practice of polygamy, and took both his wives from among the Canaanites. Whether he went into their idolatrous customs, we are not told, nor whether they lived in the father’s family. However this might be, their ungodly, and some think undutiful behaviour, was a grief of mind to their aged parents. Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife when she bare no children: and now that they have children grown up, one of them occasions much bitterness of spirit: this indeed is not uncommon. Such an issue of things in this instance would tend to turn away the hopes of Isaac from seeing the accomplishment of Abraham’s covenant in the person of his first-born son, to whom he appears to have been inordinately attached. By other instances of the kind, God teaches us to beware of excessive anxiety after earthly comforts, and in receiving them to rejoice with trembling.