And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. Ver. 1. _Beside the first famine._] New sins bring new plagues _Flagitium et flagellura, ut acus et filum._ Where iniquity breakfasts, calam... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Ver. 2. _And the Lord appeared unto him._] God knows our souls, and our souls him, best in adversity. See Zechariah 13:9. This famine was to the Canaanites in the nature of a curse; to Is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sojourn in this land, and 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;_ Ver. 3. _Sojourn in this land._] Though it lay under the common lash; that he might see God's p... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Ver. 4. _As the stars of heaven._] _See Trapp on "_ Gen 13:16 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Ver. 5. _Because that Abraham._] His obedience was universal to all the wills of God; and is here alleged, not as the meritorious cause, but as an antecedent, of the blessing. Our good works do trul... [ Continue Reading ]
And the men of the place asked [him] of his wife; and he said, She [is] my sister: for he feared to say, [She is] my wife; lest, [said he], the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she [was] fair to look upon. Ver. 7. _She is my sister._] How apt are children to imitate their father... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac [was] sporting with Rebekah his wife._ Ver. 8. _Sporting with Rebekah his wife._] Or, laughing and rejoicing; according to that of Solomon, "Rejoice w... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she [is] thy wife: and how saidst thou, She [is] my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. Ver. 9. _Lest I die for her._] _See Trapp on "_ Gen 20:11 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Gen 11:29 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abimelech said, What [is] this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. Ver. 10. _Brought guiltiness upon us._] Or, a shameful crime, subjecting us to condign punishment. This is more than many pseudo-Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abimelech charged all [his] people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. Ver. 11. _He that toucheth this man, &c._] So sweetly doth God, many times, turn even our sins to our safety here, and to our salvation hereafter. What is not God able to do for his?... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. Ver. 12. _Then Isaac sowed in that land._] In ground hired for his use, and managed by himself: for it was anciently a great commendation, saith Cicero, to be a good husbandman. _a_ M. Curius, aft... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:_ Ver. 13. _And the man waxed great._] Because the Lord blessed him, Gen 26:12 for it is his blessing that maketh rich. He sowed, and feared God, and the Lord blessed him. Godliness hath the promises of both lives. 1Ti... [ Continue Reading ]
For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. Ver. 14. _And the Philistines envied him._] Envy is the constant companion of prosperity, as David felt and complained. Succoth and Pennel contemn Gideon, out of envy of his victor... [ Continue Reading ]
_For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth._ Ver. 15. _The Philistines had stopped them._] They deprived themselves of the benefit of those wells, so that Isaac might not water at them. En... [ Continue Reading ]
And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. Ver. 16. _Go from us; for thou art, &c._] _Isaaco ob benedictionem Dei Ostracismus indicitur._ It was well they had nothing against him. Of Isaac it may be more truly said, than of Mithridates, _Virtute eximius, aliquand... [ Continue Reading ]
And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. Ver. 17. _And Isaac departed thence._] Was compelled to do so; though, not long before, the king of the country had charged all his people, on pain of death, not to disquiet him. Eνθα το ηδυ πλησιον και το λυπη... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them._ Ver. 18. _Isaac digged again the wells, &c._] Both fo... [ Continue Reading ]
And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. Ver. 19. _A well of springing water._] Heb., Living; so called for their continual motion. Life consisteth in action: and the godly esteem of life, by that stirring they find in their souls. "O Lord," saith Hezeki... [ Continue Reading ]
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water [is] ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. Ver. 20. _And the herdmen of Gerar._] Not content to have cast him out, they pursued him, with cruel hatred; and, by denying him water, went... [ Continue Reading ]
And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. Ver. 21. _And he called the name of it Sitnah._] Of Satan; to hate deadly, as the devil doth. So the Preacher in his Travels _a_ tells us of a place called, The mouth of hell. And we read of a country calle... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land._ Ver. 22. _And he removed from thence, &c._] See here a pattern of a patient and peac... [ Continue Reading ]
And he went up from thence to Beersheba. Ver. 23. _And he went up._] To the place of God's worship. Strabo writeth that the Metapontines, when they were enriched by a good year of grain, dedicated to Apollo a golden harvest. _a_ a Dedicasse in Delphis χρυσουν θερος .... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, 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. Ver. 24. _Fear not._] For the continued opposition of the Philistines, or whatever other discourag... [ Continue Reading ]
And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well. Ver. 25. _And called upon the name of the Lord._] That had made room for him; and now, by his presence and promise, comforted him. Let the streams of God's boun... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. Ver. 26. _And Abimelech went to him._] Not of any great love, but as (1.) pricked in conscience; (2.) to provide for posterity. It was a mercy to him, howsoever, that strangers and hea... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?_ Ver. 27. _Wherefore come ye to me?_] Here was his magnanimity and his modesty both, in expostulating the wrongs they had done unto him. He could not but be sensible of their discourtesies, though... [ Continue Reading ]
And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, [even] betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; Ver. 28. _Let there be now an oath._] See here, saith Chrysostom, _a_ how great the power of virtue is, and the might of m... [ Continue Reading ]
_That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou [art] now the blessed of the LORD._ Ver. 29. _Thou art now the blessed of the Lord._] This they had observed, and therefore did him this honour. So the... [ Continue Reading ]
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. Ver. 30. _And he made them a feast._] Not to mischief them thereat, as Absalom did Amnon, as Alexander did Philotas, as the great Turk doth the nobles whom he intends to strangle; _a_ but to show there was no rancour or purpose of revenge. _ a_... [ Continue Reading ]
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. Ver. 31. _And they rose up betimes, &c,_] The proverb is, _De sero convivium, de mane consilium._ It was the Persians' barbarous manner, in the midst of their cups, to a... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. Ver. 32. _We have found water._] As crosses, so mercies, seldom come single, but by troops; as she said, when her son Gad was born, "A compan... [ Continue Reading ]
And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city [is] Beersheba unto this day. Ver. 33. _Is Beersheba to this day._] So it was before; but the name was almost worn out, the well being stopped up. Isaac therefore newly names it, and so preserves it for a monument of God's mercy to his father,... [ Continue Reading ]
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Ver. 34. _And Esau was forty years old._] In an apish imitation of his father, who married not till that age; keeping under his body, and bringing it into subj... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah._ Ver. 35. _Which were a grief._] Because idolatresses, Rev 2:2 and untractable; because given up by God. Hos 4:17 Rom 1:28... [ Continue Reading ]