Genesis 26:23-25

7. The Theophany at Beersbeba (Genesis 26:23-25). We now read that Isaac went up from Gerar to Beersheba. (Though Beersheba is said to lie lower than Gerar, yet the general expression for approaching any part of Palestine from the southwest is to -go up,-' EG, 729). Here Yahweh appears again to Isaac, for covenant matters must be again considered. Isaac has conducted himself in a manner that calls forth divine approval. Besides, Isaac's faith needs to be strengthened in the matter of the realization of the covenant promise. For one part of the promise is: numerous descendants.. Isaac shall have to walk by faith very largely as did Abraham. That this faith might well be established he is informed that God will surely bring this promise to pass. So we see that the situation is sufficiently important to call for the appearance of Yahweh, the second and last that is granted to Isaac. The substance of Yahweh's promise is: Fear not as to the realization of the promise given thee, for I am with thee, I, the God of Abraham, thy father, who never failed to make good what I promised to him; I guarantee to make thy descendants (Hebrew -seed-') numerous, for the sake of Abraham my servant. It is here only in Genesis that the title -my servant-' is applied to Abraham. By it another aspect of Abraham's relation to the Lord is covered: he stood in God's service all his days and faithfully did His will (EG, 729).

Now, any place that is sanctified by a Divine appearance naturally became a sacred spot where Yahweh was wont to be worshiped (cf. Genesis 12:7-8, Genesis 13:4). Hence, following the example of his illustrious father, Isaac erected an altar, and of course offered sacrifice: a fact so obvious that it hardly need be mentioned. It is stated that he called upon the name of Jehovah. This means, as it did from the very beginning (cf. Genesis 4:26), that Isaac acting on behalf of his entire householdas their priestengaged in all the essentials of public worship of God characteristic of the Patriarchal Dispensation, the very heart of which was sacrifice that included the shedding of precious blood (Genesis 4:4-5, Hebrews 11:4, Leviticus 17:11, John 1:29, Hebrews 9:11-22, Revelation 7:13-14). Because of Yahweh's manifestation at this place it became sacred to Isaac and he pitched his tent there, and as relatively permanent residence was involved, he ordered his servants to (literally) start digging a well there: the success of the attempt is not reported until Genesis 26:32 (ABG, 202).

FOR MEDITATION AND SERMONIZING

The Essentials of Life

Text: Genesis 26:25. Dr. Bowie (IBG, 675-676)presents some challenging thoughts concerning our text, Genesis 26:25. We have here, he writes, only the bare catalogue of what Isaac did on a particular day. However, there are three nouns in this text which have deep implications: an altar, a tent, and a well.

1. It should be noted that the altar was first. The first thing Isaac did when he moved up to Beersheba was to cause his servants to build an altar there. (Recall that the first thing Noah did on coming out of the ark was to build an altar unto Jehovah and offer the prescribed sacrifice, Genesis 8:20). With Isaac, as with Israel in all its history, God was no afterthought. Existence was not secular, but lifted up always to a religious reference. Isaac was doing what his father Abraham always did on moving into a new environment. The altar was first. When a man is right with God all other matters fall into place. In our affluent society today men have so much that they consider themselves self-sufficient, whereas if God did not provide the food they eat, the water they drink, and the air they breathe, they could not live five minutes. Man is a creature. When he loses sight of this fact, he loses his bearings and brings chaos upon himself and his fellows. We must start with God as the First Truth of all being. Hence if any part of life is to be worth anything, it must begin with the recognition and worship of God.

2. After erecting his altar and calling upon the name of Jehovah (in his office as the patriarch-priest of his household), Isaac then pitched his tent there. Naturally what went on in that tent was commonplace enough: everyday human needs had to be provided for through the routine of ordinary work; the building of an altar could not obviate that, nor contact with the spiritual world take men out of this one. What Isaac kept in mind was that family lifeits duties, loyalties, and affectionsneeded always to be brought under the protection of the altar. Note, too, that Isaac had no mansion, not even a house solidly built and comfortable, adapted to present occupancy, such as men and women desire in our day. He had only a tent. Does not this suggest that the patriarchs were not rooted in material things; that, on the contrary, they confessed themselves to be strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:12)? Are not we all just such? In the civilization of today, complex and materially rich, there is danger that men may be so satisfied with what they already possess that they do not reach forward to that spiritual communion which pilgrim souls would seek to gain. Yet in the scale of eternal values the great man is he who knows that life here is a pilgrimage (Job 14:1-2, Matthew 6:19-21, Colossians 3:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18), and that if he does not seek the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10), his life on earth will be aimless and empty, The only happiness to which man is ordained by the very nature of his being is ultimate union with God, the union of the human mind with the Mind of God in knowledge and the union of the human will with the Will of God in love (1 Corinthians 13:12, 1 John 3:2): that alone will be perfect happiness (cf, Matthew 5:3-12; note that the Latin word for happiness is beatitudo, blessedness, hence this ultimate union with God is known as the Beatific Vision; the Latin word was coined by Cicero; Aristotle used the word endaimonia, which means, literally, well-being). To achieve this Beatific Vision, one must be steadfast in growing in the Spiritual Life here (2 Peter 3:18) as programmed for him in the Divine Word (1 Corinthians 15:58, Galatians 5:22-25; 1 Corinthians 12:31; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Revelation 2:10, etc.).

3. Finally, having built his altar and pitched his tent, Isaac's servants digged a well. This was necessary to their existence. Out of it must come the water to slake the thirst of men and cattle; and because of it there could be an oasis of growth and shade. Without water, physical life would come to an end soon. Hence, all through the Bible water is a symbol for the satisfaction of a deeper thirst. (Cf. Psalms 42:1, Isaiah 55:1; John 4:14; John 7:37-39).

Review Questions

See Genesis 26:34-35.