Isaac's Return

Isaac’s Return

Genesis 26:24-33

Do you remember when your kids were little and they would mimic things that you did? I can remember my sons doing this in their early years. Whether it was mowing the lawn, washing the car, jogging, lifting weights, or many other things, they tended to copy my actions or even the things I’d say (and sometimes with embarrassing results). Your kids watched you, copied what you did or said, and learned much of what it means to be a man or woman by your example.

Well, our SS lesson today takes a look at a small portion of Isaac’s life, and it’s easy to see that his life mirrors his father, Abraham’s life. Much of what we have recorded of Abraham’s life, is copied in Isaac’s life. This 26th chapter of Genesis is the only chapter where Isaac is the main character, and his life is covered by highlighting the trials he had to face. Both prior to this chapter and after, Isaac is presented only as a secondary character in the life stories of others.

Our chapter today, Genesis 26, begins with a famine in the land. This is not the famine we read of during Abraham’s time, though we see Isaac doing much the same thing that his father did to an Egyptian Pharaoh, and then again to another Abimelech in the same land of the Philistines. Isaac, probably weakened by the famine and fearful that he’d lose all his inherited wealth, decided to move to Egypt, just like his father did years earlier. However, God told him not to go to Egypt, but to stay in the land He had promised him. Isaac’s half-hearted obedience, not going to Egypt, but not returning to the promised land, led to his confrontation with Abimelech, the leader of Gerar. He lied about his wife, Rebekah, just like his father lied about Sarah, but when Abimelech caught him goofing off with his wife in the garden, just like he confronted Abraham, he confronted Jacob also.

Now Jacob’s Abimelech probably wasn’t the same Abimelech his father Abraham dealt with. Back in those days, it wasn’t uncommon for the son to take the name of his father, like Abimelech I and Abimelech II, and so on. But it’s also possible that Abimelech was just a title like king, emperor, pharoah, we just don’t know. But Isaac eventually became so great and wealthy in the land of the Philistines that they became jealous and filled in the wells he and his father had dug with dirt. And of course, having no access to water would cause great hardship to his livestock and any crops he planted. It eventually got bad enough that Abimelech, himself came to him and asked him to leave the country out of fear for his strength. The people were treating him wrong, and Abimelech probably felt that Isaac might retaliate.

But Isaac isn’t Abraham. He wasn’t the kind of person who began wars, so he responded to Abimelech’s recommendation by moving away, sort of. He moved out of Gerar, but he camped in the valley of Gerar, probably just a few miles away. He then redug the wells his father Abraham had dug, but the local herdsmen claimed it was their water. He then dug another well which the local herdsmen also fought over. Isaac could easily have fought over these wells. They belonged to his father, so he had every right to them, but rather than fighting, he acted in meekness and moved a little further on. At this new place he again dug a well and no one contested it. So, he called it Rehoboth, which means plenty of space or room, because the Lord had made room for him.

You know, God uses the trials and trouble we go through to drive us to Him. He wants us to go back to the hope of the promised land. When we turn from God; when we allow our hope in the promised land of heaven to wain or grow dim, God disciplines us. He allows trouble and trials to afflict us and push us back to himself. And I think that is why Isaac made his move from Rehoboth to Beersheba. Because Beersheba would have reminded him of happier times and fond memories.

It was in Beersheba that his father, Abraham, maybe something like 100 years earlier, made a covenant or a treaty with his Philistine neighbors much like what Isaac will do with the same Philistine neighbors in our text today. It’s also where Abraham built an altar and worshipped God like Isaac will also do in our text today. Abraham moved his whole ranching operation to Beersheba after offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah.

Now, Isaac won’t be offering any human sacrifices, but he does move his operation to Beersheba. However, I do find something interesting in later chapters about Isaac and his relationship with God. You see, there are many places where we read of the God of Abraham, God of Jacob, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but in chapter 31, twice Jacob, his son, mentions the God of his father Isaac as “the fear of Isaac” in 31:42 and “the fear of his father Isaac” in 31:53. The fear of Isaac. Now that’s interesting because the fear of the Lord usually means the respect, the admiration, to be in awe of the Lord. And I’m sure Isaac held all those feelings for God, but I think when we consider his history, being offered up as a sacrifice by his father to God, maybe “fear” means much more to him than we think.