Secret Behind A Hundredfold Harvest

Genesis 26:12 - Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him.

This verse talks about a person called Isaac. Isaac sowed in a land and he was blessed with a hundredfold harvest

What makes this blessing special?

An agriculturist would definitely agree with me that getting a hundredfold harvest is not that easy. Even with good soil, perfect sunlight and rain, getting a 90% yield is considered a good harvest.

However, what kind of land did Isaac sow in?

Genesis 26:2 – Isaac sowed in the land of Gerar. Gerar was a very dry land. The soil of that land was such that even when all the climatic conditions are favorable, Gerar would yield only 60% of crops.

Genesis 26:1 – Isaac sowed in Gerar, not during favorable condition, but during the time of famine.

And he was miraculously blessed with a hundredfold harvest.

During famine, when everyone around him were literally dying due to lack of food, Isaac reaped a 100-fold harvest. This made him so prosperous that others in the land envied him (Genesis 26:13,14).

Who was this Isaac? Why should he receive such a special blessing?

Isaac was the son of Abraham (father of faith), born to him when he was 100 years of old. He was the son of promise.

From the Bible, let us meditate on some special characters of Isaac that helped him be a blessed man.

1. Man of obedience

When there was a famine in the land, like anyone else, Isaac had his own plans to escape the famine. He decided to go down to Egypt.

In fact, Isaac’s father Abraham did the very same thing during famine (Genesis 12:10).

He probably would have decided to flee to Egypt thinking, “My father fled to Egypt during the times of famine. Let me follow his footsteps.”

It was common for people those days to go to Egypt during famine because during all famines, Egypt always had excess crops. How come? Egypt is also a very arid land seldom receiving enough rainfall for a good harvest. But the land of Egypt is blessed with the Nile river. This river has its headquarters located deep in the mountains of Africa. So, drought in Egypt does not affect the Nile since its source of flow is in Africa.

Isaac draws out this plan to escape the famine. However, the Lord forbade him

Genesis 26:2 - Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.”

The Lord promised to bless Isaac but he had his part to do. Isaac had to obey God and cancel his plan of going down to Egypt but remain in the land of famine. Now, Isaac had to put his faith in the providence of God and sow in the land. This required faith. Food was scarce. The grains could have become food for his family. But Isaac sowed them as seeds in the soil that was dry and barren. There was every possibility for those seeds to dry up because of poor soil and no rains. He could have been mocked by the people around him for his foolishness. But still, Isaac sowed.

He did his part putting his faith in God to do His part. And indeed, God blessed him with a great and abundant harvest.

Proverbs 10:22 - The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.

If he had gone to Egypt, he would have barely made a living with his family as a refugee. But obedience led to a great blessing.

Illustration – There was a boy who went trekking on the mountain. He reached a great height when he realized that it was getting dark and he had to reach the bottom soon. He began climbing down. It was getting darker and darker, so dark that he could barely see. He was somehow managing to get down the mountain supporting with his hands and feet. Suddenly, his feet slipped. He fell and caught hold of the branch of the tree. He was holding the branch tight enough since that was his only support. He began shouting, “Is there anybody to help me out.” No reply! He kept yelling and yelling. Finally, he heard a soft still voice. “Yes, I am there to help you.” Greatly excited, he shouted, “Thank you, May I know who you are?” Quick came the reply, “I am God. I will help you, but you will have to remove your hands off the branch. Not willing to do so, the boy kept hanging all through the night and finally died. The next morning, the villagers saw the dead boy and found out that the branch on which he was hanging was just two feet above the ground.