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Cyber-Bible is an ongoing Bible Study which is written by the Pastor.
At present, we are reviewing the Book of Genesis. The study is usually updated each week, although there are times when the Pastor's schedule requires that he skip a week (or two). But, please check back regularly, as we make our way through the Bible.
Genesis 26:12-30
12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15 So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us."
17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19 Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land."
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."
25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
26 Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?"
28 They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us'-between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD."
30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.
32 That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, "We've found water!" 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Isaac discovers that success isn't all that much fun.
His flocks and harvests grow in size and the big shekels start rolling in. But this proceeds to intimidate and alienate Abimelech and others around him.
This would become a recurring theme for the Jewish people. Throughout the ages, they have encouraged education and hard work. As a result, they have often prospered, even when surrounded by hostile neighbors. The neighbors have grown jealous, and instead of following in the footsteps of their Jewish counterparts, they have simply tried to sabotage their success, or attritbute it to sinister causes. Thus we have the anti-semitic stereotypes of the greedy and conniving Jew. Even today, I will hear people use the term "Jewing someone down" when referring to trying to get the most for the least.
It's a crass statement, based on bigoted stereotypes, which found their darkest and ultimate expression in the ovens of Auschwitz.
Abimelech, asks Isaac to leave his territory, lest he become the real power in the land.
Isaac moves to Beersheba, and it is during this time of upheaval and exile that God appears to him and assures him that the covenant first made with Abraham, is still in effect and Isaac's descendants will become a great nation.
Isaac's Philistine neighbors spike his wells, causing him to give them names that symbolize the contentiousness of the time.
Success breeds envy, and envy breeds trouble.
Eventually, Abimelech decides that it is better to have Isaac as an ally than an enemy, so he goes to him and proposes a treaty that will promote peaceful coexistence. Isaac seems a little dubious, but goes ahead. His problems with his neighbors are thus lessened.
He also tries to cement good relations with the neighboring Hittite people, who were known as fierce warriors, and people you wanted on your side. He marries not one, but two Hittite women. (Apparently there was some sort of two-for-one sale going on.)
But this plan backfires. It appears the second and third wives didn't like taking a backseat to Rebekah, and they were probably upset that the family fortune was to all go to Esau.
Aside from this brief, dismissive mention, they never appear in the story again. History's ultimate punishment is oblivion.
