Book of Genesis - Ch. 26, Vs. 1-35 (12/31/2000)

And there was a famine in the land. When have we seen a famine before?

I'm right here. Genesis 26.

By the way, Bible study tomorrow night will not happen. Our daughter is still with us and besides there will be several people gone.

So we're going to forego it this week, Monday and Tuesday. June, will you help me get word?

And there was a famine in the land, besides the famine that was in the days of Abraham. So it was in the days of Abraham that we have the famine.

And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. When the famine took place, we can't be for sure, but it appears to be after Abraham.

And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land which

I shall tell thee of. He's warned to not go to Egypt.

All the days of Isaac he spent in the land of Canaan.

God's providence always watched to direct the ways of his children. Have you not found that true?

Have you not found that true? I wondered if I was getting through.

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 will perform the oath which I swear unto

Abraham thy father. Because Abraham did what he did.

We're going to find lots of things hinge on that. While a man acknowledges

God in all his ways, he will direct all of his steps. Do you believe that? He will direct his steps whether you acknowledge the ways or not.

Do you believe that? Though he may not choose to give him the reason for the workings of his providence.

Do you believe that? Abraham might go safely to Egypt, Isaac might not.

In firmness and decision of character, there was a wide difference between the two men.

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all the countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

He commanded Abraham's obedience because Isaac should be even more ready to follow in the same.

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

As great blessings often come upon children in consequence of the piety and faithfulness of their parents, by the exercise of all piety and faithfulness, children should endeavor to confer similar blessings on their descendants.

Their descendants. Do we ever think of that? That my child would be blessed if I walk in the way?

If it was good for Abraham and Isaac, it's good for us. And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

And the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, she is my sister. Where do you suppose he learned that?

Yes. For he feared to say, she is my wife, lest, said he, the men of the place, should kill me and Rebekah, because she was fair to look upon for Rebekah.

But we forget so quickly the promises God has made.

Because how he sinned, his wife was handsome.

She fancied the Philistines would, he fancied Philistines would more, some way or other, to take him off and some of them might marry her.

And therefore she must pass for his sister. It is an unaccountable thing that both these great good men should be guilty of the same thing.

And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech, king of the

Philistines, looked out of his window and saw, and behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

Now I'm not going to ask you what he was doing. Suffice to say this, whatever he may have been doing was something that brother and sister wouldn't do.

And Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, of a surety, she is thy wife. And how saidest thou, she is my sister?

And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

Well, this poor boy has been given a promise by God.

Don't you think that would weigh something? How often are we promised of God that he'll take care of us, yet we worry about tomorrow?

The Bible describes men as they are. It records not only their virtues and their vices, but often without commenting the one or condemning the other.

Whether an action is right or wrong must be determined not from the fact that it's being recorded in a scripture, but from its agreement or disagreement with the requirements of God.

You cannot determine that it's right or wrong because it's recorded.

And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? Almost the same words.

One of the people might have lain with your wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

He who injures Isaac or defiles Rebekah shall certainly die for it. Death was a punishment for adultery.

Now, Virg, of course I know we don't have the kind of government that they do, but what if death was the punishment for adultery today?

You'd probably see a whole lot less adultery. You'd see a whole lot less people, too.

Pardon? It's still like that in the Middle East. In the

Middle East, it's still like that as far as where a woman is being adultery. It's all right for a man. But they killed a man.

Yes. Then Isaac sold him the land and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the

Lord blessed him. Now, that's good, isn't it? Say yes.

Yes. All right. Then why is it going to lead to his movement?

Jealousy. Jealousy. During his sojourn in that district, he farmed a piece of land, which, by the blessing of God on his skill in the industry, was very productive.

And by his plentiful returns, he increased so rapidly in wealth and influence that the

Philistines, afraid or envious of his prosperity, obliged him to leave the place.

This may receive illustration from the fact that many Syrian shepherds at this day settle for a year or two in the place, rent some ground and the produce of their trade with the neighboring market, till the owners, therefore jealous of their growing substance, refuse to renew their lease and compel them to remove someplace else.

And the man waxed great and went forward and grew until he had become very great, moving all of the time.

For he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and great stores of servants, and the

Philistines envied him. He was a rich man. Does God deal with men in this world according to their sin?

That's a question. Anybody care? Anybody else care to answer?

Not that we understand. We don't understand either now.

What happened to raising your hand? Now, let's start over.

All right. He dealt with us according to our sins. So I don't believe he does deal with us.

He has great mercy. That's exactly right. He does not deal with us according to our sins.

He deals with us according to his greatness and his mercy. 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. Now, water is very precious.

It was a commodity that if you owned a well, you could control the land.

Why did they plug them? Charlie, why did they fill up these wells?

Well, if he didn't have water, he didn't have power. His flock didn't have something to sustain their life.

He would have to move elsewhere and others wouldn't come to him to receive power that the others were so jealous of.

All right, but could they not use the well? Well, they probably weren't making all that strength.

When jealousy comes in and takes over, what people usually want to do is take away or destroy what belongs to another.

That's right. 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 dirt. The filling up the wells in this case was a most unprincipled transaction.

As they had pledged themselves to Abraham by a solemn oath not to injure each other in this or any other respect, but they did.

And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we.

And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

Well, we find when men are false and unkind, still God is faithful and gracious, isn't he?

The same night that Isaac came weary and uneasy to Beersheba, God brought comforts to his soul.

Those may remove with comfort who are sure of God's presence.

Those may remove with comforts that are sure of God's presence.

And Isaac digged again the wells of water. He just moved over and dug another well, 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 which his father had called them.

And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac. The water is ours.

And he called the name of the well Ezek, because they strove with him.

And they digged another well, and strove for that also.

And he called the name of it Sidna.

And he removed from thence, and digged another well, and for that they strove not.

And he called the name of it Reboth. And he said,

For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

He just moved from well to well. He didn't fight. He just moved.

Men who cannot live close together in harmony should separate themselves.

There's room enough for all. Let all do to others as they ought to wish that they would do to them.

And he went up from thence to Beersheba. And the

Lord appeared unto him the same night, and he said, I am the God of Abraham, thy father fear not.

For I am with thee, will bless thee, multiply thy seed, for my servants

Abraham's sake. Now, we find that Isaac, in his haste to move, and his fear of somebody killing them, had first sinned.

He said his wife was his sister, and he just moved from well to well.

When the Lord had blessed him, and he reinforces that blessing here, those may remove with comfort that are sure of God's presence with them whenever they go.

He knew that. And he built in an altar there, and called upon the name of the

Lord, and pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's service digged a well.

When Abimelech went to him from Gerara, and Ahazoth, one of his friends, and Phico, the chief captain of his army, and Isaac came to them,

Wherefore came ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? You sent me away once, and now you are coming to me.

Why? 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, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as thou hast done unto thee nothing but good, as we have done, and they sent thee away in peace, thou art now the blessed of the

Lord. And he made them to feast, and he did eat and drink.

Now they've come to him for an agreement. Blessed, the word is asherah, and it means not only a blessing, but in turn someone that blesses others.

The Hebrews in swearing begin their oath with if.

If you will do this or if you will do that, God will punish them who breaks the oath.

Here the wicked show that they are afraid, lest that happen to them, which they would do to others.

And they rose up at times in the morning and swear one to another, and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

And it came to pass that 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. Water was a very precious thing in that time.

And he called it Sheba, and therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Judith. Oh, not

Isaac Esau. We change characters.

Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beera, the

Hittite, and Bathsheba, the daughter of Elam, the

Hittite. There were grief of mind unto Isaac and Rebekah.

Can you imagine? Well, first of all, let me ask you, why did

Esau marry? Craig?

Clarence? Well, I don't know if he married because probably two reasons.

One, he was a rebellion against his father. He went against Egypt.

Two, he provided the enemy farmland, or not. In fact, he survived his injuries later.

You think he was thinking of all of that? No, he wasn't, but God, he was a God -fearing man.

If someone was there, he actually would know they were there.

All right, we see the true character of Esau. We see the blessing that Isaac brings.

The Targum of Jonathan ben Israel and that of Jerusalem say that they were addicted to idols.

Being addicted to idols, Esau was addicted to idols.

Would this not bring contention in the home? For those in the next version of Luke, Esau is going to sell his birthright to Isaac, to Jacob.

And it seems to me that he is at the point that he's not dependent on God or his heritage by anything for it.

He is going to do things on his own. Further, it seems to me that when he was marrying the

Hittites, since they both were Hittites, that he was forming an alliance with the

Hittites. He was saying, I am my own man.

We're going to find out quite a bit about Esau. But the main thing is, it goes back to the selling of his birthright and his blessing.

Two different things. From the

Canaanites, there is a different conduct.

It is that of worshipping idols. It has nothing to do with Jehovah. Esau was far from being spiritual, and his wives were holy carnal.

So Esau and Jacob, they're going to play a large part in the rest of Genesis.

Especially Jacob. And we find that Jacob and Esau finally come into a disagreement.

And one leaves. Runs away from home. Seventy years old and he runs away from home.

They've had disagreement from the beginning and now too. Aren't they fighting each other now?

The question is, why did Esau want to marry? Was it to receive blessings?

He overlooked the fact that he took the wives of the same country. Anything else?

Well, let's stand and be dismissed. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.

We thank you for the words that you've given us. We trust that they were said right.

We trust that things have gone as you would have them go. Now as we come to the close of this year, looking back, we visualize how far we've come.

Looking forward, anxiously, waiting on the new year. We do this with great anticipation, knowing that it brings us closer to you.

Be with us, guide us, direct us, care for us as we go through the year, as we study to improve.