Isaac's deception about Rebekah mirrors Abraham's identical lie about Sarah to the same Philistine king Abimelech, creating the Bible's only father-son repetition of deception with identical royal figures.
Genesis 26
Isaac in Gerar and Beersheba
1There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2The LORD appeared to him, and said, “Don’t go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
3Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed,
5because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6Isaac lived in Gerar.
7The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife”, lest, he thought, “the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at.”
8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”
10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”
11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him.
13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.
14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water.
20The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. So he called its name Sitnah.
22He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. So he called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
23He went up from there to Beersheba.
24The LORD appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
25He built an altar there, and called on the LORD’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.
27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”
28They said, “We saw plainly that the LORD was with you. We said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let’s make a covenant with you,
29that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.’ You are now the blessed of the LORD.”
30He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
33He called it “Shibah”. Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba” to this day.
34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
35They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.
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Theme
During a famine, Isaac receives God's covenant promises and settles in Gerar, where he deceptively calls Rebekah his sister out of fear. Despite this moral failure, God blesses Isaac with abundant harvests and wealth, leading to conflict with the Philistines over water rights. Isaac peacefully resolves disputes by digging new wells, demonstrating how God's faithfulness transcends human weakness and provides space for His people to flourish.
Context
This chapter parallels Abraham's experiences, showing how covenant promises pass to the next generation despite human failings, setting the stage for Jacob's story.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-6 God's Covenant Renewed with Isaac The LORD appears to Isaac during famine, reaffirming the Abrahamic promises and directing him to stay in the land rather than go to Egypt.
- 7-11 Isaac's Deception About Rebekah Isaac lies about Rebekah being his sister, but Abimelech discovers the truth and protects them from harm.
- 12-16 Isaac's Prosperity and Philistine Envy God blesses Isaac with extraordinary agricultural success and wealth, causing the Philistines to envy him and ask him to leave.
- 17-22 Well Disputes and Peaceful Resolution Isaac re-digs his father's wells and faces conflicts over water rights, eventually finding peaceful resolution at Rehoboth.
- 23-33 Divine Confirmation and Covenant with Abimelech God appears again to Isaac at Beersheba, and Abimelech seeks a peace treaty recognizing God's blessing on Isaac.
Isaac in Gerar and Beersheba
26:1–26:35 narrative narration hopeful
Isaac experiences famine and goes to Gerar, where God renews the Abrahamic covenant and blesses Isaac with great prosperity. The narrative includes Isaac's deception about Rebekah being his sister, echoing his father Abraham's similar actions.
person_contrast
Isaac's deception about Rebekah mirrors Abraham's identical lie about Sarah to the same Philistine king Abimelech, creating the Bible's only father-son repetition of deception with identical royal figures.
Insights
Cross-References
Connected passages across Scripture
Genesis 26:1 2 references
Genesis 26:3 4 references
Lexicals 4
Deuteronomy 1:8 Lexical
Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to I…
Exodus 33:1 Lexical
The LORD spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt,…
Deuteronomy 34:4 Lexical
The LORD said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to you…
Exodus 32:13 Lexical
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multip…
Genesis 26:4 5 references
Lexicals 5
Genesis 22:17 Lexical
that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sa…
Exodus 32:13 Lexical
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multip…
Nehemiah 9:23 Lexical
You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you said to…
Nahum 3:16 Lexical
You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips and flees away.
1 Chronicles 27:23 Lexical
But David didn’t take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because the LORD had said he would increase Is…
Genesis 26:5 5 references
Lexicals 5
1 Kings 2:3 Lexical
and keep the instruction of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinanc…
Deuteronomy 30:10 Lexical
if you will obey the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of…
Deuteronomy 11:1 Lexical
Therefore you shall love the LORD your God, and keep his instructions, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandment…
2 Kings 17:13 Lexical
Yet the LORD testified to Israel and to Judah, by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and k…
2 Kings 17:34 Lexical
To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinanc…
Genesis 26:7 1 reference
Genesis 26:8 5 references
Lexicals 5
1 Chronicles 15:29 Lexical
As the ark of the LORD’s covenant came to David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw ki…
Proverbs 7:6 Lexical
For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice.
2 Samuel 6:16 Lexical
As the LORD’s ark came into David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out through the window and saw King David l…
2 Kings 9:30 Lexical
When Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out at th…
Judges 5:28 Lexical
“Through the window she looked out, and cried: Sisera’s mother looked through the lattice. ‘Why is his chariot so long i…
Genesis 26:14 5 references
Lexicals 5
Job 1:3 Lexical
His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female do…
2 Chronicles 32:29 Lexical
Moreover he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him abundan…
Genesis 47:17 Lexical
They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and f…
Ecclesiastes 2:7 Lexical
I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and…
Exodus 9:3 Lexical
behold, the LORD’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on th…
Genesis 26:18 1 reference
Genesis 26:24 2 references
Genesis 26:26 2 references
Genesis 26:28 1 reference
Genesis 26:31 1 reference
Genesis 26:34 1 reference
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language
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Lemma
Morphology
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Theological Significance
Translation Notes
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Historical Context
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