Lesson 56- An Altar, More Wells, a Pact, and Bitterness

Some Well Doing after the Altar Gen. 26:23-29

English Standard Version (Chapter 26)

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

28 They said, “We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.”

Isaac goes to Beersheba with his family and belongings and is very powerful. In his strength, the Lord appears to him the very night he left Gerar. It is a magnificent encounter. The pronouncement, “I am the God of Abraham your father!” intimates that Isaac needed a dose of God! It flusters him because the Lord has to calm him down, “ fear not, for I am with you.” The Lord also assures His presence in Isaac’s life. He then consoles him with the promise of blessing and multiplying his offspring for Abraham’s sake. I love it how The Lord comes to meet with us when we are ready to take off from a new situation and do the Lord knows what! He puts us at ease and comforts us in our agitation. remember, ever since the late stages of Gerar, his herdsmen and the herdsmen of the valley have been arguing and harassing each other over water. I’m sure he wants to live where there is no hassle. And, why not?

The Altar 26:25

English Standard Version (Chapter 26)

25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Instead of digging the well first as before, he builds an altar. perhaps his digging before might have been less trauma, if he had put the altar up first in Gerar. The “striving” of the well making, is interesting to note, because it comes from the Old Testament word for Satan, or contention. Things happen for the better when they call upon the name of the Lord. It is a life changing event. Amen. Was this Isaac calling out for salvation? Probably not but it does show us the need for humbling worship. Nothing like getting us back to the first love of worship and setting the tone for life in Beersheba, literally the well of seven, or the well of oath. To swear and the word oath are both derived from from the word seven. One aspect of the name Beersheba denotes the conflict between Abraham and Abimelech over water rights to a well. Abraham calmed the situation with a gift of lambs to Abimelech as witness of his rights to the water. The other aspect is the conflict between Abimelech and Isaac over water. Isaac named the new well to denote the number 7 (Sitnah or 7) of verse 21.

The New Pact -vs. 26-29

Abimelech arrives at Isaacs crib with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol, the commander of his army. This is definitely a show of force, but we see they are not ready to fight, they are here to make peace. Isaac is credulous, and perhaps adds a little drama when he says, “why now?Seeing you hate me and have kicked me out of Gerar? “ These statement may have been an exaggeration of circumstance, but since we were not there, let’s go along with Isaac. I’ll say that the Lord has stepped in through Isaac’s worship and Abimelech is most cordial:

“We see plainly the LORD/Yahweh/Jehovah has been with you!”

“Let there be a sworn pact between us”

“ Let there be a covenant between us.”

“That you will do us no harm, as we have done you no harm.”

“We sent you away in peace.”

“You are the blessed of the Lord.”

Abimelech definitely has a different view of their parting back at Gerar, but he now stands in fear of Isaac. The king of the Philistines is bowing to Isaac out of fear that there will be war. God intervened. Didn’t happen.

Then they eat, drink, and feast and the next day they exchange the oaths. Press conference, and picture taking, monument signing(which is a real thing by the way) hand shakes and they are off to Gerar friends again.

The trio is gone and before the smoke clears, the herdsmen of Isaac have found water again. They name the new well Shibah. Hence, the name Beer sheba today.

From Beersheba to Bitterness vs. 30- 35

English Standard Version (Chapter 26)

30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Just wrapping everything up with a little family news from their Christmas letter. Our son Esau has gotten a few brides from himself this past year at the age of forty. Both are Hittites. What a blessing.

Nope. Read again. They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. Bitter is a sense of taste, usually described like the bitter taste of a ground root as it characterizes mental distress and anguish. It definitely eats away at you. Perhaps Esau still lived at home and if he brought home idol worshippers as wives, it’s a hard pill for Isaac and Rebekah to swallow. It is in Isaac’s best interests to live near Dad as he is the oldest and stands to inherit the most.

Wait a minute, he has already sold his birthright to Jacob. What is a brother to do? Of course, to get even he is going to marry women his parents hate and he is going to stay as close as possible in order to not lose out when dad is gone. Family misery is not new to our generation. It doesn’t have to be that way. If only Christ would be at the center of our family relationships. Family altar may be a great place to start, for them and for us.