Genesis 26.12-16-The Lord Prospers Isaac and Philistines Deport Him
Sunday May 21, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 26:12-16-The Lord Prospers Isaac and Philistines Deport Him
Lesson # 148
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 26:12.
This morning we will study Genesis 26:12-16, which gives us the record of the Lord prospering Isaac in the midst of a famine while residing in Gerar in the land of Canaan and the Philistines becoming envious of him and eventually driving him out of their land.
As we have noted earlier in the study of Genesis 26, the Lord promised to be with Isaac and bless him.
We noted that the Lord would be with Isaac in the form of protection and prosperity.
In Genesis 26:7-11, we see the Lord protecting Isaac from the Philistines.
In Genesis 26:12-16, we will see that the Lord prospers Isaac even in the midst of a famine, which leads to his deportation from Gerar.
Genesis 26:12-14, “Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.”
Genesis 26:15, “Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth.”
Genesis 26:16, “Then Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.’”
The fact that the Lord blessed Isaac in the sense of prospering him agriculturally and financially was a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise recorded in Genesis 26:3.
Genesis 26:1, “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.”
Genesis 26:2, “The LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.’”
Genesis 26:3, “Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.”
The Lord blessed Isaac with great wealth and possessions because Isaac was obedient to the Lord by staying in the land of Canaan, and thereby staying in the geographical will of God meaning the geographical place that God desired Isaac to serve Him.
Isaac obeyed the Lord’s command to stay in the land of Canaan, which is recorded in Genesis 26:3.
Consequently, the Lord blessed Isaac for being obedient to Him.
Deuteronomy 5:33, “Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”
1 Kings 2:3, “Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.”
3 John 1-2, “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”
Isaac kept growing greater in wealth and possessions until he became extremely wealthy, which was further evidence of God’s blessing.
Proverbs 10:22, “It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.”
Genesis 26:12-14, “Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.”
The multiplication of Isaac’s flocks and herds was further proof of divine blessing and presence, with the increase of flocks and herds as well as the large retinue of servants and slaves needed to take care of all of them.
So we see that the Lord is blessing Isaac with material prosperity and great wealth.
Psalm 50:10, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”
1 Chronicles 29:10, “So David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, ‘Blessed are You, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever.’”
1 Chronicles 29:11, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.”
1 Chronicles 29:12, “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.”
Now, we must remember that the bulk of Abraham’s estate upon his death went to Isaac since Isaac was Abraham’s sole heir.
Abraham was fabulously wealthy.
Therefore, Isaac’s wealth must have been staggering since not only did he possess his father’s wealth but also the Lord added to his wealth and possessions.
The prosperity that Isaac received from the Lord led to his being the object of jealousy and envy among the Philistines.
“Envied” is the verb qana (anq) (kaw-naw), which means, “to become envious of someone.”
To envy is to feel resentful, spiteful, and unhappy because someone else possesses or has achieved, what one wishes oneself to possess, or to have achieved.
To be envious means to act on one’s jealousy since to “envy” someone is to desire to deprive another of what he has, whereas “jealousy” desires to have the same or the same sort of thing for itself.
Jealousy is a mental attitude sin directed toward another, which is resentful, intolerant and suspicious of another’s success, possessions or relationships and is vigilant in maintaining or guarding something.
Therefore, jealousy is the mental attitude from which envy originates.
Therefore, the Philistines acted upon their jealousy of Isaac and stopped up the wells dug by his father Abraham in order to deprive Isaac of his prosperity and success, thus they were envious and not merely jealous.
Isaac was the object of Satanic attack at a young age since he was to carry on the line of Christ and was to be the progenitor of the nation of Israel from whom Christ would come and bring blessing to the entire world and destroy the works of the devil.
The Philistines were jealous of Isaac in the sense that they desired his prosperity and were resentful and intolerant and suspicious of Isaac and his success and they were also guarded over their land and did not tolerate Isaac and considered him a rival.
Jealousy originated in eternity past with Satan since he was resentful and intolerant suspicious of the preincarnate Christ’s relationship with the angels and was vigilant in maintaining or guarding his influence over the angels, therefore, jealousy is demonic since it is Satanic viewpoint.
The Philistines were under Satanic influence by being jealousy towards Isaac since jealousy is demonic in origin.
James 3:13, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.”
James 3:14, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.”
James 3:15, “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”
James 3:16, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”
Envy is also included in the list of sins produced by the old sin nature in both the believer and unbeliever (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:1).
Galatians 5:19, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality.”
Galatians 5:20, “idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions.”
Galatians 5:21, “envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Romans 13:13, “Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.”
Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
Jealousy produces rottenness to the bones (Prov. 14:30).
Proverbs 14:30, “A relaxed attitude lengthens a man's life; jealousy rots it away.”
Jealousy is not satisfied until it seeks its revenge (Prov. 27:4).
Proverbs 27:4, “Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can stand before jealousy?”
Proverbs 6:34-35, “For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom, nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts.”
Jealousy leads to murder (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:20) and to inordinate ambition and competition (Phil. 1:15; 1 Tim. 6:4).
The jealousy of the Philistines towards Isaac expressed itself when they stopped up the wells his father Abraham had dug.
Eventually, this jealousy led them to deport Isaac from their land.
Genesis 26:15, “Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth.”
To water his herds and flocks, Isaac needed the wells his father Abraham had dug.
By stopping up the wells, the Philistines were hindering Isaac’s operations.
An adequate water supply was absolutely necessary to keep Isaac’s operations going.
The Philistines decided to plug up all these wells that Abraham had dug in order to force Isaac out of their land.
The stopping up of the wells dug by Isaac’s father Abraham was a violation of the agreement that Abraham made with the predecessor of the Abimelech in Isaac’s days, which is recorded in Genesis 21:22-32.
Genesis 26:16, “Then Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.’”
Abimelech tells Isaac to leave Gerar since he probably felt he could not guarantee the safety of Isaac and his family since Abimelech’s countrymen are so hostile to Isaac.
The Philistines were afraid that Isaac would soon have more people with him along with his great wealth and would try to conquer their territory and so Abimelech was forced to deport Isaac.