Wells, A Woman, A Vow

Background and Printed Text: Genesis 26:1-33

Genesis 26:1 And there was a famine in the land beside the first famine that was in the days of Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham). And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) went unto My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) king of the Palestinians—unto Sojourning (Gerar).

²And Yehovah appeared unto him. And He said, “Do not descend to Egypt. Abide in the land that I will say unto thee— ³sojourn in this land. And I was with thee. And I blessed thee. For I will give all these lands unto thee and unto thy seed. And I will stand the oath that I swore to Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham) thy father. ⁴And I will multiply thy seed as stars of the heavens. And I will give all these lands to thy seed. And all races of the land will bless-themselves via thy seed ⁵[on the] heel that Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham) hearkened-to my voice, and he guarded my guarding, my commandments, my statutes and my teachings.” ⁶And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) dwelt in Sojourning (Gerar).

⁷And the men of the place asked to his woman. And he said, “He is my sister,” for he feared to say “my woman” lest “the men of the place shall kill me concerning Multiple-Pouring because he is of beautiful appearance.”

⁸And he was because the days lengthened to him there. And My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) king of Palestinians leaned-out in-unto the window. And he saw. And behold, He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) is laugh-making Multiple-Pouring his woman. ⁹And My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) called to He-Will-Laugh (Isaac). And he said, “But behold, he is thy woman! And how said thou, ‘He is my sister’?” And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) said unto him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I will die concerning her.” ¹⁰And My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) said, “What is this thou did to us? As a little, one of the people laid with thy woman! And thou wilt bring transgression upon us!” ¹¹And My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) commanded all the people, saying, “The toucher in this man and in his woman—dying he shall die!”

¹²And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) sowed in that land. And he found in that year a hundred of barley! And Yehovah blessed him. ¹³And the man ‘biggened.’ And he walked, walking and ‘bigging’ until he ‘biggened’ very-much. ¹⁴And an acquisition of a flock was to him, and an acquisition of a herd, and much slavery.

And Palestinians envied him. ¹⁵And all the wells that his father’s slaves dug in the days of Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham) his father—Palestinians stopped them and filled them dust. ¹⁶And My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) said unto He-Will-Laugh (Isaac), “Walk-thou from with us. For thou strengthened much more-than us! ¹⁷And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) walked from there. And he camped in Wadi of Sojourning (Gerar). And he dwelt there.

¹⁸And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) dwelt. And he dug wells of the water that they dug in the days of Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham) his father. And Palestinians stopped them after the death of Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham). And he called to them names as names that his father called to them. ¹⁹And He-Will-Laugh’s (Isaac’s) slaves dug in the wadi. And they found there a well of waters of lives. ²⁰And the shepherds of Sojourning (Gerar) fought with He-Will-Laugh’s (Isaac’s) shepherds, saying, “The water is to us!” And he called the name of the well Contention because they Contended-themselves via him. ²¹And they dug another well. And they fought also concerning her. And he called her name Adversary {fem}. ²²And he advanced from there. And he dug another well. And they didn’t fight concerning her. And he called her name Broadways. And he said, “For now Yehovah broadened to us. And we shall be fruitful in the land.”

²³And he ascended Beersheba from there. ²⁴And Yehovah appeared unto him in that night. And He said, “I am the Gods of Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham) thy father. Fear not. For I am with thee. And I will bless thee. And I will multiply thy seed for the sake of my slave Father-Of-A-Crowd (Avraham).” ²⁵And he built an altar there. And he called via Name Yehovah. And he inclined his tent there. And He-Will-Laugh’s (Isaac’s) slaves excavated a well there.

²⁶And My-Father-The-King (Avimelech) walked unto him from Sojourning (Gerar), and Gripper (Akhuzat) his neighbour and Mouth-Of-All (Phicol) prince of his host. ²⁷And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) said unto them, “Why have ye come unto me? And ye, ye hated me! And ye sent me from with you!” ²⁸And they said, “Seeing, we saw that Yehovah was with thee. And we said, ‘An Oath shall be, na, betweens us—between us and between thee. And we shall cut a covenant with thee ²⁹if thou wilt do bad with us just-as we didn’t touch thee and just-as we did only good with thee! And we sent thee in peace! Thou art now Yehovah’s blessed!” ³⁰And he made to them a drinking-party. And they ate and drank. ³¹And they early-rose in the morning. And they swore, a man to his brothers. And He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) sent them. And they walked from with him in peace.

³²And he was in that day. And He-Will-Laugh’s (Isaac’s) servants came. And they told to him concerning firebrands of the well that they dug. And they said to him, “We found water!” ³³And he called her Oath. Therefore the name of the city is Well-of-Oath unto this day.

And Hairy is the son of 40 year. And he took a woman, Yehovah’s-Ruling daughter of My-Well the Hotty and Spices daughter of Oak the Hotty. ³⁵And they were bitternesses of spirit to He-Will-Laugh (Isaac) and to Multiple-Pouring.

I. Rerun (verse 1)

This land occasionally had famine. (This is still true today because of uncertain rainfall.) Isaac went unto Avimelech as his father had done. Avimelech was king of the Palestinians (the same group that is in the news about the Land of Israel, and is trying to set up a Palestinian state).

Questions

1. Why did Isaac go to the same place where his father had had such a strange and almost devastating experience (to Gerar and to its king)?

2. Why did famines occur?

3. Does Yehovah cause famines to occur?

4. Was this the same Avimelech that Avraham had met?

5. Who are these Palestinians?

II. The Intervention (verses 2-6)

Yehovah appeared to Isaac. He told him to not descend to Egypt, but instead to abide where he was (in Gerar, the Palestinian kingdom). Isaac did as he was told (verse 6).

Yehovah then stated that He was with Isaac, and He blessed him.

Yehovah promised that He will give all these lands unto Isaac and unto his seed. He stated that He will ‘stand’ the oath that He swore to Avraham his father—He will cause it to be upheld and fulfilled.

He vowed more: that He will multiply Isaac’s seed as stars of the heavens. He will then give all these lands to Isaac’s seed.

Yehovah explained how all races of the land will respond: they will bless themselves via Isaac’s seed. Why? This is because Avraham:

hearkened to His voice
guarded His guarding
guarded His commandments
guarded His statutes
guarded His teachings.

Isaac did as he was told; he dwelt in Sojourning.

Questions

1. Why did Yehovah appear unto him (instead of just speaking to him)?

2. Why did Yehovah command Isaac to not descend to Egypt?

3. Why did Yehovah first say, “Abide in the land that I will say unto thee,” then after say, “sojourn in this land”?

4. Why is “And I was with thee” in the past tense?

5. What happens if God is with someone?

6. How can someone (who knows a little about the Bible) tell if a person has been blessed by Yehovah (in the same way that the Bible means by blessing)?

7. Yehovah said, “I will give all these lands unto thee and unto thy seed.” Identify the seed.

8. What does “stand the oath” mean?

9. What is the oath that Yehovah swore to Avraham?

10. If Yehovah multiplies Avraham’s seed as stars of the heavens, what will happen? (Keep in mind that there are billions of stars in some galaxies, and there are a huge number of galaxies. The planet can only hold and support a number of humans in the billions.)

11. Identify all these lands. The text that describes them is Genesis 15:18-21. Use the following maps to see what these lands include. I have given you clues for all, including when I could not find some. Then, once you have found as many as you can, draw a border around the area promised on Map 33.

The river of Egypt (Nile: Map 18)

The Euphrates River (Map 18)

Kenites (Map 33: also known as Midianites: find near the Red Sea)

Kenizzites (I couldn’t find them)

Kadmonites (I couldn’t find them)

Hittites (Map 18: you will find HITTITES. They lived between Carchemish, which is on the map, and the Orontes River area labeled in blue on the same map).

Perizzites (Map 18a: they lived around Mt. Carmel; you will find it by The Great Sea, known today as the Mediterranean Sea)

Rephaim (Map 21)

Amorites (Map 21)

Canaanites (Map 21)

Girgashites (I couldn’t find them; find Sea of Chinnereth on Map 18a, and look to the right, which is east. They may have lived there, but there is no label.)

Jebusites (They lived in Jerusalem, also called Salem: Maps 18 and 21)

12. Why wouldn’t all locations in the Bible be present on Bible maps?

13. What can cause a civilization, a people and cities to be completely destroyed so that there is no trace left?

14. Verse 4 states, “All races of the land will bless themselves via thy seed…” What land is this?

15. How will all races of the land bless themselves via Isaac’s seed?

16. Verses 4 and 5 tell who is responsible for all races being able to bless themselves (besides Isaac’s and Avraham’s seed). Who is responsible for this great ability to bless themselves?

17. Was Gerar a safe place for Isaac to dwell?

III. Danger! (verse 7)

Isaac’s wife was beautiful. The men in Gerar asked ‘to’ her. Isaac did what his father had successfully done: he said, “He is my sister.” He feared to say that she was his woman. He stated that the men of the place will kill him for Rebekah.

Questions

1. Yehovah appeared (verse 2) and blessed Isaac. Isaac lied regarding his wife Rebecca (verse 7). Did Yehovah ignore Isaac’s lying right after Yehovah had promised him blessing and safety?

2. Why did Isaac say, “He is my sister,” when his sister is a woman?

3. Was Isaac certain that the men of the place would kill him?

IV. The Truth Comes Out (verses 8-11)

Isaac stayed there for a while. Avimelech leaned out of a window (the Hebrew wording is “in-unto” the window). And he saw Isaac making Rebekah laugh. He may have been tickling her—he was doing something that showed that he was more than a brother to her.

Avimelech called Isaac and confronted him: “He is thy woman!” The king desired to know why Isaac had said that ‘he’ was his sister. Isaac replied, “Because I said, ‘Lest I will die concerning her.” Avimelech was upset: “What is this thou did to us? As a little, one of the people laid (had sexual intercourse) with thy woman! And thou wilt bring transgression upon us!”

Avimelech then commanded all the people with a threat: “The toucher in this man and in his woman—dying he shall die!”

Questions

1. What was “because the days lengthened to him there”?

2. Why did the king lean out ‘in-unto’ the window?

3. Why does the Hebrew language use such strange wording as “in-unto”?

4. What was so unusual about a brother tickling a sister?

5. Avimelech said, “What is this thou did to us?” Had Isaac done anything to them?

6. Was Avimelech that afraid of bringing transgression upon his people?

7. Why might Avimelech been afraid of transgression like this?

8. What does transgression mean?

9. How serious was Avimelech about keeping all his people from touching either Isaac or Isaac’s woman?

V. Isaac’s Prosperity (verses 12-14)

Isaac was temporarily safe. He planted in Gerar, the land of the Palestinians. He reaped one hundred times the amount of barley he planted—a huge harvest. Yehovah blessed him. He became very great. He moved the herds and flocks that he had to various pasture lands in the area, and they only increased. He also had a large number of slaves.

Questions

1. Does Yehovah always bless His favorites as He did Isaac (verses 12-14)?

2. Does Yehovah have favorites?

3. The text states that Yehovah blessed him. What is the purpose that Yehovah has for blessing someone?

4. What does ‘bigging’ mean?

5. Didn’t Isaac inherit all that his father Avraham had? Wasn’t Avraham very wealthy? Why did Isaac need to acquire more to become ‘big’?

6. Didn’t Isaac become big ‘on the backs of’ all the slaves who worked for him without pay? How could Isaac be a humble man when he owned humble slaves who had no chance for freedom?

VI. Envy (verses 14-17)

The Palestinians envied him. They tried to make life impossible for Isaac by stopping and filling in the wells that Avraham’s slaves had dug. Pressure finally reached Avimelech. He personally told Isaac to leave them. Isaac was now stronger than Avimelech’s people. Isaac was wise; he left.

There was a wadi (a valley formed by streams during the rainy season) in Gerar. He made camp there.

Questions

1. Did Isaac cause the envy of the Palestinians? Should he have been kinder to them, and show them the love of God? Should he have witnessed to them about Yehovah?

2. Why did the Palestinians plug up the wells (when water was so valuable, and they also could have used it)?

3. Why did Avimelech tell Isaac to leave the area (“Walk-thou from with us”)?

4. Should Isaac have stayed in the area (instead of leaving) because he had as much right to the land as the Palestinians (and even more because of Yehovah’s promise)?

5. Could Isaac have used passive resistance (refusing to obey commands from good authorities or from bad authorities) to protest the wrongs that the Palestinians were doing?

6. Were the Palestinians racists?

7. Should the modern Israelis leave and go settle somewhere else in order to seek peace with the Palestinians?

VII. Did They Dig! (verses 18-22)

Isaac began ‘redigging’ the wells of water that the slaves had dug for Avraham. He called the wells by the same names they previously had.

While digging in the wadi, Isaac’s servants found a well of the waters of lives.

The fighting now began. Palestinian herdsmen fought with Isaac’s herdsmen, claiming that the water was theirs. Isaac called the well Contention because they contended ‘via him,’ over the well.

Isaac’s men dug another well. The Palestinians also claimed that one. Isaac called her name Sitnah (Adversary), the feminine word for Satan.

Isaac and his men moved on to another location. They dug another well. The Palestinians didn’t pursue a fight. Isaac called the well Broadways. Isaac stated, “For now Yehovah broadened to us. And we shall be fruitful in the land.”

Questions

1. Why did they name wells?

2. What is a wadi?

3. Why did they dig in a wadi?

4. What are waters of lives?

5. Why did the Gerar shepherds fight with Isaac’s shepherds?

6. Did Isaac’s shepherds fight back?

7. Was fighting with the Gerar shepherds right?

8. Why would they name a well Adversary?

9. Why did the Gerar shepherds stop fighting?

10. Who was naming these wells?

11. What does “Yehovah broadened to us” mean?

12. What does “we shall be fruitful in the land” mean?

VIII. Another Appearance (verses 23-25)

Then Isaac ascended (went up) to Beersheva from there. Beersheva is located in a hot and dry part of the desert, but it has good wells of water.

Yehovah appeared to him that very night. He identified Himself as “the Gods of Avraham thy father.” He told him not to fear, again confirming that He is with Isaac. “I will bless thee. And I will multiply thy seed for the sake of my slave Avraham.” Isaac’s response was like that of Avraham: he built an altar there. He called via Name Yehovah.

Isaac inclined (put up) his tent there. His servants excavated a well in that location.

Questions

1. What did Yehovah look like when He appeared to Isaac?

2. What important five things did Yehovah tell or command Isaac?

3. Why did Yehovah start by identifying Himself?

4. Why did He next command him to not fear?

5. What does Yehovah being with him mean? What will happen or won’t happen to him?

6. What will occur if He blesses him?

7. What will occur if He multiplies his seed?

8. If Yehovah was with Isaac (verse 24), why did Isaac have so much trouble with the Palestinians?

9. Why will Yehovah do these things “for the sake of my slave Avraham” instead of for Isaac’s sake?

10. Why did Isaac call via (by means of) Name Yehovah after all the trouble, and not during the trouble?

11. What does “excavated a well” mean?

IX. The Guests (verses 26-31)

Avimelech walked unto Isaac with two companions: Akhuzat and Phicol. Phicol was the prince of Avimelech’s army!

Isaac was startled— “Why have ye come unto me?” “Ye hated me!” and “Ye sent me from [being] with you!”

They answered, “Seeing, we saw that Yehovah was with thee.” They continued, “An Oath shall be, na, ‘betweens’ us—between us and between thee.” (That really is the way they spoke.) “And we shall cut a covenant with thee if thou wilt do bad with us just-as we didn’t touch thee and just-as we did only good with thee! And we sent thee in peace! Thou art now Yehovah’s blessed!”

Consider the wisdom of Isaac: He made them a drinking-party! They ate and drank, and finally went to sleep. Then they rose early in the morning. That is when they vowed, a man to his brothers.

Isaac then sent them. They walked away from being with him in peace.

Questions

1. Why did Avimelech, Akhuzat and Phicol come? Why did Phicol accompany Avimelech?

2. Isaac said, “And ye, ye hated me!” Did Avimelech and his people really hate Isaac?

3. Isaac seemed hurt when he said, “And ye sent me from with you!” Did he have hurt feelings?

4. If the Palestinians saw that Yehovah was with Isaac, why did they send him away?

5. What does “We shall cut a covenant with thee if thou wilt do bad with us” mean?

6. Avimelech and his men continued by saying, “just-as we didn’t touch thee and just-as we did only good with thee!” Was that true?

7. If the above answer is that it wasn’t true, why didn’t Isaac argue with them and correct them?

8. Did the Palestinians send them away in peace?

9. Why did they say, “Thou art now Yehovah’s blessed!”?

10. Did Avimelech and his people fear Isaac?

11. What might have changed to cause the Palestinians to fear Isaac?

12. What might have happened if Isaac had refused to make this vow of peace?

13. How can the reader tell who the he is in “And he made them a drinking-party”?

14. Is a drinking party wrong before Yehovah?

15. Why did they wait until the morning to make vows to each other?

16. Did Isaac’s ways please Yehovah? Prove it.

X. A New Well (verses 32-33)

Isaac’s servants came on the very same day with good news. They told to him about firebrands of the well that they dug. And they said to him, “We found water!”

Isaac called the well by the name Oath. The name Beersheva means Well-of-Oath, and that is its name to this very day!

Questions

1. What does “firebrands of the well” mean?

2. The city had already been named Well-of-the-Oath in Avraham’s day. Why does the text record this as if it were the first time that it had been named this?

3. What day is “this day” in “Therefore the name of the city is Well-of-Oath unto this day”?

XI. A New Set of Wives (verses 34-35)

Esau was now 40 years old. He took a woman: ‘Yehovah’s-Ruling’. She is the daughter of a man named ‘My-Well’. They were Hittites (from the word for hot, and therefore they were Hotties). He took another woman (a second wife) whose name was ‘Spices’. She was the daughter of a man named Oak; again, they were Hittites.

These women were bitternesses of spirit to Isaac and to Rivka (Rebecca, Rebekah, Multiple-Pouring).

Questions

1. Was there a problem with Esau having a Hittite wife?

2. What does “they were bitternesses of spirit to Isaac and Rivka” mean?