Study From the Book of Genesis,26

Today we study chapter 26 of the Book of Genesis. I choose two biblical principles and their lessons which are useful in Biblical Counselling.

An earlier famine occurred during the days of Abraham and led to Abraham going to Egypt. Abraham later had similar misadventure in Gerar as in ch.20, a story that amazingly was repeated in some ways in the life of his son in the present narrative.

The Lord appeared to Isaac for the first time on record. Interestingly, God had already spoken to Rebekah. Even though Egypt’s conditions may have been hospitable, Lord prohibited Isaac from going there as his father had during the earlier famine. The Lord fulfilled His promise to Abraham concerning Isaac. He established His everlasting covenant with Isaac, just as He had with Abraham. God promised to make Isaac’s descendants innumerable as the stars because His covenant with Abraham. God promises to bless the entire word through Abraham’s descendants.

Rebekah was a close relative but not Isaac’s sister.  Isaac was even more deceitful than his father was. The word play with Rebekah literally means Isaac was laughing with her. Ironically, Abimelech had a sense of moral outrage and he became very protective of Isaac and his wife. God’s special work for Abraham was extended to the son. The Lord blessed him so much that he became very prosperous and the envy of his neighbours.

Abraham had made a covenant with Abimelech concerning the rights to wells. But enmity led to acts of sabotage against these old wells. On the basis of Isaac’s rights to the water in the area, his men dug new wells, giving these wells the same names as the old ones. Isaac then moved out of Gerar as the famine ended and water became more available.  He returned to Beersheba, the land of his youth. Isaac followed the practice of his father and he made an alter and called the name of the Lord. At this alter Isaac not only prayed to the Lord, he also affirmed the reality of the living God in this special land.

Structure

Verses: 1-34: Isaac and Abimelech.

Principle 45: verse 26:28: ---“But they said,’ we have certainly seen that the Lord is with you.’ So, we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; let us make a covenant with you’.”

Lesson 45: When God blesses His children, sometimes even the ungodly can clearly see it. When we live in a way that invites the blessing of the Lord, that blessing can spill over our neighbours.

Principle 46: verse 26:35- “And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.”

Lesson 46: God’s people are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Disobedience to this command causes tremendous and unnecessary heartache. 8/03/2026.