Genesis 26:31

These verses close the story of Genesis 26. During a famine the LORD told Isaac to stay in the land and promised, “I will be with thee, and will bless thee” (Genesis 26:3–4), renewing the promises first made to Abraham in Genesis 12. In Gerar Isaac passed Rebekah off as his sister, and Abimelech found him out (Genesis 26:7–11). Even so, Isaac sowed and reaped a hundredfold and grew very great (Genesis 26:12–14). The Philistines envied him and stopped up the wells Abraham’s servants had dug (Genesis 26:15), and Abimelech told him, “Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we” (Genesis 26:16).

Isaac moved to the valley of Gerar and dug again his father’s wells (Genesis 26:18). The herdmen of Gerar quarrelled with him over two new wells, which he named Esek, “contention”, and Sitnah, “enmity” (Genesis 26:20–21). Over a third well no one strove, and he called it Rehoboth, “room”, saying, “For now the LORD hath made room for us” (Genesis 26:22). The whole run of quarrels is told in Genesis 26:15–22. Then he went up to Beersheba, and that night the LORD appeared to him: “I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee” (Genesis 26:24). Isaac built an altar there and pitched his tent, and his servants began digging a well (Genesis 26:23–25). Our passage begins right after that promise.

Abimelech goes to Isaac in person, “from Gerar”. The verb hâlak is the ordinary word for going or walking, and here it marks a journey the king chose to make. The man who once ordered Isaac out now travels to him, a clear sign of how Isaac’s standing has changed.

He brings two men. Ahuzzath is “one of his friends”, and the word mêrêaʻ means a companion or close associate, so Ahuzzath was a trusted confidant and most likely an adviser. Phichol is “the chief captain of his army”. The word sar means a chief, captain, ruler or official, anyone holding a position of authority, and Phichol held the command of the army. A king, his confidant and his general together make a formal, high-level delegation. The Philistines had come to treat Isaac’s household as a power to reckon with, and they wanted a settled peace with it.

Isaac answers his visitors directly: “Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?” The word maddûwaʻ, “wherefore”, asks why or for what reason, and on Isaac’s lips it is a pointed question. He speaks to the king himself and names what happened. The word for hate here, sânêʼ, is the ordinary one, and Isaac uses it of their envy, their quarrels over his wells and the order to leave. “Sent me away” translates shâlach, the common verb to send, and it points back to the command of Genesis 26:16. The KJV’s “sent away” comes three times in this passage. Isaac was sent away in verse 27, Abimelech claims he was sent away “in peace” in verse 29, and in verse 31 Isaac sends the Philistines away in peace himself.

His question is wise. A man of peace can still ask honestly what has changed before he trusts those who harmed him. Forgiveness and plain sight belong together, and Isaac’s question gives the visitors the opportunity to say why they have come, which they do. The scene also fulfils the picture of the psalm: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies” (Psalm 23:5).

“We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee.” The Hebrew repeats the verb râʼâh, roughly “seeing, we saw”, to stress how sure they are. This verb is the usual word for seeing, and it also covers perceiving and understanding. What they saw was plain to anyone: the hundredfold harvest, the growing flocks and herds, and a man who found water again every time he was pushed out. They concluded that his success came from the LORD. The LORD had promised Isaac, “I will be with thee”, and now outsiders report the same words back to him.

They name the LORD, Yᵉhôvâh, God’s personal name, which the KJV prints as “the LORD”. Strong’s gives its sense as “the self-Existent or Eternal”. A Philistine king speaks of Isaac’s God by this name and credits him with Isaac’s prosperity. Proverbs puts the principle in one line: “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). Paul asks, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Abimelech’s request begins, “That thou wilt do us no hurt.” The king’s real concern is safety. Isaac has grown strong and could repay old wrongs, and Abimelech wants a pact that he never will.

He then gives his own account of the past. “As we have not touched thee” is literally true, since no one laid a hand on Isaac, but it passes over the stopped wells and the order to leave. “As we have done unto thee nothing but good” goes further. The word for good, ṭôwb, is a broad one for what is pleasant, favourable, prosperous and right, and envy, quarrels and expulsion hardly fit it. “And have sent thee away in peace” uses shâlôwm in its thinnest sense, meaning only that there was no fighting on the day Isaac left. Abimelech tells the story in the best light he can, as people often do when they need something from someone they wronged. Isaac lets the words pass and makes peace anyway. The psalm says of the patriarchs that God “reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm” (Psalm 105:14–15).

The speech ends with the truest thing Abimelech says: “thou art now the blessed of the LORD.” The verb bârak means to kneel, and by implication to bless, whether people blessing God in worship or God giving good to people. Here it means the LORD’s favour shown in Isaac’s prosperity and safety. The word ʻattâh, “now”, stresses that the blessing is plain at this moment for anyone to see. God had promised Abraham, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2–3). Kings who saw God’s people blessed knew to be careful, as Balak later admitted of Balaam’s word, “he whom thou blessest is blessed” (Numbers 22:6).

Isaac answers with hospitality: “And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.” The verb ʻâsâh is the everyday word to do or make. The word for feast, mishteh, is related to drinking and means a banquet or feast, the word used for occasions such as weddings. They “did eat”, ʼâkal, and drink, shâthâh, together. In the world of the patriarchs a shared meal sealed peace between people. To eat at someone’s table was to be at peace with him, and a feast after a treaty showed publicly that the quarrel was over. Jacob and Laban later make a covenant and eat together in the same way (Genesis 31:43–55), and Abraham’s covenant with Abimelech at this same place was sealed with a gift of animals and an oath (Genesis 21:27–32).

“And they rose up betimes in the morning.” The verb shâkam means to rise early, and by extension to persist. It comes from loading the back of a man or beast before setting out on a day’s journey. Rising early marks a matter as serious, as when Abraham rose early to go to Moriah, and here it sets the oath at the start of the day before the guests leave for home.

“And sware one to another.” The verb for swearing, shâbaʻ, is related to the Hebrew word for seven, as though the oath were declared seven times over. Both sides swear, so each is bound to the other. God himself bound his promise to Abraham with an oath, “because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself” (Hebrews 6:13–18), and our own oaths and promises are meant to be kept with the same faithfulness.

“And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.” Isaac acts as host and closes the visit. The word shâlôwm names completeness, soundness, welfare, peace and safety, and the Philistines go home safe, with Isaac free of their harassment. Scripture tells us to “seek peace, and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14) and, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). Isaac had done exactly that through every quarrel over the wells, and now the peace comes to him.

“And it came to pass the same day.” The word yôwm means a day or a span of time, and here it is the very day of the oath. On that day Isaac’s servants came to tell him “concerning the well which they had digged”. The verb châphar means to dig or search out, and it reminds us of the labour behind every well in this chapter. Their news was short: “We have found water.” The verb mâtsâʼ means to find or attain, and mayim is water.

In that dry country water meant life for people, flocks and herds, and a well was wealth and a reason to stay in a place. Wells had brought Isaac nothing but strife at Esek and Sitnah. Now a well comes in on the day his last dispute is settled, and the timing is God’s. On one day God gave Isaac peace with his neighbours and water for his household, keeping the promise he had made at this very place a short time before. The psalm praises the God who “turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings” (Psalm 107:35), and through Isaiah he says, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none ... I the LORD will hear them” (Isaiah 41:17–18).

“And he called it Shebah.” The verb qârâʼ means to call or to name, and Isaac names the new well. Shibʻâh comes from the word for seven, and it sounds like shevu’ah, the word for an oath. The two meet in this naming, so the well is remembered for the oath sworn on the day it was found.

“Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.” Bᵉʼêr Shebaʻ means “well of an oath”, from beʼer, a well, and shebaʻ. “Unto this day” tells us the name was still in use when Genesis was written, and it uses yôwm once more. Beersheba became one of the great places of the patriarchs. Abraham had named it after his own oath with an earlier Abimelech: “Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them” (Genesis 21:31). The LORD appeared to Isaac there, and both covenants with Gerar were made there. Hebrews says Abraham lived in tents “with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise” (Hebrews 11:9), and Beersheba was one of their homes in the land God had promised them.

Isaac was envied, sent away and later sought out by the very people who drove him off. Jesus, the true Son of promise, was rejected by his own people’s leaders out of fear of his influence: “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him” (John 11:47–48). He is “the stone which the builders disallowed”, now “made the head of the corner” (1 Peter 2:7), and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess “that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10–11).

Isaac was “the blessed of the LORD”, and God’s favour rests fully on his Son: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), and “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand” (John 3:35). The promised seed of Abraham is Christ (Galatians 3:16). In him God’s presence was seen as clearly as the Philistines saw it with Isaac, for “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

Isaac’s covenant brought a truce between neighbours. Christ, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), made peace between God and sinners “through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). “He is our peace”, who broke down the wall of hostility between peoples (Ephesians 2:14). Being justified by faith, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and his peace “passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). He is the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6, Hebrews 9:15), sealed with his own blood: “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). Isaac’s covenant feast points ahead to the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:19–20) and to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).

The water found at Beersheba points to Christ as well. Jesus offers “living water” (John 4:10) that becomes “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:10–14). He calls, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37–38), and he came that we “might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Isaac’s story shows that God’s blessing on his people can be seen by those around them, even by those who opposed them. You can trust God with the people who have wronged you, as Isaac did, moving on without a fight and leaving it to God to make room. When those people come back, you can ask honestly what has changed, and then, where it is possible, make peace and set a table for them.

These verses also show how seriously God takes a promise. Isaac and the Philistines rose early to swear, and they kept their word. Our word is meant to be just as dependable, because we belong to the God who swore by himself and has kept every promise. And the well that came in on the day of peace reminds us that he provides for his people in his own time, just as he did for Isaac.