Isaac's Sojourn in Gerar and Dealings with Abimelech (xxiv. 8-27).

Isaac's Sojourn in Gerar and Dealings with Abimelech (xxiv. 8-27; cf. Gen. xxvi.).

8. And the famine was over the land, and Isaac departed to go down into Egypt in the second year of this week, and went to the king of the Philistines to Gerar, unto Abimelech. 9. ⁵ And the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him: "Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land that I shall tell thee of, and sojourn in this land, and I shall be

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with thee and bless thee. 10. For to thee and to thy seed shall I give all this land, and I shall establish My oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father, and I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and shall give unto thy seed all this land. 11. And in thy seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thy father obeyed My voice, and kept My charge and My commandments, and My laws, and My ordinances, and My covenant; and now obey My voice and dwell in this land."

2080-2101 A.M.

12. And he dwelt in Gerar three weeks of years. 13. And Abimelech charged concerning him, and concerning all that was his, saying: "Any man that shall touch him or aught that is his shall surely die." ¹ 14. And Isaac waxed strong among the Philistines, and he got many possessions, oxen and sheep and camels and asses and a great household. 15. And he sowed in the land of the Philistines and brought in a hundred-fold, and Isaac became exceedingly great, and the Philistines envied him. 16. Now all the wells which the servants of Abraham had dug during the life of Abraham, the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham, and filled them with earth. 17. And Abimelech said unto Isaac: "Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we"; and Isaac departed thence in

2101 A.M.

the first year of the seventh week, and sojourned in the valleys of Gerar. 18. And they digged again the wells of water which the servants of Abraham, his father, had digged, and which the Philistines had closed after the death of Abraham his father, and he called their names as Abraham his father had named them. 19. And the servants of Isaac dug a well in the valley, and found living water, and the shepherds of Gerar strove with the shepherds of Isaac, saying: "The water is ours "; and Isaac called the name of the well "Perversity," ² because

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they had been perverse with us. 20. And they dug a second well, and they strove for that also, and he called its name "Enmity." ¹ And he arose from thence and they digged another well, and for that they strove not, and he called the name of it "Room," ² and Isaac said: "Now the Lord hath made room for us, and we have increased in the land." 21. And he went up from thence to the Well of the Oath ³ in the first year of the first week in the forty-fourth

2108 A.M.

jubilee. 22. And the Lord appeared to him that night, on the new moon of the first month, and said unto him: "I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and shall bless thee and shall surely multiply thy seed as the sand of the earth, for the sake of Abraham my servant." 23. And he built an altar there, which Abraham his father had first built, and he called upon the name of the Lord, and he offered sacrifice to the God of Abraham his father. 24. And they digged a well and they found living water. 25. And the servants of Isaac digged another well and did not ⁴ find water, and they went and told Isaac that they had not found water, and Isaac said: "I have sworn this day to the Philistines and this thing hath been announced to us." 26. And he called the name of that place the "Well of the Oath"; for there he had sworn to Abimelech and Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol the prefect of his host. ⁵ 27. And Isaac knew that day that under constraint he had sworn to them to make peace with them.

Footnotes

133:5 For 9-12 cf. Gen. xxvi. 2-6.

134:1 Cf. Gen. xxvi. ii. Notice that no reference is made in our text to Isaac's deception about Rebecca.

134:2 = Esek; cf. Gen. xxvi. 20.

135:1 = Sinai; cf. Gen. xxvi. 21.

135:2 = Rehoboth; cf. Gen. xxvi. 22.

135:3 i. e. Beersheba.

135:4 In Gen. xxvi. 32 the MT does not read not; but LXX agrees with our text in so reading. It is implied here that their failure to find water was due to the covenant made with Abimelech.

135:5 Cf. Geri. xxvi. 31, 33.