Keep digging”

Opening text:

Gen. 26:1-6

1)            And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went A-bim’-e-lech king of the Philistines unto Ge’-rar.

2)            And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

3)            Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

4)            And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of earth be blessed;

5)            Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my law.

6)            And Isaac dwelt in Ge’-rar:

I

Isaac came to a point of doubt in verse 7-10 but in verse 11 was a verse of shelter for Isaac and Rebekah and their family as a whole

1)            God was with them in verse 11 and verse 3 said He would.

2)            God brought increase in verse 12 and blessed them.

3)            In the KJV it says waxed and became great, in the ESV it says became rich and grew to become greatly wealthy.

In verse 14 it describes the wealth or riches that became of him which were his flocks, the herds, and many servants, and it says that the Philistines envied him.

In Gen. 26: 15- 16

 15) For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.

16) And Abimelech said unto Isaac; Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

In verse 17 He leaves and pitches his tents in Gerar.

And in verse 18 He began to dig wells just as his father did in the days of Abraham, and he called their names after the names by which his father called them (Redug the wells his father dug that the Philistines filled up with dirt)

In verse 19 it says his servants began to dig wells in the valley and found there springing water.

II Wells Dug by Isaac servants

a)             First well the servants dug the philistines came against them or contented with them this is why they named the well “E-sek which means to contend with.”

b)            Second well that the servants began to dig and the philistines came against them as well and they called this well “sit’-nah which means en-mity.”

There once again they were moved to another place another section in the Land of Gerar.

c)             Then they dug another well and this one the philistines did not come against, and because of that they called it Re-ho-both which means a broad place or a roomy place.

This is where they became fruitful in the land.

In verse 25 you see Isaac servant go in to the valley once again and dig a 4th well.

In verse 26 Abimelech went to Isaac where Isaac was at and he brought with him Ahuzzath one of his friends, philchol the chief of his army.

In verse 27 Isaac says “why do you come to me seeing as you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

In verse 28 and they said “ we have seen with certainty that the Lord is with thee now let’s ask for a truce or a promise or a covenant or oath, sware to us that you would not hurt us or bring any harm to us for we have brought you no harm and have only sent you away in peace….

In verse 30 they all had a feast together they had a party together.

In verse 31 they woke up early in the morning and swore to each other and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

Refer back to verse 25

In verse 32 then his servants come to him the next day to tell Isaac about the well they dug in verse 25 and said “ we have found water and he called it that well she’- bah: therefore the city is to this day called bersheba which means “oath”.