Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."
Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.
Also Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham's sake." So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.
Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
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; and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.'"
So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
It came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water." So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.—Genesis 26:12-33
The Philistines envied Isaac for the Lord had prospered him and he had possessions of a great number of flocks, herds and servants. No matter where Isaac dug a well…no matter how often the Philistines stopped up his wells with dirt…God’s blessings to Isaac could not be stopped. Isaac’s crew just kept digging and God kept on blessing.
When a man's ways please the LORD,
He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.—Proverbs 16:7
Driven away by his enemies, Isaac pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar and continued his search for water. The men of Gerar opposed him here as “well”. The first well Isaac dug he called Esek which means Quarrel. The next one was called Sitnah, which means enmity and the last Rehoboth which means spaciousness or room. (Me thinks Isaac had a sense of humor). Isaac just kept moving, digging and relinquishing. . He did not fight back. He trusted that the Lord would fight for Him and bless Him. The Philistines, probably out of sheer frustration, finally left him alone.
Next we read that after Isaac moved to Beersheba, God appeared to him confirming with Isaac, the covenant He had made with Abraham. Isaac responded as his father had, by building an altar and calling on the name of the Lord. (and also by digging yet another well) đŸ˜ƒ
When the conflict over the wells was finally over Abimelech (the leader of the Philistines) came to Isaac requesting a treaty. (Just as an earlier Abimelech had acknowledged that the Lord was with Abraham and requested a treaty with him, this Abimelech did likewise with Isaac.). God’s blessing was on Abraham’s seed and Isaac was the rightful heir of this blessing. In his seed all the nations would be blessed. No opposition would stop it. No weapon formed against it would prosper. God would bless those who blessed his people and curse those who cursed them. God had made a promise to Abraham and confirmed it Isaac. It would be accomplished.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.—Hebrews 6:13-20
Beloved…Jesus is our hope. He who is our strong confidence, is also our strong consolation. We who believe have this safe, sure and steadfast hope as an anchor to our soul which cannot slip and cannot break down no matter what pressure bears upon it. God’s promise and God’s oath are unchangeable. To Him we flee for refuge. In Him we have strong encouragement and indwelling strength to hold tightly to the hope set before us. He has promised to see us through. Nothing and no one can separate us from Him.
Father…All of your promises in Your word are yes and amen in Your Son. Help me to trust you today with whatever opposition comes my way knowing that You are for me. You are on my side. Uphold me in Your right paths and keep me in your perfect will.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?—Romans 8:31-32
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
"For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8:35-39
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