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Pastor Martin Saine teaches on Genesis 26.

Gen 26:1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was
in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the
Philistines, in Gerar.

The “first famine that was in the days of Abraham” referred to
here had taken place over 100 years prior.
At this time Isaac was still in Beer Lahai Roi (Gen 24:62) which
was somewhere between 8-25 miles from Gerar.
Abimelech was possibly a title for the King, not necessarily a
personal name…

Gen 26:2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to
Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Why specifically “do
not go down to Egypt”? Because that’s what Abraham did in
the first famine. Gerar was SW of Beer Lahai Roi and would
have been on the route to Egypt. It’s possible that Isaac was
heading towards Egypt when God met him in Gerar.
Gen 26:3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you
and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath
which I swore to Abraham your father.

Promise!
Gen 26:4 1) And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of
heaven; 2) I will give to your descendants all these lands; 3) and in your
seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

The covenant was eternal and unconditional. God promised
Abraham’s descendants would inherit the promise. God also
specifically told Abraham that Isaac would inherit the promise
in Gen 21:12…”for in Isaac shall your seed be called”.

Now, after the death of Abraham, God appears to Isaac and
confirms the Word spoken to Abraham directly to Isaac.
Notice the three components of God’s covenant have not
changed…

Gen 26:5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My
commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Gen 26:6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

Gen 26:7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She
is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he
thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is
beautiful to behold.”
See Genesis 12 & 20…
Gen 26:8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that
Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw,
and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.
Gen 26:9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is
your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him,
“Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ “

Unlike Abraham’s previous indiscretions where God
supernaturally revealed the deception, in Isaac’s case God
used provential methods to uncover Isaac’s sin. Abimelech
didn’t get revelations, dreams, or plagues, he saw them
playing!
Gen 26:10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of
the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have
brought guilt on us.”
Gen 26:11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches
this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
God’s hand at work protecting the Seed of Abraham, the line of
the Messiah…
Gen 26:12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a
hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.
Gen 26:13 The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he
became very prosperous;
Gen 26:14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a
great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.

Although Isaac’s relationship with Abimelech started friendly,
the Philistines would become bitter enemies of Israel.
It likely started here!
God’s blessing on His people brings envy and jealousy in the
hearts of others.
Some things never change!

Wealthy people,
Blessed children,
Deu 8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is
He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish
His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this
day.
Jealousy and envy are forms of covetousness. Wanting what is
not ours and scheming to get something from someone who
has what we want, is fighting with God Himself, because God
is the source of all good things!
Jas 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes
down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or
shadow of turning.
Job 5:2 For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one.
Pro 14:30 A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the
bones.
1Ti 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
In the case of the Philistines, actions can have long lasting
consequences…
Gen 26:15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells (See vs 12-14
above…) which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham
his father, and they had filled them with earth.
Gen 26:16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are
much mightier than we.”
Gen 26:17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the
Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
Gen 26:18 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.
Gen 26:19 Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of
running water there.
Gen 26:20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen,
saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek
(“strife”), because they quarreled with him.
Gen 26:21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one
also. So he called its name Sitnah (hatred).
Gen 26:22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did
not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth (“room enough”),
because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall
be fruitful in the land.”

Isaac didn’t go to war over the water, although he might have
been within his rights to do so. He recognized the leading
hand of God, leading him to the place He wanted Isaac to
dwell, using natural events.

Gen 26:23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba.

Isaac is heading back North. It’s uncertain whether the famine is
over or whether he has just been pushed out by the
Philistines…
Gen 26:24 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.”
Promise that God was Isaac’s God, encouragement to not be
fearful because God was with him, and a reaffirmation of the
promise of great descendants.
Gen 26:25 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.
Like his father Abraham, Isaac developed a habit of building
altars to the Lord and worshipping Him.
Gen 26:26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army.
90 years earlier…
Gen 21:22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol,
the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with
you in all that you do.
Gen 21:23 Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal
falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that
according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and
to the land in which you have dwelt.”
Gen 21:24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
Gen 21:25 Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water
which Abimelech’s servants had seized.
Gen 21:26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing;
you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.”
Gen 21:27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech,
and the two of them made a covenant.
Gen 21:28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
Gen 21:29 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these
seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”
Gen 21:30 And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my
hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.”
Gen 21:31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of
them swore an oath there.
Gen 21:32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose
with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land
of the Philistines.
Gen 26:27 And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you
hate me and have sent me away from you?” Isaac perceives this as a
threat…
Gen 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; and let us make a covenant with you,
Gen 26:29 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.’ “
Gen 26:30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
Gen 26:31 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.

What Isaac perceived as a threat ended in peace.
Gen 26:32 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.”
Gen 26:33 So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is
Beersheba to this day.
Beersheba means “the well of the oath”. Interestingly, it is the
exact same place where Abraham had made a covenant with
Abimelech and Phicol 90 years before!
Gen 26:34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the
daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the
Hittite.
Gen 26:35 And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

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