jeffersonvann

Genesis 30

Genesis 30:1 When Rachel saw that she had not given birth to children for Jacob, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die!”

Genesis 30:2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

Genesis 30:3 Then she said, “Notice my female slave Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.”

Genesis 30:4 So she gave him her female slave Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

Genesis 30:5 And Bilhah conceived and gave birth to a son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” That is why she called his name Dan.

Genesis 30:7 And Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave conceived again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:8 Then Rachel said, “With god-like wrestling I have wrestled with my sister and have been able to win.” So, she called his name Naphtali.

Genesis 30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped giving birth, she took her female slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.

Genesis 30:10 Then Leah’s female slave Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:11 And Leah said, “Luck has come!” so she called his name Gad.

Genesis 30:12 Leah’s female slave Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:13 And Leah said, “I am happy! Because women have called me happy.” So, she called his name Asher.

Genesis 30:14 In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes now.”

Genesis 30:15 But she said to her, “Is it a small thing that you have taken away my husband? Will you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel said, “Alright, he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

Genesis 30:16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, because I have certainly hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So, he lay with her that night.

Genesis 30:17 And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my female slave to my husband.” So, she called his name Issachar.

Genesis 30:19 And Leah conceived again, and she gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob.

Genesis 30:20 Then Leah said, “God has honored me with a good honor; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So, she called his name Zebulun.

Genesis 30:21 Afterward she gave birth to a daughter and called her name Dinah.

Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her prayers and opened her womb.

Genesis 30:23 She conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.”

Genesis 30:24 And she called his name Joseph, and this is what she said, “May Yahveh add to me another son!”

Genesis 30:25 As soon as Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country.

Genesis 30:26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, because you know the service that I have given you.”

Genesis 30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that Yahveh has blessed me for your sake.

Genesis 30:28 Designate your desired wages, and I will give it.”

Genesis 30:29 Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has done well with me here.

Genesis 30:30 Because you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and Yahveh has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when will I provide for my own household also?”

Genesis 30:31 Laban said, “What should I give you?” Jacob said, “You will not give me anything. If you do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it:

Genesis 30:32 let me pass through all your flock today, putting aside from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they will be my wages.

Genesis 30:33 So my integrity will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, will be considered stolen.”

Genesis 30:34 Laban said, “Notice, It will be as you have said.”

Genesis 30:35 But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in charge of his sons.

Genesis 30:36 And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.

Genesis 30:37 Then Jacob took new sticks from poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.

Genesis 30:38 He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs where they watered, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,

Genesis 30:39 the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

Genesis 30:40 And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock.

Genesis 30:41 Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs in front of the eyes of the flock, that they would breed among the sticks,

Genesis 30:42 but for the weaker of the flock he would not lay them there. So, the weaker would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.

Genesis 30:43 Thus Jacob got much wealthier and had large flocks, female slaves and male slaves, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 30 quotes:

“Jacob’s agricultural wealth was vast (Genesis 30:43), so a caravan to secure critical feed and seed would have been enormous. Each of the ten brothers assembled the equipage and necessary servants for the round trip, choosing “asses” for the pack animals (Genesis 42:26 KJV). Although these beasts were smaller than camels, they were larger than donkeys and more mild-tempered. And since their journey would be along well-traveled trade highways, there would be no need for the camel’s fabled endurance.”

Morris, Henry M. The Book of Beginnings : A Practical Guide to Understand and Teach Genesis. Institute for Creation Research, 2012. p. 230.

“Rachel wrestled to come up with two sons in competition with her sister Leah, who was Jacob’s first wife and mother of six sons. At Naphtali’s birth Rachel said, “1 have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won” (Genesis 30:8), meaning that she could claim to have another child as her own. Her jealousy would also have derived from the fact that she had to share her husband with Leah.”

Nettelhorst, R. P. The Bible’s Most Fascinating People : An Illustrated Collection : Stories from the Old and New Testaments. Reader’s Digest Association, 2008. p. 42.

“Having a concubine — a slave taken as a secondary wife to produce an heir — was widespread, particularly among the wealthy. Sarah, frustrated by her barrenness, offered her slave to Abraham as a concubine (Genesis 16:1-4), though countless problems ensued (16:5-15; 21:8-21), and Leah and Rachel’s servants became Jacob’s concubines (Genesis 30:1—11). While concubinage died out in Israel, it was practised in Greece and Rome to provide sexual pleasure for men, though their children weren’t legitimate. Against this background the early church refused to baptize men who had a concubine but wouldn’t marry her.”

Beaumont, Mike. The New Lion Bible Encyclopedia. 1st ed., Lion Hudson, Plc ; Distributed by Trafalgar Square Pub, 2012. p. 87.

Genesis 30 links:

entitlement
remapping a relationship
trusting within the trial

---

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, January 18, 2023

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 29

Genesis 29:1 Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the sons of the east.

Genesis 29:2 As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and noticed three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone used for the well’s lid was large,

Genesis 29:3 and when all the flocks were gathered there, all the shepherds would roll the stone from the top of the well and water the sheep and put the stone back in its place over the top of the well.

Genesis 29:4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They answered, “We are from Haran.”

Genesis 29:5 He asked them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They answered, “We know him.”

Genesis 29:6 He asked them, “Is it well with him?” They answered, “It is well; and notice, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!”

Genesis 29:7 He said, “Notice, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go pasture them.”

Genesis 29:8 But they said, “We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”

Genesis 29:9 While he was still conversing with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, because she was a shepherdess.

Genesis 29:10 And as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

Genesis 29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and shouted and wept.

Genesis 29:12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.

Genesis 29:13 As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things,

Genesis 29:14 and Laban said to him, “You are my bone and my flesh indeed!” And he stayed with him for a month.

Genesis 29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me as a favor? Tell me, what will your wages be?”

Genesis 29:16 And Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

Genesis 29:17 Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in shape and appearance.

Genesis 29:18 Jacob loved Rachel. And he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Genesis 29:19 Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; remain living with me.”

Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him only a few days because of the love he had for her.

Genesis 29:21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my days are completed.”

Genesis 29:22 So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.

Genesis 29:23 But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.

Genesis 29:24 (Laban had given his female slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)

Genesis 29:25 And in the morning, notice, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”

Genesis 29:26 Laban said, “It is not customary in our country to give the younger before the firstborn.

Genesis 29:27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”

Genesis 29:28 Jacob did what Laban asked and completed Leah’s week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife also.

Genesis 29:29 (Laban had given his female slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her slave.)

Genesis 29:30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

Genesis 29:31 When Yahveh saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

Genesis 29:32 And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she called his name Reuben, because she said, “Because Yahveh has looked upon my trouble; since now my husband will love me.”

Genesis 29:33 She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Because Yahveh has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.

Genesis 29:34 Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why his name was Levi.

Genesis 29:35 And she conceived again and gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise Yahveh.” That is why she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.

Genesis 29 quotes:

“Jacob is not the only one whom God was watching over.”

Higgs, Liz Curtis. Loved by God: Trusting His Promises & Experiencing His Blessings; a Bible Study Workbook. Sampson Resources, 2004. p. 89.

“Sentenced to a life of slavery, Bilhah had nothing to look forward to. Her life simply was not her own. In fact, she was passed from person to person, given to Rachel by her master when Rachel married Jacob (Genesis 29:29). Yet Bilhah discovered God’s blessings in the midst of her lowly existence.”

George, Elizabeth. Women Who Loved God. Harvest House, 1999. p. 74.

“Now meet a woman most wnlikely to be clothed with such splendor: Zilpah, whose Arabic name does in fact mean “dignity.” Nothing in Zilpah s life, however, hinted that she would ever be important. She was a slave, owned by Leah s father, Laban, and given to Leah when she married Jacob (Genesis 29:24).”

George, p. 75.

Genesis 29 links:

embracing destiny
Jacob- envy and manipulation
Jacob- grace with consequences
switcheroo
the real story
thrift shopping
trusting amid consequences

---

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 28

Genesis 28:1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

Genesis 28:2 Get up, go to Paddan-Aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

Genesis 28:3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and enlarge you, that you may become a company of peoples.

Genesis 28:4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your seed with you, that you may take possession of the land of your wandering that God gave to Abraham!”

Genesis 28:5 This is how Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-Aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Genesis 28:6 Esau realized that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-Aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him, he commanded him, and this is what he said, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,”

Genesis 28:7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-Aram.

Genesis 28:8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,

Genesis 28:9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the other wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.

Genesis 28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and went in the direction of Haran.

Genesis 28:11 And he happened to come to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones from the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.

Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and noticed there was a ladder set up on the land, and the top of it reached to the sky. And see, the agents of God were ascending and descending on it!

Genesis 28:13 And notice, Yahveh stood above it and said, “I am Yahveh, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your seed.

Genesis 28:14 Your seed will be like the dust of the land, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your seed will all the families of the land be blessed.

Genesis 28:15 Notice, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. Because I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 28:16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahveh is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Genesis 28:17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of the sky.”

Genesis 28:18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a monument and poured oil on the top of it.

Genesis 28:19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at first.

Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, and this is what he said, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

Genesis 28:21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then Yahveh will be my God,

Genesis 28:22 and this stone, which I have set up for a monument, will be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Genesis 28 quotes:

“Until Jacob met God on his flight from home (Genesis 28:10-17), there was no evi- dent godliness in his life. He was astute enough to want favors related to religion, including Esau’s birthright and his blessing as the firstborn. But religion that is practiced only for benefit is no more than selfish superstition. When God was revealed to him at Bethel, however, Jacob experienced what might be called his conversion. But there had better be more. Faith begins at conversion, but it shouldn’t end there. At a crisis some twenty years later, God reminded Jacob that they had met previously at Bethel (35:1). ~ Remember your spiritual benchmarks, and use them to encourage your continuing faith”

Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Genesis. Abingdon Press, 2011. p. 71.

“Luz (Genesis 28:19), probably as a way station for the caravan traffic that passed through. Jacob, not wanting to bring notice to himself, stopped on the outskirts of Luz, fashioned an encampment of sorts, and, using a rock for a pillow, fell asleep.”

Morris, Henry M. The Book of Beginnings : A Practical Guide to Understand and Teach Genesis. Institute for Creation Research, 2012. p. 153.

“As the Lord spoke to Jacob in the vision, his message amounted to a personal and direct confirmation of the covenant. Once again, God specified the promise of the land and the seed. Then he pledged to bless Jacob in his wanderings, until he would return to the land of Canaan again.”

Flint, V. Paul. Strangers & Pilgrims : A Study of Genesis. 1st ed., Loizeaux Bros, 1988. p. 174.

Genesis 28 links:

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 27

Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see where he looked, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Notice me.”

Genesis 27:2 He said, “Notice, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.

Genesis 27:3 Now, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go outside and hunt game for me,

Genesis 27:4 and prepare for me delicious food, the kind that I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, and my throat will give a blessing to you before I die.”

Genesis 27:5 But Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So, when Esau went outside to hunt for game and bring it,

Genesis 27:6 Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob, and this is what she said “Notice, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

Genesis 27:7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before Yahveh before I die.’

Genesis 27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice when I command you.

Genesis 27:9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, the kind he loves.

Genesis 27:10 And you will bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”

Genesis 27:11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Notice, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

Genesis 27:12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will seem to be mocking him and this will bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”

Genesis 27:13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, get them for me.”

Genesis 27:14 And he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made tasty food, the kind that his father loved.

Genesis 27:15 Also, Rebekah took the valuable clothes of Esau her larger son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her smaller son.

Genesis 27:16 And she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck the skins of the young goats.

Genesis 27:17 And she set the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

Genesis 27:18 So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Notice me. Who are you, my son?”

Genesis 27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you said to me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your throat may give a blessing to me.”

Genesis 27:20 But Isaac said to his son, “What is this, why did you find it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because Yahveh your God made it come to me.”

Genesis 27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Draw near me now, so that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

Genesis 27:22 And Jacob drew near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

Genesis 27:23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So, he blessed him.

Genesis 27:24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.”

Genesis 27:25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and my throat bless you.” So, he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

Genesis 27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Draw near and kiss me, my son.”

Genesis 27:27 So he drew near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his clothes and blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Yahveh has blessed!

Genesis 27:28 May God give you from the dew of the sky and of the richness of the land and plenty of grain and wine.

Genesis 27:29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

Genesis 27:30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from hunting his food.

Genesis 27:31 He also prepared that delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat his son’s food, that your throat may bless me.”

Genesis 27:32 But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

Genesis 27:33 Then Isaac trembled anxiously and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he will be blessed.”

Genesis 27:34 As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a very loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

Genesis 27:35 But he said, “Your brother came deceptively, and he has taken away your blessing.”

Genesis 27:36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? Because he has cheated me two times. He took away my birth right, and notice, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Do you not have a blessing left for me?”

Genesis 27:37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Notice, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for slaves, and with grain and wine I have supported him. What then can I do for you, my son?”

Genesis 27:38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

Genesis 27:39 Then Isaac his father answered and he said to him: “Notice, your dwelling will be away from the fatness of the land, and away from the dew of the sky from above.

Genesis 27:40 By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; but when you grow restless you will break his yoke from your neck.”

Genesis 27:41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; after that I will kill my brother Jacob.”

Genesis 27:42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So, she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Notice, your brother Esau consoles himself about you by planning to kill you.

Genesis 27:43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, escape to Laban my brother in Haran

Genesis 27:44 and stay with him a while, until your brother’s rage abates-

Genesis 27:45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”

Genesis 27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I dread my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

Genesis 27 quotes:

“The age of Isaac was the condition of Isaac which especially prompted him to action in our text. Because Isaac thought death was coming to him soon, he wanted to get busy with giving the patriarchal blessing. Isaac did not want to take any chances that he might die before this blessing was given.”

Bulter, John G. Isaac: The Promised Son. LBC Publications, 2008. p.186.

“Remember, Rebekah received the prophecy from God concerning the older son serving the younger. Her actions are the continuation of her false belief that she needed to force God’s will to come to pass”

Moore, Beth. The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. LifeWay Press, 2005. p. 119.

“Rebekah overheard Isaac say that he was going to give Esau the family blessing. Her response to this was to deceive her husband by arranging for Jacob to disguise himself and take in the meal his father had requested from Esau. Why she did not talk it through with Isaac, why she simply determined to deceive him, why God allowed her success, we do not know. All we are told is that with the help of Rebekah, and at her instigation, Jacob deceived Isaac and so received the family blessing.”

Griffiths, Paul. God and the Troubles of Life. Terra Nova Publications, 2000. p. 16.

Genesis 27 links:

---

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 26

Genesis 26:1 A famine happened in the land, in addition to the first famine that happened in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 26:2 And Yahveh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I will tell you.

Genesis 26:3 Travel as a guest in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, because to you and to your seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

Genesis 26:4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky and will give to your seed all these lands. And all the nations of the land will be blessed by your seed,

Genesis 26:5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Genesis 26:6 So Isaac relocated to Gerar.

Genesis 26:7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking, “or else men of this place will kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was good to look at.

Genesis 26:8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw, noticing Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife.

Genesis 26:9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “I noticed she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Or else I will die because of her.'”

Genesis 26:10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have had sex with your wife, and you would have brought need for reparation upon us.”

Genesis 26:11 So Abimelech warned all the people, and this is what he said, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

Genesis 26:12 And Isaac planted in that land and harvested in the same year a hundredfold. Yahveh blessed him,

Genesis 26:13 and the man became rich, and succeeded more and more until he became very wealthy.

Genesis 26:14 He had so many flocks and herds and many servants, that the Philistines envied him.

Genesis 26:15 (And the Philistines had closed down and filled with dirt all the wells that his father’s slaves had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

Genesis 26:16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, because you are much stronger than we.”

Genesis 26:17 So Isaac left from there and resettled in the valley of Gerar and lived there.

Genesis 26:18 And Isaac dug the wells of water again that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had closed down after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

Genesis 26:19 But when Isaac’s slaves dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,

Genesis 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So, he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

Genesis 26:21 Then they dug another well, and they argued over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.

Genesis 26:22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not argue over that one. So, he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “Because now Yahveh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

Genesis 26:23 He went up from there to Beer-sheba.

Genesis 26:24 And Yahveh appeared to him in that night and he said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, because I am with you and will bless you and multiply your seed for my slave Abraham’s sake.”

Genesis 26:25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of Yahveh and pitched his tent there. And Isaac’s slaves dug a well there.

Genesis 26:26 When Abimelech visited him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army,

Genesis 26:27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

Genesis 26:28 They said, “We see clearly that Yahveh has been with you. So, we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

Genesis 26:29 that you will not do harm to us, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Yahveh.”

Genesis 26:30 So he prepared them a feast, and they ate and drank.

Genesis 26:31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace.

Genesis 26:32 That same day Isaac’s slaves came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.”

Genesis 26:33 He called it Shibah; so, the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

Genesis 26:34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,

Genesis 26:35 and they were a bitter wind to Isaac and Rebekah.

Genesis 26 quotes:

“Sometimes, just before God opens the windows of heaven and pours you out a blessing, it will seem that every door has closed to you, and that there is famine in your life. At times, it will seem that there is no one who can help you, and there’s a purpose in that too. When you do begin to make progress under these difficult circumstances, you’ll know that it is not being accomplished in your own strength, but that it is because of your Lord working in you.”

Ellis, Neil C. Surviving the Crisis: [When the Test Is Finally Over]. 1st ed., Legacy Publishers International, 2004. p. 22.

“In observing Isaac’s walk with God, we have a profile of his life and character in Genesis 26:11-33. The witness of Isaac was in his actions rather than in words. His gentle example spoke the beauty of a “meek and quiet spirit”. In fact, “in the beauty of holiness” he lived among his sometimes hostile neighbors. The fact that God had blessed and made him so prosperous, “for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds, and a great number of servants,” caused the Philistines to envy him. (Gen. 26:14)”

Rossi, Sanna Barlow. Portraits from the Beginnings : They Walked with God. Xlibris Corporation, 2004. p. 97.

“The Hittites became a major nation in history and would ultimately become a part of the inheritance for Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:20). Many Hittites are mentioned in Scripture over the course of Israel’s dealings with them. Esau married Hittites (Genesis 26:34; 36:2), much to the dismay of Isaac and Rebekah. God insisted that the Hittites were to be destroyed by Israel when they took their territory under the leadership of Joshua (Deuteronomy 20:17).”

Morris, Henry M. The Book of Beginnings : A Practical Guide to Understand and Teach Genesis. Institute for Creation Research, 2012. p. 92.

Genesis 26 links:

ACST 57- The Transformed
introducing the breath of God
Isaac- Esek and Sitnah
Limited to the visible
making room for peace
Off limits
unlikely relationships

---

GENESIS in Jeff’s library