1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
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1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
There was a famine in the land, so Isaac did like his father Abraham did in the same situation: he visited the Philistine king Abimelech [1] in Gerar.
2And 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 the earth be blessed;
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
God appeared to Isaac, and said
Don't go to Egypt.
Dwell in the land I'll tell you about.
I'll be with you, bless you and your seed, give you lots of countries, and do what I told your father I'd do.
I'll multiply your seed like the stars of heaven [2], and all nations will be blessed.
I'll do all these things for you because your father obeyed me.
6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.
When Isaac arrived in Gerar, some men asked him about his wife, and he said,
She's my sister. [3]
(He didn't say, "she's my wife", because was afraid they'd kill him, since Rebekah was so beautiful.)
8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
One day, Abimelech looked out his window and saw Isaac "sporting" with Rebekah.
9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Abimelech called Isaac and said to him,
What have you done to us?
Someone might have had sex with your wife, which would have brought guilt on all of us.
11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
Anyone who touches Isaac or Rebekah will be killed.
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
Isaac sowed the land and reaped a hundredfold.
And God blessed him.
14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
He had lots of flocks, herds, and slaves. [4]
All the Philistines envied him.
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.
But the Philistines plugged up the wells that Abraham's slaves built on his last she's-my-sister trip to Gerar.
16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
Finally Abimelech said to Isaac,
Get away from us. You're much mightier than we.
17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
So Isaac left for the valley of Gerar.
18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
24And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
I'm the God of your father Abraham.
Don't be afraid. I'm with you, I'll bless you, and I'll multiply your seed (for your father's sake).
25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Isaac built an altar there, and called on God's name.
He pitched his tent and his slaves dug a well.
26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
Abimelech sent messengers to Isaac.
When they arrived, Isaac said to them,
Why did you come here, since you hate me and sent me away?
28 And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
They replied,
Well, we saw that God was with you, so we said, "Let's make a covenant with Isaac."
29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.
We'd like you to promise not to hurt us, since we've been good to you and haven't harmed you.
And since you are blessed by God.
30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
Isaac made a big feast.
The next morning, they swore to one another, and Abimelech's messengers left in peace.
32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
33 And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
Esau married two Hittite women, "which were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah." [7]
Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite [8]
Isaac visits king Abimelech, repeating the same "she's my sister" lie that his father told to king Abimelech in Genesis 20. But was it the same king Abimelech? If so, he must have been very old, since Abraham's visited when he was 100 years old, and he died at the age of 175, before Isaac's visit.
God promises to make Isaac's descendents as numerous as "the stars of heaven", which, of course, never happened. The Jews have always been, and will always be, a small minority.
Isaac uses the same "she's my sister" lie that his father used so effectively with the Pharaoh and the same king Abimelech. And Isaac grew rich from the lie, just like his father had. (You'd think Abimelech wouldn't fall for the same stupid lie twice. But hey, this is the Bible!)
Because they were Hittites -- not because he married two women.