Lesson 23<\/p>\n
Genesis 26<\/p>\n
Like Father Like Son<\/p>\n
Me-<\/p>\n
When I was younger I use to say, \u201cIf I had my life to do over I would do things differently.\u201d\u00a0 However, as I have become older I realize that if there was a chance to redo my life I probably would have made the same mistakes over again. The one thing I would not change about my life; I would have married my wife over again.\u00a0 It ranks close to the top of the best decision I ever made.\u00a0 The only other one that is of more importance is becoming a follower of Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The reason nothing would have changed has to do with the personality and abilities which God gave to me, many which I did not use to the fullest.\u00a0 In order to reach the point in life where one understands what God wants to do with him or her comes only from experience.\u00a0 It is a fortunate person who knows what they want to do with his life from the very beginning.\u00a0 Circumstances often lead us down a life path that we did not expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even though I became a believer at a young age, there was no obvious growth until many years later.\u00a0 If I could do it over I would want my life to be one of constantly focusing on what is important.\u00a0 There is only One who meets that criteria.<\/p>\n
We-<\/p>\n
The church certainly is not exempt from making the same mistakes over and over again.\u00a0 The one thing that stymies our advancement is constantly looking back at what might have been.\u00a0 If we can get past what we cannot change because once done a deed cannot be undone.\u00a0 There is nothing wrong at looking at the history of the church.\u00a0 We are what we have made of ourselves to be.\u00a0 As we look back we can understand our present situation.\u00a0 The past is not where we want to remain, however. Paul in Philippians tells us to let the past be the past.\u00a0 Our marching orders are what he said in the words to follow. We are called to, \u201cPress on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d (Phil. 3:14)\u00a0 The question is where do we want to be, rehashing old stuff or looking to see what God wants to do with His church?<\/p>\n
God-<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:1<\/p>\n
It was almost like d\u00e9j\u00e0 vou.\u00a0 Isaac found himself in the throes of a famine just like his father had experience previously. He then begins to make a trek south east to find water to provide for his flocks and herds.\u00a0 Like Abraham before him he came in the land of Gerar to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines.\u00a0 This was not the same man with whom his father had dealings.\u00a0 Abimelech was most likely a title, like Pharaoh.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:2-5<\/p>\n
God stopped him short of going into Egypt which evidently was his intent.\u00a0 The Lord shared several things that would be important in the life of Isaac. First was the warning to stay out of Egypt.\u00a0 If he did so God would:<\/p>\n
God then reaffirmed the covenant He had made with Abraham which included the promise that he would:<\/p>\n
The covenant was established with Abraham because he had obeyed God by keeping His charge, commandments, statues and laws.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:6<\/p>\n
Isaac obeyed God and stayed in Gerar.\u00a0 He did not go down to Egypt as his father had done before him.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:7<\/p>\n
Surely Isaac would have heard of events involving Abraham when he travelled to Egypt and Gerar.\u00a0 Both times Abraham called Sarah his sister, which showed a lack of faith on his part and created problems for his hosts, Pharaoh and Abimelech..\u00a0 It is obvious that he did not truly believe the promises God had made with him.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
His son followed in his footsteps and used Rebekah because he feared for his life.\u00a0 He called her his sister which was an outright lie, unlike Abraham.\u00a0 It should be clear by this time that both Abraham and Isaac put themselves in a possible dangerous situation by being where they should not have been living among a hostile people. Isaac\u2019s insecurity and timid nature led him to put\u00a0\u00a0 his wife in a vulnerable position to protect his own life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:8-9<\/p>\n
One thing that may not be apparent at first from the text is that God did not intervene as He had done with Abraham.\u00a0 A good reason for His absence is that the purity and integrity of the line of Abraham was not in jeopardy by the actions of Isaac and Rebekah.\u00a0 God did not come to Ambimelech to warn him as He had before.\u00a0 After a period of time, Abimelech actually observed \u00a0Isaac \u201ccaressing his wife.\u201d\u00a0 Isaac was not as discreet as his father and openly continued to relate to Rebekah as his wife.<\/p>\n
Abimelech\u2019s reaction was as would be expected from one who had been deceived by Isaac\u2019s actions..\u00a0 He did even give Isaac a chance but accused him immediately of the deception he had tried to carry out.\u00a0 Isaac, lamely spoke of the fear he had of being killed.\u00a0 Abimelech would have been offended and let Isaac out of the possible consequences of his action.\u00a0 He had actually put in jeopardy the reputation of all the people of Gerar and would have brought great guilt on the people of Gerar if someone had taken Rebekah as a wife.<\/p>\n
Once again, God protected one of the Patriarchs even when Isaac had purposely lacked faith and tried to take matters in his own hands. Ambimelech could have killed Isaac for what he had done but instead he warned all the people not to touch Rebekah,<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:12-14<\/p>\n
Moving on from the episode with Abimelech, Isaac returned to his agrarian background.\u00a0 God gave him a great harvest.\u00a0 As a result of the blessing of God, he became a very wealthy man owning flocks, herds and people.\u00a0 His many possessions caused the Philistines to become very envious of him.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:15-17<\/p>\n
One of the ways the Philistines showed their dislike for Isaac was to stop up all of the wells that Abraham had dug.\u00a0 Without a doubt, Isaac would have needed the water to keep his animals alive.\u00a0 Abimelech joined with his fellow Philistines and ordered Isaac to leave the land of Gerar.\u00a0 He acted out of fear.\u00a0 With his great wealth Isaac had become more powerful that Abimelech himself.\u00a0 Isaac obeyed him and moved into the valley of Gerar.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:18-22<\/p>\n
Isaac made every attempt while in the Valley of Gerar to provide water for his flocks and herds by digging again the wells that his father had previously dug. He even gave them the same names.\u00a0 Each time he completed one of the wells the Philistines came and claimed it as their own.\u00a0 In a way they were correct for Isaac was sojourning in their land.\u00a0 It was also a way to accomplish getting Isaac to leave the land of Gerar.<\/p>\n
The first well that the men of Gerar took from him in the valley, he named Esek, meaning contention.\u00a0 The second well was also claimed by his adversaries he called Sitnah because they showed contempt for him.\u00a0 Finally after those tries, Isaac discovered water and called the well Rehoboth, because the Philistines did not quarrel over it.\u00a0 Rehoboth means broad places.\u00a0 He had found a place where he could live in peace and be fruitful. God was given the credit for providing \u201croom\u201d in the land where Isaac believed that his family could become fruitful.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:23-25<\/p>\n
Only after Isaac moved from the land of Gerar to Beersheba in the Negev of Canaan did the Lord once again speak to Isaac.\u00a0 While he lived in Gerar he was out of the will of God because it was the land of Canaan that had promised to Abraham as an inheritance. \u00a0Isaac had left the land of promise and had gone into Gerar.\u00a0 When God appeared to him upon his return he identified Himself as the God of Abraham. Next He dealt with the insecurities and fears that were part of Isaac\u2019s personality.\u00a0 He assured him that He would leave Isaac but would always be with him.<\/p>\n
Here the writer indicated that God only spoke of part of the covenant relationship with Isaac.\u00a0 There is no discussion of possession of the land.\u00a0 The only promise made at that point that Isaac would receive the blessings of God and he would have many descendants.\u00a0 That promise was given not for Isaac\u2019s sake but because of the relationship that God had with Abraham.\u00a0 In a way Isaac had done nothing to deserve what God was going to give him.<\/p>\n
Isaac then built an altar and worshipped God.\u00a0 It was in that place that Isaac decided to pitch his tent.\u00a0 To indicate his plans to stay there he and his servants dug a well to provide for his needs.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:26-33<\/p>\n
Abimelech approaches Isaac.\u00a0 To show the seriousness of the visit he brought along with him an adviser named Ahuzzath and Philcol the commander of his army.\u00a0 Isaac by that time was in no mood to have any dealings with the men.\u00a0 His statement to them said it all.\u00a0 He wanted to know why they had come after commanding him to leave their city state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They had come because Isaac had become more powerful than they were. It was obvious to them that was God protecting him and had increased his wealth in spite of their attempts to discourage and chase him away.\u00a0 Knowing that God was on the side of Isaac they wanted to make sure that he would do them no harm.\u00a0 Isaac did not want conflict and readily agreed to oath they asked of him.\u00a0 He then made a feast for them and sent them away peacefully.<\/p>\n
With the final relationship with Abimelech behind him he could now give full attention to providing for his family.\u00a0 On the very day that he sent Abimelech away in peace his servants came with the news that they had found water.\u00a0 He gave the new well the name Shibah called the place where the well was located Beer-sheba.<\/p>\n
Genesis 26:34-35<\/p>\n
Esau continued to move away from God.\u00a0 Abraham had sent his servant to get a wife from Nahor\u2019s family because he did not want his son to marry a Canaanite woman.\u00a0 Esau went against that tradition and married Judith and Basemath both of whom were from Hitite family when he was forty years old.\u00a0 They were Canaanites.\u00a0 His marriage to those two women grieved his parents.<\/p>\n
You-<\/p>\n
We-\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we consider the problems that affected Isaac\u2019s life, many of those came from making wrong choices.\u00a0 We have to make sure that we do not compromise the principles that God has given to us.\u00a0 Isaac learned much from his father, Abraham, that was good but, he also picked up on actions that bordered on the unethical.\u00a0 We are not to do what other denominations and churches do just to grow.\u00a0 All of our actions need to be based on God\u2019s word.\u00a0 To do otherwise will destroy our witness to the community. God calls us to be holy and perfect. Let us not fail Him.<\/p>\n
Additional Notes-<\/p>\n
BL-In chapter 26, Isaac repeated his father’s mistake of lying about his relationship to his wife. Once again, an unbeliever, Abimelech, reprimanded a believer, Isaac, for sinning!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0People haven’t changed any over the centuries.\u00a0 We SHOULD be better, because we have the example of Christ to follow and the Holy Spirit living within us.\u00a0 When we allow ourselves to drift away from God’s word, it doesn’t take long before the currents of the world begin sweeping us away!\u00a0 How careful are you and I to spend time EACH day with God in prayer and Bible study?\u00a0 Sin is a lot like the plaque on our teeth.\u00a0 It doesn’t take long for it to build up and calcify and then, BOY is it painful to have it removed. The chapter concluded with Isaac’s peaceful resolution of a problem with jealous Philistines.\u00a0 They continued to fill up the wells as quickly as he dug them.\u00a0 Each time he would simply move on and dig another.\u00a0 The final result was a blessing from God and a peace treaty with the Philistines.<\/p>\n
C-Isaac moved his family to Gerar because of a famine in the land of Canaan.\u00a0 He followed in his father\u2019s footsteps lying about his relationship with Rebekah.\u00a0 (Gen. 26:1)<\/p>\n
E-God met with Isaac and gave him clear instructions not to go down to Egypt but to remain where he was.\u00a0 If he did so, God would be with him and bless him. To him and his descendents The Lord was going to give the land he promised to Abraham.\u00a0 There were aspects of all that He laid out for Isaac<\/p>\n
Each of the things would take place because Abraham had<\/p>\n
C-All of the promises made to Abraham by God were transferred to Isaac.\u00a0 The only condition that he was given was that he would continue to obey God. (Gen. 26:2-6)<\/p>\n
GC-What greater example can we have than Abraham.\u00a0 Of him God declared,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAbraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws. (Gen. 26:5)<\/p>\n
WM-Some of the lessons Isaac learned from the life of Abraham were the wrong ones.\u00a0 When he moved to Gerar, like his father before him, deceived the people telling them that Rebekah was his sister because of fear of being killed. (Gen. 26:6-9)<\/p>\n
M-Isaac used the same tactic his father had carried out in preserving his life.\u00a0 He was driven more by fear than faith in what God had told him. (Gen. 26:7, 9)<\/p>\n
TM-Through the example we have in Isaac we learn that some people never heed the lessons of those who have gone before them. (Gen. 26:7:11)<\/p>\n
C-Isaac moved away from Abimelech to the valley of Gerar. (Gen. 26:17)<\/p>\n
C-His move was in order to find water.\u00a0 The men of Gerar had contended with him over the wells he dug until he found water in the well he called Rehoboth. (Gen. 26:18-22)<\/p>\n
E-What a comfort and assurance it must have been for Isaac having faced adversity to have God come to him and make several statements concerning him.\u00a0 The things shared were;<\/p>\n
All of this was done for the sake of Abraham who God called His servant.\u00a0 Having heard all of these things Isaac built an altar to the Lord. (Gen. 26:23-25)<\/p>\n
C- He then moved to Beersheba where the Lord appeared to him to bless him.\u00a0 Isaac built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. (Gen. 26:23-25)<\/p>\n
GC-Isaac needed to learn the lesson that he did not need to fear even in a foreign godless nation because God was with him. (Gen. 26:24; Ps. 145:18; Prov. 3:25-26; Is. 8:12; Is. 41:10, 13-14)<\/p>\n
M-Isaac built an altar and called on the Lord out of thankfulness of his heart. (Gen. 26:25)<\/p>\n
UE-Physical evidence was proof enough for Abimelech that Lord was with Isaac had prospered him. (Gen. 26:28-29)<\/p>\n
BL- We looked at Genesis 26, vv. 34-35.\u00a0 There we saw that Esau married two Hittite women, which brought grief to his parents.\u00a0 These marriages demonstrate further Esau’s disregard for spiritual matters, since he did not look for or marry a woman who shared his family’s spiritual background.\u00a0 These choices practically guaranteed that his offspring would not be brought up in a God-fearing household, since mothers have an enormous influence on their children’s spiritual upbringing.\u00a0 Nor did Esau seem to care what his parents thought about his marriages, even though parents of that time and culture often chose their childrens’ spouses for them.\u00a0 By these actions, and by his willingness to sell his birthright for a pot of stew, Esau showed that he had a PROPENSITY (or inclination) to disregard spiritual concerns in favor of the here-and-now.\u00a0 Esau was a sensual person who tended to live for the gratifications of the moment, thereby fulfilling the prophecy that God gave Rebekah before\u00a0her sons were even born.\u00a0 Jacob, on the other hand, did value the blessings of his father and grandfather; and while God did not approve of the trickery Jacob used to procure those blessings, it pleased Him that Jacob desired them. Praise God that when He looks at believers, it is through the shed blood of Christ and He sees us as a finished project, even though we all have a LOOOOONNNGG way to go (at least I do!) A good question to ask ourselves, however:\u00a0 when God looks at you and me, does He see someone who is wrapped up in the concerns of this world, or someone who is “just passing through” on the way to the next?\u00a0 Are we “of the world,” constantly looking to gratify our sensual natures, or we “in the world”–doing what needs to be done, but making time for God in our daily lives, as well?\u00a0<\/p>\n
TM-The very thing that Abraham had sought to avoid in the life of his family took place with one of Isaac\u2019s sons, Esau. The children of the covenant were not to marry those outside of the family.\u00a0 For Esau to do so once again shows how easy it is to compromise with the ungodly of this world. (Gen. 26:34-35)<\/p>\n
C-Esau married when he was forty years old.\u00a0 His wives were women of Canaan.\u00a0 His marriages brought grief to his parents because he had married outside of the family. (Gen. 26:34)<\/p>\n
M-Esau showed a total disregard for the covenant relationship between God and Abraham by marrying a woman from the heathen tribes in the land of Canaan. (Gen. 26:34-35)<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lesson 23 Genesis 26 Like Father Like Son Me- When I was younger I use to say, \u201cIf I had my life to do over I would do things differently.\u201d\u00a0 However, as I have become older I realize that if there was a chance to redo my life I probably would have made the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}