26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Genesis 26:1-5 (ESV)

Isaac’s stomping grounds

“The land of Canaan was indeed the inheritance of the descendants of Abraham, but Isaac like his father would only be a pilgrim in this wonderful land. He made his home in Beersheba where he was born until the last days of his life which were in Hebron. He was finally buried in the Cave of Machpelah.” (bible-history.com) He was likely living in Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev (Gen 25:11). If you look at the map (below) you can see he moved NW to Gerar, the land of the Philistines when the famine struck.

Following father

As in Abraham’s time, a famine struck the land. As with Abraham, Isaac decided to move to avoid the famine. Like Abraham, he didn’t seek the Lord about this decision. He moved to the land of the Philistines. It should be noted that Abimielech was not the same guy his dad dealt with (Genesis 20:1-7); this was the common name for the king. 

Finally the promise

We mentioned previously that up to now, as far as we know, Isaac had not heard directly from God about the promise of descendents, inheriting the land, and being part of the line of blessing to the world… through Messiah. But today that changes. Isaac is probably about 80 years old at this point and God finally speaks with him about this.

The Lord directs him to not move to Egypt (as Abraham did) but to remain in the land, the Promised Land. Then He confers upon Isaac the same blessing that He previously gave Abraham multiple times. He does it because He made the promise to his father and He fully intended to carry it out. The Lord highlights that Abraham, “obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws”. 

Though Abraham had his faults and times of lacking faith, God focused on his faith. “God could say this of Abraham because Abraham was declared righteous by faith (Genesis 15:6), and as far as God was concerned, all He saw in Abraham was the righteousness of Jesus.” (enduringword.com)

RЯeflection

• Isn’t it encouraging that God is faithful to His promises…even when we fail? He knows are hearts and He knows those who are His. He actively works to “keep our souls” (Psalm 121:7).