Year of the Bible
Genesis 26
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Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Chapter 26:
Our narrative turns to Isaac and we see repeats of earlier situations that Abraham experienced: a drought, a meeting with King Abimelech of Gerar, the need for protection by calling his wife his sister, and issues over water rights. We also witness God’s continued guidance to this family as He leads Isaac in travel, promises land and a multitude of descendants, and brings great material prosperity. The chapter closes by showing us a difference between Isaac and Abraham: while Abraham sought someone from his own family for Isaac to marry, Isaac does not do that for Esau. Esau marries foreign, pagan Hittite women who bring bitterness to his parents.
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 26:
Isaac and Abimelech
1 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 descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves: 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister”; for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me for the sake of Rebekah”; because she was fair to look upon. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac fondling Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, she is your wife; how then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death.”
12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us; for you are much mightier than we.”
17 So Isaac departed from there, and encamped in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names which his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of springing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also; so he called its name Sitnah. 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and over that they did not quarrel; so he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father; fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord is with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, 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 the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and took oath with one another; and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer- sheba to this day.
Esau’s Hittite Wives
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
God, thank you for pouring out your blessings on all nations and all people! Are there any unhealthy ways that I've put my trust in the powers of this world? Help me to put my trust in you and to count all my blessings. And when I look up at the stars, may I remember your promises and provisions.
Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further.
Sobrevino en el país un hambre
distinta de aquella primera que
hubo en tiempos de Abrahán, e Isaac se
dirigió hacia Abimélec, rey de los filisteos,
en Guerar. 2 El Señor se le manifestó
y le dijo:
–No bajes a Egipto. Ve a vivir a la
tierra que te diré. 3 Habita en esta tierra
y yo estaré contigo y te bendeciré, porque
a ti y a tu descendencia voy a dar
toda esta tierra cumpliendo el juramento
que hice a tu padre Abrahán. 4 Multiplicaré
tu descendencia como las estrellas
del cielo, y daré toda esta tierra a tu
descendencia; y todos los pueblos de la
tierra se bendecirán en tu descendencia,
5 puesto que Abrahán obedeció mi voz y
guardó mis preceptos, mandatos, decretos
y leyes.
6 E Isaac se estableció en Guerar.
7 Los hombres de aquel lugar preguntaron
acerca de su mujer, y dijo que
era su hermana porque tenía miedo de
que, si decía que era su esposa, los hombres
de aquel lugar le mataran a causa
de Rebeca, ya que ella era muy hermosa.
8 Se habían prolongado los días de estancia
allí, cuando Abimélec, rey de los
filisteos, mirando por la ventana vio
que Isaac acariciaba a Rebeca, su esposa.
9 Entonces Abimélec llamó a Isaac y
le dijo:
–Está claro que es tu esposa, ¿por
qué dijiste que era tu hermana?
Le contestó Isaac:
–Porque tuve miedo no fuera a morir
por su causa.
10 Exclamó Abimélec:
–¡Qué es lo que nos has hecho! Poco
ha faltado para que cualquiera de nosotros
se uniera a tu esposa, y nos habrías
acarreado un gran pecado.
11 Y Abimélec avisó a toda la gente
diciendo:
–El que toque a este hombre o a su
mujer, morirá.
12 Isaac sembró en aquella tierra y recogió
aquel año el ciento por uno, pues
el Señor le bendijo. 13 El hombre se fue
enriqueciendo poco a poco hasta llegar
a ser muy rico; 14 y tuvo rebaños de ovejas
y vacas, y mucha servidumbre.
Pero los filisteos le tuvieron envidia,
15 y cegaron, llenándolos de arena, todos
los pozos que habían cavado los siervos
de su padre, en vida de su padre Abrahán.
16 Abimélec dijo entonces a Isaac:
–Vete de nuestro lado porque te has
hecho más poderoso que nosotros.
17 Isaac partió de allí, acampó junto
al torrente Guerar, y se quedó allí.
18 Después Isaac volvió a excavar los pozos
de agua que habían cavado en vida
de su padre Abrahán, y que los filisteos
cegaron tras la muerte de Abrahán. Y
puso a los pozos los mismos nombres
que les había puesto su padre. 19 Además,
los siervos de Isaac cavaron junto
al torrente y encontraron allí un manantial
de agua viva. 20 Pero los pastores
de Guerar discutieron con los pastores
de Isaac diciendo:
–Esta agua es nuestra.
Por eso llamó a aquel pozo Ésec,
porque aquéllos habían reñido con él.
21 Excavaron otro pozo y también discutieron
sobre él, y lo llamó Sitná. 22 Se retiró
de allí, cavó otro pozo, y ya no discutieron
por él. Lo llamó Rejobot pues
dijo: «Ahora el Señor nos ha dado anchura
para prosperar en el país».
23 Desde allí subió a Berseba 24 donde
el Señor se le manifestó aquella noche
y le dijo:
–Yo soy el Dios de tu padre Abrahán;
no temas porque yo estoy contigo,
te bendeciré,
multiplicaré tu descendencia
en atención a mi siervo Abrahán.
25 Isaac construyó allí un altar e invocó
el nombre del Señor; plantó allí su
tienda y sus siervos cavaron un pozo.
26 Abimélec vino a él desde Guerar,
en compañía de Ajuzat, amigo suyo, y
de Picol, capitán de su ejército. 27 Isaac
les dijo:
–¿Por qué habéis venido hasta mí,
siendo así que me odiáis y me expulsasteis
de vuestro lado?
28 Le contestaron:
–Realmente hemos visto que el Señor
está contigo, y hemos dicho: «Haya
un pacto entre nosotros, entre tú y nosotros;
hagamos contigo la alianza 29 de
que no nos causarás ningún daño, lo
mismo que nosotros no te hemos tocado,
sino que sólo te hicimos bien y te
despedimos en paz». Ahora tú eres bendito
del Señor.
30 Isaac les preparó un banquete y
ellos comieron y bebieron. 31 A la mañana
siguiente madrugaron y se hicieron
juramento el uno al otro. Isaac
los despidió y se fueron en paz de su
lado.
32 Aquel día vinieron los siervos de
Isaac y le trajeron noticias sobre el pozo
que habían cavado, diciéndole que habían
encontrado agua. 33 Entonces puso
al pozo el nombre de Sebá, y por eso el
nombre de la ciudad es Berseba hasta el
día de hoy.
34 Esaú tenía cuarenta años cuando
tomó por esposas a Judit, hija de Beerí,
el hitita, y a Basemat, hija de Elón, el
hitita. 35 Éstas fueron una amargura para
Isaac y Rebeca.
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).