This chapter of Genesis is the main chapter that deals with the life of Isaac. Compared to Abraham and Jacob, little is recorded about the life of Isaac but he forms a very important link in the Messianic chain and did exhibit some godly qualities.
In this section (Vs. 1-17) Isaac is tested by a famine that comes over the land. By studying how Isaac responded, the good and the bad, we can learn valuable lessons for ourselves for when we face times of testing.
If there is one prominent thing associated with Isaac’s life, it is the well. With Abraham it was the altar, with Isaac it was the well. This certainly fits the typological picture. Isaac’s being offered on the altar of sacrifice is followed by Isaac digging wells and discovering “springing water” (Vs. 19). We know that “living water” is a picture of the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37) and the Holy Spirit was poured out following the cross.
We will follow this episode in Isaac’s walk of faith under five headings.
The Danger of this Time of Testing (Vs. 1-3a)
“Trials are permitted to come into the life of the best and holiest of men, and it is by this means that God sometimes teaches His most precious lessons.” (Thomas) There was a…
Physical Danger for Isaac (Vs. 1a)
- The famine presented a real and difficult test for Isaac and his family. We cannot minimise the magnitude of what he was facing.
- The Bible notes that this is a separate famine to the one experienced earlier by Abraham (approx. 100 years earlier). Isaac faced the same test his father Abraham had faced many years earlier in the land of promise (Gen. 12:10).
- It is important to remember that trials and tests in the Christian life are not a unique experience. Whatever you are facing, be certain other saints past and present have faced or are facing the same or similar. You are not alone in your trial! “Lightening may not strike in the same place twice, but trials do.”
- 1 Cor. 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
- Wiersbe writes, “True faith is always tested, either by temptations within us or trials around us (James 1:1-18) …God tests us to bring out the best in us, but Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us. In one form or another, each new generation must experience the same tests as previous generations, if only to discover that the enemy doesn’t change and that human nature doesn’t improve.”
The Spiritual Danger for Isaac (Vs. 1b-2)
The inclination to try and run from a problem is not new. It is the natural, automatic response of human nature! Unbelief asks, “How can I get out of this,” while faith asks, “What can I get out of this?” (Wiersbe) We have to be so careful during times of testing that we do not run right out of the will of God! There were two temptations that had the potential to take Isaac out of the will of God in this situation:
- The logic of Philistia – Gerar seemed like a good option on account of its resources and while Isaac is not directly censured for dwelling amongst the Philistines the account that follows demonstrates that it ended in division. Once Isaac separated from the Philistines, there was peace and greater blessing. He was still within the land of Canaan but it was unwise to dwell amongst the Philistines. Remember that what appears logical may not be automatically be God’s will for you. In fact, the walk of faith often defies human logic.
- The lure of Egypt. From God’s instruction to “God not down into Egypt”, it seems probable that Isaac was headed in that direction. At the very least, God was pre-empting a potential danger for Isaac. It would not be hard for history to be repeated here. Abraham, when faced with a similar trial, resorted to Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20) Egypt was ‘down’ geographically but more importantly it was ‘down’ spiritually. It is easier to go down than up during times of test unless we choose faith over fear and closeness to God rather than the comforts offered by the world. Turn to the Lord in your trial for comfort, not the world. The world may appear to offer a place of rest and comfort for you in a dry and difficult time but in reality, it is a mirage that will only yield damage and disappointment in the long term. Allow your trial, with the Lord’s help, to take you ‘up’ rather than ‘down’ spiritually during your trial.
The Directive in This Time of Testing (Vs. 2B-5)
The Command – “Sojourn in this land” (Vs. 2b-3a)
- The Prohibition – “Go not down into Egypt”. Egypt (the world) is always off limits for the Christian. Zero compromise with the world is God’s standard no matter what we are facing in life.
- The Principle – “dwell in the land which I shall tell thee off”. Isaac was to be directed by God to the place of God’s choosing. This is such an important principle to live by. Let God’s perfect will be the governing, guiding principle for your life.
- The Precept – “Sojourn in this land”. God’s specific will is revealed. Isaac was to stay in Canaan! Canaan represents the victorious Christian life, the walk of faith, the land of fruit and fight. Sometimes God can use a trial to move us somewhere in His perfect will but so often it is God’s way to tell us to stay and be faithful right where we are and face the famine!
The Covenant – “I will bless thee” (Vs. 3b-5)
If Isaac obeyed the Lord he would be strengthened, comforted, undergirded and blessed by:
- The Presence of God – “I will be with thee” (Vs. 3b) Better to have the blessing of God’s presence in your life in a difficult place than to be in an easy place (Egypt) without His power, presence and promises.
- The Promises of God (Vs. 3c-5) God reiterates the Abrahamic covenant to Isaac. There are two main promises in the Abrahamic covenant that are repeated here along with a reference to Abraham’s faithfulness as being key to its fulfilment in Isaac’s life.
- The Soil Promise (Vs. 3c)
- The promise of the land is repeated to Isaac. The land of Canaan belongs to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac. If the world would submit to God’s Word, the constant disputes over who owns Palestine would be resolved!
- God assures Isaac that He would fulfill the “oath” He “sware unto Abraham thy father”. God is a covenant keeping God. What God promises He will always perform.
- The Seed Promise (Vs. 4)
- The promise of the seed is also reiterated to Isaac. God would continue to fulfill His promise of the seed through Isaac. As previously noted, this involved the natural seed, spiritual seed and Messianic Seed of Abraham.
- The whole earth would be blessed through Abraham’s seed. Indeed, Israel has been an incalculable blessing to the whole world.
- Spiritually – through the instrumentality of Israel came the Written Word (Rom. 3:2, 9:4) and the Living Word (Rom. 9:5).
- Physically – Israel has blessed the world through her technological advancements in multiple areas. There are many technological blessings we enjoy in our day that we probably don’t realise we owe to Israel.
- Some examples from modern history where Israel has been a source of blessing to the world:1
- Colour photographic film (Leopold Godowsky, Jr.), 1917.
- Ballpoint pen (László Biró), 1931.
- Magnetic disk data storage (Jacob Rabinow), 1949. This is the basis for the hard drive storage system.
- Wireless remote control (Robert Adler), 1956.
- The laser (Theodore Maiman), 1960.
- Geostationary communication satellite (Harold Rosen), 1963. This facilitated international phone, television, and internet communication.
- Drip irrigation (Simcha Blass, Netafim), 1966.
- Personal computer CPU (central processing unit), 1979, designed at Intel’s Haifa laboratory.
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) (Alon Cohen), 1989, used to make phone calls over the Internet.
- USB flash drive (Dov Moran), 1998.
- Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin), 1998.
- MODERN MEDICINE
- Jews have won:2
- 27% of the Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine.
- 32% of the Lasker Awards in Medical Research.
- 41% of the Wolf Prizes in Medicine.
- 43% of the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prizes.
- 38% of the Cancer Research Sloan Prizes.
- Jews are only 0.2% of the world population. There are only 14 million Jews in the world and they have won 56 Nobel Prizes in Medicine. Contrast that with China and India with populations over a billion and yet they have only won one prize each. The Middle East with a population of 218 million has also only won 1 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
- An estimated 2.8 billion lives have been saved by Jewish medical inventions (jinfo.org/life_savers.html).
- Discoveries leading to blood storage and blood transfusion: Blood transfusion is estimated to have saved more than one billion lives since 1950s, “making it the single greatest lifesaving medical advance in history.”
- Penicillin (Ernst Chain), 1928; Chain was co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on penicillin.
- Chemotherapy (Louis Goodman, Alfred Gilman, Sidney Farber), 1940s.
- Cardiac defibrillator (Paul Zoll), 1952.
- Radiation cancer therapy (Henry Kaplan), 1950s; cure rates of 70%-80% in Hodgkin’s disease which was previously uniformly fatal.
- Optical fiber flexible endoscope (Basil Hirschowitz), 1960.
- LASIK eye surgery (Samuel Blum), 1981.
- Pill Cam or capsule endoscopy (Gavriel Iddan), 2001; tiny camera size of a pill to record images of the digestive tract.
- The Secret of the Promise (Vs. 5)
- God’s blessing flowed on to Isaac because of Abraham’s obedience. Never underestimate how much blessing comes as the result of obedience to the Lord not only in your own life but in the lives of those who come behind you. Personal illustration: The blessings of a godly heritage (e.g., grandparents and parents who earnestly sought to walk in obedience to God and His Word) that continue to this day.
- Obedience was one of the most prominent features of Abraham’s walk. His obedience is emphasized 5 times in this verse!
- “because that Abraham obeyed my voice”
- “and kept my charge”
- “my commandments”
- “my statutes”
- “my laws”
- The Soil Promise (Vs. 3c)
The Deceit During This Time of Testing (Vs. 6-11)
Tests in the Christian life have a way of bringing our blind spots and character flaws into plain sight. The illustration of the tea bag is useful. The hot water does not create the contents of the tea bag, it simply reveals them. The similarity between Isaac’s and Abraham’s deception cannot be ignored. Abraham lied twice about his wife Sarah and Isaac inherited the same fleshly instinct. What a sobering reminder of the Adamic nature that is passed on from parent to child and the need for God’s grace to know victory over the carnal impulses of the old nature.
The Reasoning for Isaac’s Lie (Vs. 6-7)
There were several influences that converged and motivated Isaac’s deception. They were:
- A compromised position (Vs. 6-7a)
- Verse 6 states plainly that “Isaac dwelt in Gerar:”. Notice the colon at the end of that statement. What follows is connected to Isaac’s dwelling amongst the Philistines. While the Bible does not explicitly censure Isaac for dwelling amongst the Philistines, what follows indicates strongly that it was not God’s best. In fact, the testimony of Scripture is consistent on this point. Whenever one of God’s men in Scripture dwelt among the Philistines, it always produced problems. David is a prime example of this.
- Gerar was not as far away as Egypt but having reached Gerar, it would be easy to then go on to Egypt, hence God’s warning in verse 2. Beware of what can easily become halfway points between the consecrated, separated life and the world. Gerar was still within the land of Canaan so still generally fell within the sphere of God’s will but that did not mean Isaac needed to dwell with the Philistines. Be careful of halfway points between the perfect will of God and second best. Don’t let good get in the way of the best!
- Living with the Philistines put Isaac’s marriage in a vulnerable place. It wasn’t long before the heathen men of the place inquired about Rebecca on account of her natural beauty. There was a very real danger that Rebekah would be carried off by one of the Philistine men. Many marriages are being lost today because of too much unhealthy contact with the Philistines. This is especially true in the area of the working woman. Instead of a Christian wife being a helpmeet to her husband and a homemaker, she all too often spends the majority of her time with other men in the workplace, often with devastating results! Keep your marriage clear of the Philistines and their ways and build a biblical home. It will be a lot safer for your marriage (Titus 2:5; 1 Tim. 5:14)! Christian husbands must also conduct themselves in an upright and wise manner in the workplace with the opposite sex.
- A fleshly fear (Vs. 7b). Living by fear rather than faith will lead you to make foolish decisions. Isaac’s fear led him to misjudge the character of the people he was living amongst. Even though the Philistines were heathen people, it appears they held some respect for the sanctity of marriage (See Vs. 10-11). Some fears are well founded, others lead the individual to make inaccurate assumptions about the character of others.
- A self-centred perspective (Vs. 7c). Isaac, like his father Abraham, was not thinking about what was best for Rebekah in this situation. He was thinking about himself. Saying she was his sister actually made her even more vulnerable to being taken by another man as they would assume she was available for marriage. This point is highlighted by Abimelech in verse 10. When live according to the self-life as a husband or wife, you will hurt your spouse. The natural drive of self-preservation is God-given but it must be under the control of the Holy Spirit.
The Revealing of Isaac’s Lie (Vs. 8)
- The period before the exposing of the lie (Vs. 8a)
- The Bible notes that the lie was successful for a lengthy period of time – “when he had been there a long time”. We are reminded of the truth that sin cannot be concealed forever. “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23). Lies may go on for years without being revealed but God has a way of making sure the truth comes out eventually, especially when his children practice deceit. Deceit never pays. Tell the truth and trust God!
- You may have gotten away with a lie for a long time but that is no excuse to keep perpetuating the same lie. You should confess it and come clean before the consequences become more dire.
- The American preacher Phillips Brooks said, “Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks; and falsehood is always weak, no matter how strong it looks.”
- The Providential exposing of the lie (Vs. 8b). The lie became obvious when one day Abimelech looked out his window and saw Isaac and Rebekah engaged in romantic activity as husband and wife. The word ‘sporting’ means ‘playing’. The Hebrew word is often translated ‘laugh’ in the Old Testament.
The Reproving of Isaac’s Lie (Vs. 9-11)
Abimelech reproves Isaac for:
- The untruthfulness of his actions (Vs. 9)
- Abimelech plainly rebukes Isaac for his lie. It’s a sad day for the believer when he/she requires a rebuke from an unsaved individual.
- Griffith Thomas writes, “Is there anything sadder in this world than that a child of God should be rebuked by a man of the world? The corruption of the best is indeed the worst, and when a believer sins and his sin has to be pointed out to him by men who make no profession whatever of religion, this is indeed to sound the depths of sorrow and disappointment.”
- The simple lesson is this. Christians need to tell the truth!
- Col. 3:9-10 “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”
- Eph. 4:25 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.”
- Shun lying in all its form. For example:
- Total lies. Yes, some Christians tell total untruths!
- Subtle lies. E.g., exaggerating the truth or partial truth telling.
- Cultural lies. Some justify dishonesty in the name of ‘culture’. There is nothing wrong with culture unless in conflicts with the Word of God. When culture collides with God’s Word, we dispense with the culture, not the Word of God! As believers, we have a Christian culture that is higher than national culture.
- Compassion lying. E.g., “I couldn’t tell them the truth as it would have hurt them.” Sometimes there is a place to keep something private and decline a question or answer a matter carefully and wisely so as to not cause unnecessary offense.
- The unjustness of his actions (Vs. 10-11)
- Lies hurt those who are deceived by them, especially when the truth is made known. Abimelech felt unjustly treated by Isaac – “What is this that thou hast done unto us…though shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us”.
- Note: Abimelech’s view of adultery is commendable, especially considering the fact he was a heathen ruler. He even made enacted a stiff law with a death penalty attached to ensure sin would not take place. What a contrast to many of our rulers today in our nation who tend to pass laws that make it easier to sin or worse still, that out and out promote sinful behaviour. Butler writes, “The problem with our laws today is that they have been to the dentist and had all their teeth pulled.”
The Duty in A Time of Testing (Vs. 12-14)
He Sowed in a time of Famine (Vs. 12a)
- Isaac took God’s promise of blessing by faith and sowed in the land, even though there was a drought in the land at that time. It is likely that the drought conditions were not as severe in Gerar due to the fact it was closer to the coast and therefore would have a higher rainfall. But ultimately, Isaac’s success was due to God’s blessing. Evidently his crops did much better than the Philistines otherwise they would not have envied him so much (Vs. 14b).
- This is the first reference in the Bible to seed sowing. Significantly, the first reference to sowing the seed in the New Testament is found in Christ’s parable of the seed and the sower (Matt. 13, Mk. 4, Lk. 8). The seed represents the Word of God and the soil the heart. The good ground in Christ’s parable also yielded “an hundredfold” (Vs. 8)
- There is a clear lesson and encouragement for us today that we are to continue to sow the seed of the Gospel even in a time of spiritual dryness and famine. The sower in the parable did not discriminate as to where he cast the seed. He spread the seed out on the field, including on the hard, stony and thorny ground. The lesson is that the seed of God’s Word has great power and with God’s hand of blessing upon it, can bear fruit even in dry and difficult conditions. Let’s be faithful to sow the seed in hearts throughout 2023.
He Reaped in a time of Famine (Vs. 12b)
- The cause of the harvest’s success is found in the words, “and the LORD blessed him”. God’s hand of blessing was on the seed that had been sown and it brought forth a bountiful harvest.
- The success of the crops was no doubt due to the water from Isaac’s wells. Isaac was a well digger and therefore had access to life giving water. In like manner, we can flourish in desert conditions if we draw on the wellsprings of the Spirit (John 7:37-39).
- Psalm 126:5-6 “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
- Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
- 1 Cor. 3:6 “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”
- Gal. 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
He Increased in a time of Famine (Vs. 13-14)
- God caused Isaac to prosper during this period of His life. God is not limited by the circumstances!
- Several descriptions are given of Isaac’s progress:
- “waxed great”
- “went forward”
- “grew”
- “possession of flocks…herds”
- Beyond the fact we are reminded that God can provide our physical needs, may God so work in our lives that we would wax strong in spirit, move forward, grow and enjoy all we possess in Christ through salvation.
Conclusion
Are you going through a time of testing? Stay close to the Lord and take care not to run from the place He has put you. Be aware that the ugliness of your sin nature will rear its head during a trial. Trust the Lord during your trial and do not resort to fleshly wisdom. Remember to sow in difficult conditions and trust God for a harvest. Draw on the wellsprings of the Spirit!
References
- List drawn from David Cloud’s excellent book entitled “Jews in Fighter Jets”.
- Ibid
Sermon 49 of 80 in Genesis Series