GroundedNarrativeGenesis 26

Isaac and the wells

Genesis 26 (selected)narrative

Isaac and the wells

The history

This is the one chapter that is Isaac’s own, and it is built almost entirely from his father’s material: the same famine, the same lie that his wife is his sister, the same wells, re-dug and given back their old names. Isaac is the quiet patriarch, the heir who mostly re-walks the road already walked, holding the promise in place rather than advancing it. Even the reassurance he gets, do not be afraid, comes for the sake of Abraham. The promise passes through a passive man, and passes through intact.

Sarna · Westermann

3Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 7But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.” 18Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them. 22He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” 24and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”