When Isaac had been blessed in the land, with the wealth of
tremendous reaping, this did not exactly go over well with the
Philistines. Though his wealth is not attributed to anything beyond
providence of God, this gaining of wealth in the land of Abimelech (Gerar) is a
repetition of that which had been experienced by the original bearer of the
covenant of blessing. Abimelech gave Abraham “sheep, cattle, and male and
female servants” (Genesis 20:14b). Isaac is said to have had “sheep,
cattle and such a great household of servants” (26:14a). Not only did
Abraham receive such things as gifts, he was also told “Look, my land is before
you; live wherever you please” (20:15). In response, “Abraham prayed to
God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that
they were able to have children” (20:17). We read that Abraham did this,
thereby becoming the exemplary of divine blessing that God had ordained him to
be (rather than the deceiver of these people), “For the Lord had caused infertility
to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah,
Abraham’s wife” (20:18). Interestingly, the revelation of divine blessing
that Abimelech and his household received was precisely the same blessing that
Abraham would receive, and which would enable him to even have a
household. Abimelech’s wives were barren, as was Abraham’s wife.
It would be immediately after Abraham prays and the Lord
restores fertility to Abimelech’s household, that the Scriptural record
confirms that “The Lord visited Sarah just as He had said He would and did for
Sarah what He had promised” (21:1). The Lord brought life to Sarah’s
womb, and also brought life to the womb’s of Abimelech’s wives. In a
culture in which having children was highly prized, and in which not having
children was a source of shame (with shame being the near equivalent of death
in an honor and shame society), the God of Abraham becomes the God of
vindication, of exodus, and of resurrection for Abimelech and his household,
just as He will also show Himself to be for Abraham. How incredibly
fascinating that God does for Abimelech, through Abraham, what He promised to
do for Abraham, doing it for Abimelech before He did it for Abraham. How
difficult it must have been for Abraham to pray for fertility to come to
Abimelech’s household while awaiting the same to come to him.
Whereas Abraham is well appreciated by Abimelech, even after
attempting to defraud him, and whereas Abraham becomes a blessing for Abimelech
and the Philistines, the same cannot be said of Isaac. His growing wealth
produced the effect that “the Philistines became jealous of him”
(26:14b). In response, “the Philistines took dirt and filled up all the
wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father
Abraham” (26:15). Rather than hearing what Abraham heard, which was “live
wherever you please,” what Isaac heard, through these actions by the
Philistines, was “please leave.” Just in case he did not get the point
with the filling of his wells, which would his continued dwelling there
impossible anyway, “Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Leave us and go elsewhere, for
you have become much more powerful that we are’” (26:16). As Israel would
tell its story, this would be a natural parallel to Israel’s experience in
Egypt, when “a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over
Egypt. He said to his people, ‘Look at the Israelite people, more
numerous and stronger that we are! Come, let’s deal wisely with
them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out,
they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us” (Exodus
1:8-10a).
This rejection of Isaac by the Philistines is not
unfortunate, in that it forces Isaac into the mold that we have come to expect,
which is that of exile and exodus, and a yet a further reminder of the God of
movement. Abraham went to Egypt, underwent a figurative oppression
through having his wife “taken” from him, grew in numbers and power and gained
great wealth, saw plagues come upon Pharaoh’s household, and was then expelled
from the land. Later, Israel went down to Egypt, and though the sequence
is not necessarily the same, they grew in number, were oppressed, saw plagues
come upon the whole of Pharaoh’s household (the Egyptian empire), and were then
expelled from the land, gaining great wealth as part of the expulsion.
Isaac went to Gerar, grew in wealth, suffered the oppression of local
opposition through the stopping of his wells (almost like a military siege),
and was asked to leave. We only lack evidence of some type of plague upon
the Philistines or upon Abimelech’s house to complete the nearly identical
picture (in events, if not in sequence). This story of exiles and exodus
and movement is the story that Israel was able to tell as they sought to
understand and to reveal their God.
In being exodus-ed, as he was actually in exile from the
land promised to his father when in Gerar---yes, exile can even entail growing
in wealth and enjoying God’s blessings and being a blessing, in fact, God will
later demand that His people seek the good of their oppressors, when exiled to
Babylon, “Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley” (26:17).
Upon arrival there, making the point that the earlier stopping up of the wells
that are essential to life can be equated with forcing Isaac to leave, the
first thing that happened was “Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug back
in the days of his father Abraham” (26:18a). In this, not only is Isaac
mimicking Abraham, but he represents something of a forerunner to Israel in
their post-Egypt wilderness experience.
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