Because I said, Lest I die on her account. 10. And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done to us? one of the people might easily have lain with thy wife and thou wouldst have brought guilt upon us. 11. And Abimelech charged all the people, saying, He who toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.12. And Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. 13. And the man became great, and he went on growing great, until he became very great. 14. And he had pos session of flocks, and possession of herds, and a great number of servants: and the Philistines envied him. 15. And all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had be regarded as an indication that the third repetition of the same weakness is still less approved of or excused; but that it is introduced partly because it was a historical tradition, and partly as an analogy to Abraham's history. Though the faith of the patriarchs was, in some moments, capable of the highest flight; it was not equally lofty on all occasions; and failed entirely on some. But the Philistines, by this incident, gained a new claim to a longer political existence, since, in the ethics of the Scriptures, degeneracy of morals alone causes the destruction of communities, while virtue is the pledge of life and stability. 12—17. When Eastern nomads happen to arrive at a locality promising food for their cattle during a longer period, they often, at the same time, apply themselves to agriculture, ready to resume their wanderings after the completion of the harvest. When, therefore, Isaac saw himself safe in the fertile districts of Gerar, which had remained untouched by the famine prevailing around; he, like. wise, began to cultivate the ground. This fact evidently marks a progress in the history of the patriarchs; it is the transition from uncertain migrations to a more settled mode of life; it implies a more permanent interest in the land it self; during one season, at least, the Hebrew could call his own, not only the grave of his parents, but the soil which gives life and wealth; he ate his own bread, and owed it to the beneficence of God alone, who blessed his labours with a hundred-fold produce. But Isaac was not intended to carry the development of Israel a decided step onward; he might, as a forerunner, point to future phases of progress; but he should not accomplish them himself; he merely possessed what he had received from his father; hence, on the one hand, his rich harvests, were not obtained in the promised land itself, but in the territory of the Philistines, who had just given another guarantee that they would survive the destruction of the tribes of the Canaanites; and, on the other hand, even the enjoyment in the strange land was not permitted to last long; for Isaac was, by envy or fear, compelled to leave the scene of his prosperity, and to continue his wandering life. The jealousy of the Philistines manifested itself in deeds of mischief. So far from looking with satisfaction on the agricultural prosperity of Isaac, they placed in his way every obstacle fatal to a proprietor of cattle, depriving him of the indispensable wells which his father had dug. Their animosity assumed so serious a character, stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16. And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. 17. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tents in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. -18. And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names like the names by which his father had called them. 19. And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of fresh water. 20. And the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek [Contention], because they contended with him. 21. And they dug another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name Sitnah [Strife]. 22. And he removed from there, and dug another well; and about that they did not quarrel: and he called its name Rehoboth [Enlargement]; and he said, For now the Lord hath enlarged for us, and we shall be that the king, no doubt, in order to prevent more violent disturbances, found it prudent to request Isaac to leave his land, reminding him, that he had grown much more powerful than his subjects themselves (ver. 16); for "he had become greater and greater till he was very great" (ver. 13); and he especially possessed, besides the cattle, a vast number of slaves (ver. 14). 18-22. He left the town, and pitched his tents in the valley of Gerar. But here he found malice and ill-feeling not less active; the wells secured by Abraham were likewise stopped; but, re-opening them, he called them by their former names, in order to show how faithfully he followed in his father's steps. He dug, besides, several new wells, two of which being disputed with him by the shepherds of Gerar, he appropriately denominated Strife and Contention. Though Isaac would, no doubt, have been strong enough to defend his rights, his peaceful disposition induced him calmly to yield to vio lence; and his enemies, at last conquered by his magnanimity, allowed him the undisturbed possession of the third well which he discovered, and which he therefore called Enlargement, saying, "Now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land" (ver. 22). A new triumph was gained, not by strength of arms but of character, not by the exertion of men but by the will of God: and this victory of the mind was regarded as a promise of other great achievements. 23-25. Therefore, God appeared to Isaac anew, and confirmed to him the former assurances; He bade him be firm and fearless; for He would shield him and multiply his progeny, on account of His servant Abraham; for He is "the God of Abraham." This vision took place in Beer-sheba, whilst Isaac was still wandering, no doubt, near the tamarisk which his father had planted, and at which he had offered up his prayers to the everlasting God (xxi. 33). Here Isaac erected an fruitful in the land.-23. And he went up from there to Beer-sheba. 24. And the Lord appeared to him that night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and I shall bless thee, and shall multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. 25. And he built an altar there, and invoked the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and Isaac's servants dug there a well.-26. And Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his councillor, and Phichol the general of his army. 27. And Isaac said to them, Wherefore do you come to me, and you hate me, and have sent me away from you? 28. And they said, We saw indeed. that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there now be an adjuration between us, between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; 29. That thou wilt do us no evil, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done to thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the Lord. 30. And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31. And altar, and also worshipped God, his protector; and since this place was now doubly sacred, he pitched there his tents, and dug a well. 26-33. This well was destined to obtain a peculiar importance. The king of the Philistines had always treated Isaac with regard and veneration; he respected in him the son of that "prophet," whose extraordinary dignity had before been so strikingly manifested (xx. 6); and when he said to him: "thou art much mightier than we," he certainly did not understand this expression literally; it was dictated by politeness, not by fear; for, if indeed the king of Gerar was the less powerful of the two, his boast, that he had dismissed the patriatch in peace, would have caused in the latter a smile of contempt, rather than the feeling of gratitude. But though separated from Isaac, he still saw him in his mind protected by a supernatural power, and blessed by a Divine influence; he was impressed with the conviction, that a great future awaited him and his race; and he possess a public was, therefore, anxious to renew the al- they rose early in the morning, and swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they, departed from him in peace. 32. And it was on the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and they said to him, We have found water. 33. And he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day. -34. And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon prehension, the manifest increase of Isaac's resources; he apprehended, that this growing strength might one day be employed to the injury, whether the subjection or the destruction, of the Philistines; he wished to bind him by that terrible oath which calls down the most awful imprecations upon him who breaks it. The patriarch, compelled to do justice to the virtue of Abimelech, renewed the compact guaranteeing the future independence of the Philistines, and exempting them from the fate impending on the Canaanites. The duties of hospitality were liberally performed; convivial enjoyment revived and cemented their friendship; and oaths were exchanged. The king had scarcely departed, fully satisfied with the result of his journey, when the servants of Isaac informed him of the new well which they had found. The patriarch, whose mind was still absorbed by the solemnities just performed, designated the well with a name calculated to commemorate the event; he called it Oath, which word coincides in Hebrew with seven, the number of sacredness and religious obligation (comp. xxi. 30, 31); and, hence, the town in which the occurrence took place, bore the name of Beer-Sheba, or "Well of the Oath." It is true, that the same name was given to that place before, in Abraham's time, on a similar occasion (xxi. 31). But our passage does not state, that the town now received the name of Beer-Sheba; it simply mentions, that "the name of the town was BeerSheba"; and it intimates, that this name, which might have existed before, now ob tained an additional propriety from the new well dug by Isaac's servants, and from the oath sworn by Abimelech. On the former occasion, Beer-Sheba was not even called a town; and it appears, that the place of the well only was, at that time, designated "Well of the Oath”; but that, gradually, the town in which or near which it lay, was called Beer-Sheba (xxii. 19); and that here another reason is assigned for this appellation. But it is certain, that the well is, in our text, represented as different from that opened by Abraham in the same locality; for it is clearly distinguished from those stopped by the heathen tribes, and then re-opened by Isaac (ver. 18); and it may be a welcome illustration of the Biblical narrative, that modern travellers have discovered two wells in the neighbourhood of the ancient Beer-sheba, both bearing this name. But we must not forget, that the chief tendency of this section also is to show the strict analogy between the history of Isaac and that of Abraham; that, therefore, both narratives may, as regards their origin, be traceable to one and the same tradition; and that the early existence of two wells with the same or similar names easily suggested two separate narratives. 34, 35. Esau, entering matrimonial life, like his father, in his fortieth year (xxv. 20), deviated in two most important points from the customs which had become traditional in his family. First, violating the law of monogamy, he took two wives. But since polygamy, as a matter of practice, remained so deeply rooted among the Hebrews throughout the Biblical times, that it was not always avoided even by the Hittite. 35. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and to Rebekah. grave and pious men, however forcibly it was condemned in doctrine and example; the text adds no word of reproach with regard to this part of Esau's conduct; but it is very strong and severe in respect to another point: these two wives were Hittites, belonging to the detested tribes plunged in crime and impiety, and hastening their unavoidable perdition; they infected the purity of Abraham's family, which was destined as the seed of righteousness and salvation; and hence they were a source of heartburning grief to Isaac and to Rebekah. Esau had shown utter indifference to the honour and dignity of his descendants; he had proved, that he had no feeling beyond the transitory hour; he could, therefore, in choosing his wives, have no other consideration but his interests and his propensities. CHAPTER XXVII. SUMMARY.—Isaac, feeling the approach of decrepitude, intended to bestow his blessing upon Esau; but Rebekah, wishing to secure it for her younger son, suggested a stratagem which, executed by Jacob, was attended with the desired result. The consequence was, that Esau, who could now obtain a prediction of but very questionable value, conceived a violent hatred against his brother, who to avoid his anger, on the advice of Rebekah, departed to Mesopotamia, while Isaac was persuaded that the end of his journey was the choice of a wife from her family in Haran. 1. And when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said to him, My son: and he said to him, Behold, here am I. 2. And he said, Behold, I pray thee, I am old, I 1-4. It was the aim of the Bible to substitute the supernatural for the natural; to direct the attention from the changeful phenomena to the immutable laws which govern them; to proclaim the Mind which called forth, formed, and rules the Matter; to diffuse that happiness which lies beyond the senses, in the depth of the purified heart and in the enlightened intellect; to teach Love which gives, instead of Selfishness which desires; and to represent Time only as the threshold of Eternity. But in no part of the Scriptures are these contrasts more strikingly exhibited than in the history of the patriarchs. Here both principles, the natural and the spiritual, are systematically personified, in Abraham and Lot, in Isaac and Ishmael, and in Jacob and Esau-while with Jacob, the father of the twelve sons, each of whom was destined to form a member of the community of God, the dualism ceases. But that contrast is not without a marked development. In Abraham and Lot, it is only in its beginning; both emigrate into the promised land; both thrive on the chosen soil; both are specially protected; and Lot is twice saved, once from captivity, and once from death. In Isaac and Ishmael, the distinction grows wider; the latter is expelled from his father's house; he takes his abodes in the inhospitable desert; associates and intermarries with the Egyptians; and lives on prey and rapine; but he shares the sign of the covenant (xvii. 25), a sacred link connecting him with his race, a ray of hope left for the future. But in Esau and Jacob, the antagonism between the man of nature and the man of spiritual training reaches its highest gradation. They are from the beginning distinguished as "the man of the field," and "the upright man" (xxv. 27); the one lives only for the present, the other seeks |