← Back to sermon library

he thought less the men of the place kill me for Rebecca because she is beautiful to behold now it came to pass when he had been there a long time that a bimmel at king of the Philistines looked through a window and saw and there was Isaac showing endearment to Rebecca his wife then Abimelech called Isaac and said quite obviously she is your wife so how could you say she is my sister Isaac said to him because I said lest I die on account of her and Abimelech said what is this you have done to us one of the people might soon have lain with your wife and you would have brought guilt on us so a beam black doll his people saying he who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold and the Lord blessed him the man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous where he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants so the Philistines envied him now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father and they had filled them with earth and Abimelech said to Isaac go away from us for you are much mightier than we then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gera and dwelt there 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 up after the death of Abraham he called them by the names which his father had called them also Isaac servants dug in the valley and found a well of running water there but the herdsmen of Gera quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying the water is ours so he called the name of the Welli sack because they quarrelled with them then they dug another well and they quarreled over that one also so he called its name sit not and he moved from there and dug another well and they did not quarrel over it so he called its name Rehoboth because he said for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land then he went up from there to Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said I am the God of your father Abraham fear for I am with you I will bless you and multiply your descendants from my servant Abraham sake so he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord and he pitched his tent there and there Isaac's servants dug a well then Abimelech came to him from Gera with a whose ass one of his friends and fie call the commander of his army and Isaac said to them why have you come to me since you hate me and have sent me away from you but they said we have certainly seen that the Lord is with you so we said that there now being oath between us between you and us and let us make a covenant with you that you will do us no harm since we have not touched you and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace you are now the blessed of the Lord so he made them a feast and they ate and drank then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace it came to pass the same day that Isaac servants came and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him we have found water so he called it sheba therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day amen we'll read the note about Esau's marriage next week as I think it goes with that following chapter but as I said many parallels with reference to the life of Abraham okay many parallels with reference to the life of Abraham as I read this you're probably reminiscing about the sorts of things we've already studied in the book of Genesis up until this point now the story of Isaac continues of the genealogy of Isaac is from 25 19 to 35 29 for the most part Isaac is sort of behind the scenes kind of guy he's certainly the spotlight is on him in this particular chapter but he does sort of fade a bit he's not quite as on the scene as is Abraham or Jacob but nevertheless he is one of the patriarchs and we see how God utilizes him to carry on this promise concerning seed specifically and land I want to look at first the dwelling and Guerard in verses 1 to 16 secondly the move to the valley of Gera in verses 17 to 22 it's probably not a long way away but it is removed from the actual place of Gerar and then finally the return to Beersheba in verses 23 to 33 so he had been in Beersheba we know that Abraham settled there according to chapter 21 and then of course Isaac was there in chapter 22 so he returns back to the land after God prospers prospers him in his time there with the Philistines but note first with reference to his move to Gera the reason is stated clearly in verse 1 there was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham remember Genesis chapter 12 God calls Abram out of ur of the chaldeans he comes out of Haran and then God makes this promise that he's going to bless him and then the very next scene there's famine and then Abraham goes down to Egypt so God specifically prohibits Isaac from going down to Egypt in this particular narrative but the narrator wants to make sure that we understand this is not a mistake or this ought not to be confusion we ought not to think of these various episodes as being one that had been reported in various ways or in various places some people suggest that with the narrative of Genesis they suggest there's a an editor a redactor that simply sort of throws it all together with rhyme and reason to be sure but whether the historicity is there or not for certain of these particular commentators they don't care it's all about what the narrator the literate uh the author wanted to convey and so at times there's these the you know one account and then it's made use of in various circumstances and situations the author distinguishes between this particular famine and the first famine that was in the days of Abraham so here specifically at the end of verse one Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerard now this is not the same Abimelech that Abraham went to according to Genesis chapter 20 a bream did go to this place as well he went to Gerard and he dealt with a man by the name of Abimelech most likely it was a dynastic title like pharaoh like caesar it was a title for the king of Philistia so it's not the case that everybody happen to be named Abimelech but rather it was that particular title probably the same thing with FICO if you look at verse 26 when a Bibble that comes to Gerhardt to visit with Isaac he's with a hose off one of his friends and fie called the commander of his army well back when Abraham dealt with Abimelech there was also a cycle so that's either again a functional title or it could have been feasibly the son of the other cycle but at this particular point again the consistency or the similarity rather is seen famine comes and Abraham goes down to Egypt the second time he goes over to Gera but in this instance we see God's appearance to Isaac according to verse two says then the Lord appeared to him and said do not go down to Egypt live in the land of which I shall tell you now if you look at the map the area of Philistia is not so far removed from Israel that that it could be comprehended in the land and if you look at verse 4 I will give to your defendants all these lands and lands is plural and so most likely this region of Philistia is also a part of at least in a technical sense the land and so God prohibits him from going down to Egypt but rather he wants him to reign in this particular area and then the Lord confirms his promise to Isaac we have seen this in several places with reference to God in Abraham in several places God promises to Abraham that he will make him a mighty nation there will be land that's the promised land of Canaan and then there will be this great scene and so now the Lord confirms this ratifies this or brings this to pass with reference to Isaac and so we see the prohibition of verse 2 do not go down to Egypt live in the land of which I shall tell you and then in verse 3 dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you go back to Genesis chapter 12 just to remind ourselves what happened with reference to Abraham as God calls him to himself John 12:1 now the Lord had said to Abram get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you I will make you a great nation I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all of the families of the earth shall be blessed so this is the sort of promise that God is confirming here with reference to Isaac's we have Abraham we have Isaac and then we'll have Jacob these are the men through whom this promise of God calms ultimately our Lord Jesus Christ and so God says to Isaac for you to you and your descendants I give all these lands and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father so the Lord God Most High doesn't make an oath for his own benefit when we swear we do it sort of for our own benefit to let everybody know that we're actually telling the truth God does not swear oaths for his own benefit God swear those for the benefit of his people so that they can see his rock-solid commitment to doing that which he has promised and here God affirms that with reference to Isaac the oath which I swore to Abraham your father he bent he then highlights again that the seed promise in verse 4 I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed now we know from the New Testament that the seed of Abraham is our Lord Jesus Christ Galatians chapter 3:16 why whenever we move through these promises we ought to appreciate there's a collective seed the nation of Israel but then there's that individual that seed that Messiah that will come in that or from that people of Israel that will affect the promises of God and and confirm that oath that God had sworn so basically every time you see this language in the book of Genesis Moses under inspiration of the holy spirit is preaching Jesus Christ that's the emphasis in these narratives that there is a messiah there is a champion there is one that is coming that will right the wrongs that will bless the people of God and that will ultimately usher in an eternal state so he says I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed and then in verse five he says because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws now Abraham was rightly connected to God by grace through faith we can't ever forget that Abraham did not have his position before God because of his obedience that's not the emphasis in verse five I think the emphasis in verse five is a call to Isaac to be like his father Abraham now we know that Abraham's / obedience wasn't absolutely positively 100% perfect he was justified by faith Genesis 15:6 tells us that he believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness now certainly as one believes the gospel they're justified freely by God's grace then they walk according to God's will and God's law sanctification is a reality for those who've been justified by God's grace and this is what God is highlighting with reference to Abraham because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws it's not saying I'm gonna bring this to path because of the the obedience of Abraham he brings it to pass because of the oath the purpose the plan the eternal decree of Almighty God he is simply pressing upon Isaac the necessity that Isaak himself follow in the footsteps of his father Abraham because Abraham obeyed the voice of Almighty God that's the emphasis or the connection for Isaac in this context now notice he goes to gare are in verses 6 to 22 and we have first this protection of Rebekah the same sort of thing happens with Abraham in Egypt in Genesis 12 and then again in Gera in Genesis chapter 20 and we see the same tactic employed by Isaac in terms of the response to the potential threat against his bride so verse 6 says isaac dwelt and gerard and the men of the place asked about his wife and he said now son suggest that this predates the having of jacob and esau again I don't think that's outlandish to consider on the face of it we saw last week that not everything written is strictly chronological the biblical authors aren't like you know us moderns where you know we put the time and the date on everything they do have theological reasons for the way that they order their material they have thematic reasons for the way that they order the material but the the argument goes that if they had two young sons those sons likely would have been with them because they wouldn't have left them in a land where there was a famine they would have say certainly taken Jacob and Esau along with that as they went to Geron now I realized that Esau is 40 at the end when it talks about him taking his wife again it's not strictly chronological we simply do not know but that is a supposition on the part of some that this isn't in a chronological order but rather it shows us something about the blessings given to Isaac because that's what we're doing in chapter 27 and that's probably why Esau's marriages is mentioned at the very end of chapter 26 the stage is being set for that contest in chapter 27 over the blessing of father Isaac Jacob and Esau are contending or Jacob specifically is contending for the blessing from Isaac so 26 shows us God's blessing upon Isaac Genesis chapter 26 shows prosperity God blesses God causes basically everything to work out for good in the life of Isaac even such that his ORN enemies who had chased him out of the land of gare are now come to him seeking a covenant seeking protection ultimately the Philistines make that sort of overture and I mean when we get to that particular section we've only done anything everything good for you that is a stretch that is a great overstatement based on the reality that he wants this covenant so that he'll have protection so chapter 26 really is a parallel between Isaac and Abraham but as well the great blessing of God upon Isaac because that's the turning point in chapter 27 with reference to Jacob and Esau seeking out blessings from father Isaac so notice that these men asked about about her and he said to her or he said rather she is my sister for he was afraid to say she is my wife because he thought lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah because she is beautiful to behold and I'm not suggesting a woman because two children couldn't be beautiful to behold I hope you're not gonna make that connection here but but the argument at least from Psalm is that this probably predates the time when they had Jacob and Esau I simply don't know I thought I would offer that so you could see that there is a perhaps a reason why no reference to Jacob and Esau in this particular section so he basically goes to that sort of default position that Abraham did on two occasions Abraham told that no Sarah's not my wife she is my sister because there was this fear that they would be killed and then their wives would would ultimately be taken now in verse 8 it says it came to pass when he had been there a long time that a bimmel at king of the Philistines looked through a window and saw and there was Isaac showing it endearment to Rebecca his wife it's an interesting turn of phrase he had been there a long time in that sort of an arrangement he had been there in a long time with everybody believing that he and his sister had taken up residence here in Gera well in his own sloppiness or in a time where he was a little bit you know not as aware or on guard as perhaps he should have been he shows endearment to Rebecca his wife verse 9 obviously Abimelech calls Isaac and says obviously she is your wife so how could you say she is my sister Isaac said damn because I said lest I die on account of her so Bimala is rightly irritated by this because it is a bad situation that has been conceived here and then he goes on to say what is this you have done to us one of the people might soon have lain with her wife seeing this instance it's not a bimolecular it's one of the people and Abimelech sees this one of the people might soon have lain with your wife and you would have brought guilt on us that's very intriguing that these pagans who probably didn't think a lot about the sin of fornication certainly respected or at least had a fear of committing the sin of adultery adultery is been universally condemned in cultures societies bodies politic it's just never a good thing fact John Calvin makes the observation concerning this he says we gather from the words of Abimelech that all nations have the sentiment impressed upon their minds that the violation of holy wedlock is a crime worthy of divine vengeance and if consequently a dread of the judgment of God it is a vile reprehensible wicked a crime against God and against one spouse to go outside of that marriage relationship and engage in that unlawfulness and Abimelech the pagan knows that and yet there's you know how many people that are the professed faith in Jesus Christ how many people go down this road of adultery or how many people go down this road of breaking marriages and and breaking covenant and then Abimelech steps it up with reference to his people in verse 11 so Bimala Sarge dall his people saying he who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death so Rebecca is protected and now we see that Isaac is prospered the prosperity is indicated in verses 12 to 14 Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold and the Lord blessed him the man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of hurts and a great number of servants so the Philistines envied him so you see everything he said his hand too started to yield it started to produce this is why the problem with the wells is a real issue it's not that he needed a little cup of water on hot day he had flocks he had herds he had servants he had people that had to drink if they didn't drink they would die we we've already seen how important wells are in Genesis chapter 20 Abimelech they're 21 rather makes a covenant with Abraham specifically regarding a well you can have all the promised land in the world but if there's no water with it it's not gonna do you any good you have to have a well you have to have liquid you have to have fluid in order to sustain yourself and to sustain all the good gifts that God had prospered him with so the sowing and the reaping was a hundredfold the prosperity is seen in his flocks herds and servants but of course at the end of verse 14 so the Philistines envied him you know the difference between jealousy and envy right fun jealous of you I just want your car if I'm envious I want you to not have your car that's what envy is envy wants it but also wants that person not to have it garden part your garden-variety jealousy yeah and you got a nice car I want that car too I don't care about cars I'm just using an illustration but Envy is I want your car and I really don't want you to have the car I've Illustrated it this way when I was a kid I went fishing with my father and my cousin at the little Deschutes River in Oregon and my cousin caught a bunch of fish and had him on a stringer and I caught nothing and so a little going on in the day the envy overtook me can I pull the string or out and I let the fish go down the river I'm ashamed to admit that but it certainly does illustrate the problem of envy it is a deprivation of the good of someone else but see these men act upon it these men put into practice or flesh out this envy they have toward him notice in verse 15 now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells say that's Envy it's not jealousy we just want the prosperity of Jay of Isaac but it's Envy we want the non prosperity of Isaac we want the failure of Isaac we want this man to be ruined that's what Envy does be aware of that and he's never a good thing never ever is it a blessing to be an envious person it's probably one of the most wretched conditions that can well up in the heart of a man verse 15 the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father and they had filled them with earth and Abimelech said to Isaac go away from us for you are much mightier than we now it's tough to know exactly what's driving Abimelech does he to envy Isaac and just wants him to get out of there doesn't sound like it he is perhaps threatened with the might of Isaac Isaac might start to realize hey I'm better at this than these guys I've got more than these guys what precludes me from taking all their stuff - so biblic has that suspicion so he'd rather just get Isaac out of the land not could be the case that a bimolecular peacemaker and didn't want to see his men and being Isaac and for the sake of everybody involved Isaac why don't you just pack up and you know get out of get out of Gerard well we don't know specifically but we do know it isn't quite what he says in verse 28 then in verse 29 that you do us no harm since we have not touched you that that's true and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace that that's really not how it comes out in this particular section but nevertheless he is driven out and then that brings us to the move to the valley of dare are in verses 17 to 22 he recovers first of all his father's well verse 17 then Isaac departed from there pitched his tent the valley of Gera and dwelt there 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 up after the death of Abraham he called them by the names which his father had called that now when we hear that we think that's alright why would you name a well well we name a bunch of different things but walki I think explains it well okay go ahead dude all right I caught it as it left my lips yeah Wells were given names to establish proprietary rights by giving them the same names as his father had Isaac aims to make his ownership incontestable this underscores the injustice see 21 23 to 33 but also commemorates God's provision and protection see they've been down this road a hundred years prior with another Abimelech who assured Abraham that he could have this well in the promised land and that everything would be okay well obviously they reneged on that and now they have filled in the wells the first thing that Isaac does is he recovers Abraham's Wells and then he gets new wells or digs more wells in verses 19 to 20 he calls the first one East sac which means quarrel why because the herdsmen of Gera are quarrelled with Isaac's herdsmen saying the water is ours you can hear reminiscences here of Abraham and lot remember what happens when Abraham and lot go near the city of Sodom and Gomorrah obviously lot takes the one place and and Abraham takes the other place but initially it came about as a quarrel or because of a quarrel over the herdsmen in terms of where their flocks would eat so basically all of 26 or most of 26 is very much reminiscent of what we've already considered under the under the life of Abraham and so he named the first one east sack the second was called sit not which means enmity and then the third ray huh both which basically means spaciousness God has provided God has blessed us verse at the end of verse 22 he called it's named Rahab off because he said for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land so we have his time and Gera we have his move to the valley of Gera after having been run out by abemolik and now thirdly and finally he returns Kabir Sheba in verses 23 to 33 so he's in the promised land proper Philistia probably included under the auspices of promised land but promised land proper with reference to Beersheba this is where Isaac where this is where Abraham lived before him and so now he returns from this time of famine verse 23 says he went up from there to bare Sheba and again the Lord appears to him the Lord manifests himself to Isaac as he did with Abraham there is this familiarity between God and his servant there is this communion there is this union and there is this confirmation by God that he is in fact the God of Abraham and the god who has purposed to bless Abraham with seed and land and that's what the Lord says to him in verse 24 I am the God of your father Abraham and then he gives him this prohibition do not fear for I am with you go back to Genesis 15 for just a moment Genesis 15 1 an instance where God says this to Abraham which is quite beautiful Genesis 15 1 after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying do not be afraid Abram I am your shield your exceedingly great reward uses the same tactic with Isaac I am the God of your father Abraham do not fear for I am with you he reaffirms or reiterates or reconfirms the promise the oath when he says I will bless you and multiply your descendants from my servant Abraham say now Abram or rather Isaac does what Abram did Isaac worships God when the Lord God reveals himself to Abraham initially and when the Lord God reveals himself to Isaac what is the proper response on the part of the person that has been revealed unto it is worship that is praised and is adoration and that is precisely what we see in verse 25 he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord and he pitched his tent there and there Isaac's servants dug a well so what Abraham does in Genesis chapter 12 verses 7 to 8 and then again in Genesis 21 verse 33 when God blesses you see these patriarchs respond with praise and adoration and worship and now God appears to him but now Abimelech comes and makes a visit so we've got this appearance of the Lord verses 23 to 21 and then you've got the appearance by Abimelech in verses 26 to 31 we have a bin lack is friend a who's off probably an advisor a chief advisor and then FICO the commander of his army and then Isaac says to them he's not a sort of milk you know beat around the bush kind of guy he goes right to it why have you come to me since you hate me have sent me away from you see he certainly didn't interpret a bit Lex you know giving him the left the left boot of disfellowship as being we've only done it you know nothing but good for you and sent you away in peace that that's not the way Isaac interpreted his departure from Gerard he didn't see it that way at all this is the way Isaac's he saw it why have you come to me since you hate me and have sent me away from you and don't you just love the way the tone changes with a bhim election flowery and sweet and saccharine ish when he was driving Isaac out of the the land of Gerar but now notice in verse 28 but they said typical politicians I mean there's really nothing new Under the Sun we we will couch our language will will you know do whatever it takes just to get what we want that's what we see here in this covenant initiated by a bivouac for his own hide his own protection what we have certainly seen that the Lord is with you tree game they see that Yahweh is with them this is the covenant Lord this isn't generic God they knew something about Yahweh of Israel and Abimelech says we have certainly seen that Yahweh is with you so we said let there now be an oath between us between you and us and let us make a covenant with you sure this struck Isaac is a bit odd don't you think he had been taken out you know basically get out of the city you know a lot of times people get the keys to the city when they get to enter in they they didn't do that with Isaac they just sent him out he interpreted as them hating him and now they come and say well we think it's time for covenant well why didn't you think there was time for a covenant when I was in your land prospering greatly a hundredfold that would have been a great time for covenant two and then it goes on to say that you we'll do us no harm that's the issue they know that Isaac is blessed of God they knew that Abraham was blessed of God there is a fear of God not in the sense that they want to worship and praise in the door but they don't want to be on the wrong side of the of the God of Israel that you will do us no harm since we have not touched you and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace you are now the blessed of the Lord again go back to Genesis chapter 12 for just a moment to see this language with reference to Abraham but now with reference to Isaac in verse 2 I will make you a great night nation I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing you shall be a blessing and they say or admit or confess this you are now the blessed of the Lord now as far as Isaac was concerned this was a good arrangement this was a good agreement this was a good covenant so he makes covenant with them typically a host would provide hospitality to visitors when they initially came but having had sort of that last parting shot he didn't know what to expect with reference to Abimelech as far as he knew they hated him as far as he knew they drove him out of it out of the land but now that this covenant has been ratified there is a feast there is food typically speaking whenever there's covenants ratified in Scripture there's a meal consistent with it that was the one of the ways that the Covenant was celebrated one of the ways that a covenant was was was delighted in one of the ways that we show camaraderie with each other and some have rightly observed the Lord's Supper is a covenant meal it is a covenant renewal ceremony every time we eat this bread and we drink this cup so in verse 30 he made them a feast and they ate and drank then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him peas and then the last statement concerns a well they're in Beersheba a well they're in bear sheba the servants dig it verse 32 and then he calls it sheba therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day your margin is correct the word means seven or Earth's most likely means oath in this context in light of the covenant just made with Abimelech so this is the well of the oath between Abimelech and me Wenham says the servants comment we have found water seems superfluous for all useful wells have water but here the remark surely reinforces the feeling of security Isaac had been forced by famine to leave Beersheba for Gera now the discovery of a good water supply seems like a pledge of future security in the land thus this whole chapter closes triumphantly with Isaac walking confidently in his father's footsteps experiencing for himself the incipient fulfillment of the divine promises yeah it may seem subtle but I think that's an accurate read on the situation Isaac is established the Lord has blessed and the Lord has prospered him such that even the enemies of Isaac have come to submit to him proverbs 16:7 says when a man's ways please Yahweh he makes even as enemies to be at peace with them I think this is a great illustration of that a great description of that on the one hand he's chased out of gare are on the other hand they come to Beersheba and they say make a covenant with us that you will do us no harm God's blessing is profe used throughout Genesis chapter 26 Isaac is of course the target he is the recipient of it this statement concerning Esau taking these these Hittite wives prepares us for what's to come in chapter 27 it's as if the author is foreshadowing that Esau really is the crumb in the family he really doesn't deserve the blessing of God what Jacob and Rebecca does are is not the most noble act or the most noble way to go about something but nevertheless Esau is a wretch he is not the sort of guy that you want to part with blessings you want to part with you know good gifts too and so that's why the statement concerning his marriage to these Hittites in verses 34 and 35 well in conclusion again just a moral application of the chapter this Abimelech could teach this generation something concerning sexual fidelity with reference to the marriage bent that this pagan in this context was afraid of committing this particular sin is something that needs to be recovered in civil society in the West today divorce rates are rampant not just outside of the church but unfortunately within the context of the church and I realize the Bible authorizes divorce in instances of fornication on the part of one party desertion which I would also include you know spousal abuse but if those are of those conditions aren't met and persons are divorcing it is not biblical it is not righteous it is to do disservice to what God has instituted that pagan here knows more sexual ethics than some in our own generation secondly we ought to appreciate in all of these chapters in the book of Genesis the faithfulness of God you know we read these things and I mean you've seen how the narrative is Slone down right to a snail's pace you get you know the creation of the world you get these massive huge movements and then we focus on one man and his family I mean chapter 26 was I forget I'm sorry 24 is what 67 verses of the the servant going to get a wife for Isaac think things slowed down drastically when we come to this section of the book of Genesis why is that well I think in part to demonstrate God's faithfulness that through this one family through their their goings forward their fallings backward their foibles their sots the Lord is going to preserve that such that the seed will ultimately calm the fullness of the time God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law and that son was the son promised in the seed genesis 3:15 all throughout the book of Genesis we see the faithfulness of God the reiteration of the promises made to Abraham concerning his seed are now confirmed to his immediate seat Isaac that will be passed on to Jacob and so on and so forth until we get to the Lord Christ and then with reference to the similarity with Abraham Wenham makes this observation he says thus this account of Isaac's dealings with the Philistines portrays Isaac has very much walking in his father's footsteps he received similar promises faces similar tests fails similarly but eventually triumphs in light fashion indeed in certain respects he has given more in the promises and achieves more he has promised all these lands and by the end of the story he is securely settled in Beersheba and has a treaty with the philistines in which they acknowledge his superiority so that's what chapter 26 is all about and as I said it sets the stage for chapter 27 and God willing we'll look at that next Wednesday evening so I'll close and a word of Prayer and if anybody has any questions we can deal with that father we thank you for your word we thank you for this book of Genesis this book of beginnings and the book that highlights your faithfulness in the in to the people of God we thank you that we have seen that seed promise come to fruition in the life and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ we know that he is the the inheritor of the world we know that he his seed is a great multitude that no man can number and we thank you for including us in this we pray that this gospel would be preached throughout the world and that more and more people would come to know Christ as Lord and Savior and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen does anyone have any questions or