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1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. 2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And 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; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." ~ Genesis 26:1-5
Today, we transition into Genesis 26 we will see God directing Isaac to the location that will eventually set up a chain of events that the Bible refers to as the "end times." The book of Genesis was given to us in order to pull back the curtain into how God has and will move throughout redemptive history. Whether times are good or bad, nothing can separate us from the Lord and His goodness. As is promised over and over in the Bible, the sure promises of the Lord will all be realized in those who love God, to those who are called by Him.
Isaac was one of the great patriarchs but he was not a remarkable person. If we were to go simply by the amount of space in the book of Genesis devoted to his life, well, there is not a whole lot said about him. There is a lot said about Abraham, in fact 14 chapters in Genesis informs us. And, there is a lot said about Jacob, 11 chapters. But just about everything that Isaac did is in Genesis 26. Oh there's a little bit in Genesis 25 about Isaac praying for his wife and about the kids that they had, but really it's incidental to the main story of the two kids, Jacob and Esau, which we'll follow in the ensuing chapters.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar."
At about 100 years before today's passage in the life of Abraham, there was another famine in Canaan. During the famine in Abraham’s life, he mistakenly moved to Egypt for relief. However, this famine moved Isaac from Beer Lahai Roi to Gerar where Abimelech was the king. Like his father, Isaac encountered a famine. Like Isaac we encounter trials and the point is always, to whom we will look for help. Like Isaac, we go through trials because our faith in the God of the Bible only grows through the lessons learned through those times that we must have outside help. And, our faith in God is really worthless unless it is tested. Contrary to what many believe, our faith does not grow on a steady diet of blessing after blessing after blessing.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Then the Lord appeared to him and said: 'Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.'"
As in the day's of his father, Abraham, Isaac was facing hardship in Canaan, but food could be garnered in Egypt. For Isaac, I am sure the temptation to go to Egypt was great. But, if he had gone to Egypt, Isaac would have missed a tremendous blessing from God. So, just as in the days of Abraham, a trip down to Egypt was not a good idea. As a result, God told him to remain in Gerar with Him for God promised to be with Isaac.
In v.3 of today's passage we read, "Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father."
The Lord had made several promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 when he was first told to move to Canaan, then again in Genesis 13 after he separated from his nephew Lot, then again in Genesis 15 when God made a covenant with him. He did so again in Genesis 17 at the time of the rite of circumcision, and finally in Genesis 22 when he asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Out of all of the promises God offered to Abraham, two promises He explicitly refers to here: the promise of His presence and the gift of the land.
God told Isaac not to go to Egypt but to stay in Canaan during the famine. With this, the Lord offered to Isaac the opportunity to drill down deeper down into his faith in God. Staying in Gerar was a bad decision but God told him to stay because in staying in Canaan Isaac would see God more deeply in his heart through this famine as he chose to depend upon the Lord and the Lord chose to provide. Isaac was about to learn that God gave him more so that he could be a blessing to more. Charles Spurgeon once said, "God’s heart, not mine, is the measure of His giving; not my capacity to receive, but His capacity to give." And, God rarely blesses us with only us in mind.
In v.4-5 of today's passage we read, "And 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; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."
In addition to promising to Isaac His presence, God promised to Isaac and his people the land. To Isaac, God literally said, "I will give your descendants all these lands." The term for "lands" is mostly used to speak in plural form of the surrounding nations or even the nations of the world and not just the nations in Canaan. In fact, Ezekiel used it to speak of all the nations where the people of Israel were scattered in the exile in modern times. This verse speaks of the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ to all nations of the world and to the millennial kingdom and the Messianic rule of Christ from Jerusalem, when all nations of the earth will be under His authority and the land will finally and totally be given to Israel.
God will be known throughout eternity as the God who keeps His promises because during the Millennium, all of God's promises to the patriarchs of Israel will be fulfilled. God has already fulfilled the personal aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant; Abraham did go to the Promised Land, he did have many descendants, and he is the forefather of many nations. Several hundred years after Abraham, Joshua led the Israelites to claim ownership of the Promised Land.
But Israel has never possessed the specific boundaries that God promised in Genesis 15:18–20 and Numbers 34:1-12. Not even Solomon ruled over this particular area according to 1 Kings 4. The covenant God made with the patriarchs was that Abraham and his descendants would have the land forever. This will come to pass in the 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth at the end of time. Biblical scholars estimate that the land promised to Israel is approximately 300,000 square miles. They currently occupy around 8,000 square miles. In times past, they have occupied more. But they have never occupied the full 300,000 square miles. That is, until the Millennium.
