Genesis 26:1–5

The opening verse of this chapter connects itself with Genesis 12. "There was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham." The trials that meet God's people along the way are very much alike. They always show how far the heart has found its all in God. It is hard — and rare — to walk in such sweet fellowship with God that you become completely independent of things and people here.

The record clearly separates this famine from the "former famine" in the days of Abraham. The first tried Abraham, the leader; the second tried Isaac, the occupier. Abraham had turned aside through it, and gone down to Egypt. Isaac takes the same direction and goes to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. But God warns him there to go no further, and to stay in Gerar as a stranger.

There is a clear difference between Egypt and Gerar. Egypt stands for the world with its natural resources and its independence from God… Egypt lay further from Canaan than Gerar. In moral terms it also pictures a soul further from God… So Gerar was a step forward compared with Egypt. But it still lay within reach of very dangerous influences. Abraham got into trouble there, and so does Isaac in this chapter, and in the very same way. Abraham denied his wife, and so does Isaac. This is very solemn. Both father and son fall into the same evil, in the same place. That tells us plainly that the influence of that place was not good.

There was another famine in the land "besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham" (Gen. 26:1), and to both Abraham and Isaac Egypt seemed to be a way out of the trouble. God permitted Abraham to go. He used it to teach him — and His people in every age — the danger and loss of leaving the place where God has brought us. Grace alone can prevent that loss… God forbade Isaac: "Do not go down into Egypt, but dwell in the land that I will tell you of." Isaac's faith was not as strong as Abraham's. God would not let him be tempted beyond what he was able to bear. When God sends trial, He always gives grace to bring us through it.

Here we have Isaac's distinctive trial of faith. God called Abraham to leave his country, his relatives, and his father's house for the land that Jehovah would show him. And Jehovah did show him. But God charged Isaac not to leave. Isaac was to stay in that land as a stranger. This had its own difficulties, which grace does not spare.

Genesis 26:1-22 shows the weakness of Isaac's faith. Like Abraham, he would have gone down to Egypt during the famine if God had not held him back. And like his father, he shows weakness by denying his wife. Along with this, we have the faithful mercy of God which recovers him and gives abundant blessing.

What will Isaac do now? Where will he turn in this dilemma? Will his faith in God use this famine to put the all-sufficiency of God to the proof? Or will he look out for himself, and so let God show that the famine is too much for his faith?… God's eye and heart are always toward the child of faith, even when we are looking away from Him.

He may have thought that he had a precedent for it in the lives of his forefathers, who were men of faith. What did they do in similar circumstances? When the first recorded famine arose in the land of Canaan (compare Gen. 26:1), it is written, "Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there" (Gen. 12:10)… Again, Isaac sought refuge from famine in the land of the Philistines, a land not far off like Egypt, but next to it like Moab (Gen. 26:1)… Had he not Scripture in support of his plan? What more was needed?

Here we have Isaac's distinctive trial of faith. God called Abraham to leave his land, his relatives and his father's house, and go to the land Jehovah would show him — and He did show him. But God charged Isaac not to leave. He was to sojourn in that land. That had its own difficulties, and grace does not spare him from them... Jehovah plainly forbade it, so Isaac did not go down into Egypt, even under the pressure of famine in the land. Abraham, as we know, did go; but there he dishonoured Jehovah, his wife, and himself, however rich he became as a result.

Isaac always lives in the heavenly land. How well this fits the place of Christ as the risen Bridegroom is too plain to need further proof... "I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven." Not a word about the sand of the sea. As always, he is tied only to what is heavenly, as far as the picture goes... But it was only the shadow, not the real image. Sadly, the man who was only the type denies his relationship, which Christ never does. Isaac failed like Abraham before. Unbroken faithfulness is true of One only.

There is a clear difference between Egypt and Gerar. Egypt stands for the world with its own resources, living independently of God. "My river is my own" is the language of an Egyptian who did not know Jehovah... In distance, Egypt lay further from Canaan than Gerar; in moral terms, it pictures a soul further from God... So compared with Egypt, Gerar was a better position; but it still lay within reach of very dangerous influences. Abraham got into trouble there, and in this chapter so does Isaac, in exactly the same way.

This famine is clearly marked off from the "first famine," in the days of Abraham. The first tested Abraham, the leader; the second tested Isaac, the occupier... God there warns him not to go further, but to sojourn in Gerar. He lets him sojourn there, to test whether it can be done; but He adds, "dwell in the land of which I shall tell you." Isaac does not only sojourn in Gerar. He settles there, and his troubles start as a result. He has another lesson to learn here. However well he prospers in the land of the Philistines, he can never enjoy the peace and calm his soul wanted while he is mixed up with them.

God let Abraham go, and used it to teach him, and believers in every age, the danger and loss of leaving the place where God has brought us. Only grace can prevent that loss. When trouble now arises in the assembly of God, some are ready to leave it, hoping to escape. By leaving, they may get free of the one thing that dishonours the Lord, but they fall into something worse, and they also lose the blessing that belongs to the place they leave... Isaac's faith was not as strong as Abraham's, and God would not let him be tempted beyond what he could bear.

Heaven has claimed us, and the Father's house is our destination. When we appear with Christ in the glory of heaven, that will be the "revealing of the sons of God." Until then it is for us to remember words full of both warning and encouragement: "Do not go down to Egypt; … sojourn in this land, and I will bless you."

Perhaps Isaac had some thought of going on down to Egypt. We can think so because God appeared to him, telling him not to go there, but to remain in the land of promise (v. 2). He was not told to remain in one place, but to sojourn in the land. He could in this way count upon the blessing of the Lord for himself and his descendants.

This was a fresh call in new circumstances, for the Lord appeared to him again. He was not called to journey to a land, but to live where He would show him. He was not to look for natural resources (Egypt). He was not to go back, but to live by faith.

Here we have Isaac's distinctive trial of faith. God called Abraham to leave his land, his relatives, and his father's house for the land that the Lord would show him — and He did show him. But God charged Isaac not to leave, but to sojourn in that land. This had its own difficulties, which grace does not spare... So Isaac did not go down into Egypt, because the Lord had plainly forbidden it — not even under the pressure of famine in the land. Abraham, as we know, did go. But there he dishonoured the Lord, his wife, and himself, however rich he became as a result.

There is a manifest difference between Egypt and Gerar. Egypt is the expression of the world in its natural resources, and its independence of God... In distance, Egypt lay further from Canaan than Gerar did. In moral terms, it stands for a soul further from God... So compared with Egypt, Gerar was a step forward. But it still lay within reach of very dangerous influences. Abraham got into trouble there, and so does Isaac, in this chapter, and that, too, in the very same way.

He allows him to sojourn there, to test whether it can be done. But He adds, "Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you." Isaac not only sojourns in Gerar, but dwells there, and as a consequence his troubles begin. He has another lesson to learn here. However prosperous he may be in the land of the Philistines, he can never enjoy the peace and calm his soul wanted while he is mixed up with them.

The Lord takes such an interest in His people that He makes everything which concerns us His own concern. We only have to give Him glory by leaving Him to show that He needs the famine to prove how far above it He is. So God is seen coming down into the little circle of Isaac's doubts and fears to hold him up. He also lifts the hopes of this resurrection heir of promise into the full breadth and length of His own purposes for Isaac's descendants, and the possession of all the countries around him. What was the famine in the presence of such a God?

In Genesis 15 the promise rests on a covenant God made with Abraham, again without condition. It is an outright gift of the land... God confirms these promises to Isaac (Gen. 26:3-4) and to Jacob (Gen. 35:10, 12). Here are "the promises made to the fathers"... God makes them to Abraham, whether spiritual or earthly, without any condition.

God first gave the promise of blessing when His call first reached Abraham. This is in Genesis 12:3. Then in Genesis 18:18 He confirms it to him. Again, in Genesis 22:16-18 the promise grows fuller, and we discover that the fulfilment comes through "the Seed," who is Christ... Then further, He confirms the promise to Isaac and to Jacob, in Genesis 26:4 and Genesis 28:14; and both times "the Seed" appears. Once He enters, the Seed never drops out, because everything depends on Him for its fulfilment.

As God had said to Abraham, so He assures Isaac, "in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (v. 4). The "offspring" here is not their many descendants, for Galatians 3:16 insists, "It does not say, 'And to offsprings,' referring to many, but referring to one, 'And to your offspring,' who is Christ." Abraham is a picture of God the Father, and in His Son, the Lord Jesus, all nations will be blessed.

God speaks of multiplying Isaac's descendants "as the stars of heaven." He does not tell Isaac, as He does Jacob later, that his offspring would be "like the dust of the earth" (Genesis 28:14). This is because Jacob is seen as the father of Israel, while Isaac pictures Christ and stands out for His relationship to Rebekah, a picture of the church. Israel is God's earthly people, so the dust of the earth signifies their number. The church is heavenly, so the stars of heaven stand for it.

"The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed." It showed that they would be blessed as Gentiles — not by becoming Jews in effect; for the blessing would flow out to them as Gentiles. "So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."

It was no secret that the nations were to be blessed. That promise was as ancient as the one that gave Abraham's descendants their special place of honour. God repeated it to Isaac (Genesis 26:4) and again to Jacob (Genesis 28:14). A Jew should never have thought of the LORD's pledge of blessing to his race without remembering one thing: he himself was to be the channel of blessing to the nations.

The promise was absolute and unconditional. It announced that God Himself would accomplish the blessing through the one promised Seed, and that accomplishment depended on His own faithfulness alone... Such was the force of the unconditional promise made to Abraham. It made the blessing of the nations certain: the question of righteousness was not raised. God had promised to Abraham, and confirmed it to the one Seed. His faithfulness would perform it.

Genesis 26:1-22 shows the weakness of Isaac's faith. Like Abraham, he would have gone down to Egypt during the famine, but God restrained him. He shows the same weakness as his father in denying his wife. Along with this, we have the faithful mercy of God which restores him and gives abundant blessing.

Here Isaac replaces Abraham as heir on the earth. It is a new revelation, given while Isaac is himself in a strange land, like the one made to Abraham at the start. The difference is that Isaac was already connected with the calling of God, though he was not yet enjoying the promise. It was a fresh calling in different circumstances. He was not told to travel to a land, but to live where God would show him, and not to look for natural resources in Egypt. He was not to go back, but to live by faith.

Isaac and Jacob both differ noticeably from Abraham in their communion with God and in the power of faith. Nature was prominent in both: in Isaac, the weakness it produces; in Jacob, the cunning. God's communications to Isaac were not as intimate in character as to Abraham. The promise was renewed to Isaac, but it was "because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

God adds here, "because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (v. 5). God never set this as a condition to Abraham. He says it after Abraham had lived his whole life. It shows the sovereignty of God: He knew beforehand what Abraham's character was, and Abraham's life proved it. God did not lay down any conditions to Isaac either.

God had found Abraham's heart faithful and made a covenant with him. Notice, this covenant was not conditional on Abraham's future faithfulness, but rested on the fact that Abraham had already proven faithful, so the promise was unconditional. This should have spoken deeply to the hearts and consciences of Israel, producing in them real concern for the honour of the Lord — a willing faithfulness rather than obedience forced by the regulations of law.

All this is so, though God had not yet published law or moral instruction. Revelation in matters of faith, working by the Spirit, formed the character of these fathers. No one commanded Abraham to build his altar or pitch his tent, but his call from God, through the Spirit, suggested both. No rule required his generous treatment of Lot; his faith and hope in God dictated and commanded it. No word or message from God marked the difference for him between the king of Salem and the king of Sodom. The light in him did.

So, in the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 22, the Lord closes with this: "because you have obeyed my voice." And Jeremiah takes up the word of the Lord to Israel through Moses: "For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'"

In those days faith was still waiting for its Object and His work, and the best blessing lay in promise. Even then, the teaching God gave formed the heart and trained it to keep commandments that came from Him. They might come through a parent, and that was no doubt the right order in Israel. It goes back to their father Abraham: the Lord expressed His pleasure in the way Abraham commanded his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment. But what gave it divine value was that it was His teaching, and that the commandments were His. This alone sanctifies — obeying God, obeying His Word, the effect and proof of love.