Genesis 26:21: The second well, and the only place in the chapter worth arguing about

This is the name of a well that Isaac's servants dug and Abimelech's servants then seized. Gen. 26:21. Fürst says it means "strife." Gesenius says "contention." In Ezra 4:6 the same word appears as an ordinary noun, and there it means "accusation."

"And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The well is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek [conflict]. They dug another well and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah [hatred]."

God told Isaac to live in the land as a stranger, but Isaac does not obey. He does not go until Abimelech tells him to leave... He tries three times in a row to stay among the Philistines, and fails each time. God would force him back to his right place. He reopens the wells that Abraham had made. He acts as if the Philistines would be kinder to him than they were to his father. He digs for himself, and finds contention (Esek). He digs again, and feels their hatred (Sitnah). At last he gets within the border, and there he finds room (Rehoboth).

Notice also that every new well dug stirred up further enmity from the Philistines (vv. 19-21). Driven farther and farther away, he dug another well, and "they did not quarrel over it." He named it Rehoboth, because the Lord had made room for him, and he added, "we shall be fruitful in the land." There is always room, and blessing with it, for the people of God in the place of separation.

Isaac did not lose the meekness that suits the man of God. He was gentle to everyone, and patient with those who opposed him... Strife was as far from his spirit as ingratitude would have been toward the Almighty who protects the man who must not strive.

Isaac named the spring Esek, meaning "contention." But "the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome" (2 Tim. 2:24), so instead of keeping up the strife, Isaac dug another well. This well too became a matter of contention (v. 21), and Isaac named it Sitna, meaning "hatred." The wise thing for him to do then was to move away from the place before digging another well.

These two wells, Esek and Sitnah, set instructive lessons before us. How many of the Lord's people shrink from separation as they would from a snake! So they go on with the contentions and strifes. In the end the disputants grow weary of everything that first gave their conflict its character. They give in and say, when exhausted, "Of what use is a birthright to me?" Then they sell the birthright, like Esau, for a bowl of stew!

By a slow and painful process, Isaac learns that he must leave the land of the Philistines completely. Each well he had to dig marks one stage of that process. First "contention," then "hatred," then "room." Having found room, he is free from the association that held him back. He takes the place of a stranger and pilgrim again, depending on God. The moment he does so, he gets his reward: "the LORD appeared to him the same night," and blessed him. The discipline had produced sanctification, and he builds an altar and worships. It had taught him this: better a little with God than great possessions in a place outside his calling.

Later there were "Philistines" who sought to destroy Christ. For a time they seemed to succeed in checking the streams of blessing. But Isaac — Christ in resurrection — unstops the fountains of grace, and He calls them by the same names. That is, Christ in resurrection carries on His usual work of mercy, on the same principles as from the beginning.