Genesis 26:33: The same town gets the same name a second time
Read it →Commentary on Genesis 26:33
Isaac has spent this chapter digging wells and moving on when the Philistines drove him away. Here he names one at last, and the name is not new. Two questions follow. What does the name mean? And why does a place Abraham already called Beersheba get that name a second time?
The name and what it means
The name goes back to a promise sealed by an oath between Abraham and a neighbouring king. It did not stay with the well.
This name means well of the oath. It was given to the place where Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant not to trouble each other, and confirmed it by an oath. It afterwards became the dwelling place of Abraham and of Isaac, who also dug a well there, and a city is spoken of as bearing the same name… After the land was settled, Scripture keeps pointing to it as the most southern part of the land they held, just as it points to Dan as the most northern. So "from Dan to Beersheba" was the common expression for the whole territory even in the days of Solomon.
Why the name is given twice
Some readers treat the double naming — once in Abraham's day, once by Isaac here — as proof that someone stitched two records together. One writer answers that the chapter explains the repeat itself.
The name of "Beersheba" was confirmed by Isaac when he also established by oath his boundaries there with Abimelech, as Abraham had done. This was the boundary line, so the agreement was repeated, and both agreements gave it this name. There is not the smallest ground here for supposing that the writer overlooked some other document. The text says (Gen. 26:18), "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 them by the names his father had given them." Then it goes on to give a further personal reason why the last well had the same name.
The covenant and the water on one day
The oath with Abimelech and the finding of water fall on the same day. One writer notes who took the first step, and what the new well did to the old name. (Older translations spell the well's name Shebah.)
The king himself comes to Isaac with his friend and chief captain — Isaac does not go to them. When Isaac objects, they admit they saw clearly that Jehovah was with him, and they ask for an oath and covenant that he will do them no harm… "You are now blessed of Jehovah." Yes, this is Isaac's position exactly, with the Philistines themselves as judges. They came and paid homage at his feet, and acknowledged that Jehovah loved him… And "the same day" a new well was found, which he called Shebah, and renewed the name of the old city next to it.
The road that led there
Isaac reached this place by giving ground, not by taking it. His moves show where God's people find room.
Driven further and further away, he dug another well, "and for that they did not quarrel." He named it Rehoboth, because the Lord had made room for him… There is always room, together with blessing, for the people of God in the place of separation. Then he moves to Beersheba… and there the Lord appears to him at once ("the same night") and confirms His promises. The result is that Isaac becomes a worshipper: he builds an altar. Then he becomes a pilgrim: he pitches his tent. There also his servants dig a well — a sign that blessing is always in proportion to our acceptance of the truth of our calling.
A small oath pointing to a larger one
The well's name and the city's name come from the same word. But the name carries a weight neither Abimelech nor Isaac put into it.
They called the well Shebah, meaning "oath," and so the place was called Beersheba… These two covenants (between Abraham and Abimelech, and between Isaac and Abimelech) were the occasion of the well receiving its name. But it is symbolical of the far greater covenant that God made with Abraham and confirmed to Isaac.
Living at "the well of the oath" is therefore described as a settled frame of mind rather than a location:
This is "the well of the oath," and so it speaks of living in the calm confidence of the faithfulness of God's sworn promise.
Water worth digging for
These wells are springs, not storage pits. One writer turns that difference into a question for every believer.
The wells Isaac dug were wells of running, living water, not mere man-made cisterns. In Genesis 26 we read, "And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water." Should not all the children of God want to live beside such wells? There we see not only our own energy, but much more, the energy of the Spirit of God… May not, and should not, every one of God's Isaacs be, in his measure and way, a well-digger?
Summary
- Oath — the well's name means "oath," and Beersheba means "well of the oath," from a sworn promise not to harm each other.
- Yielding — Isaac got there by giving up wells, not fighting for them; separation is where God gives room and blessing.
- Well — the covenant day and the water day are the same day; springing water, not a cistern, marks the place.
- Renewal — Isaac did not invent the name but confirmed his father's, adding his own reason for it.
- Reach — the small oath stands for God's far greater covenant, and the city became the southern marker of the whole land, "from Dan to Beersheba."
