Genesis 26:6: Four words, a long stay, and four mounds that might be the town
Read it →Commentary on Genesis 26:6
A famine drove Isaac from his land. God then met him with a direct order — not Egypt — and this one line records where he stopped instead: obedience, or stopping short?
A Halfway Place
Gerar was not Egypt. Writers read the two places as two conditions of soul, one further from God than the other.
There is a real difference between Egypt and Gerar. Egypt is the expression of the world in its natural resources and its independence of God. "My river is my own" is the language of an Egyptian. He did not know the LORD and never thought of looking to Him for anything. Egypt lay further from Canaan than Gerar in distance. It also pictures a state of soul further from God... It was, compared with Egypt, an advanced position; but it still lay within reach of very dangerous influences.
Isaac stopped short of Egypt, and God met him there with an order and a promise.
Isaac goes to the king of the Philistines, where he was still inside the boundaries of the land. There the LORD appeared to him. He forbade him to go "down to Egypt" and told him to "sojourn in this land." At the same time He promised to be with him and to bless him, and He renews to him the promises made to Abraham.
Sojourn, Not Settle
God allowed a stay. Isaac settled instead, and one writer dates his troubles from that change.
He allows him to stay there, to test whether it is possible; but He adds, "Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you." Isaac not only stays in Gerar, he settles there, and as a result his troubles begin. He has another lesson to learn here. He may prosper in the land of the Philistines. But he can never enjoy the peace and calm his soul longed for while he keeps company with them.
What the Place Cost Him
Isaac's denial of his wife does not stand alone. It grew out of where he chose to live.
If Isaac had not gone to Abimelech, king of Gerar, he would have had no need to deny his wife. But the slightest turning aside from the right path brings on spiritual weakness. It was when Peter stood and warmed himself at the high priest's fire that he denied his Master.
Isaac fell where his father had fallen before him, and one writer draws out the warning.
Isaac was saved from going down into Egypt, where famine had driven his father. God guided him so that he would be a fitting picture of the One who is now for us only in heaven. But he sinned in Gerar, as Abraham sinned before him. This should have been a solemn warning to him, if he had remembered it as he ought to have, in God's presence. Instead, the failure of someone we love becomes a trap to repeat it, and may even serve as an excuse, since we do not claim to be better.
Blessing Without Presence
Isaac grew rich in Gerar. Does that prove the place was right?
Prosperous circumstances never prove that a person's condition is right... there is a great difference between the Lord's presence and His blessing. Many have the second without the first; and the heart is prone to mistake one for the other... Flocks and herds are not the Lord. The Philistines might envy Isaac for such things. They would never have envied him for the Lord's presence.
The Neighbours He Chose
The danger in Gerar was the people. One writer defines the Philistines by the ground they hold.
The Philistines are those who occupy the place, and here the territory, of the people of God — without any title to do so. They are enemies at heart, and they always seek to oppress them and bring them into bondage. In one respect, therefore, they are a greater danger than Egypt itself.
Brought Back by Discipline
The chapter does not end in Gerar. God moved Isaac out, well by well.
A slow and painful process teaches Isaac that he must leave the land of the Philistines altogether. Each new well he had to dig marks a stage in that process. First "contention," then "hatred," then "room." Having found room, and being kept from the association that hampered him, he moves on to Beersheba, on the edge of the land. He takes the place of a stranger and pilgrim again, depending on God, and at once 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 that it is better to have a little with God than great possessions in a position outside his calling.
Summary
- Halfway. Gerar was closer to God's land than Egypt, but still "within reach of very dangerous influences."
- Halfway costs. God said sojourn; Isaac settled, and "as a result his troubles begin," starting with the denial of his wife.
- Halfway pays. Isaac grew rich there. But blessing is not God's presence: the Philistines could envy his flocks, never his walk with God.
- Halfway threatens. He lived among people who held the territory of God's people "without any title to do so" — enemies at heart, and a greater danger than Egypt itself.
- Halfway ends. Contention, hatred, room, then Beersheba: the discipline taught him that "a little with God" beats great possessions outside his calling.
