《Trapp ’s Complete Commentary– Genesis (Vol. 2)》(John Trapp)
26 Chapter 26
Verse 1
Genesis 26:1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.
Ver. 1. Beside the first famine.] New sins bring new plagues Flagitium et flagellura, ut acus et filum. Where iniquity breakfasts, calamity will be sure to dine - to sup where it dines, and to lodge where it sups. If the Canaanites had amended by the former famine, this later had been prevented; for "God afflicts not willingly, nor grieves the children of men". [Lamentations 3:35] Polybius wonders why man should be held the wisest of creatures, when to him he seemeth the foolishest. For other things, saith he, where they have smarted once will beware for the future. The fox will not rashly return to the snare; the wolf to the pitfall, the dog to the club, &c. Solus homo, ab aevo ad aevum peccat fere in iisdem, et in iisdem plectitur. Only man is neither weary of sinning, nor wary of smarting for it.
And Isaac went to Abimelech.] As Abraham had done before to Pharaoh. [Genesis 12:10] The trials of God’s servants, in several ages, are much alike: we suffer the same things that our betters have done afore us: which both Paul and Peter press as a lenitive to our miseries, and a motive to patience. [1 Corinthians 10:131 Peter 5:9] The same fable is acted over again in the world, as of old; the persons only changed. "That which hath been, is now; and that which is to be, hath already been": "and there is no new thing under the sun," saith Solomon. [Ecclesiastes 3:15; Ecclesiastes 1:9-10]
Verse 2
Genesis 26:2 And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
Ver. 2. And the Lord appeared unto him.] God knows our souls, and our souls him, best in adversity. See Zechariah 13:9. This famine was to the Canaanites in the nature of a curse; to Isaac, of a cure. Hinc distinctio illa poenae in conferentem et nocentem, sive in suffocantem et promoventem; item in poenam vindictae et poenam cautelae, sire in condemnantem et corrigentem.
Verse 3
Genesis 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
Ver. 3. Sojourn in this land.] Though it lay under the common lash; that he might see God’s power in providing for him amidst greatest straits and difficulties. Poena duplicem habet ordinationem: unam ad culpam quae praecedit, alteram, ad gloriam Dei quam praecedit.(a)
Verse 4
Genesis 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Ver. 4. As the stars of heaven.] {See Trapp on "Genesis 13:16"}
Verse 5
Genesis 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Ver. 5. Because that Abraham.] His obedience was universal to all the wills of God; and is here alleged, not as the meritorious cause, but as an antecedent, of the blessing. Our good works do truly please God in Christ, and move him, after a sort, to do us good; yet not as merits, but as certain effects of Christ’s merits alone, and such as of his merit. (a)
Verse 7
Genesis 26:7 And the men of the place asked [him] of his wife; and he said, She [is] my sister: for he feared to say, [She is] my wife; lest, [said he], the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she [was] fair to look upon.
Ver. 7. She is my sister.] How apt are children to imitate their father’s infirmities! Pατροπαραδοτου. [1 Peter 1:18] Which yet is no excuse, [Ezekiel 18:14] but an aggravation. [Daniel 5:22-23] The orator (a) therefore was far wide, that said, Me ex ea opinione, quam a Maioribus accepi, de cultu deorum immortalium, nullius unquam oratio aut docti aut indocti movebit. Isaac’s fault here, was greater than Abraham’s, because he was not warned by domestical examples. Seest thou another make shipwreck of a good conscience? look well to thy tacklings. Sin is worse after warning.
For he feared to say, &c.] Fear and infidelity are found in the most faithful. Corruption, in the best, will have some flurts, some outbursts. As therefore Luther entreats his readers, if they find in his writings anything that smelleth of the old cask of Popery, to remember he was once a poor monk; so when we see the saints humanum aliquid pati, to play some mad pranks, we must consider they were but lately cured of a spiritual frenzy.
Because she was fair to look upon.] Beauty therefore is not much to be desired, or the want of it to be bewailed; because it creates so many dangers to them that have it, and their dearest husbands. The British virgins deformed themselves, that the Danes might not deflower them. (b)
Verse 8
Genesis 26:8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac [was] sporting with Rebekah his wife.
Ver. 8. Sporting with Rebekah his wife.] Or, laughing and rejoicing; according to that of Solomon, "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth: let her be as the loving hind, and pleasant roe," &c. [Proverbs 5:18] The hind and roe are the females of the hart and roebuck. Now of the hart and roebuck, it is noted, saith a grave divine, (a) that of all other beasts they are most enamoured, as I may so speak, with their mates, and even mad again with heat and desire after them. Which, being taken in a good sense, doth set forth the lawful vehement affection that an Isaac may bear to his Rebekah; which may be such, as that others may think he even dotes on her. And so much is imported in that which follows: "Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and err thou always in her love". {Proverbs 5:19, marg.} Not but that a man may be out in this lawful error too, and exceed in love to his wife; as he in Seneca did, who, whenever he went abroad, wore his wife’s fillet on his bosom for a favour, would never willingly be without her company, nor drink, but when she drank to him; with many the like fooleries, in quae improvida vis affectus erumpebat, saith he. The beginning of this love was honest; but the nimiety was not without deformity. Est modus in rebus.
Verse 9
Genesis 26:9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she [is] thy wife: and how saidst thou, She [is] my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
Ver. 9. Lest I die for her.] {See Trapp on "Genesis 20:11"} {See Trapp on "Genesis 11:29"}
Verse 10
Genesis 26:10 And Abimelech said, What [is] this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Ver. 10. Brought guiltiness upon us.] Or, a shameful crime, subjecting us to condign punishment. This is more than many pseudo-Christians will yield; who hold adultery a light sin, if any at all, a trick of youth: being of the same mind with that old dotard in Terence: It is nothing for a young man to be found potting, piping, drinking, drabbing, swearing, whoring, &c. (a) And this poisonful position passed, it seems, for current at Corinth; whence the apostle Paul so strives to uproot that wretched opinion, by many arguments. [1 Corinthians 6:1-20] And [1 Corinthians 10:8] instead of the cloak of heat of youth, he puts upon fornication a bloody cloak, bathed in the blood of three and twenty thousand.
Verse 11
Genesis 26:11 And Abimelech charged all [his] people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
Ver. 11. He that toucheth this man, &c.] So sweetly doth God, many times, turn even our sins to our safety here, and to our salvation hereafter. What is not God able to do for his?
Verse 12
Genesis 26:12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
Ver. 12. Then Isaac sowed in that land.] In ground hired for his use, and managed by himself: for it was anciently a great commendation, saith Cicero, to be a good husbandman. (a) M. Curius, after three triumphs, returned to the plough, and held it no disgrace; neither ever was there more plenty at Rome than then, saith Pliny; Quasi gauderet terra laureato vomere, et Aratore triumphali. This good husbandman in the text, sowing in that barren land, and in a time of famine too, hath a hundredfold increase; which is the utmost that our Saviour mentioneth in the parable of the sower; [Matthew 13:23] and in reference hereunto, he elsewhere assureth such as part with all for his sake and the gospel’s, they "shall receive a hundredfold here, and eternal life hereafter". [Matthew 19:29] That which Herodotus and Pliny report of Babylon is beyond belief: that the land thereabouts returns two hundredfold increase. (b) But grant it were true, yet he that is a good husband for his soul, sows in a better ground, and shall have a better return: for, "he that soweth to the Spirit, shall, of the Spirit, reap life everlasting." Only it is required, that he "be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not". [Galatians 6:8-9] We must not look to sow and reap all in a day, as he (c) saith of the Hyperborean people far north; that they sow shortly after the sunrising, and reap before the sunset; because the whole half year is one continual day with them. We must "wait," with "the husbandman, for the precious fruit of the earth, and have long patience for it, until we receive the former and latter rain". [James 5:7] And "be diligent" in the meanwhile, that when Christ comes, "we may be found of him in peace". [2 Peter 3:14] Heaven will pay for all our pains and patience. "He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully," [2 Corinthians 9:6] even blessing upon blessing, as the word there ( επ ευλογιαις) signifies: he "shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him". [Psalms 126:6]
Verse 13
Genesis 26:13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
Ver. 13. And the man waxed great.] Because the Lord blessed him, [Genesis 26:12] for it is his blessing that maketh rich. He sowed, and feared God, and the Lord blessed him. Godliness hath the promises of both lives. [1 Timothy 4:8] Now the promises are "the unsearchable riches of Christ," [Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 3:9] who is "the heir of all," [Hebrews 1:2] and hath made godly men his co-heirs, [Romans 8:17] entailing upon them riches and honour, delight and pleasure, life and length of days, the blessings of both hands. [Proverbs 3:16-17; Proverbs 8:18; Deuteronomy 28:1-14 ; Psalms 112:2-3] Godly men, in Scripture, are read to have been richer than any; as Abraham, Isaac, David, &c., so they might be now (likely) if they would be as godly, Bonus Deus Constantinum Magnum, tantis terrenis implevit muneribus, quanta optare nullus auderet, saith Augustine. (a) If God deny gain to godliness, it is that it may be admired for itself, as having an autarchy. ( μετ’ αυταρκειας), a self-sufficiency [1 Timothy 6:6] He makes up in the true treasure: and a grain of grace is worth all the gold of Ophir; a remnant of faith, better than all gay clothing. Achan’s wedge of gold served for no better purpose, than to cleave asunder his soul from his body; and the Babylonish garment but for a shroud. But, contented godliness, like Solomon’s good wife, "doth a man good, and not evil, all his days": [Proverbs 31:12] for it brings his mind and his means together, and makes him rest well assured of a sufficiency, though he miss of a superfluity.
Verse 14
Genesis 26:14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
Ver. 14. And the Philistines envied him.] Envy is the constant companion of prosperity, as David felt and complained. Succoth and Pennel contemn Gideon, out of envy of his victory; Joseph’s brethren cannot abide him, because more favoured of his father. Korah maligneth Moses; Saul, David; the Pharisees, our Saviour; their malice wilfully crossing their consciences. Caligula sacrificed to Neptune and Envy, ne sibi, ut ipse dicebat, invideretur.(a) He thought other men sick, like him, of his disease (as the devil accused God of envy to our first parents); for certainly there was not a more envious person living than he; witness his throwing down the statues of all famous men, and defacing their titles; forbidding any new to be set up without his leave and liking. So that tiger, Tiberius, laid hold, with his spiteful teeth, on all the excellent spirits of his time: he put a poet to death, for making an excellent tragedy; (b) and banished a certain architect, for building an elaborate porch at Rome, which he could not choose but admire and reward with money. Nero envied all men that were any whit gracious with the people. (c) Valentinian hated all that were well apparelled, or well learned, or wealthy, or noble (d)Fortibus etiam detrahere solebat, ut solus videretur bonis artibus eminere, saith Ammianus. (e) Germanicus had not any more deadly enemies than his own ornaments, (f) and his adversaries (as here Isaac’s) had - nothing to complain of him, more than his greatness. So true is that of Salust; (g)Difficillimum inter mortales est, gloria invidiam vincere. Hercules had not more ado with Hydra than a good man shall have with this beast. Envied he shall be of his neighbour, for his labour and right work. [Ecclesiastes 4:4] "This is also vanity, and vexation of spirit."
Verse 15
Genesis 26:15 For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
Ver. 15. The Philistines had stopped them.] They deprived themselves of the benefit of those wells, so that Isaac might not water at them. Envy doth nothing with reason. It is vitium diabolicum, saith Augustine. (a) The devil, of pure spite, hinders men from heaven: he rageth and rangeth, roaring up and down, "seeking whom to devour"; and not caring to be doubly damned himself, so that others may not be saved. We should be so far from envying at the happiness of others, that we should rejoice in it. This were to be as the angels of God; and the contrary, is to be like the devils of hell, as Saul was, who, because he could not see David’s heart, fed upon his own. Envy devours itself, as the worm doth the nut out of which it grows.
Verse 16
Genesis 26:16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
Ver. 16. Go from us; for thou art, &c.] Isaaco ob benedictionem Dei Ostracismus indicitur. It was well they had nothing against him. Of Isaac it may be more truly said, than of Mithridates, Virtute eximius, aliquando fortuna, semper animo maximus.(a)Dαμπρυτατα μεν πραξας αλγεινοτατα επαθε as Dio saith of Pompey. (b)
Verse 17
Genesis 26:17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
Ver. 17. And Isaac departed thence.] Was compelled to do so; though, not long before, the king of the country had charged all his people, on pain of death, not to disquiet him. Eνθα το ηδυ πλησιον και το λυπηρον. (a) So near neighbours are prosperity and adversity. Friends are very changeable creatures, saith Plato (b) Friends! there is no friend, saith (c) Socrates, no fast friend. Faithful friends, quoth the Duke of Buckingham to Bishop Morton in Richard III’s time, are in this age, all, for the most part, gone in pilgrimage; and their return is uncertain. (d) Sejanus’s friends showed themselves, as did likewise Haman’s, most passionate against him; saying, that if Caesar had clemency, he ought to reserve it for men, not use it toward monsters. Carnal friends were never true to any that trusted to them: whereas, trust in God, at length, will triumph, as we see in this patriarch.
Verse 18
Genesis 26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
Ver. 18. Isaac digged again the wells, &c.] Both for more certainty to find water - a scarce commodity in those hot countries; and because the labour was the easier, and his fight the better, since they had once been his father’s.