Genesis 26

Chapter 26 records a famine that took place in the Land of Israel, and so Isaac went to the area of the Philistines, to the city of Gerar, where he had been earlier with his father and mother. That was where Abraham had claimed that Sarah was his sister, because he was concerned that there was no fear of God in that place, and he knew that where there is no reverence and respect for the Almighty, there tends to be a lessening of moral and ethics.

The Lord appeared to Lot, and instructed him to remain in the land of Israel. Isaac didn't need to go to Egypt, and rely on the prosperity of the Egyptians. He didn't need to leave this land that God has promised to his father. God would provide for him in the land, even during a time of famine.

The Lord promised to be with Isaac: of course, the All-Present God is everywhere, and is with everyone, but there is a special way in which God can draw near to the righteous, and be with them. And, when God is with us, we are safe; we will be provided for; nothing that is truly evil can harm us; we can have peace - even in the midst of difficult circumstances. That is why people centuries ago, when they parted company, used to pray the meaningful prayer, "God be with you" - which has degenerated to the meaningless "good by."

God promised Isaac that He would bless him: He would do good things for Isaac. He would bring good material things, and good spiritual things into his life.

In particular, the Creator promised to give to Isaac, and to Isaac's descendants, all of these lands. The entire Land of Israel, with its beautiful geography, and its unique location at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia; that Land that would contain the Temple of the Living God, and the Sacrificial System that enabled us, through the korbanot - to draw near to God; that Land on which prophets walked, that Land in which the Son of God was born, lived, taught and did His miracles; that Land on which He suffered, which soaked up His most precious blood; that Land in which He was buried, and rose again; that Land from which He ascended; that Land that He will return to, and rule over all the nations, is to belong to Isaac and to his descendants. It is to be an everlasting possession for the Jewish people. What a great blessing that Land is for us!

The Lord also promised to greatly multiply Isaac's descendants, and make us as numerous as the stars of Heaven - which He was. Over the subsequent 40 centuries, Isaac has had tens of millions of descendants - primarily through the Jewish people, but also through the descendants of Esav - the Edomites.

The Lord made one last promise to Isaac: that through his descendants, all the nations of the Earth would be blessed. God would do good things for all the peoples of the world through Isaac's family. And, it has been through this Chosen Nation that the knowledge of the one true and living God, and the Word of God, and the Messiah of God, who brings atonement and salvation, reconciliation with God and eternal life, has been made available to the world. And, when the Son of Isaac is ruling from the Throne of David, over Israel and the nations, bringing with Him a time of restoration and renewal, and bringing peace and righteousness and prosperity to the world, then the world will truly be blessed.

Since it's God's declared purpose to bring good things to the world through the Chosen People, does anti-Semitism - hatred for this special people, make any sense?

So, we see that the amazing promises and the wonderful covenant that God made to Abraham, which includes all of the Land of Israel, goes through Isaac, and not through any of Abraham's other sons.

Now, the covenant that God made with Abraham was unconditional. It could not be broken. Remember that the fiery presence of the Almighty passed between the pieces of the sacrifices alone? God would accomplish everything that He covenanted with Abraham, everything He swore with an oath to fulfill. It did not depend on the faithfulness of Abraham or His descendants.

But, that does not mean that those individuals who are affected by this Covenant, but who ignore the Lord, and disobey His commandments, are entitled to participate in the blessings connected to the Covenant.

In a similar way, there are those who are teaching that even though the New Covenant has come, those who refuse to enter into the New Covenant, and disobey the Lord, will be OK, because the Abrahamic covenant is good enough for Jewish people, and they don't need to enter into the New Covenant provided by the Messiah. This false teaching is called the "Two-Covenant" or "Dual-Covenant" teaching.

Here's a quote from one of the leading lights within the Messianic Jewish movement, that seems to be a form of "Two Covenant" teaching: "Because of the validity of the Abrahamic covenant, I believe it's still as possible for a Jew who doesn't know Yeshua to have a living relationship with God, just as a Christian. But of course Yeshua is still the Messiah and any Jew who knows Him is in a better place and has more access to God than before." (Quote from an interview with Mark Kinzer, found on page 75 of the Senior Thesis of Gabriela Karabelnik, titled, "Competing Trends in Messianic Judaism: The Debate Over Evangelicalism." The Thesis was published for Yale University, the Department of Religious Studies, April 12, 2002). The author of the Thesis, Gabriela Karabelnik, makes the following observation: "Thus Yeshua does not provide the only access to God. The status of belonging to the Abrahamic covenant as a Jew can suffice for a present relationship with God. It is not that one either has access to God or not, but that one can relate to God to a greater or lesser degree. In this way the believer versus non-believer dichotomy is turned into a gradation."

Similar to the Two-Covenant teaching is another false teaching called "The Unconscious Christ." It teaches that people don't need to personally believe in Messiah to be saved. Messiah will save them regardless whether they place their faith in Him or not. They can reject Him and be saved. They can despise Him and be saved. Mark Kinzer claims that Jewish people can draw near to God, and be accepted by God, apart from placing their personal faith in Messiah. He states: "He (God) makes a way for humble and faithful members (as if a Jewish person who denies the Son of God is "faithful," and someone who is arrogantly resisting God, and proudly contracting what the Lord has said about His beloved Son, is "humble") of His people to enter His presence through the unrecognized mediation of Israel's Messiah."

Contradicting this, Yeshua said to group of Jewish leaders, "unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the Savior of the World), you will die in your sins."

John writes: "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12). And how do we get the Son? Unconsciously? By denying Him? Of course not. We must consciously learn about Him, and then place our faith, our trust in Yeshua, believing in Him, confessing Him, obeying Him, serving Him, identifying with Him, being immersed with Him.

Those who do not have the Son of God, who reject the Messiah, are not humble, faithful members of God's people; nor do they have a way to enter into God's presence - a way in which they will be accepted, welcomed and saved.

Paul makes it so very clear when he describes his own beloved, non-Messianic Jewish people, the ones who deny Yeshua, as those who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, who while seeking to create a righteousness and salvation of their own, reject God's true righteousness and salvation, and that Rabbi Paul had unceasing grief in his heart because of them, because they were lost, and not saved.

Commenting on verse 5, Charles Ryrie tells us that even "though the covenant made with Abraham was initiated by God's unconditional grace, God was delighted to acknowledge the worthiness of Abraham and to confirm the covenant to Isaac." Why was the Lord delighted with Abraham?

Abraham listened to God's voice. He had a personal relationship with God. He knew that God had spoken, and what He had said, and he listened, and obeyed. His life was characterized by obedience to the Almighty. Messiah said, "My sheep hear My voice." Each one of us need to have a personal relationship with the Living Messiah, and know that He speaks, and be sensitive to His communications to us.

Many people think that God's commands are burdensome, bad, negative, and they take the fun out of life. But what the Lord said about Abraham gives us an entirely different understanding.

Abraham kept the Lord's charge (mishmor), from the Hebrew root "shamar: The Lord has told us that certain things need to be kept, watched, guarded, preserved, so that they remain in a right and safe condition. The Lord has given us a charge - for example, don't have relations with another man's wife. We must keep His charge by making sure that as far as it's up to us, the man's wife is preserved in her original condition. When we keep the Lord's charges, we are helping to keep the universe in good shape. We are not fouling up the gears. We are helping it run in good working order.

Abraham obeyed the Lord's commandments, His mitzvot: the Lord is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, the Commander-in-Chief, and the Supreme Will, and has the right to command us to do this or that, or not do this or that. We should know what He has commanded us, and what we are responsible to obey.

Abraham obeyed the Lord's statutes, His chukot, from the Hebrew root Chakak, to engrave or inscribe: that which is fixed, inscribed, so statute or law or decree. The Ten Commandments were written in stone, because they are good, and true and meant to endure and be obeyed. The Lord has the right to issue fixed statutes, written in stone, enduring, not to be ignore, or trifled with, but obeyed.

Abraham obeyed the Lord's laws, His Torot: His teachings, His instructions. God is the Supreme Educator. He wants to teach us, elevate us, give us wisdom and knowledge. Observing His commands is the path to wisdom. The commands of God teach us, instruct us, educate us in the ways that are right, good, beneficial. They teach us about God and goodness.

Abraham kept every aspect, every nuance of what the Lord required. The Lord wanted Isaac to do the same, so he, individually and personally, could be blessed, and get everything available though the covenant and the promises. And, this same Lord wants the same from you! He doesn't want you to miss out on anything that is promised to you, through neglect, disobedience, unfaithfulness.

While Isaac was living in Gerar, he did something similar to his father Abraham. When the people of Gerar asked about beautiful Rebekah, Isaac lied and claimed that she was his sister - not his wife. He did so because he was concerned that the Gerarites might kill him in order to have Rebekah for one of their wives.

The sins of the fathers are often repeated by their children, so mom and dad, before you do something that you know to be wrong, thing about the consequences that it may have on your children one day. What they see you doing, or find out that you did, they might very well repeat. This should give us additional incentive to refrain from sinning.

Like many sins, Isaac's lie eventually became known. Avimelech, the king of the Philistines, saw Yitzchak, who name means "laugh," but can also mean "play," "m'tza-chek" - playing with Rebekah.

It's obvious that they weren't playing a board game, or a card game, but the kind of "playing around" which is proper for a husband and wife.

After seeing them acting like husband and wife, Avimelech knew that they were married. And, he responded to Isaac's concerns, and warned his people not to harm Isaac and Rebekah.

Just as the Lord had promised, He blessed Isaac, by doing good things for him. Isaac planted a crop, and it returned a hundred times what was planted. Wow! What a great harvest. As an avid gardener, I wish I could have been there to see that!

Isaac became wealthier and wealthier, until he was very rich. And, as so often happens with the rich, Isaac was envied. How often have Isaac's descendants likewise been envied by the Gentiles, when the Lord blessed us!

Their envy motivated the Philistines to destroy the wells that Isaac had been using, the wells that Abraham had dug years earlier. And, the king asked Isaac to leave. When Isaac moved further away, and dug up the wells that Abraham had used, which the Philistines had filled in, the Philistines claimed the water for their own. It reminds me what happened to the Jewish people in the Land of Israel over the past 120 years. Many Jewish people remained in the Land over the centuries, and when more started returning to Israel around 1880, they found many portions of Israel desolate. These pioneers drained the swamps, and reclaimed infertile land, and made it productive, and then the Arabs said, "we want it. It's ours."

So Isaac moved even further away, dug another well, and named it R'chovot, which means "Wide Spaces," for now Isaac had plenty of room to live and prosper. May the good Lord give you and me and Congregation Shema Yisrael R'chovot, plenty of wide spaces to increase His Kingdom!

The Lord appeared to Isaac at Beersheva, and reaffirmed His promises to him.

Along life's journey we too may need reminders and reaffirmations of the truths we've heard before, and the promises we hope for. The Lord might speak to us in that still small voice of His, and remind us that yes, we are one of His beloved sons and daughters, and yes, He is our dear Father, and yes, He accepts us because we've placed our faith in His Eldest Son, the Messiah. Or, as we are reading the word of God, His Spirit will once again strongly impress us with the glorious truths it contains. Or, He might send His affirmations to us through a messenger - a friend, a teacher, who reminds us of His love for us. Maybe He's doing that for you right now!

Isaac's response was to build an altar there, offer korbanot - sacrifices, which unable the offerer to draw nearer to God, and he called on the name of the Lord. That means he prayed and declared who he understood the Lord to be.

He might have declared that Adonai is the Creator, the Mightiest One, the eternal God, who was, who is and who is to come, the Supreme Being, who is the Source of Being, Existence and Reality for all else, who gives life to everything that has life.

Lord, You are self-existent. You never had a beginning. You always existed. Although it is impossible for my limited mind to understand that, I believe that, and I am in awe of You.

Lord, You are a Person. You have mind, emotion and will. You made me a person, and so I can think and reason and know, and feel love and wonder, and make my own decisions, and exercise my will, and have a wonderful personal relationship with You.

Lord, You are eternal. I need not die forever. I can live eternally with You and those You love and approve of. My life can have eternal significance.

Lord, You are infinite. There are no limits to your greatness. You are greater than the universe, and everything in it. You will always be infinitely above and beyond us. There will always be an infinite gap between You, the Creator and us, Your creatures, and so You will always be worthy of our admiration and praise. There will always be more to learn about You. We will have the exciting and eternal challenge of growing in our knowledge about You.

Lord, You are omnipresent. You are present everywhere. There is no place I can go where You are not. There is no place I can go where Your protective presence isn't there. If I could travel to the end of the known universe, You would be there, and beyond; if I could reduce my size to the smallest subatomic particle, there I would find You. You will always be there for me, there to be my God, there to watch over me.

Lord, You are all-powerful. You control all the forces in Heaven and on Earth. I have confidence that Your good will and your wonderful plan for me and for the universe will triumph over all.

Lord, You are perfect. Your nature is perfect, and can't be improved on. Your work is perfect. Everything that You do is always best. I will always be amazed by Your perfection.

Lord, You are all-knowing and wise. Your understanding is infinite. Because You are all-knowing, You have all the wisdom I will ever need. You can met my thirst for knowledge. I can always come to You for the wisdom I need.

Lord, You are love. It is part of Your very nature to love others, to give them good things, to elevate them, to enter into a loving relationship with them. Lord, You love me, which makes my life so rich, so meaningful, and Lord, I willingly choose to love You!

Lord, You are gracious. You give generously to all, even to those who don't deserve it, like me. So, I say, "thank you" Gracious God.

Lord, You are merciful. You don't always mete out the strict justice that your sinful creatures so often deserve. I can have peace, knowing how fallible I am, how prone I am to sin, to make mistakes, but all the while knowing that there is abundant forgiveness with You.

Lord, You are holy. You are infinitely pure, separate from anything that is evil. You can do no wrong. And yet, You are at work, transforming sinners like myself, Therefore, help me to be holy, as You are holy.

Lord, You are righteous, You will always do what is right. You never do what is wrong, unfair or inappropriate. You can make me righteous. I need not be forever be unrighteous.

Lord, You are good. You are kind, benevolent, friendly and full of good will toward human beings. You are tenderhearted, sympathetic towards Your creatures. You are inclined to bestow blessedness to us and give happiness to us. You takes pleasure in the happiness of His people. I can expect good things from You, and I can trust You to turn the apparent bad things into ultimate good things.

Lord, You are immutable. You will never change. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. You were always good, righteous, fair, faithful and true, gracious and merciful, and I can rely on You always be good, righteous, fair, faithful and true, gracious and merciful.

While he was in Beersheva, the Philistines came to Issac, and made a treaty with him - a covenant of friendship. The treaty was confirmed and established by an oath. Meanwhile, Isaac's servants dug a well, and found water. It could have been a well that Abraham had dug, a well that the Philistines had filled up, or it could have been an entirely new well. Regardless, Isaac called it Sheva, emphasizing the sh'voo-ah - the oath, that had taken place there.

Chapter 26 concludes with Isaac's son Esav. As we have seen, he was not very concerned about God. He sold his birthright - the right to be in the place of prominence among his brothers, the right to have a double portion of the family's inheritance and the right to be the spiritual leader of the family, all for a bowl of red-lentil stew. Esav was more concerned with getting good things in this world right now, then waiting for better things later. He was more concerned about getting temporary material things in this world than waiting for eternal rewards in the World-To-Come.

This attitude characterized Esav's choice of wives. He didn't make good choices. He married two women from the land, two Hittite women, who most likely weren't true believers in the God of Abraham. These two women brought grief to godly Isaac and Rebekah.

Young man, young woman, choose your mate wisely. Choose well. Choose a mate who will be pleasing to godly parents. Choose a mate who will be pleasing to God, be faithful to you, and help you better serve God throughout life, and accomplish the things that God is calling you to do.