PART THIRTY-SIX RECAPITULATION: SURVEY OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE From _A Class-Book of Old Testament History,_ pp. 73-76 by G. F. Maclear, D.D. Published by Macmillan, London, 1881, now long out of print. With the death of Joseph the Patriachal Age of Israel's history may be said to close. The _Fami... [ Continue Reading ]
PART THIRTY-EIGHT THE STORY OF ISAAC: HIS SOJOURN IN PHILISTIA (Genesis 26:1-34) The Biblical Record 1 And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham, And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. 2 And Jehovah appeared unto him, a... [ Continue Reading ]
4. _The Threat to Rebekah's Honor_ (Genesis 26:6-11). Because Gerar was situated in the Judean foothills south of Gaza and likely controlled the inland caravan route to Egypt, no doubt it was a commercial city. Therefore Isaac's needs during the famine were here supplied. The men of the place were a... [ Continue Reading ]
5. _Isaac's Successful Venture into Agriculture_ (Genesis 26:12-17). Besides planting trees, Abraham was to the end of his life a nomad, Isaac, however, begins to pursue agriculture along with his nomadic life: this venture causes commentators to classify him as a kind of semi-nomad, (The only other... [ Continue Reading ]
6. _The Contention over Wells_ (Genesis 26:18-22). The whole of the southern frontier of Palestine, called the Negeb or -south country,-' consisting of vast undulating plains, which extend between the hills of Judah and the desert of Sinai, were neutral grounds, on the natural pastures of which the... [ Continue Reading ]
_7. The Theophany at Beersbeba_ (Genesis 26:23-25). We now read that Isaac went up from Gerar to Beersheba. (Though Beersheba is said to lie lower than Gerar, yet the general expression for approaching any part of Palestine from the southwest is to -go up,-' EG, 729). Here Yahweh appears again to Is... [ Continue Reading ]
8. _The Covenant with Abimelech_ (Genesis 26:26-33). As Abimelech was the standing title of the Philistine kings, so Phicol seems to have been the standing title of the captain (or general) of the army. (Cf. Genesis 21:22 f.) As there was a lapse of seventy years between the visit of Abraham and of... [ Continue Reading ]
10. _Esau's Hittite Wives_ (Genesis 26:34-35). At the age of forty, Esau took as wives two young women of Hittite stock who no doubt were well contaminated with prevailing Canaanite vices. According to Rashi, Esau had been living a dissolute life until then, but now he hypocritically said he would f... [ Continue Reading ]