Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Genesis 26:1
CHAPTER XXVI
A famine in the land obliges Isaac to leave Beer-sheba and
go to Gerar, 1.
God appears to him, and warns him not to go to Egypt, 2.
Renews the promises to him which he had made to his father
Abraham, 3-5.
Isaac dwells at Gerar, 6.
Being questioned concerning Rebekah, and fearing to lose his
life on her account, he calls her his sister, 7.
Abimelech the king discovers, by certain familiarities which he
had noticed between Isaac and Rebekah, that she was his wife, 8.
Calls Isaac and reproaches him for his insincerity, 9, 10.
He gives a strict command to all his people not to molest either
Isaac or his wife, 11.
Isaac applies himself to husbandry and breeding of cattle, and
has a great increase, 12-14.
Is envied by the Philistines, who stop up the wells he had
digged, 15.
Is desired by Abimelech to remove, 16.
He obeys, and fixes his tent in the valley of Gerar, 17.
Opens the wells dug in the days of Abraham, which the Philistines
had stopped up, 18.
Digs the well, Ezek. 19, 20;
and the well Sitnah, 21;
and the well Rehoboth, 22.
Returns to Beer-sheba, 23.
God appears to him, and renews his promises, 24.
He builds an altar there, pitches his tent, and digs a well, 25.
Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phichol, visit him, 26.
Isaac accuses them of unkindness, 27.
They beg him to make a covenant with them, 28, 29.
He makes them a feast, and they bind themselves to each other
by an oath, 30, 31.
The well dug by Isaac's servants (ver. 25) called Shebah, 33.
Esau, at forty years of age, marries two wives of the Hittites, 34,
at which Isaac and Rebekah are grieved, 35.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVI
Verse Genesis 26:1. There was a famine] When this happened we cannot tell; it appears to have been after the death of Abraham. Concerning the first famine, see Genesis 12:10.
Abimelech] As we know not the time when the famine happened, so we cannot tell whether this was the same Abimelech, Phichol, c., which are mentioned Genesis 20:1, c., or the sons or other descendants of these persons.