Genesis 26:1-35

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 26:1-5

Here, I. God tried Isaac by his providence. Isaac had been trained up in a believing dependence upon the divine grant of the land of Canaan to him and his heirs; yet now there is a famine in the land, Gen. 26:1. What shall he think of the promise when the promised land will not find him bread? Isa. such a grant worth accepting, upon such terms, and after so long a time? Yes, Isaac will still cleave to the covenant; and the less valuable Canaan in itself seems to be the better he is taught to... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 26:6-11

Isaac had now laid aside all thoughts of going to Egypt, and, in obedience to the heavenly vision, sets up his staff in Gerar, the country in which he was born (Gen. 26:6), yet there he enters into temptation, the same temptation that his good father had been once and again surprised and overcome by, namely, to deny his wife, and to give out that she was his sister. Observe, I. How he sinned, Gen. 26:7. Because his wife was handsome, he fancied the Philistines would find some way or other to... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 26:12-25

Here we have, I. The tokens of God's good-will to Isaac. He blessed him, and prospered him, and made all that he had to thrive under his hands. 1. His corn multiplied strangely, Gen. 26:12. He had no land of his own, but took land of the Philistines, and sowed it; and (be it observed for the encouragement of poor tenants, that occupy other people's lands, and are honest and industrious) God blessed him with a great increase. He reaped a hundred fold; and there seems to be an emphasis laid upon... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 26:26-33

We have here the contests that had been between Isaac and the Philistines issuing in a happy peace and reconciliation. I. Abimelech pays a friendly visit to Isaac, in token of the respect he had for him, Gen. 26:26. Note, When a man's ways please the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him, Prov. 16:7. Kings? hearts are in his hands, and when he pleases he can turn them to favour his people. II. Isaac prudently and cautiously questions his sincerity in this visit, Gen. 26:27.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 26:34-35

Here is, 1. Esau's foolish marriage?foolish, some think, in marrying two wives together, for which perhaps he is called a fornicator (Heb. 12:16), or rather in marrying Canaanites, who were strangers to the blessing of Abraham, and subject to the curse of Noah, for which he is called profane; for hereby he intimated that he neither desired the blessing nor dreaded the curse of God. 2. The grief and trouble it created to his tender parents. (1.) It grieved them that he married without asking,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 26:1

And there was a famine in the land ,.... In the land of Canaan, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it: besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham ; of which see Genesis 12:10 ; which was an hundred years before this: and Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar ; where his father Abraham had sojourned before he was born; and therefore the present king of this place can scarce be thought to be the same Abimelech that was king of it in Abraham's... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 26:2

And the Lord appeared unto him ,.... In a vision or dream, when he was at Gerar: and said, go not down into Egypt ; as his father had done in the like case, and where Isaac thought to have gone, and the rather, as that was a fruitful country; and so the Targum of Jonathan,"and it was in the heart of Isaac to go down into Egypt, and the Lord appeared unto him, &c.;'and charged him not to go thither; partly to try his faith in him, and dependence on his providence for support in this... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 26:3

Sojourn in this land ,.... The land of Canaan, where he now was; either in Gerar, which though in the land of the Philistines was a part of Canaan, the place of his present residence; or in any other part of it he should be directed to: however, by this it appears it was the pleasure of God that he should not go out of that land, and which Abraham his father was careful of, that he should not while he lived; see Genesis 24:6 , and I will be with thee, and I will bless thee ; with his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 26:4

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven ,.... Meaning in the line of Jacob especially, if not only; from whom sprung twelve patriarchs, the heads of so many tribes, which in process of time became very numerous, even as the stars of heaven: and I will give unto thy seed all these countries ; which is repeated from Genesis 26:3 for the greater confirmation of it: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ; meaning in the Messiah that should... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 26:5

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice ,.... In all things, and particularly in offering up his son at his command: and kept my charge ; whatever was given him in charge to observe; this, as Aben Ezra thinks, is the general, of which the particulars follow: my commandments, my statutes, and my laws ; whether moral, ceremonial, or civil and judicial; all and everyone which God enjoined him, he was careful to observe. Here seems to be something wanting, for the words are not to be joined... read more

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