Genesis 26:1-2 NIV

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

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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, etc., which are mentioned Genesis 20:1 , Genesis 20:2 , etc., or the sons or other descendants of these persons. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:2

Go not down into Egypt - As Abraham had taken refuge in that country, it is probable that Isaac was preparing to go thither also; and God, foreseeing that he would there meet with trials, etc., which might prove fatal to his peace or to his piety, warns him not to fulfill his intention. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:1

Verse 1 1.And there was a famine. Moses relates that Isaac was tried by nearly the same kind of temptation as that through which his father Abraham had twice passed. I have before explained how severe and violent was this assault. The condition in which it was the will of God to place his servants, as strangers and pilgrims in the land which he had promised to give them, seemed sufficiently troublesome and hard; but it appears still more intolerable, that he scarcely suffered them to exist (if... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:2

Verse 2 2.And the Lord appeared unto him. I do not doubt but a reason is here given why Isaac rather went to the country of Gerar than to Egypt, which perhaps would have been more convenient for him; but Moses teaches that he was withheld by a heavenly oracle, so that a free choice was not left him. It may here be asked, why does the Lord prohibit Isaac from going to Egypt, whither he had suffered his father to go? Although Moses does not give the reason, yet we may be allowed to conjecture... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 26:1

And there was a famine in the land (of Canaan), beside the first ( i . e . first recorded) famine that was in the days of Abraham —at least a century previous ( vide Genesis 12:10 ). And Isaac —who, since his father's death, had been residing at Hagar's well in the wilderness of Beersheba ( Genesis 25:11 )— went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar (cf. Genesis 20:1 , Genesis 20:2 ; Genesis 21:22 ). Seventy or eighty years having elapsed since... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 26:1-6

A good man's perplexity. I. THE CONTEMPLATED JOURNEY . 1. Its projected destinations . Egypt. Renowned for fertility, the land of the Pharaohs was yet no proper resort for the son of Abraham, the heir of Canaan, and the friend of God. It was outside the land of promise; it had been to Abraham a scene of peril, and it was not a place to which he was directed to turn. Considerations such as these should have operated to deter Isaac from even entertaining the idea of a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 26:1-35

Line upon line, in God's teaching. Isaac, like his father, has his time of sojourn among the Philistines. The events of his intercourse with the Abimelech of his day resemble those of the former patriarch, though there are differences which show that the recurrence is historical . I. GOD REPEATS HIS LESSONS that they may make the deeper impression. The intention of the record is to preserve a certain line of Divine guidance . Isaac trod in the footsteps of Abraham. We have... read more

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

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

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:1

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:2

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:1

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 26:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 26:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 26:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 26:1-35

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