Genesis 25

ISAAC AND ABIMELECH, Genesis 25:1-33.

This is the only chapter in the history of Isaac which is devoted entirely to incidents in the life of that patriarch, the rest being largely intermixed with the history of his father or his sons. And yet it is a repetition of events remarkably similar to those of one passage in the life of Abraham. Comp. Genesis 20:0; Genesis 21:22-34. So striking are the analogies between these two accounts that rationalistic critics have not hesitated to pronounce them different forms of one and the same story. But we must observe that there are as many points of dissimilarity as of agreement; and in making prominent the fact that Isaac’s life was so largely a repetition of Abraham’s, the sacred writer doubtless had a purpose. How much of human life and history is ever repeating itself! And how slow are many of the best of men to improve by the errors of their fathers or predecessors! To show this is an important part of the purpose of this chapter.

The points of agreement with portions of Abraham’s life are as follows: 1) A famine causes Isaac’s moving. Comp. Genesis 12:10. Genesis 12:2) He had some thought of going down into Egypt . Genesis 25:2 compared with Genesis 12:10. Genesis 12:3) The dwelling in Gerar . 4) The names Abimelech and Phicol . 5) Denial of his wife . 6) Reproof by Abimelech . 7) Desire of Abimelech to make a covenant . 8) Strife between herdsmen . 9) Oath at Beer-sheba . 10) Calling on the name of the Lord .

The points of disagreement are as follows: 1) The famine in Isaac’s case is carefully distinguished from that in the days of Abraham. 2) He is prohibited from going into Egypt. 3) Rebekah was not taken into Abimelech’s house as was Sarah. 4) Isaac’s deceit was discovered, not by a judgment of God, but by accident. 5) Abraham was allowed free use of the land; Isaac was requested to leave. 6) Abraham’s difficulty was about the well of Beer-sheba; Isaac was driven from many wells before he withdrew to Beer-sheba. 7) Isaac’s servants discover water at Beer-sheba, and the name is renewed after the oath between him and Abimelech, and after the latter had departed. 8) Abraham made a covenant with seven lambs; Isaac made a feast. 9) Ahuzzah, the friend of Abimelech, is an additional personage in the affair with Isaac; in chap. 20 God appears in a dream to Abimelech, but no special revelations were made to Abraham.

A careful scrutiny of these points of agreement and difference will show that the events narrated were two very different affairs… Isaac’s life, while having so many experiences like his father’s, was not a mere echo of the life of Abraham. It had an individuality peculiarly its own, from his being quiet and passive where Abraham was active and bold.