Read the Selected Scriptures from Gen. 25-26

·       25:22: A child in the womb is already developing into the child who will be born.  It may be unusual to see such a thing as with Jacob and Esau, but it is normal.  What is in the womb is alive!  I’m not being political but Biblical.

·       25:34: The thing is, the birthright really was not Esau’s to sell.  It was Isaac’s to recognize and honor. 

·       26:2: Unlike Christ (Mt. 2:15) Isaac was not called out of Egypt.

·       26:1-5: This is not Isaac’s inheritance.  It is God’s promise to Abraham fulfilled and made to Isaac.  At this point, Abraham had not “received the promise” (as Hebrews puts it) and God had told him there would be a 400 year wait.  Now, what was promised to Abraham was promised to Isaac, and it is the same situation: Isaac died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb. 11:13-16).

·       26:13-22: And the Philistines envied him.  This was the Philistine problem, and is the Palestinian problem, the world problem.  God blesses His people, even in the “times of the Gentiles” which we are still in, and people become jealous.  Others want the land that Israel, with God’s help, have made abundantly productive.  Others want to take it from them.  Israel’s neighbors, and especially Edom, wanted to take the land when they were evicted for 70 years by the Babylonians.  When they returned, there were people who wanted to keep them from rebuilding.  It’s all envy.  In Scripture, OT and NT alike, envy is the chief instigator of strife.

·       26:22-25: The LORD promised to bless the Patriarchs wherever they went.  Isaac lives out of that promise.  He recognizes that it was the LORD who made “room for us” in the Philistine area.  Now, moving back to Beersheba, God reminds him that He will bless him there also.  Unconditional promises like the Abrahamic Covenant, and the New Covenant promises under which we live, are like that: they do not have geographical limitations.

·       26:26-33: Earlier in the passage Abimelech had lied about the wells.  But now that Isaac had moved away, and Abimelech had an opportunity to see things properly, and that Isaac still had water despite the Philistines taking wells from him, the king wants to make a treaty.  Isaac makes the treaty.  Not because he depends on Abimelech but because he depends on God.  He knows God will keep His promise and the Philistines cannot do anything about it.

·       26:34-35: Esau took wives from the Canaanites.  It was his doing.  He did not seek the counsel of Isaac and thus, did not have his father’s blessing.  This is a big deal in the context of the covenant God has made with Abraham and now Isaac.