How does Isaac find room to settle after the people of Gerara dispute his wells?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Isaac moves on and digs again until he reaches a well that no one disputes. He then settles at Bersabee, where the Lord renews his promise and Abimelech asks for a sworn agreement against harm.

Chapter breakdown

A famine follows the earlier shortage in Abraham’s days. Isaac goes to Gerara, to Abimelech, king of the Palestines. The Lord appears and tells Isaac not to go down to Egypt but to stay in the land he will show him. He promises to be with Isaac and bless him, giving him and his descendants all these countries to fulfil the oath sworn to Abraham, his father. His descendants will multiply like the stars of heaven, receive these countries, and bring blessing to all the nations of the earth. The Lord gives the reason: Abraham obeyed his voice and kept his precepts, commandments, ceremonies and laws. Isaac stays in Gerara.

When the local men ask about Rebecca, Isaac says she is his sister. He is afraid to call her his wife because he thinks they might kill him for her beauty. After many days, Abimelech looks through a window and sees Isaac playing with Rebecca, his wife. He calls Isaac and says she is clearly his wife, asking why he pretended she was his sister. Isaac replies that he feared dying because of her. Abimelech asks why Isaac deceived them: someone might have lain with his wife, bringing a great sin upon them. He commands all the people that anyone who touches this man’s wife will be put to death.

Isaac sows in that land and receives a hundredfold yield that same year. The Lord blesses him, and he becomes richer and continues to prosper until he is very great. He has sheep, herds and a very large household. The Palestines envy him and fill with earth all the wells that Abraham’s servants had dug. Abimelech tells Isaac to leave because he has become much mightier than they are.

Isaac leaves and settles at the torrent of Gerara. Challoner’s note explains a torrent here as a channel where a violent stream has sometimes run. Isaac reopens other wells dug by Abraham’s servants and stopped by the Philistines after Abraham’s death. He gives them the same names his father had used. Digging in the channel, they find living water, but Gerara’s herdsmen dispute with Isaac’s herdsmen and claim the water. Isaac calls the well Calumny because of the dispute. They dig another well, quarrel over it too, and he calls it Enmity. He moves on and digs a well that no one disputes, calling it Latitude. Challoner explains that name as wideness or room. Isaac says that the Lord has now given them room and made them increase on the earth.

Isaac goes up to Bersabee. That same night the Lord appears, identifying himself as the God of Isaac’s father Abraham. He tells Isaac not to fear because he is with him, and promises to bless him and multiply his descendants for the sake of his servant Abraham. Isaac builds an altar, calls upon the Lord’s name, pitches his tent and tells his servants to dig a well.

Abimelech comes from Gerara with his friend Ochozath and Phicol, chief captain of his soldiers. Isaac asks why they have come to a man they hate and have driven out. They reply that they have seen the Lord is with him and want an oath and covenant between them. They ask him to do them no harm, saying that they have touched none of his property, done nothing to hurt him and sent him away in peace, increased by the Lord’s blessing. These are their stated claims in reply to Isaac’s complaint. Isaac makes them a feast. After eating and drinking, they rise in the morning and swear to one another. Isaac sends them home peacefully.

That same day Isaac’s servants report finding water in the well they have dug. Isaac names it Abundance, and the account says the city is called Bersabee even to the time of its telling. At forty, Esau marries Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon of the same place. Both women offend the minds of Isaac and Rebecca. The chapter does not state what they do to cause that distress.

The story inside

The well disputes form a sequence with different outcomes. The Palestines first fill Abraham’s wells with earth. Isaac reopens wells after leaving Gerara, but newly found water is disputed at Calumny and Enmity. He moves again, reaches an undisputed well, and credits the Lord with giving room. At Bersabee, God renews his promise, and the people who sent Isaac away seek an agreement because they see the Lord is with him. Isaac questions their treatment of him before making the feast and swearing the oath. The finding of water follows on the same day as their peaceful departure. The final notice about Esau’s marriages concerns a separate source of trouble within the family; it gives no explanation for the wives’ conduct.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Isaac’s fear about Rebecca is his stated fear, not proof that someone planned to kill him. Abimelech discovers the marriage, identifies the possible sin caused by the deception, and orders protection for Rebecca. Keeping those steps clear preserves both Isaac’s action and the king’s response.
2
The well names mark actual events. Calumny follows a claim that the water belongs to Gerara’s herdsmen, Enmity follows another quarrel, and Latitude follows the absence of a dispute. Isaac’s words at Latitude explain his gratitude for room; the account does not describe military battles or a hidden strategy.
3
The agreement comes after Isaac asks why those who drove him out now visit him. They explain that they see God is with him and ask for an oath against harm. A feast, mutual oath and peaceful departure complete the agreement. Their account of having done him no harm remains their reply, rather than erasing Isaac’s complaint.

Test your recall

How do the well disputes lead to Isaac’s statement that the Lord has given him room?

Show answer

Water is disputed at the well he calls Calumny and again at Enmity. He moves on and digs a well no one disputes, names it Latitude and thanks the Lord for room and increase. Later, at Bersabee, Abimelech seeks an oath because he sees the Lord is with Isaac.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 2800–2823
Genesis Chapter 26 Isaac sojourneth in Gerara, where God reneweth to him the promise made to Abraham. King Abimelech maketh league with him. 26:1. And when a famine came in the land, after that barrenness which had happened in the days of Abraham, Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Palestines, to Gerara. 26:2. And the Lord appeared to him, and said: Go not down into Egypt, but stay in the land that I shall tell thee. 26:3. And sojourn in it, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee: for to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries, to fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham thy father. 26:4. And I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 26:5. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts and commandments, and observed my ceremonies and laws. 26:6. So Isaac abode in Gerara.
Lines 2824–2843
26:7. And when he was asked by the men of that place, concerning his wife, he answered: She is my sister: for he was afraid to confess that she was his wife, thinking lest perhaps they would kill him because of her beauty. 26:8. And when very many days were passed, and he abode there, Abimelech, king of the Palestines, looking out through a window, saw him playing with Rebecca, his wife. 26:9. And calling for him, he said: It is evident she is thy wife: why didst thou feign her to be thy sister? He answered: I feared lest I should die for her sake. 26:10. And Abimelech said: Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the people might have lain with thy wife, and thou hadst brought upon us a great sin. And he commanded all the people, saying: 26:11. He that shall touch this man’s wife, shall surely be put to death.
Lines 2844–2858
26:12. And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found that same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. 26:13. And the man was enriched, and he went on prospering and increasing, till he became exceeding great. 26:14. And he had possessions of sheep and of herds, and a very great family. Wherefore the Palestines envying him, 26:15. Stopped up at that time all the wells, that the servants of his father, Abraham, had digged, filling them up with earth: 26:16. Insomuch that Abimelech himself said to Isaac: Depart from us, for thou art become much mightier than we.
Lines 2859–2885
26:17. So he departed, and came to the torrent of Gerara, to dwell there: 26:18. And he digged again other wells, which the servants of his father, Abraham, had digged, and which, after his death, the Philistines had of old stopped up: and he called them by the same names, by which his father before had called them. 26:19. And they digged in the torrent, and found living water: Torrent.... That is, a channel where sometimes a torrent or violent stream had run. 26:20. But there also the herdsmen of Gerara strove against the herdsmen of Isaac, saying: It is our water. Wherefore he called the name of the well, on occasion of that which had happened, Calumny. 26:21. And they digged also another; and for that they quarrelled likewise, and he called the name of it, Enmity. 26:22. Going forward from thence, he digged another well, for which they contended not; therefore he called the name thereof, Latitude, saying: Now hath the Lord given us room, and made us to increase upon the earth. Latitude.... That is, wideness, or room.
Lines 2886–2894
26:23. And he went up from that place to Bersabee, 26:24. Where the Lord appeared to him that same night, saying: I am the God of Abraham thy father, do not fear, for I am with thee: I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. 26:25. And he built there an altar: and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent; and commanded his servants to dig a well.
Lines 2895–2913
26:26. To which place when Abimelech, and Ochozath his friend, and Phicol chief captain of his soldiers, came from Gerara, 26:27. Isaac said to them: Why are ye come to me, a man whom you hate, and have thrust out from you? 26:28. And they answered: We saw that the Lord is with thee, and therefore we said: Let there be an oath between us, and let us make a covenant, 26:29. That thou do us no harm, as we on our part have touched nothing of thine, nor have done any thing to hurt thee; but with peace have sent thee away, increased with the blessing of the Lord. 26:30. And he made them a feast, and after they had eaten and drunk: 26:31. Arising in the morning, they swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away peaceably to their own home.
Lines 2914–2927
26:32. And behold, the same day the servants of Isaac came, telling him of a well which they had digged, and saying: We have found water. 26:33. Whereupon he called it Abundance: and the name of the city was called Bersabee, even to this day. 26:34. And Esau being forty years old, married wives, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon, of the same place. 26:35. And they both offended the mind of Isaac and Rebecca.