When the men of that
place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was
afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill
me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
Bob Deffinbaugh (http://bible.org) tells
us critics have tended to view Genesis 26 as a rerun, and not a very good
one at that. They, of course, are right in recognizing the similarities between
Isaac’s experiences in this chapter and those in the life of Abraham in the
previous chapters. However, they misinterpret the similarities in such a way as
to suggest that they do little, if anything, to benefit us. Indeed, they even
question the historicity of these events in the life of Isaac. So, let’s deal
with the doubters…
§ What
are the odds that we have three different men named Abimelech אֲבִימֶלֶךְ? Well, the name means “My
Father is King” so Abimelech most likely means “Prince”. There would
be one of these for every king who had a son.
§ What
are the odds that both men would do the same thing in passing their wives off
as their sisters? Deuteronomy 5:9, 10 says “I the LORD thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of them that hate me”.
Certainly neither Abraham nor Isaac hated God but we can easily understand that
the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree. The habits and values modeled by
Abraham were likely assimilated into the life of Isaac.
Doubters are rarely
satisfied, but this story about Isaac is reasonably true.
It would appear that
neither Abraham nor Isaac recognized the gravity of their sin or fully repented
of it. This is likely the most important lesson we can take from this triple
disaster. If we are unwilling to face our sins honestly…name them and repent of
them…we face the distinct probability that it’s just a matter of time before
they rear their ugly heads again.
After all, we succumb to
sin because of its perceived benefit. That’s what makes it so addicting. If it
appears that my lie will accrue benefit I will always be tempted to lie…unless I
repent and recognize the benefits of sin are never really benefits.
Live boldly out there
today…
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