Mar 6

Genesis 26:1-11
Memorise Ezekiel 16:44
“As is the mother (father), so is her daughter (son)”

Just like how it was when Abraham first came into Canaan (Genesis 26:1, ref 12:10), there was now a famine in the land again. God appeared to Isaac to warn him not to go down to Egypt, but to remain in the land of promise. Along with the warning, God also reaffirmed his covenant with him, assuring him that if he would remain in the land and obey His word, God would bless him and his seed, and accord to him the same promises that He had given to Abraham (Genesis 26:2-5). As a result, Isaac decided to move his family to the city of Gerar in hope of finding a place where his family would be well provided for. This is the same place that Abraham had come to in Genesis 20, where he lied to king Abimelech and was publicly rebuked for his actions.

Sadly, when Isaac came to Gerar, he made the exact same mistake as his father, and convinced his wife Rebekah to lie and tell everyone that she was his sister. He did so because he feared that the men of the place would kill him for Rebekah (Genesis 26:7). In so doing, he failed to trust in God, despite the fact that God had just assured him that he would certainly be blessed and have seed as many as the stars of heaven! He had so quickly forgotten God’s call for him to obey His voice and keep His commandments as Abraham did (Genesis 26:5). Instead, he repeated the same sin as his father in lying about his wife, and would now have to face the consequences.

His deception was soon found out, as the king saw Isaac “sporting with Rebekah” – a euphemistic term to describe the physical intimacy of husband and wife. He thus summoned him and strongly rebuked him for his lie. Instead of bearing a godly witness to this heathen king, he was now being told off for a sin that he committed! What a shameful witness he was, and what a stumbling block he had become. Yet we realise that this whole incident bore an uncanny resemblance to what Abraham had done in two separate occasions in the past, in lying about his wife Sarah to Pharoah in Egypt (Genesis 12), and to king Abimelech in Gerar (Genesis 20). In doing what he did, Isaac was just repeating the same sin as his father, probably just mimicking his errant ways. He failed to learn from his father’s mistakes, but just blindly followed in his sin.

Thought: Do we learn from the mistakes of others?
Prayer: Lord, may You help me to always be sensitive to sin.