Stay In This Land

Nov 13, 2023

Genesis 25:19-26:35

QUES

STAY IN THIS LAND”

Genesis25:19-26:35, Key Verse 26:3

Part I: Stay in this land, and I will bless you (25:19-26:11)

1. Read 25:19-23. What was the problem in Isaac's family? What did Isaac do about it? When and how did God answer Isaac's prayers?

2. When another famine arose in the land, where did Isaac go? Where did he evidently plan to go? Read verses 2 through 5. What is this passage about? 

3. Read verse 6. How did Isaac respond to God's command? What does this passage tell us about obedience?

4. Read verses 7-11. When he stayed in the promised land, what and why did he make a foolish mistake? How was this problem solved? Read verses 12-13. How did God bless Isaac? 

Part II: Isaac’s well-digging life (26:14-35)

5. Read verses 14-16. What problem arose between Isaac and people in Gerar? 

6. Read verses 17-22. Describe his well-digging life. Think about the way of bearing God's blessings. How could he give in continually? What do you learn from his well-digging life?

7. Read verses 23-25. Why did God appear to Isaac at night? What did Isaac do?

8. Read verses 26-33 and describe Isaac's final victory over Abimelech in the land.

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Stay In This Land

Nov 13, 2023

Genesis 25:19-26:35

MSG

STAY IN THIS LAND”

Genesis 25:1-26:35, Key Verse 26:3

Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.”

“Happy Father’s Day!” Chapter 25 shows the transition of God’s blessing from Father Abraham to Son Isaac. Abraham enjoyed God’s blessing fully and handed it down to his son. Then at the age of 175, Abraham died and was buried in the cave of Machphelah. Verse 11 says that “After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.” Abraham’s mission was over, but God’s mission was not over until God’s salvation plan would be fulfilled. Now, right after Abraham’s death, the Bible focuses on Isaac. He was not a perfect man. He has many weaknesses. How did God make him a spiritual father to the next generation? How did God bless him?

Part I: Stay In This Land, And I Will Bless You (26:1-13)

Look at verse 1 in chapter 26. “Now there was a famine in the land-besides the earlier famine of Abraham’s time-and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar.” We don’t have famines now, but in modern terms, it means “lack of job opportunities,” and as a result, suffering from financial difficulties. Isaac’s family was established by God and for God. We expect that everything would go very smooth with this family, and that they should be blessed. But instead, they were challenged even from the beginning of their marriage, and on top of 20 years without having any children, they had the famine to deal with. We are shocked. Why did God do so? Maybe, that was the expression of his love and blessing for them. God does not want his children to be like pet dogs, or flowers in the green house. 

Rather, God wants them to be powerful eagles that glide over the strong wind in the sky or lions that roar to shake the ground, even though they may be a little hungry. Through these trainings, God’s people are building up their godly and strong characters. When Abraham started his life of faith, God trained him through the famine also. It is interesting to notice that God trained both Abraham and Isaac through this financial difficulty. Psychologist Abraham Maslow placed the need for food, shelter, and a job in the basic necessity category of his hierarchy of needs. It is easy to say, “I believe in God,” but it is not easy to trust in God in the practical life like financial difficulties. It requires true faith in God. 

When the famine attacked the land, Isaac came to Gerar, modern day, Gaza Strip, the gateway to Egypt. Like his father before him, Isaac calculated that going to Egypt was the best way to secure his life in such a difficult situation. He was going to leave the promised land because of practical difficulty. But God intervened into the situation. Look at verse 3. “Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham." God gave him a clear direction to stay in the Promised Land instead of going down to Egypt.

God promised that if he stayed in the Promised Land, God would bless him and fulfill all God’s covenant blessings. This was the first time God mentioned his covenant blessing to Isaac. It means that now God was going to establish the covenant relationship with him. Growing up in Abraham’s family did not mean that Isaac was God’s covenant person automatically. Then how was he going to be God’s covenant person? It was by establishing a personal contract relationship with God. God is a personal God who establishes a personal relationship with each of his people one by one. Every contract you sign always has much tiny fine print and sneaky conditions. But what about God’s contract with Isaac what were the terms? God said to him, “Stay in this land, and I will bless you.” 

God did not require of Isaac anything, but just stay in the Promised Land. In Isaac’s life as he tried to stay in the land, there might be many ups and downs, many challenges and difficulties, maybe, even great temptations, but ultimately, the condition of this contract was whether Isaac stayed in the promised land or not. God would not care how many understandable reasons not to stay he came up with; God would not even ask whether Isaac was a spiritual giant in the land or not. But this one single thing: Did you stay in the Promised Land according to our contract? When Isaac later stands before God, this question would be asked, “Did you stay?” If Isaac stayed, then the deal would be sealed. 

To Abraham, God commanded him to leave his country and go to the promised land. Now, to Isaac God commanded him to stay. It was not easy for Abraham to give up his career, cut off his friends and family ties, but if he wanted to be blessed by God, he must leave. It was not easy for Isaac to stay in the promised land because of financial difficulties. Simply, he could not get a job to pay the rent and support his family. But if he wanted to be blessed by God, he must stay in the promised land embracing and overcoming all losses and difficulties involved. Isaac was calculating because living in the promised land was tough. He was shaky. At that time, God said to him, “Stay in this land, and I will bless you.” God wanted Isaac to make his determination to stay in the place where God called him to be by faith, instead of living according to the ever changing situation. God challenged Isaac to trust in God, instead of seeing the difficult situation. 

What was Isaac’s response? Verse 6 reads: “So Isaac stayed in Gerar.” Isaac was a great man of God, following his father’s footsteps of faith and obedience. It was a very difficult situation, but Isaac made his heart’s decision very clear to obey God and stay in Gerar. When he checked out the reality, he was scared, but still, he was determined to incur whatever loss was involved in order to obey God and live as an heir to the blessed covenant. Sometimes, he wondered how he would possibly support his family without any income. The money was running low and stomachs were growling. He would go to the ATM to get money out for groceries, but it would only spit his check card back at him and flash “Insufficient funds” across the screen. Many times, he received a letter from his landlord to pay the rent immediately, or evacuate the premise. How scared he must have been as he lived in Gerar! But that was not all he had to bear. 

Look at verses 7-8. From time to time, his neighbors asked him about his wife. He was scared to death. He thought that they would kill him to take his wife. So he told them that Rebekah was his sister. It was really horrible to be surrounded by hostile unbelievers whom he could not trust. It was a real challenge to live in poverty and in fear at the same time. It was a constant struggle every day to keep his faith in such adverse circumstances. The expression in verse 8, “When Isaac had been there a long time,” indicates that Isaac had lived this kind of insecure life for a long time. Many people want to live as God’s servants and be blessed by God. But because they are not willing to bear losses and sufferings involved, they give up and run away. But Isaac obeyed God, and endured despite all these difficulties. He struggled hard to believe God’s promises of blessings. Isaac really lived by faith in God alone, and fought the spiritual battle of keeping his faith to the end. When Isaac was wholehearted to obey God like this, God also protected his life through the king Abimelech’s order. 

Then, finally, the time of God’s blessing came. Look at verses 12-13. “Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.” After Isaac had been well trained by God and had endured practical sufferings to the end, finally he was ready to receive God’s blessing. In the land where there was famine, Isaac reaped a hundredfold. This means that while others might have received $30,000 for their yearly salary, Isaac earned $3,000,000. This was just the beginning. 

God poured out blessing after blessing until Isaac became very wealthy. Maybe, he became a billionaire. This is God’s way of making his people rich. This is the heavenly mathematics. People who do not have faith in God run after $50,000 yearly salary job while rejecting God’s will upon them. They work hard all the days of their life only to eat three meals sleeping 8 hours a day. But those who have faith in God obey God’s will. They may suffer for a while, but eventually, they are the ones who enjoy prosperity. They enjoy God’s blessing. Let’s pray that by faith in God, we may do heavenly mathematics and be blessed by God abundantly. 

The modern generation is called the generation of non-commitment. People have an allergic reaction to the word, “commitment.” It is because they consider it the loss of their freedom. They are not willing to lose anything, so do not gain anything. This is true even with many church-going people. They just want to enjoy good things of this church or that church. But when they have to make true commitment, when they have to sacrifice, they calculate, and run away. As a result, they are like single seeds that are never planted, but roll here and there on the ground. They never bear any good fruit. God commands us, “Do not go down to Egypt. Stay in this land, and I will bless you.” God does not want us to live according to the situation, but according to his words. God does not want us to live by our calculation, but by faith in him. God wants us to trust in him, because he is going to bless us. “Stay in this land, and I will bless you.” Psalm 1:3, 4 says, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.” 

Part II: Isaac’s Well-Digging Life (26:14-35)

Look at verses 14-16. Isaac became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and servants that the Philistines envied him. So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. This cut off the water supply that all his crops and flocks depended on. In addition, Abimelech king of Gerar, told Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.” How did Isaac respond to this persecution and jealousy? Did he become upset and fight? No! Look at verses 17-22. Isaac left without a word and moved to the Valley of Gerar. He didn’t make his home in the city, but rather in the country living in tents like people on a camping trip. But God was with him wherever he went, and blessed him whatever he did. 

Isaac first reopened the wells that his father Abraham had dug, which the Philistines had stopped up, and his servants even dug a newly discovered well of fresh water. But the shepherds there quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen claiming the water as theirs. Wells in those days in the Middle East were very essential for people, animals, and crops; very important assets like modern day oil wells. Isaac could have hired a dream team of lawyers like O.J. Simpson. He could have called up Judge Matthis and gone on The People’s Court and fought for his rights. But how did he respond? He simply gave in. He simply named this well Esek, which means dispute, and moved on. Then they dug another well, but the same thing happened; the Philistines demanded that too. So Isaac, again, gave in. He named this one Sitnah, which means opposition. He moved on a third time and dug another well, which no one quarreled over. He named this well Rehoboth, which means room, saying, “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.” 

When Isaac was treated unjustly, he did not fight for his rights. When he encountered opposition time after time, he humbly gave in without a word. If he fought for his rights, there might be a lot of quarrels. But because he gave in time after time, everything was smooth, and everybody was blessed. How could he do that? How could he give up such valuable assets that were like modern day oil wells or newly launched fortune 100 businesses? He could do that because he believed in God who blesses those who live by faith. Because he believed in the God of blessing, he was not bothered by materialism or by the envy of others. Instead, when he was pushed to the right, there he dug a well, and when he was pushed to the left, there he dug another well. Wherever he moved to, a spring of fresh water would well up, which watered all his household and flocks. He was a blessing to everybody around him, wherever he went. When Isaac obeyed God’s command and stayed in the land despite such difficulties, God poured out his blessing on whatever he did. 

God was pleased with Isaac’s life of faith and obedience. Look at verses 23-25. When Isaac came up to Beersheba, God appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." When we live by faith in God, God blesses us. When we live by faith in God, He encourages us to go on continually, saying, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants.” Blessed are those who hear God’s words of comfort and encouragement like this! Isaac was so thankful that he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug another well. 

One day, Abimelech came to Isaac, with his two of high officials, and said to him in verses 28-29, “We see clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.” Isaac made a feast for them and early the next morning they swore an oath to each other. Through being willing to suffer loss and giving in, Isaac witnessed to godless men that God is a living God and showed himself to be a child of God. He won the victory by giving in time after time. 

Msn Oyer Moses from Sudan in Africa managed to get an ok job as a professor at the University of Khartum, where he was a fellowship leader in his ministry. His good friend managed to get him another job working for the U.N. which would have paid much more money and would take him all over Africa and out of Sudan. Oyer Moses could have supported his large family well on this salary, but he turned the job down. He turned it down to stay in Sudan and work at the University and live as a Bible teacher for Sudanese students. God blessed his life of faith and now he is working as a professor in Egypt and preaching the gospel to Muslims as a spiritual father like Isaac.

*Conclusion: The God of Isaac is the God who blesses those who trust and obey Him. By faith, Isaac obeyed God, stayed in the land, and so lived a truly blessed life. Those who trust in the God of Isaac, the God of blessing, give their whole life to God’s purpose, and they stay in the promised land. Through them, God’s blessing flows to many people. Today is “Father’s Day.” America really needs many spiritual fathers. May God bless us to us raise many spiritual fathers like Isaac through Genesis Bible study and summer ministry. 

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