Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #6 of Genesis, chapter 26, and we are reading Genesis 26:7-11:

And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time,that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

We have been spending some time in these verses regarding the historical fact that Isaac said that his wife was his sister.  It is also a fact that is the third time in the book of Genesis (and we are only in chapter 26) that this has happened within the same family.  The previous two times, it was Abraham that said of Sarah, “She is my sister.”  We have looked at those passages in chapters 12 and 20, and as I mentioned last times, we are beginning to get a clear understanding of why a man of God would say this of his wife.  The spiritual picture is that it would not be until Sarah was taken captive and God brought judgment (by plaguing Pharaoh’s house) and Pharaoh released Sarah that it prefigured the exodus and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.  God brought plagues upon the Pharaoh of that time until he had let His people go.  In turn, that is a picture of the spiritual parable pointing to God delivering His people from “the house of bondage,” or Satan’s kingdom, whom Pharaoh typifies.

Likewise, we saw that Abimelech, in chapter 20, was a type and figure of Satan, and he had taken Sarah.  Then God came to him in a dream and said, “You are but a dead man, because she is a man’s wife.”  Then Abimelech said, “in the innocency of my hands have I done this.”  He did not know, and that was accurate because when Satan takes all the unsaved people of the world captive…

And, by the way, this idea is not just out my head, but it says in 2Timothy 2:26:

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Here, God speaks of those that might be recovered or delivered out of the snare, or out of the captivity to sin and to Satan.

So Abimelech was forced by God, because God said he was but a dead man, and we covered that in our Genesis 20 study.  God also plagued his house by shutting up all the wombs of his wives and the women in his harem.  Furthermore, just to remind ourselves of how we can know that Abimelech is a figure or type of Satan, we read in Genesis 20 3-6:

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

This is a very important statement, because we read in the New Testament in 1John 5:18:

We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

You see, this establishes that Sarah is a picture of those born of God, the elect, and Abimelech was not permitted to “touch her,” just as that wicked One, Satan, is not permitted to “touch” those that are born from above, the elect children of God. 

And what do we find here in Genesis 26 of Abimelech?  He has the same name and same land, but he is a different man that is reigning as king than we saw earlier.  And, remember, Abimelech’s name means “father king” of “father of the king,” or something along those lines, and Satan is king of the children of pride or king over the unsaved.  He was typified by King Nebuchadnezzar that ruled over Babylon, which pictures Satan’s rule over the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  Of course, he has been put down and deposed from being king in our time, but that was the longstanding picture in the Bible. 

And notice that Abimelech said to his people after he found out that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, in Genesis 26:11:

And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Again, do not touch: “…and that wicked one toucheth him not.”   If any of Abimelech’s people had touched them, it would have been as if the king had touched them or as if Satan had touched them.  So, yes, Abimelech is continuing to be a picture of Satan in this chapter, like he is in chapter 20. 

And that makes it all the more unusual, again, when we go back to the differences in these accounts.  We see the similarities, like the claim, “She is my sister.”  And we saw that it was found out.  But the difference is that Rebekah was not taken by Abimelech.  She was not taken by the men of the land, his lords, and she was not turned over to Abimelech for his harem.  She was not taken, and because she was not taken, she could not be delivered.  There was no plaguing of Abimelech’s house that is apparent.  There was no release and no spoiling of goods, but it does say later on in Genesis 26:13: “For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.”  But in chapter 12 and chapter 20, Pharaoh and Abimelech were “spoiled” and gave gifts to Abraham. 

So there are differences.  We know that Isaac is a type of Christ.  Rebekah, his wife, is a picture of the elect.  We know that Abimelech is a picture of Satan.   And we know that the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah is found out – it was revealed and became known, as in the other cases.  But the way in which it became known was that Abimelech “looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.”

I mentioned that the word “sporting” is translated as “playing” or “mocking,” so it is as though Satan is looking out a window and he sees Isaac and Rebekah (Christ and His eternal bride), but previously he did not know they were man and wife.  What would that mean?  He did not know that the woman was actually the bride of Christ, or truly saved.  These people that Rebekah represents were saved by Christ and made His bride.  That is the spiritual idea, is it not? 

We are following the same methodology of Biblical interpretation that we have followed in previous chapters concerning the relationship of Abraham and Sarah or concerning who Abimelech or Pharaoh represented.  By following that method of Biblical interpretation, we saw that the captivity of Sarah had to do with the elect that had been held captive to sin and to Satan, and the plague resulted in God bringing judgment and delivering the elect or the bride of Christ.  It was picturing salvation both times.  The first time, it was deliverance from Egypt, and the second time, from Gerar of the Philistines.  And it is related because God ties the stretching forth His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people to the two major periods of salvation in the Bible, the outpouring of the two great seasons of rain: 1) the early rain; and 2) the Latter Rain.  The early rain was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost which spanned the entire length of the church age, and the Latter Rain is used in the Bible to describe the outpouring of the Holy Spirit outside of the churches and congregations, after the church age ended, during the “little season” of about seventeen years of the second part of the Great Tribulation. 

We related that to these chapters, but the thing we have to look at in the spiritual realm that the Bible is always focused on is the question: why was Rebekah not taken captive?

What would it mean if Rebekah had been taken captive?  It would mean that there were elect within the kingdom of Satan.  Whenever someone was born who was one of God’s elect, as they lived their lives in this world (prior to salvation), the Bible tells us that we were “children of wrath, even as others.”  And that would tell us that we were once “children of Satan,” and under his control, as we see in Ephesians 2:1-3:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

And that was the reason for the taking of the woman (Sarah) who had a close, personal relationship – “She is my sister” – to the man of God, typifying God Himself through Abraham.  But it was not until there was deliverance out of the house or kingdom of Satan (as typified by Pharaoh or Abimelech) that it became evident that she was his wife.  And that points to when Christ would transport a soul out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light, and there would then be a clear and obvious marriage relationship that can be known by others.  In other words, if there were any of God’s elect that were not saved as yet, they would have been citizens of the kingdom of darkness, and in captivity. 

Now we are seeing this third picture and the third emphasis by God of the idea, “She is my sister,” but in the previous two incidents the woman was taken to captive and delivered, pointing to the two instances of the “early rain” and the Latter Rain.  But now it is the third time as we see this encounter with Abimelech, a picture of Satan, but she is not taken captive.  If we follow the same spiritual principle and method of spiritual interpretation (looking for the deeper spiritual meaning), then what would that mean?  It would mean that there were no elect still to be counted in the kingdom of darkness; that is, there was no one left to be saved; there was no one to be saved or delivered.   That is why Rebekah was not taken captive, and then delivered.  It is indicating that there is no longer any salvation taking place, and that helps us to understand if we were to go back to when we first started chapter 26, and I admitted that I did not understand the “famine.”  The Bible speaks of “times and seasons” and rotating periods of rain and famine.  The righteous rain of the Old Testament produced the “fruit” of Jesus.  By the way, when Christ was baptized, it was the recognition that here was the fruit.  Following His baptism, was His three and one-half years of ministry which identifies with “famine.”  Hardly anyone became saved – just a handful of people, perhaps.  Following the three and one-half years of Christ’s ministry,  there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, which began the “early rain” and lasted for the length of the church age until May 21, 1988.  Then there followed the grievous, awful famine of 2,300 evening mornings wherein virtually no one became saved.  Rain, famine, rain.  Then, again the rain came on September 7, 1994, the Latter Rain, that fell on the nations outside the churches over the course of about 17 years, concluding on May 21, 2011, Judgment Day.  I have been asked this before.  Sometimes people have asked, “Is this now a famine of the hearing of the Word?”  And I say, “It is true that the idea of a famine of hearing the Word of God has to do with no salvation taking place.”  And we get this from Amos 8:11: …”not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of JEHOVAH.”  We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, so if there is a famine of hearing, no faith comes, and no salvation can take place.

And  here in Genesis 26, there was a famine, as it said in Genesis 26:1:

And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

What we are beginning to see here is correct about this famine.  And remember that verse 8 had said, “And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time,” and the word “long” is translated several times as “prolonged,” and the word translated as “time” is a typical word for “day.”  So it was a “prolonged day” that Isaac had been in that land, and we have learned that Judgment Day is a “prolonged day.”  Actually, it will cover 22 actual years or 23 inclusive years, if the Biblical evidence is correct.  And we have said it, again, and again, and again, but God refers to the entire duration of this prolonged judgment period as a single “day.”  It is Judgment Day and, yet, it is 22 years in length.  So we are seeing that here, and we are seeing that Rebekah was not taken, so she was not delivered.  (We followed the same method of Bible interpretation, looking for the spiritual meaning, and comparing Scripture with Scripture.)  So that indicates that there was no deliverance of captives because there was no one to be delivered.  And that, in turn, would indicate that there is no salvation taking place.

But there is more evidence.  And, by the way, the idea of “famine” in the Day of Judgment is found in the Bible when we search out the word “famine,” and we can go to Job 5:20-22:

In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

That is interesting, is it not?  At destruction and famine, we shall laugh, and the word “laugh” is related to the idea of “sporting,” as Isaac was sporting or laughing with Rebekah at a time of famine, here in Genesis 26. 

We were told that Isaac went down to Gerar in the famine and it came to pass when he had been there a prolonged day…we are not told precisely how long…but it was a prolonged day of famine, and, here, we find Isaac and Rebekah laughing in the famine.  We will look more at that a little later when we look more carefully at the word “sporting” and its related words, but I just wanted to mention this to indicate that it was Abimelech, a figure of Satan, who looked out a window and saw Isaac laughing or sporting with Rebekah, and immediately he concluded that she was Isaac’s wife.  Remember we wondered at that and how he was brought to that conclusion.  Isaac was not intimately kissing her or embracing her, but he was laughing or sporting with her.  And Job 5 helps us in our understanding and directs us along a certain line.

You see, this is what we are trying to do.  The Bible has the Gospel, and the Gospel is the truth of the Word of God in its proper time and season, and Genesis 26 has a deeper, spiritual level of meaning, and we must search it out.  That is our task as God’s people, as it says in Proverbs 25:2:

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

It is God’s glory to hide a thing and the word “thing” is “daw-bawr,” the Hebrew word for “word.”  And it is the honour of kings to search out a matter, and that word “matter” is also the word “daw-bawr,” or “word.”  God hides it.  We search it out.  It is that which glorifies Him, and it brings honour to His people.  And that tells us that there is a spiritual meaning. 

Now you might be saying, “Well, there you go again, seeing ‘no salvation in Judgment Day’ in a verse that does not seem to have anything to do with that.”  I would respond, “OK, well, you study this, and you tell me what the spiritual meaning is.  What is the meaning?”  And also keep in mind the former examples in Genesis 12 and Genesis 20, when Abraham said of Sarah, “She is my sister.”  And what about the bondage and deliverance in those historical situations, but in Genesis 26 she is not taken captive and not delivered?

Lord willing when we get together in our next study, we are going to look a little bit closer at the idea of Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, who looked out a window and saw this.  And, again, he is a type of Satan, so what would that mean for Satan to look out a window and to see Isaac sporting with Rebekah and draw the conclusion that they are married?  It is just very interesting.  Look up the words “looked out” and “window.”  I think we will have an interesting discussion, but we may not come to definite conclusions on everything, but this study in Genesis 26 is getting more interesting all the time.