Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #19 of Genesis, chapter 26, and we are reading Genesis 26:20-27:
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now JEHOVAH hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And he went up from thence to Beersheba. And JEHOVAH appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of JEHOVAH, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
We have been spending some time looking at the strife over the wells, and we know that the first well, Esek, was called “Esek” because the word “Esek” means “to strive.” The second well was called “Sitnah,” and the word “Sitnah” is derived from the word for “accusation,” so we know the herdmen of Gerar were making accusations. And, in both cases, Isaac and his servants moved on, and they did not engage in strife. They did not argue and dispute, but they simply moved on to another site. And that brings us to Genesis 26:22:
And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not…
And this would be the third well, and the number “three” has the purpose of God in view, so it was God’s purpose to provide water for His people through this third well. We can also see that out of three wells, two of them were fought over. The herdmen strove for them and, therefore, they were unusable for Isaac and his servants or for the people of Christ. The third well was useable, and they could get water, so there could be a connection to the Biblical principle or typology that we see from time to time, wherein God’s people are typified by “one third.” For example, regarding the captains and his fifties, two captains and their fifties were destroyed by fire from heaven, and the third captain and his fifty survived. We could look at similar accounts. At one time, David put two lines of men to death, and spared the third line. In Zechariah 13, God speaks of the human race, and I will read this one. It says in Zechariah 13:8:
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land…
The word translated as “land” is a Hebrew word is also translated as “earth” many times.
Again, it says in Zechariah 13:8-9:
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith JEHOVAH, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, JEHOVAH is my God.
If we go back to the picture where these wells have to do with the Word of God, the Bible, and with salvation, and in various times and seasons, they would have had their application. For example, during the church age, two churches would become apostate, and the third did not, but, finally, God’s people would go outside of the churches. So it would be like the “one third” separating from the “two thirds.” Or, this could picture God’s elect, the “third part,” dwelling within the congregations. And then at the end of the church age, there is the language of Revelation 8, where the judgment is on the “third part,” so the well that was good for a time and did provide water is no longer able to quench the spiritual thirst or give spiritual nourishment to the people of God, because it had become like “bitter water.”
The word translated as “Rehoboth” is #7344 in the Hebrew Concordance, and it is from #7339. And, again, I give these numbers to make it easy for anyone listening to check it out. As Mr. Camping used to say, “Do not trust me. Trust the Bible.” And I hope you realize that this is exactly what I am doing when I give you these numbers. It does not make for exciting teaching when numbers are being given. I realize that, but it does help for accuracy, so the listener can check it out. So the word “Rehoboth” is #7344, derived from #7339, which is translated as “streets,” “ways,” or “places.” For example, it says in Proverbs 1:20-21:
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words…
So that is the idea. Wisdom cries and utters her voice in the streets. Who is wisdom? The Lord Jesus Christ is the essence of wisdom, and 1Corinthians 1:30 says He is wisdom. The Word of God is wisdom, so the proclamation or declaration of the Word of God is as wisdom who opens her mouth or utters her voice in the streets, or in Rehoboth. The word “Rehoboth” comes from it, or depending on the vowel pointing, it is similar to “Rahab,” as far as the pronunciation. And we can see this idea of “streets” or “ways” or “places,” as we continue to read in Genesis 26:22:
…and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now JEHOVAH hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land
The Hebrew word translated as “made room” is #7337, and is closely related to #7339 and also to #7344, the word for “Rehoboth.” So God has “made room,” like a street is an area for travel with plenty of room. This word translated as “made room” is also found in Isaiah 54:1-2:
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith JEHOVAH. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
The Hebrew word translated as “enlarge” is our word, so we could say “make room the place of thy tent.” The tent or tabernacle is a similar picture to the temple, and God uses the building of a temple to illustrate the building of His spiritual temple, as the language of the Bible tells us in Hebrew 3:6, “whose house are we,” speaking of elect people. We are the temple, the tabernacle, or tent. And it says in verse 1 of Isaiah 54, “for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife.” The context is set, and it has to do with more elect being brought in. Therefore, “make room” or “enlarge” the place of thy tent or tabernacle. Make it bigger, because more “stones,” as it were, are being added to the structure. It is speaking of the temple, but the figure here is of a tent. And, yet, that is the idea.
And that is also the idea with the name Rehoboth. Make room for the children of God. Make room for Isaac and his servants or Christ and the people Christ would save. So Rehoboth is a word that is conveying the idea that the Word of God, the Gospel, would have free course as it would go forth and people would become saved. It was a well of water, so the wells of salvation were dug, and then the water could be dispensed, and people could drink. And when they drank, the ones chosen by God would become saved. This idea is similar to Luke 14:21-23:
So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
You see, there was still room and, therefore, go out again with the Gospel and compel them, and that is what the Lord God would accomplish as He would grab ahold of certain ones through the Word, and He would draw those people to Himself in salvation. And, again, it says in our verse in Genesis 26:22:
… For now JEHOVAH hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
The idea of fruitfulness also relates to God saving His people, as we read in Genesis 17:5-6:
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of .
We know this was the promise to Abraham that his seed would be as the stars of the heaven for multitude, and exceedingly fruitful. The seed (singular) is Christ, and all those saved by Christ are counted for the seed in Him, according to Galatians 3, verses 16 and 29. This is the continuing picture the Lord is using in the Bible in these early chapters concerning the blessing upon Abraham, and now upon Isaac, and soon it would be upon Jacob. They would be fruitful God had not forgotten the promise and, ultimately, that promise had to do with the Lord saving His people.
Now we read in Genesis 26:23-25:
And he went up from thence to Beersheba. And JEHOVAH appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of JEHOVAH, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Apparently, they left Rehoboth and went up from thence to Beersheba, and it was eerily similar to the movements of his father Abraham, in many ways. And, actually, it says in Genesis 26:26:
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
Again, the events we are reading about in Genesis 26 are about a hundred years later than the events that took place in Genesis 20 and 21 and, yet, we are reading many of the same things. Even the name “Abimelech” is the same name. You know, all we can do is gather the information, and I do not know if we can know with certainty that this was a different Abimelech, and that Abimelech was a title. That is what theologians have written, and I think that is probably the case. We do know that other kings had titles. Caesar is a title. Pharaoh is a title. Darius, Cyrus was a title, and even Ahasuerus. We know that many kings in the Bible had titles, so it is possible that “Abimelech” was a title. But we also have to acknowledge the possibility that it was the same man and he was about a hundred years older. Maybe he was a young king at the time of Abraham, even though the account does not seem to read that way, as he had a big harem. But, anyway, it would certainly be teaching about Satan’s consistency as being an evil spirit, a fallen angel or spirit being who was around in the 1st Century A. D. and, yet, the Bible says he would be around at the time of the end of the world – the antichrist that now is and would come. He has also been around since the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, and since he is the same in the sense that he is the same evil being, then having Abimelech remain the same teaches the point that Satan does not change – he is still the same evil one.
Also, Abimelech’s encounter with Abraham is similar to Abimelech’s encounter with Isaac, so there is no change. And just as he could not touch Sarah…and, remember, we looked at that verse in 1John where God says He will not suffer the wicked one to touch his people. And, so, too Abimelech did not touch Rebekah. So there are some very strong similarities between these two accounts.
Another similarity is the reference to Phichol, if we go back to Genesis 21, he is mentioned in Genesis 21:32:
Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba…
And that is another similarity between these events. There at the same location. Again, it says in Genesis 21:32:
Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
So, here, we are roughly one hundred years later, and we read in Genesis 26:26:
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
This means that not only is Abimelech the same title or family name for the king, but Phichol is the chief captain of the army, and he also has the same name. So we have to acknowledge the possibility that Phichol is also a title for a General, as we would call the chief commander of our armed forces. We have titles like Defense Secretary, and so forth. So “Phichol” could have been what they called the person in charge of the army. The name “Phichol” literally means “mouth of all.” Or, the other option is that the man’s name is Phichol and it is the same man, but this appears even more unlikely than Abimelech being the same man because in order to be a general in command of troops, you cannot be a very aged man. There is just too much physicality involved, and the troops would want to look up to a strong leader, so it is very unlikely that this Phichol is the same man in Genesis 21, almost a hundred years earlier.
And, yet, God is revealing these titles, and they are identical for both Abimelech and Phichol, and they are coming to Beersheba to meet with Isaac, just as what had happened with Abraham, but now Abraham had died. And they are going to have another chat with a man of God, and that is another similar thing. They are meeting with someone that is blessed of God.
So the Lord is intentionally bringing us through almost the same experience a second time and, sometimes, even a third time, like when we saw the husband saying of his wife, “She is my sister.” Abraham did that twice with Sarah, and Isaac did that with Rebekah. The previous two times, Sarah was taken and then delivered, but this time Rebekah was not taken and, therefore, there was no need for her to be delivered.
Well, this is just something we need to pray about, and you can see why we really need God’s Spirit and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to make our way through the Bible. The Bible is anything but easy. It is a very complicated book in its design. It is a complicated structure of words that God has put exactly where they should be to teach spiritual things. Sometimes He recognizes our density and our severe limitations of being in our finite bodies, and also the effects of corruption upon us, so He will go over something, and then He will go over it again. Maybe we missed something the first time. So that is why we want to pray, “O, Lord, grant us wisdom and understanding. What are you saying here?” And that is all I can do as a teacher. We can read and pray and go to other Scriptures, comparing Scripture with Scripture, but we always have to wait upon the Holy Ghost to teach us and to open up the eyes of our understanding to the things He is teaching.