THE FOREVER FAITHFUL ONE

Genesis 26:1-11
Bob Bonner
October 29, 2006

Sometimes, when I stand back and look at God’s Word, and see how the Spirit of God has chosen to place sections of Scripture together, I am amazed at the irony I see, and the truth that these ironies highlight. Take for instance, the section of Scripture 2 Timothy 2:1-13. In verses 1-2, Paul is exhorting Timothy to make it a priority as a ministry leader to personally disciple men, to equip men, to teach and instruct men so that they in turn will equip others to be leaders. “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” In verse 2, he specifically highlights what kind of men to look for... “faithful men.”

Then in verses 3-6, he describes what faithful men look like, that they be single- minded men whose allegiance and focus is upon serving God. These are the types of men that a spiritual leader should focus upon as potential leaders, men who deserve your attention.

Then Paul illustrates from his own life and from the life of Christ, in verses 7-10, what it takes to be a faithful man who equips other faithful men. Specifically, Paul points to the hardship and injustices he suffered in his attempt to do exactly what he is challenging Timothy to do.

But sometimes the hardship we suffer comes not from the outside or from persecution; rather it comes from our own failures and mistakes. And this is where I see the purposeful irony of Scripture. In the backdrop of verse 2 of looking for faithful men and of being a faithful man of God, Paul closes this section with this statement in verse 13: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.” It’s as though Paul knows personally, that even with his own best intentions to model and serve God with all of his heart, there were and would continue to be times when he blows it, as a leader. Times when he modeled faithlessness rather than faithfulness.

That’s the bad news. But the good news of these verses is, that when those times occur, God never changes. He remains faithful to us and to His purposes. He will not reject us. The key to experiencing God’s faithfulness in our lives today, post our own failure, is to remain humble, repentive and when we blow it, don’t just confess our sins, but take full responsibility for our sins. By that, I mean that we clearly judge it in our own lives as wrong, and commit to take steps as best we know how not to make the same mistake again.

Ironically, as Paul is calling Timothy out to be a man of faith, a faithful discipler, he wisely adds, that even as much as Timothy may wish to be a man of faith and to be a faithful discipler, he insinuates, “Take it from me Timothy, we will blow it. We will be faithless.” And when we do, Paul takes comfort in knowing that God’s promises and purposes won’t cease. Whether or not we will continue to be used by God and blessed by God will depend upon how we respond to God. But as it concerns God and His promises, the way He will deal with us will not change. God always remains faithful, and He will continue to work in our lives.

This morning, this very irony found in 2 Timothy about God’s faithfulness in the midst of human faithlessness is illustrated for us in the life of Isaac, as found in Genesis 26:1-11. Not only will we see God’s faithfulness proven when humans are faithless, but we will also see one of the major causes for us to stumble, to act out in unfaithfulness.

This passage almost divides in half as it concerns its content. In verses 1-6, we read about God’s repeated promise to bless Isaac and his descendants, based upon Isaac’s commitment to obey God. Then in verses 7-11, we see Isaac’s deception that endangered the very promises that God had just made to Isaac. Let’s first read the passage as a whole, and then come back to examine it more closely.

¹Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. ²The Lord appeared to him [ I presume this physical appearance of the Lord to be another one of Jesus Christ’s pre-incarnate visitations on the earth. This time to Isaac. Jesus says, ] “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3“Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴“I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; ⁵because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” 6So Isaac lived in Gerar. ⁷When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful.” 8It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’ ” 10Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

Pretty much, the life of Isaac, as the patriarch of Israel, is spelled out in just three chapters of Genesis, chapters 25-27. Typically, when we read through historical narratives in the Bible, we presume that what we are reading has been written in chronological order. Most of the time this is a correct presumption. But there are times when the author of a historical narrative purposely writes chapters that are not in historical, chronological order so as to emphasize a point or to teach a lesson. Such is the case, according to many Old Testament scholars, with Genesis 25-27.

As these chapters read, the first real example of Isaac’s spirituality as leader of his family is given in chapter 26, which is sandwiched between two conflicts with his sons, Esau and Jacob. Last week, we saw how Jacob manipulated Esau into selling Jacob his birthright. In chapter 27, we will see how Jacob steals his father’s blessing that was intended for Esau. Putting chapter 25 in the middle of these two chapters, rather than before, is a writer’s tool used to emphasize, in this case, the failures of the father’s impact upon God’s chosen leader Jacob.

The evidence for this chapter being deliberately placed out of chronological order is the following: In verses 6-11, Rebekah is stated to be a beautiful woman, not someone who typically would have been much older with fading beauty. Furthermore, if Jacob and Esau were alive at this point, fully grown, they would have made it especially difficult for Isaac to pass off Rebekah as being his sister.

In addition, if you remember the purpose of the toledot breakdown of the book of Genesis, the statement in chapter 25, “these are the generations of Isaac” points not to the life of Isaac, but to the significant one who follows Isaac, Jacob. Hence, the ultimate purpose of these chapters 25-27, is to help us understand the spiritual, emotional and familial foundation upon which Jacob’s life was built. These chapters are not so much to teach us about Isaac as they are to help us better understand why Jacob grew up to be the man he was.

Hence, the Old Testament scholars set chapter 26 chronologically before chapter 25 and chapter 27, correctly informing us as to the early years of Isaac. Again, the purpose for this is to show how Isaac’s early years ultimately impacted Jacob’s life. Furthermore, these chapters illustrate God’s faithfulness to Jacob in spite of his father’s spiritual failure. God is revealed as faithful to His promises to bless Abraham’s descendants, even when they have been faithless.

One last comment about Genesis 26. This is the only chapter exclusively given to the faith side of Isaac’s life. Sadly, when one looks at the entirety of Isaac’s life, Isaac lived longer than any of the patriarchs, yet he had less to show for it spiritually than Abraham and Jacob.

So, if these verses are not in the proper chronological, historical order, what is the proper chronological order? Simply put, this passage takes place before 25:19-34, or before Rebekah conceives and gives birth to twins. More than likely, chapter 26 takes place shortly after Abraham’s death and is God’s first visitation upon Isaac’s life, reaffirming that God was going to work through Isaac to bless his descendants, just as He had done for his recently deceased father Abraham.

Now let’s consider verses 1-6, which deal with God’s promise of blessing based upon Isaac’s obedience. Previous to blessing Isaac, God made the same promises of blessing to Isaac’s father, Abraham. Although Abraham made mistakes, even similar ones as Isaac’s, Abraham’s overall life reveals a man of faith, whose obedience brought blessings to his descendants.

Now, in verse 1, a significant situation takes place that leads God to step in to make a covenant with Isaac. Let’s look at that verse again. It reads: “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.” During Isaac’s lifetime, the furthermost city that was closest to the Egyptian border and the land of Canaan was this city of Gerar. It was located on a major highway to Egypt. This city was a major city, in which the Abimelech, a title for the ruler of the Philistines, lived and reigned. This is not the same Abimelech that lived 100 years before during Abraham’s life and that we read about in Genesis 20. This is a different Abimelech.

Similar to Abraham’s situation in Genesis 20, there was a famine in the land of Canaan, and like his father, Abraham, Isaac is headed for Egypt to get food. However, the situation is really different in many respects for Isaac, than it was for Abraham. Most significantly, Abraham did not have someone who lived before him who could have told him what to do and not do during a famine. Abraham had to learn the hard way that when in need, don’t depend first on other world leaders to supply your needs. Instead, first, go to God and see if He wants to meet those needs directly or if He will give you permission to go elsewhere, by which, He will use others to meet the need. For example: When Nehemiah saw a real need, he sought the Lord first, and the Lord chose to use the King of Babylon to supply all Nehemiah’s needs to return to Israel to rebuild the protective wall around the city of Jerusalem. But in Abraham’s case, as well as in Isaac’s situation, God does want them to return to Egypt to have Pharaoh or anyone else to meet their needs. He wants to demonstrate His love for them and His ability to meet their needs, if they would simply trust and obey Him.

Different than Abraham, Isaac had heard of Abraham’s two attempts to meet his needs during a famine, apart from seeking God. After making the same mistake twice, Abraham learned to turn to God first, to seek His face as to how God would meet his need. This lesson assuredly was passed down from Abraham to all of his family members. But rather than learning from his father’s mistakes and seeking out God as to what to do during a famine, as the new leader, the new patriarch of the family, Isaac takes matters into his own hands and heads for Egypt.

In verse 2, God graciously stops Isaac and pays him a visit. He speaks directly to Isaac and says, “Do not go down to Egypt! Stay in the land of which I shall tell you.” That’s pretty clear. And then, in verses 3-5, God proceeds to tell Isaac why. In verses 3-4, God repeats to Isaac the same promise He made to his father, Abraham. “I will give you this land, give you many descendants who will possess this land long after you are gone, but in order for you to be blessed, you must obey Me!” Then, to put the final convincing argument on why it would be in Isaac’s best interest to obey God’s instruction, God points, in verse 5 to the fact that Abraham was a blessed and powerful man because he had obeyed Him.

Literally, in the Hebrew, this statement appears to be more emphatic than in our English translations. It reads, “Abraham listened to my voice and kept my safeguards, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.” Keep in mind that when Moses wrote these words, he wrote them to that first generation of Israelites who had left Egypt and following the giving of God’s Law. Hence, Moses is emphasizing that not only did Abraham know the very same principles that God had laid out in the Law for the Israelites to follow, like the practice of the tithe, but Abraham had fully obeyed those laws, even before they were written down. We are not told how Abraham knew them, but just that he knew them.

In response to God’s instructions, Moses tells us that Isaac got the point and responded accordingly. In v. 6, he simply states, “So, Isaac lived in Gerar.” Next week, we will see that, yes indeed, because Isaac obeyed God and stayed there and did not continue to find relief in Egypt, God blessed him by causing not only his crops to increase, but also his flocks as well and his household servants grew in number too. Remember, Isaac wasn’t poor to begin with. He was a wealthy man that God chose to make even more wealthy as a sign to all who watched Isaac, that Isaac’s God was worth worshiping.

In verses 7-11, like his father Abraham, Isaac finds himself in a similar pickle. He chooses a course of action, the deception of which literally endangered the promises of God, that were made to his father Abraham, about blessing God’s people.

Gerar was no small village but a major city, filled with idol worshipers and grave immorality. As a culture, it would mirror what we live in today—a culture that is inconsistent as to its moral values. On the one hand, it promoted homosexuality and sex outside of marriage, but yet, somehow, it still valued the marriage bond and did not favor adultery or the taking of another man’s wife, and recognized that incestuous relationships were not normal or acceptable. But, because human life was not held as valuable, if you wanted another man’s wife, it was not uncommon in parts of Canaan for a man to kill another man, simply to have the rights to his wife.

This moral inconsistency is at the root of Abraham and Isaac’s concern about their lives being in danger because they were both married to beautiful women. But different than Abraham, Isaac had been instructed by his parents in their failure and the right way to handle this very real and fearful situation. However, Isaac chose not to learn from their previous mistakes.

Whereas Abraham was partly truthful when he told those around him that Sarah was his sister, because she was his half-sister, as well as his wife, Isaac out-and-out lied when he claimed Rebekah to be his sister. But it was not long before Isaac’s ruse was uncovered. In verse 8, Isaac is observed in what was obviously a physically intimate activity with his wife in public that strongly suggested to Abimelech that Rebekah was not his sister.

Isaac’s lack of self-control, his lack of common cultural sensibilities to take indoors to a private place physical displays of marital intimacy is just one indicator that leads some to conclude that Isaac was a man driven by physical desires. Another indicator of this weakness in Isaac’s character comes with Moses’ description of Isaac’s first encounter with Rebekah. Moses’ description of Isaac abruptly taking this woman he has just met, into his tent and then making her his wife, in Genesis 24:67, also signals that Isaac was a man driven by his desires, to get whatever he wanted regardless of whether or not it was culturally acceptable or in compliance with God’s declared will.

Imagine what would have happened to God’s promises to Abraham’s descendants if Abimelech had chosen to execute Isaac for his lies, rather than simply rebuke him. That would have been the end of Abraham’s promised line.

In the end, both Abraham and Isaac suffered a similar shame and reproach because of their sin, in lying about their wives. But in Abraham’s case, he repented and changed his ways. In turn, because of his repentive and humble heart, God protected and blessed Abraham. In the long run, this was not true of the proud Isaac.

As we study this comparison between father and son, there is an obvious lesson we can take from this: Human nature does not improve from generation to generation. No matter how much we would like to imagine ourselves as being good people, our natures, apart from Jesus Christ changing us are nothing but depraved and foul. Furthermore, no human self-help program will ever change us. It requires the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit transforming us from the inside out as we seek to depend upon and walk with God.

But wait, there is more to take away from this passage. Look again at part of Abimelech’s response to Isaac, in verses 10-11. Like the Abimelech of Abraham’s day, this Abimelech was an upright man. Even he recognizes that what Isaac has done is abhorrent and could have brought unnecessary harm to innocent people. In verse 10, this godless king rebukes Isaac and in verse. 11, he goes further to protect his people from the wickedness of Isaac, that even these morally inconsistent and misguided Philistines deem wrong. In verse 11, Abimelech charges his people, “He who touches this man [a reference to a homosexual action] or his wife shall surely be put to death!” Is there anything sadder in this world than a child of God, a chosen and elected and saved believer, having to be rebuked by a godless man of the world?

I remember an assignment given to us as seminary students of going to a non-Christian with whom we had developed a relationship. On the basis of a set of questions given to us by our professor, we were to ask this non-Christian to evaluate our lives. The questions were not ones you would consider your typical moral Christian lifestyle questions. Rather, these were questions that pointed at character qualities and attitudes that this non-Christian might perceive in our lives. We were to ask the non-Christian to be brutally honest with us, because we wanted to see ourselves through their eyes. You want to talk about an eye opening and humbling experience. I quickly realized why I, as well as other Christians are not as affective for Christ as we would like to think we are. We have so many inconsistencies, so much hypocrisy and prideful attitudes going on, that it is amazing to me that any non-Christian ever sees Christ in us.

But when we humble ourselves before the Lord, and depend moment by moment for him to live through our lives, then and only then will we be like Abraham and touch others for Christ and live a long-lasting legacy. I’m reminded of Paul’s words to the Colossians 3:12-14. He writes, “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” The Apostle Peter echoes Paul’s thoughts when he writes in 1 Peter 5:5 “,...clothe yourselves in humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Let’s wrap this up with three points I challenge you to ponder in the days to come.

In both Abraham’s and Isaac’s lives, we see something that is hard for us to grasp. If we were God, we probably wouldn’t deal with each other as He deals with us. Specifically, this passage, along with others, illustrates for us that God’s faithfulness remains, in spite of our foolishness and faithlessness.

Even when we fail, God will never abandon us. He will continue to mold and shape us through His loving discipline. Furthermore, as we humble ourselves before Him, He will miraculously change our lives, and continue the process He promised to finish the day we were saved. One day, when He is done, we will reflect the very image of Christ back to God and to those around us. For now, we are only a rough image of who He is and what we will be. Praise God for His ongoing faithfulness.

Something else we can take away from this passage as we view God’s work with Isaac. God’s message to Isaac was not that he must be perfect and never make a mistake in order to be blessed in this life. But if, like his father Abraham, he was to acknowledge those wrong choices, take responsibility for them and seek God’s enablement not to go there again, then God promised to bring extra blessing to his life and to the lives of his children and grandchildren.

Hence, another of God’s lessons for us, taken from these verses is, “If you obey, your children will enjoy blessing, not just in the future, but in the here and now.” Did Isaac’s children get blessed during their lifetimes because of their Dad’s walk? Hardly! Because their was so little spiritual guidance and the seeking of God by Isaac, Jacob turns out to be a spiritual misfit most of his life, and in turn, his children, Isaac’s grandchildren are misfits. It’s only close to his death that Isaac’s son, Jacob and his children come to their spiritual sense and realize the significance and seriousness of seeking the Lord and walking in obedience.

Lastly, besides his own selfishness, to protect his own life while exposing Rebekah to harm or “throwing her under the bus” so to speak, so as to save his own skin, Isaac’s choice to lie to Abimelech reveals another standard cause for us acting in unfaithful ways to God. This cause is clearly stated in Proverbs 29:25 which says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” A standard cause for us to act in unfaithful ways is the fear of what others may think or do to us.

The fear of others’ rejection or disapproval or even chastisement, whether you are a politician, school administrator, a parent, a coach, a military leader, a ministry leader, can cause one to bend God’s principles or to bend the truth in order be held in high esteem, or to hold on to a job. Recognize this fear for what it is. It is wrong!!! And, seeking the approval of others at all costs allows others to manipulate us to their ends. But when you fear God, when you trust Him, He will keep you safe. He will provide and bring ultimate honor in your name, even if you should lose the vote, lose the job, lose rank. You never lose in the end when you chose to honor God above all others.

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