Beetow
Member
- Dec 14, 2024
- 989
- 85
- Thread starter
- #181
.
● Gen 26:2a . .The Lord had appeared to him
This is the very first recorded incident where God appeared especially for Isaac.
When he was offered as a burnt offering back in chapter 22, God appeared to his
dad while Isaac was with him. But God was not said to appear to Isaac. This is the
first time.
● Gen 26:2b . . and said: Do not go down to Egypt;
Isaac may have been considering Egypt as plan B if Gerar didn't work out.
● Gen 26:2c . . stay in the land which I point out to you.
That had to be encouraging. Even if things looked bad in Gerar when Isaac arrived,
he could rest upon the fact that he was going in the right direction.
● Gen 26:3a . . Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you;
Suppose it turned out Isaac didn't like the land God selected for him and moved to
another one? Well he could just forget about the promise: "I will be with you and
bless you" That promise was conditional. He had to live where God directed him to
live.
● Gen 26:3b-4 . . I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the
oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your heirs as numerous as
the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations
of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs--
Although some translations render the word "heirs" plural, zera' is one of those
Hebrew words that can just as accurately be translated in the singular as well the
plural: like the words sheep, fish, and deer. In this case, it's probably best to
understand zera' in the singular because it most certainly refers to Jacob rather
than to both he and his brother Esau.
● Gen 26:5 . . inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My
commandments, My laws, and My teachings.
Some construe God's statement to indicate that Abraham was included in the
covenant that Moses' people entered into with God per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. But the statement below excludes him.
"The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our forefathers did
The Lord make this covenant, but with us, we, all of whom are here alive today."
(Deut 5:2-3)
Abraham complied with God's requirements voluntarily rather than by compulsion.
In other words; his association with God was based upon an honor system rather
than a legal system.
The promises God made to Abraham as per Gen 12:2-3 and Gen 17:8 were not
sustained by Abraham's piety. In other words: once God made those promises,
neither Abraham nor his posterity can ever lose them because they are
unconditional
"The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously
established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance is
based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to
Abraham by means of a promise." (Gal 3:17-18)
The "promise" in question reads like this:
"And I will give you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, the entire
land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be to them for a deity."
(Gen 17:8)
That should be really good news to Abraham's posterity because although the law
has a marked effect upon their occupation of the land, it has no effect upon their
entitlement to it.
● Gen 26:6a . . So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
_
● Gen 26:2a . .The Lord had appeared to him
This is the very first recorded incident where God appeared especially for Isaac.
When he was offered as a burnt offering back in chapter 22, God appeared to his
dad while Isaac was with him. But God was not said to appear to Isaac. This is the
first time.
● Gen 26:2b . . and said: Do not go down to Egypt;
Isaac may have been considering Egypt as plan B if Gerar didn't work out.
● Gen 26:2c . . stay in the land which I point out to you.
That had to be encouraging. Even if things looked bad in Gerar when Isaac arrived,
he could rest upon the fact that he was going in the right direction.
● Gen 26:3a . . Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you;
Suppose it turned out Isaac didn't like the land God selected for him and moved to
another one? Well he could just forget about the promise: "I will be with you and
bless you" That promise was conditional. He had to live where God directed him to
live.
● Gen 26:3b-4 . . I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the
oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your heirs as numerous as
the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations
of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs--
Although some translations render the word "heirs" plural, zera' is one of those
Hebrew words that can just as accurately be translated in the singular as well the
plural: like the words sheep, fish, and deer. In this case, it's probably best to
understand zera' in the singular because it most certainly refers to Jacob rather
than to both he and his brother Esau.
● Gen 26:5 . . inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My
commandments, My laws, and My teachings.
Some construe God's statement to indicate that Abraham was included in the
covenant that Moses' people entered into with God per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. But the statement below excludes him.
"The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our forefathers did
The Lord make this covenant, but with us, we, all of whom are here alive today."
(Deut 5:2-3)
Abraham complied with God's requirements voluntarily rather than by compulsion.
In other words; his association with God was based upon an honor system rather
than a legal system.
The promises God made to Abraham as per Gen 12:2-3 and Gen 17:8 were not
sustained by Abraham's piety. In other words: once God made those promises,
neither Abraham nor his posterity can ever lose them because they are
unconditional
"The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously
established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance is
based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to
Abraham by means of a promise." (Gal 3:17-18)
The "promise" in question reads like this:
"And I will give you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, the entire
land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be to them for a deity."
(Gen 17:8)
That should be really good news to Abraham's posterity because although the law
has a marked effect upon their occupation of the land, it has no effect upon their
entitlement to it.
● Gen 26:6a . . So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
_
