26–1: Isaac’s Test — Same Famine, Same Lie, Same God

Today, we begin Genesis Chapter 26.

For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.

For the King James Bible, click here.

When reading Genesis chapter 26, I imagine the first word that pops into our minds is “Dejavu.”

Why?

Because we witness an exact repeat of what happened with Abraham a couple of chapters earlier.

Although we are dealing with a different cast of characters, the events, location, and insecurities that plague the main characters are all the same.

Again, there is a famine.

Again, the protagonist, in this case, Isaac, attempts to escape to Egypt to survive.

Again, just as happened with Abraham, Isaac lies to Abimelech about his wife.

Isaac’s clan prospers, and again a scuffle arises between Isaac and Abimelech’s herdsmen.

So we see from the Bible that history is cyclical and repeats itself.

It should also be noted that the timing of events in this chapter occurred BEFORE chapter 25.

In other words, the events in Chapter 26 occurred BEFORE Isaac and Rebecca gave birth to Jacob and Esau.

Abimelech would have known that Isaac and Rebecca were married if they had had children with them, and there is zero mention of Jacob and Esau.