Isaac Calls on the Name of the Lord

June 22, 2025 Background Scripture: Genesis 26:1 - 33 Lesson Passage: Genesis 26:24 - 33 What should we do when people who were friendly towards us suddenly turn against us? How should we respond to people who don't want us around and yet they still want to be on good terms with us? Today's lesson provides some helpful insights for us by examining some recorded history about Isaac. Isaac has the least written about him in the lineage of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since the announcement of his birth prior to his mother conceiving him, Isaac has been a key link in the patriarchal lineage. Isaac preserved the faith tradition inherited from his father, Abraham, and passed it on to his son, Jacob. Like his father, Isaac built altars to worship God in the places that became his homestead. His servants also dug wells in those places to provide water for them and his flocks and herds. Some wells his servants dug again because the servants of Abraham dug them previously. However, after the death of Abraham, the Philistines had stopped them up. As stated in last week's lesson, Isaac was raised by his father, Abraham, to have a relationship with God and to know the proper way to worship Him. He had witnessed the relationship that his father had with God. As an adult with his own family, Isaac carried on the faith tradition he had learned from his father. That was important in the narrative for today's lesson. God had started interacting with Isaac and assuring him that the covenants He made with Abraham were renewed with him. God promised to protect, prosper, and provide guidance to Isaac. Not only did Isaac see God's hand in his life, but his neighbors had observed the same. Isaac became very wealthy, and his neighbors felt threatened by it. As a result, they became jealous and fearful of Isaac and asked him to leave their area. Isaac did not leave because he felt threatened. Isaac had a great number of servants who could defend him and his property if he had chosen to remain there. However, Isaac was a humble person who feared God and did not want to quarrel with others. Therefore, Isaac left the area and traveled to another location. He experienced similar hostilities in the new location. Isaac's travels continued until he arrived at another location. The Lord appeared to him the same night and assured him that he was with him. Wherever Isaac traveled, God was always with him and caused him to prosper. Isaac built an altar there and worshiped God as he had seen his father do. He also pitched his tent there and his servants dug a well. These activities suggest that Isaac saw this location as a place where finally he could treat it as a homestead. It was after these things that the king of the Philistines who sent Isaac away from his previous homestead came to him along with a friend and the commander of his army. Their visit was not expected since they made it clear that they did not want Isaac around them. Isaac inquired concerning their visit seeing that they had sent him away from them in hatred. They assured Isaac it was a mission of peace. They acknowledged they had seen that the Lord was blessing him. They were there to seek a peace agreement between them. Isaac made a feast for his visitors and entertained them overnight. (When the Lord is blessing you, you can treat those who hate you as honored guests.) The next morning, they swore an oath with one another, and Isaac sent them away in peace. After they departed, his servants came and told Isaac they had dug another well and found water. Isaac understood that it was the Lord continuing to bless him. He named that well to commemorate his experience like his father did in his lifetime. Isaac named it "the well of the oath", Beersheba. Robert C. Hudson June 5, 2025