†. Gen 26:6 . . So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of the place
asked him 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 Rebecca, for she is beautiful.
The Hebrew word for "sister" is 'achowth (aw-khoth') and has very wide
application. It can mean an actual genetic sister of the same parents as the
brother, or it can just mean kin, either near or far. It's a word very much
like the New Testament Greek word suggenes (soong-ghen-ace'). An
example of suggenes is Luke 1:36 "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to
have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth
month."
The King James Bible translates suggenes as "cousin" rather than relative.
Suggenes and 'achowth are ambiguous words, and unless there is some
additional clarification in the surrounding text, it is just about impossible to
know precisely in what manner the kin is related.
Isaac is really a chip off the old block. His dad told the very same half-truth
to another Abimelech about a hundred years previously. It's true that
Rebecca was Isaac's sister, but certainly not a true sister; not even a half
sister. She was actually his kissin' cuzzin.
I just have to wonder sometimes about the IQ of some of the patriarchs.
God had just reaffirmed Abraham's covenant with Isaac; guaranteeing He
would bless him on account of his father Abraham's righteousness (not
Isaac's righteousness). Yet now he's worried about being murdered in Gerar?
That is just a blatant insinuation that God is somehow a person of marginal
integrity who cannot be trusted to keep their word.
†. Gen 26:8 . . When some time had passed, Abimelech king of the
Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac sporting with his
wife Rebecca.
Sporting with one's wife is far and away different than sporting with one's
sister. The way those two were horsing around was unmistakably the way
lovers do.
†. Gen 26:9-10 . . Abimelech sent for Isaac and said: So she is your
wife! Why then did you say "She is my sister". Isaac said to him:
Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her. Abimelech
said: What have you done to us! One of the people might have lain
with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.
I'm not surprised that Abimelech was frightened. It hadn't been all that long
ago when his predecessor had a run-in with Isaac's god, That incident
involving Abraham undoubtedly went down in the castle records. And to top
it off, out there grazing on Gerar pastures was a special breed of sheep that
bore a witness for Abraham too (Gen 21:27-32) and their story was very
likely woven into Gerar folklore. Oh yes. They knew about Yhvh alright; and
they all knew what could happen to them if any of the local men messed
around with Rebecca, the wife of Abraham's son.
†. Gen 26:11 . . Abimelech then charged all the people, saying:
Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall be put to death.
It is most encouraging to note that God is disposed to protect his own from
the perils they bring upon themselves by the stupid blunders of their own
self reliance. That's a tremendous advantage to have in life.
The Hebrew word for "molest" is from naga' (naw-gah') which means: to
touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a
woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive, acquire); violently,
to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.)
So Abimelech was not just talking about sexual molesting; but mandated
that his people not even so much as lay a finger upon Isaac and Rebecca in
any way at all. Isaac, of course, is getting by on his dad's influence. But
what the hey, it doesn't hurt to be connected.
†. Gen 26:12-14a . . Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a
hundredfold the same year. The Lord blessed him, and the man grew
richer and richer until he was very wealthy: he acquired flocks and
herds, and a large household,
Quite a bit of the land down around Gerar was public, sort of like our own
American frontier in the days of Lewis and Clark; and was up for grabs by
whoever had the wherewithal and the moxie to take it. In fact, the
Philistines really weren't even a country of their own at this time, but more
like a colony clinging to the sea coast of Palestine, with the majority of them
still living on the isle of Crete. They would migrate and settle en masse
centuries later.
Farming may seem like a switch from animal husbandry, but the
combination was common among pastoral peoples those days for two good
reasons. For one; Isaac's herds needed pasture. And two; man can't live on
meat alone; he needs fruits and vegetables too. And Isaac needed bushels
and bushels of those items to feed his immense community. He inherited at
least a thousand people from his dad. By now, those have multiplied well
beyond that. I think if you'd have encountered Isaac's outfit in those days it
would have resembled an Iowa town rather than a simple camp of Bedouins.
Rates of increase varied from thirty to a hundred (cf. Mtt 13:8, Mtt 19:29).
Sixtyfold is very good, and wasn't unusual in Palestine back in those days. A
hundredfold was rare, and occurred only in spots of extraordinary fertility.
The region of Babylonia, however, yielded two-hundred and even three
hundredfold, according to Herodotus (I.193) and all without genetically
modified seeds. Just exactly what those fold numbers indicate is uncertain.
Perhaps they were similar to a modern term relative to bushels per acre.
Cont.
/
asked him 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 Rebecca, for she is beautiful.
The Hebrew word for "sister" is 'achowth (aw-khoth') and has very wide
application. It can mean an actual genetic sister of the same parents as the
brother, or it can just mean kin, either near or far. It's a word very much
like the New Testament Greek word suggenes (soong-ghen-ace'). An
example of suggenes is Luke 1:36 "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to
have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth
month."
The King James Bible translates suggenes as "cousin" rather than relative.
Suggenes and 'achowth are ambiguous words, and unless there is some
additional clarification in the surrounding text, it is just about impossible to
know precisely in what manner the kin is related.
Isaac is really a chip off the old block. His dad told the very same half-truth
to another Abimelech about a hundred years previously. It's true that
Rebecca was Isaac's sister, but certainly not a true sister; not even a half
sister. She was actually his kissin' cuzzin.
I just have to wonder sometimes about the IQ of some of the patriarchs.
God had just reaffirmed Abraham's covenant with Isaac; guaranteeing He
would bless him on account of his father Abraham's righteousness (not
Isaac's righteousness). Yet now he's worried about being murdered in Gerar?
That is just a blatant insinuation that God is somehow a person of marginal
integrity who cannot be trusted to keep their word.
†. Gen 26:8 . . When some time had passed, Abimelech king of the
Philistines, looking out of the window, saw Isaac sporting with his
wife Rebecca.
Sporting with one's wife is far and away different than sporting with one's
sister. The way those two were horsing around was unmistakably the way
lovers do.
†. Gen 26:9-10 . . Abimelech sent for Isaac and said: So she is your
wife! Why then did you say "She is my sister". Isaac said to him:
Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her. Abimelech
said: What have you done to us! One of the people might have lain
with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.
I'm not surprised that Abimelech was frightened. It hadn't been all that long
ago when his predecessor had a run-in with Isaac's god, That incident
involving Abraham undoubtedly went down in the castle records. And to top
it off, out there grazing on Gerar pastures was a special breed of sheep that
bore a witness for Abraham too (Gen 21:27-32) and their story was very
likely woven into Gerar folklore. Oh yes. They knew about Yhvh alright; and
they all knew what could happen to them if any of the local men messed
around with Rebecca, the wife of Abraham's son.
†. Gen 26:11 . . Abimelech then charged all the people, saying:
Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall be put to death.
It is most encouraging to note that God is disposed to protect his own from
the perils they bring upon themselves by the stupid blunders of their own
self reliance. That's a tremendous advantage to have in life.
The Hebrew word for "molest" is from naga' (naw-gah') which means: to
touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a
woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive, acquire); violently,
to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.)
So Abimelech was not just talking about sexual molesting; but mandated
that his people not even so much as lay a finger upon Isaac and Rebecca in
any way at all. Isaac, of course, is getting by on his dad's influence. But
what the hey, it doesn't hurt to be connected.
†. Gen 26:12-14a . . Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a
hundredfold the same year. The Lord blessed him, and the man grew
richer and richer until he was very wealthy: he acquired flocks and
herds, and a large household,
Quite a bit of the land down around Gerar was public, sort of like our own
American frontier in the days of Lewis and Clark; and was up for grabs by
whoever had the wherewithal and the moxie to take it. In fact, the
Philistines really weren't even a country of their own at this time, but more
like a colony clinging to the sea coast of Palestine, with the majority of them
still living on the isle of Crete. They would migrate and settle en masse
centuries later.
Farming may seem like a switch from animal husbandry, but the
combination was common among pastoral peoples those days for two good
reasons. For one; Isaac's herds needed pasture. And two; man can't live on
meat alone; he needs fruits and vegetables too. And Isaac needed bushels
and bushels of those items to feed his immense community. He inherited at
least a thousand people from his dad. By now, those have multiplied well
beyond that. I think if you'd have encountered Isaac's outfit in those days it
would have resembled an Iowa town rather than a simple camp of Bedouins.
Rates of increase varied from thirty to a hundred (cf. Mtt 13:8, Mtt 19:29).
Sixtyfold is very good, and wasn't unusual in Palestine back in those days. A
hundredfold was rare, and occurred only in spots of extraordinary fertility.
The region of Babylonia, however, yielded two-hundred and even three
hundredfold, according to Herodotus (I.193) and all without genetically
modified seeds. Just exactly what those fold numbers indicate is uncertain.
Perhaps they were similar to a modern term relative to bushels per acre.
Cont.
/
