some way or other to take him off, that some of them might marry her; and therefore she must pass for his sister. It is an unaccountable thing, that both these great and good men should be guilty of so strange a piece of dissimulation, by which they so much exposed both their own and their wives' reputation. But we see, (1.) That very good men have sometimes been guilty of very great faults and follies. Let those therefore that stand, take heed lest they fall, and those that are fallen, not despair of being helped up again. We see, (2.) That there is an aptness in us to imitate even the weaknesses and infirmities of those we have a value for; we have need therefore to keep our foot, lest, while we aim to tread in the steps of good men, we sometimes tread in their by-steps.
2. How he was detected, and the cheat discovered by the king himself. Abimelech (not the same that was in Abraham's days, ch. 20, for this was near 100 years after that) was the common name of the Philistine kings, as Caesar of the Roman emperors: he saw Isaac more familiar and pleasant with Rebekah than he knew he would be with his sister; (v. 8.) he saw him sporting with her, or laughing; it is the same word with that from which Isaac had his name; he was rejoicing with the wife of his youth, Prov. 5. 18. It becomes those in that relation to be pleasant with one another, as those that are pleased with one another. No where, may a man more allow himself to be innocently merry, than with his own wife and children. Abimelech charged him with the fraud, (v. 9.) showed him how frivolous his excuse was, and what might have been the bad consequences of it; (v. 10.) and then, to convince him how groundless and unjust his jealousy of them was, took him and his family under his particular protection, forbidding any injury to be done to him or his wife, upon pain of death, v. 11. Note, (1.) A lying tongue is but for a moment. Truth is the daughter of time; and in time, it will out. (2.) One sin is often the inlet to many, and therefore the beginnings of sin ought to be avoided. (3.) The sins of professors shame them before those that are without. (4.) God can make those that are incensed against his people, though there may be some colour of cause for it, to know that it is at their peril, if they do them any hurt. See Ps. 105. 14, 15.
12. Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundred fold: and the Lord blessed him: 13. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he becamee very great. 14. For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. 15. For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us ; for thou art much mightier than we. 17. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 20. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saving, The water is our's: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. 21. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. 22. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. 23. And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. 24. And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. 25. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
Here we have,
I. The tokens of God's good will to Isaac; he blessed him, and prospered him, and made all that he had, to thrive under his hands. 1. His corn multiplied strangely, v. 12. He had no land of his own, but took land of the Philistines, and sowed it; and (be it observed for the encouragement of poor tenants, that occupy other people's lands, and are honest and industrious) God blessed him with a great increase. He reaped an hundred fold; and there seems to be an emphasis laid upon the time; it was that same year, when there was a famine in the land; while others scarcely reaped at all, he reaped thus plentifully. See Isa. 65. 13, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry, Ps. 37. 19, In the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. 2. His cattle also increased, v. 14. And then, 3. He had great store of servants, whom he employed and maintained. Note, As goods are increased, they are increased that eat them, Eccl. 5. 11.
II. The tokens of the Philistines' ill-will to him: they envied him, v. 14. It is an instance, 1. Of the vanity of the world, that the more men have of it, the more they are envied, and exposed to censure and injury. Who can stand before envy? Prov. 27. 4. See Eccl. 4. 4. 2. Of the corruption of nature; for that is a bad principle indeed, which makes men grieve at the good of others; as if it must needs be ill with me, because it is well with my neighbour. (1.) They had already showed their ill-will to his family, by stopping up the wells which his father had digged, v. 15. This was spitefully done; because they had not flocks of their own to water at these wells, they would not leave them for the use of others; so absurd a thing is malice. And it was perfidiously done; contrary to the covenant of friendship they had made with Abraham, ch. 21. 31, 32. No bonds will hold ill-nature. (2.) They expelled him out of their country, v. 16, 17. The king of Gerar began to look upon him with a jealous eye. Isaac's house was like a court, and his riches and retinue eclipsed Abimelech's; and therefore he must go further off: they were weary of his neighbourhood, because they saw that the Lord blessed him; whereas, for that reason, they should the rather have courted his stay, that they also might
