Bible Discussion Thread

Incredibly; this chapter presents Isaac committing the same mistake with his wife that Abraham did TWICE before; AND once AGAIN Abimelech got into the crossfire! This was after blessings were promised in verse 4-same scenario there as well. This time Abimelech said that anyone touching Isaac OR his wife would be put to death. (verse 11). We see once again in this passage the strife caused by material blessing; as well as contention with the Philistines beginning. Isaac after this event also made a covenant (dejavu!) with Abimelech and a couple of his cohorts. God's blessing was something which caused a respect for power; but making vows foolishly; as many other scriptures indicate leave a binding agreement with the Lord and without careful thought can cause trouble. This is why whenever we invoke His name we shouldn't make hasty vows or swear by anything as Jesus said let your yeah be yeah your nay be nay. The exception is when we fulfill something God institutes such as marriage or when in O.T. times God Himself would make a covenant (or promise such as when He passed between the animals cut in two). Clearly; man being a fallen being is apt to lie in order to achieve His goals. We can attempt to keep God out of an agreement; but the enemies of the Lord like to use others to gain advantage invoking God (hence; the agreement with "death and hell" with Antichrist will be a covenant NOT desireable and the Beast himself will violate it.

The end of the passage shows how pagan marriages began to be a plague for the children of God's people. Esau in the N.T. was said to also be a fornicator; showing further reason that God hated him.

Hello Richard,

Yeah it is interesting that Isaac did the same as dad in this account. But, I read that this Abimelech was a different person than the Abimelech in the Abraham account. I think it was a family name or perhaps a kingly title for that group of people.

GUess you know this stuff better than me. i'm trying to learn the Word better myself through all this commentary and also broaden the viewpoint so that the instruction is edifying through examples that others can relate to. At some point; I could ask challenging questions as a friend of mine who used to send daily scripture devotional messages. Am thankful in this chapter of my life to have the time to write these commentaries; although I have to be proactive with witnessing opportunities as my previous residence elsewhere gave me Christian friends who I would go out with once or twice a week on a regular basis. No substitute for local fellowship which the Lord has now granted me here as well; though in depth discussions can be hard to find. May He provide these things for you as well.

Agape..Rich P

Richard, I am just like you, just looking to learn from Scripture, but I went through Genesis in November and December and wrote comments in the comments sections of those chapters. I like to go and read all of the comments on a chapter before I write mine so that I can better know what would be best to write about. If you haven't yet, you can click on the comments button at the bottom of the page for each chapter to read prior comments. I am learning as I go. I look things up online on ideas that I have questions about. That is how I found out about the two Abimelech's. Have a good evening.