COME AS A CHILD LESSON 73 ISAAC AND THE SEVEN WELLS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Time was passing on in the life of Isaac and Rebekah.  They stayed very busy looking after their household.  

Isaac did some farming in the land.  He planted many crops in that same year that he and Rebekah lived in Gerar under the protection of King Abimelech.  His crops were blessed by the LORD and the harvest that year was abundant.  This made Isaac a very rich man.  As a matter of fact his wealth grew so much that he became extremely wealthy and was probably among the richest men in the land.  He wisely invested in more flocks and herds and these became so numerous that all of his neighbors, the Philistines, greatly envied him.  Thus began the ancient struggle over the land.  It existed even in the days of Abraham and Isaac, and it continues today. 

The Philistines had been warned by King Abimelech not to harm Rebekah and Isaac, but that did not keep them from getting revenge on Isaac for coming into their area and growing stronger and better and richer than they were.  Those crafty old Philistines went to the wells that Isaac’s Father, Abraham had dug and started filling them up with trash and dirt which stopped them from producing water. 

When Isaac went to King Abimelech about this problem the King of the Philistines told Isaac that he had become too powerful for the people of the land.  Abimelech asked Isaac to move away from them.  Abimelech was probably trying to avoid war among the people of the land and Isaac. 

So; Isaac moved from the main city of Gerar and camped in the valley.  Isaac reopened some more wells that had been dug by his father Abraham during his lifetime.  The Philistines had stopped up each of these wells after Abraham’s death.  It was nothing but a malicious act of spite.  They obviously did not have use for the water from these wells.  Isaac did though; and he re-dug them.  There were seven all together.  

Isaac renamed each of these wells using the very same names that Abraham had given them originally.  One of the wells Isaac re-dug contained fresh spring water. 

The Philistine shepherds of Gerar began to quarrel with Isaac in the valley too.  They claimed the water rights of the land as their own, and told Isaac the wells did not belong to him.  They probably wanted him to pay them for use of the water from the wells that he had re-dug himself, the same water that they had not needed previously when they had selfishly stopped the wells up for revenge!  The Philistines were always looking for a way to make a profit from someone else’s labor.  They were wicked and crafty in this way.

Isaac re-named the well that produced the fresh water Esek, because they disputed with him there.  This word in Hebrew means “contention and strife.”  That is exactly what the quarrel over the water was causing in the land, so that is exactly what Isaac called the well.  Isaac was not looking for a fight.  He gave the Philistines use of the well he had opened back up and moved on out of their way.

Isaac went out further in the land and re-dug another well.  They also disputed with him there.  Isaac called this well Sitnah, which means “opposition.”  He moved on from there too.

Finally Isaac dug a well from which the Philistines did not quarrel with him.  He called this well Rehoboth which means “room to live” and said “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

From that spot of land Isaac went up to Beersheba.  In Beersheba God spoke to Isaac again and said:  “I am the God of your father Abraham.  Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

Isaac built an altar in this spot and this was where he went to pray and call upon the name of the LORD.  He pitched his tent near the altar and had his servants dig another well there.

In a similar fashion as had happened with Abraham, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar with Ahuzzath (his lawyer and legal adviser) and Phicol (the commander of his army.)

It must have been pretty intimidating for Isaac to see these men ride up, and I think Isaac had lost his patience with them at this point.  Isaac actually had a very well equipped army at his own disposal, the trained servants of Abraham and their sons who had stayed in Isaac’s household.  Isaac asked those bold Philistines just one question: “Why have you come here to me, since you sent me away from your land?”

They said they had seen how God had blessed Isaac and they wanted to have a sworn agreement between him and them.  In other words, they wanted to make a peace treaty with Isaac.  Well!  It was about time!

Abimelech reminded Isaac that he had done him no harm and he wanted Isaac to say the same to him.  They proclaimed that they did not molest Isaac and had dealt fairly with him and had sent him away in peace.  They felt that God was with Isaac and this was the reason for all of his blessings and all of his wealth and prosperity in the land.  They called him “blessed of the LORD.”

So Isaac made them a feast (which was always part of any major agreement for peace) and they all ate and drank together.  The next morning all of the men swore an oath to each other.  They left Isaac in peace.

Later that very same day Isaac’s servants came in from the field telling him that they had found water at a well they had dug.  Isaac called that well Shibah; the same name that Abraham had given it after his oath with Abimelech.  Shibah means “the well of the oath” and it indicates “fullness” which doesn’t necessarily just refer to the water that they received from this well, but it indicates the life that they were living before God in this place.

The city there then officially became known as Beersheba.  Beersheba is a very interesting and complicated name to understand.  The root means “writing on tablets of stone made clear and distinct.”  The feminine as well as the masculine noun means a well or a pit.  The verb root means “My heart declares.” Some scholars have related the root-verb (barar) to some of the Semitic languages. These meanings would connote “shining, pious, kind, true, or even go to the more basic meanings “to be free or clear.”  The Hebrew verb suggests a “purifying or cleaning or polishing,” which is very interesting in light of prophecy that evolves around Ezekiel 20:38. This meaning also relates to “tested and tried men.” 

The stories that center around this important well of Beersheba are endless and full of meaning.  We could discuss them and the things that happened at this particular well and in Beersheba for days on end.  It was a very significant place in the history of God and mankind.

So we find that most things were going along very well for Isaac who was in the prime of his life, everything, that is; except for the troubles that Esau brought home.  Esau loved the Hitites and he rebelliously married Judith who was the daughter of Beeri (a Hitite) and Basemath who was a daughter of Elon (another Hitite.)

These two girls were a true source of grief for Isaac and Rebekah.