Genesis 26
v.7
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
v.10
Then Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
Clearly the picture of the Philistine king that emerges is of a righteous, even pious, Gentile who did what was right; by contrast, Isaac is shown to be less righteous than he. A wider picture of the nation emerges here—both as wicked and deserving judgement and as righteous and capable of entering into covenant with the chosen offspring (21:27, 32; 26:28). The Philistines also caused great hardship for Isaac in the controversies over the wells (vv.14-22).
v.24
That night the LORD appeared to him 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.”
For a third time, it is said that the Lord would bless Isaac (vv.2, 12). Like his father (12:7; 13:3-4), Isaac responded by building an altar and worshipping God.
v.34-35
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
Initially the short notice of Esau’s marriage to two Hittite women seems insignificant. But as an introduction to ch. 27, it casts quite a different light on the events of that chapter. Just before the account of the mischievous blessing of Jacob, we are told that Esau, from whom the blessing was stolen, had married Hittite women and that they were a source of grief to both Isaac and Rebekah. These verses, along with vv.29-34, form the background to the central event of ch. 27, the blessing of Jacob. These preliminary notices put into perspective the cunning deed of Jacob and Rebekah and demonstrate that Esau was not fit to inherit the blessing.