Genesis 21:32
Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba records the conclusion of the agreement about the well, after which Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host returned into the land of the Philistines, and Beer-sheba, an old camping-ground of Abraham meaning well of the oath, commemorated that agreement. The covenant was a mutual agreement, compact, or arrangement involving promises or conditions and a covenant of friendship confirmed by an oath, belonging to the class of covenants that are agreements rather than a divine covenant or a law commanded. Abraham made it with Abimelech, king of the Philistines, as an equal and as a sovereign, showing that he exercised independent authority in Canaan. It belongs to the account of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family as the chosen family, supporting the place of Isaac, the miraculous child of promise, in the line through which the promised Seed would come.
Historical Setting and Wording
The verse records the conclusion of the covenant at Beer-sheba, after which Abimelech rose up with Phichol the chief captain of his host and they returned into the land of the Philistines. Beer-sheba was an old camping-ground of Abraham, and its name, meaning well of the oath, commemorated the agreement made concerning the well there. The account belongs to the history of Abraham's family life, in which the unhappiness brought by polygamy is exemplified.
The covenant between Abraham and Abimelech was a mutual agreement, compact, or arrangement involving promises or conditions. It illustrates that the word covenant can refer to an agreement as well as to a law. Here it does not mean a divine covenant or a law, but belongs to the class of covenants that are agreements, distinct from promises called covenants and from a law commanded called a covenant.
The covenant was a covenant of friendship confirmed by an oath, made before Abraham reproved Abimelech about the wrong his servants had done him over a well. Abraham made it with Abimelech, king of the Philistines, as an equal and as a sovereign, showing that he exercised independent authority in Canaan. It was respected as long as Abraham lived, but after his death the Philistines stopped up the wells Abraham had dug.
Theological Meaning and Application
The covenant at Beer-sheba belongs to the larger account of Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, and it confirms the place of Isaac as the miraculous child of promise in the line through which the promised Seed would come. It falls within the record of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family as the chosen family through which that promised Seed would come. The timing of this history places Isaac in a period when he could converse with Shem for fifty years, which gave Abraham opportunity to pass on the divine truths he had learned.
The same history stands as an example of the unhappiness that polygamy brought into families. The covenant of friendship with Abimelech, confirmed by an oath, was made before Abraham reproved him about the wrong his servants had done over a well, and it shows that a small disagreement need not break a friendship, since meekness allows the matter to be discussed and settled without hostility. That covenant was respected as long as Abraham lived, but after his death the Philistines stopped up the wells Abraham had dug.