And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.
Isaac gave the well the name Shebah, and from that naming came the name of the city Beer-sheba, which continued in use down to the time in which the account was written. The naming stands at the close of the history in which famine carried Isaac into the land of the Philistines, where he received abundant blessing in that land. There he settled differences with the Philistines by willingly yielding more than justice required, and God blessed him in consequence, and this history stands shortly before the account of Esau's marriages.
It is part of the account of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, chosen to be the progenitor of the Seed. With Genesis 26 to 28 it belongs to the larger presentation of God's covenant renewed, Isaac's deception, Jacob's flight, and the vision of angels. Together those chapters teach the constancy of angel guardianship. The naming shows God working for Isaac because he refused to contend for his rights and committed his cause to God.
Isaac's history here is a model for missionary work. His faithful farming and family life gave his neighbors and their rulers opportunity to see that the Lord was with him.
Isaac gave the well the name Shebah, and from that naming came the name of the city Beer-sheba, which continued in use down to the time in which the account was written. The naming stands at the close of the history in which famine carried Isaac into the land of the Philistines, where he received abundant blessing in that land. There he settled differences with the Philistines by willingly yielding more than justice required, and God blessed him in consequence, and this history stands shortly before the account of Esau's marriages.
It is part of the account of God's providential dealings with Abraham's family, chosen to be the progenitor of the Seed. With Genesis 26 to 28 it belongs to the larger presentation of God's covenant renewed, Isaac's deception, Jacob's flight, and the vision of angels. Together those chapters teach the constancy of angel guardianship. The naming shows God working for Isaac because he refused to contend for his rights and committed his cause to God.
Isaac's history here is a model for missionary work. His faithful farming and family life gave his neighbors and their rulers opportunity to see that the Lord was with him.