(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. So he called its name Sitnah. He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. So he called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” He went up from there to Beersheba.”
(Genesis 26:21-23)
Strife wasn’t worth engaging in to Isaac. It formed the basis of most of his behaviours. He went with the flow, looking to the Lord to provide – a lesson he learned alongside his father Abraham (Genesis 22:8-14). Every time the Philistines demanded use of the wells Isaac was re-opening, he gave it to them and moved on. He kept doing that until they stopped fussing at him. Strife wasn’t worth it. There was always another well he could dig. Remember, Isaac was greater than they were. He COULD have fought and won. But he chose peace over strife every time.
‘Sitnah’ means hostility or hatred. ‘Rehoboth’ means broad places or room.
Beersheba was the location of the well that Abraham had paid Abimelech lambs for to guarantee he had access to it (Genesis 21:25-42). God made room for Isaac and Isaac centred his camp on a well that they had an existing covenant over. ‘Beersheba’ means well of the oath. Isaac chose a place where they had already won a victory to avoid needing to fight for another one.
The sage Chizkuni writes: ‘ויקרא שמה שטנה, “he named that well: “hatred.” We must not understand the name of this well as reflecting the same sentiments as the previous well he had dug, as at that time the name עשק, “dispute,” reflected that he gave the Philistines the benefit of the doubt when they claimed that the waters that came out of that well had previously flowed in their river. When they disputed his right to the second well, he became convinced that their arguments were malicious and not based on a legitimate claim. ויעל משם באר שבע, “he moved uphill from there to B’eer Sheva. This was the B’eer Sheva where his father had stayed for many years, which is not far from Chevron.’
The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 23 & 24 ויעל. Up till then the hostility of the Philistines had forced him into the isolation, which perhaps, as the son of Abraham, he ought to have sought of his own freewill. Similar to the isolation of the ghettos into which hatred and jealousy of the Jews forced his descendants for centuries. Until then God had not appeared to him again had not assured him again of His Protection, had allowed the jealousy and hostility against him to be unhindered, and to work its effect on him. Perhaps it might even have been salutary to have forcibly driven the son of Abraham out of the possibility of sinking into the business activity of acquiring riches and high standing amongst men. Only now when he (V. 22) could believe he could remain in the country and be able to thrive further there, and now, of his own freewill moves up to the old isolation where once his cradle had stood, where he had spent his childhood with his father, and where his father had lived and achieved his great spiritual mission (Ch. XXI. 33) — only then did God appear to him, assure him of His protection and blessing, tell him that He is still the old God of his father Abraham, Who will protect and bless him in the same way, and all this for the sake of his father, whom He — as never again anywhere else — calls “עבדי״, and with this name, the son is told everything that is expected from him too. And as he at once built an altar there and raised up the spiritual standard of the “profession” of Abraham, and pitched his tent there without first examining the nature of the soil or making sure that water was there in sufficient quantity, everything came to him by itself. His men found water at their first attempt, and the king who had sent him away, seeks him out in his retirement with every show of respect and honour — all things for which hitherto he had struggled under annoyances in, vain.’
Leave a Reply