Messianic Education Trust
		Living in Exile     Toldot   (Gen 25:19 - 28:9)

B'resheet/Genesis 26:20   And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Yitz'khak to say, "The water is ours!"

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

Angst, angst, angst! Yitz'khak is right in the middle of it and can't seem to make a right move. There is a famine in the land of Canaan, but The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem has spoken to Yitz'khak and told him, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land which I point out to you" (B'resheet 26:2, NJPS). Yitz'khak is forbidden to do as his father did and leave - even on a temporary basis - the Land in order to seek food: "Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Avraham" (v. 3, NJPS). Yitz'khak is given a promise of provision, despite the famine, if he stays put, keeps the flag flying and holds on to the oath: this is the land which, by his presence, he is to hold within the assignment of HaShem, both for himself and for the future generations. What is a man to do? He holds fast and stays put! In fact, Yitz'khak remained a constant presence in the Land until his death, some years after his son Ya'akov had both been to and come back from Paddan Aram. In turn, Ya'akov will then remain in the Land until HaShem releases him to go to Egypt to fulfill His prediction to Avraham: "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years" (15:13, NJPS).

In the meantime, Yitz'khak rolls up his sleeves and sets about making a living for himself and his family in the region of Gerar where his father had also sojourned: "Avraham resided in the land of the Philistines a long time" (21:34, NJPS). First of all, he grows grain: "Yitz'khak sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold the same year" (26:12, NJPS) and experiences the blessing of HaShem. He becomes very wealthy and starts to attract the envy and distrust of his neighbours with his flocks and herds and the size of his household - the Who Is ...

The Rashbam: Rabbi Samuel ben Asher (1085-1174 CE), a grandson of Rashi; lived in Northern France; worked from the plain meaning of the Hebrew text even when this contradicted established rabbinic interpretaton
Rashbam says, "a large spread of fields and vineyards." Most of the Land was dry except during the few weeks of the rainy seasons, so his father Avraham had dug wells to water the livestock. Since the local people had been prevented by their king from attacking or harming Yitz'khak (v. 11), they turn to harassment and try to force him to leave by denying him access to water: "[they] stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with earth" (v. 15, NJPS). The Who Is ...

Sforno: Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (1470-1550 CE), Italian rabbi, philosopher and physician; born in Cesena, he went to Rome to study medicine; left in 1525 and after some years of travel, settled in Bologna where he founded a yeshiva which he conducted until his death
Sforno adds, "they stopped up the wells because of fear and hatred."

Even though Yitz'khak's household generates wealth in the local economy, employs local people, spends money and buys local products, he is a foreigner and must be stopped. To avoid growing hostility, the king steps in and tells Yitz'khak to leave, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us" (v. 16, NJPS). So Yitz'khak quietly picks up all his people and stuff and heads off to the nearby wadi or river valley, away from the Philistine settlements and their normal grazing range. Still in need of water, he and his servants re-dig the wells that Avraham had dug and named. Naming a well is an important step to claiming ownership; if you named it, it was yours: your well, your water. Yitz'khak uses his father's established names to make his ownership clear, but this still causes trouble; the Philistines don't want him anywhere in the neighbourhood.

Focusing a little more clearly upon the matter of naming the wells enables us to see another story running in the background. Bruce Waltke emphasises that "wells were given names to establish proprietary rights. By giving them the same names as his father had, Yitz'khak aims to make his [that is, Yitz'khak's] ownership incontestable."¹ In an oral culture, the name - the way of speaking about the well, with a name - makes it familiar; it makes it a part of every day life and affirms ownership and access rights. It is a claim to own a significant asset and part of infrastructure in the land. That explains why the Philistines stopped up Avraham's wells, as Leon Kass points out: "The wells that Avraham had dug during his sojourn there the Philistines had filled in with earth, not only blocking their life-giving water but also effacing Avraham's tacit claim to the land."² Make the well disappear, make the digger and owner disappear. Remove the name from everyday spoken vocabulary and remove the memory of the well itself. Yitz'khak stirs up tension when he tries to maintain his identity, the memory of his father and hence the land claim.

Digging one day, Yitz'khak's men find "a well of spring water" (v. 19, NJPS). Targum Onkelos changes the Hebrew מַיִם חַיִּים, mayim khayiym, "living water" to Aramaic מַיִּין נָבְעִין, mayiyn naviyn, "flowing water" to explain the metaphor: fresh, bubbling, flowing, water of life. Finding a well implies that rather than digging a new access shaft down to the water-table, they found - probably buried under rock and soil - an old well, lined with stone and fed by an underground stream. No sooner have they found it, though, than - as our text relates - the shepherds of Gerar and Yitz'khak's shepherds are fighting about who owns it. The Be'er BaSadeh sees a larger picture: "the Philistines quarreled with Yitz'khak - rather than, as our text has it, one group of shepherds arguing with another over the well, so simply competition over business or resources - as a matter of מְרִיבָה, merivah, a begrudging quarrel."³ Although they would surely appreciate the water for themselves, the real issue is that he - the one they are trying to get rid of - is still on the horizon and doing well. Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch too recognises the language: "the exact style which down the centuries has been used against the Jews in Galut/Exile - 'yes, you dug the well, the hole belongs to you, but the water is ours.'"

Not content when Yitz'khak - to avoid strife - moves away again, the Philistines follow him and argue over a second well. The Radak imagines Yitz'khak saying, "They quarrel with us wherever we dig." It takes yet another move further away, right outside the shared grazing land, and a third well before the Philistines give up, so Yitz'khak names that well רְחֹבוֹת, rekhovot, open spaces, saying "Now at last the LORD has granted us ample space to increase in the land" (v. 22, NJPS) - a "divine gift of land."⁴ The Who Is ...

Ramban: Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman Girondi or Nachmanides (born in Gerona, 1194; died in Israel 1270), Spanish rabbi, author and physician; defended Judaism in the Christian debates in Barcelona before making aliyah
Ramban suggests that this represents "the future Third Temple - may it be built speedily, in our own times! - which will be constructed without any quarreling or strife ... for all the nations will build the Third Temple and 'serve Him with one accord' (Zephaniah 3:9)." Nahum Sarna tells us that "this site is generally identified with the present Ruheibeh, about 19 miles south-west of Beer-sheba. To this day, there are several large wells of great antiquity in the area and traces of very early agricultural settlements."

Yitz'khak, clearly the outsider, the 'other', who has the temerity to work hard and succeed with agriculture in the face of the famine and against the expectations of the Philistines, must be a threat to the local people. He doesn't look quite like them, he doesn't speak the same language or - at least - not with the same dialect. He is a stranger in their land and doing better than they are. He must be taking their water or grazing; if they don't watch him carefully, he'll be taking their flocks and herds, their children and their land! This is the story of exiles throughout history. Never a part of the society in which they live, they are regarded with suspicion and concern even if there is no immediate pressure on resources, which of course there usually is.

Israel is frequently concerned for 'room' or 'space', Walter Brueggemann tells us: "That agenda reflects the awareness of people who have had no safe space. It is an abiding agenda for Israel, so often facing exile."⁵ Yet this is an issue which has also afflicted the disciples of Yeshua. Whilst Christendom has been fairly effective in building and maintaining often quite large physical spaces that it has named for its heroes and fore-runners, the followers of Yeshua - those who are serious about living in accordance with His instructions, being guided by the voice of the Spirit - have always found that there is little room or space for genuine discipleship. They have found themselves treated as exiles: out of place, speaking a different language, concerned with different values and calling for the kingdom of G-d rather than of man to be established. But Yeshua speaks directly to this; He tells the disciples that the Father is a G-d who gives space to His people.

As part of His teaching at the Last Supper, Yeshua encourages His disciples - them then, us now - to be firm in our belief in G-d: "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in G-d; believe also in Me" (John 14:1, ESV). Don't panic, He says, Father G-d has it all in hand; He knows what He is doing. He goes on: "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (v. 2, ESV). This is a place with your name, a place for you, He says; Yeshua is our well-spring, our fountain of living water and as He is named - "On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16, ESV) - so our names are known and treasured by Him. Our names have been written in His book, "in the Lamb's book of life" (21:27, ESV). Even though we are in exile now, our names will not be forgotten, the wells that we have dug will not be covered over and the kingdom that He has built in and through us will not be lost.

Yeshua promises - "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also" (v. 3, ESV) - that He will remember, that He will return; and that He will make good on His promise of space, safety and security, sitting at His feet. That is why He can add, "you know the way to where I am going" (v. 4). In their hearts, in our hearts, we know that He speaks the truth that all exiles need to hear: there will be a homecoming and a future. The kingdom of G-d will endure, will win out the victory over sin, death, the world and the devil. There will be wide open spaces, given by G-d, where we can drink deeply and everlastingly of the living water of His word and His grace. That is His promise and it is our hope in Yeshua!

1. - Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), page 370.

2. - Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 2003), page 387.

3. - Be'er BaSadeh, The Well in the Field is an elucidation or super-commentary on Rashi and Mizrachi, written by Rabbi Meir Binyamin Danon and published in Jerusalem by Yisroel Bak Press in 1846. It is also a popular Israeli folk song and dance.

4. - Terence Fretheim, "Genesis" in The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, Vol I, edited by Leander E. Keck, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), page 180.

5. - Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation, (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), page 225.

Further Study: Zechariah 8:1-6; John 12:24-26; Revelation 3:5-6

Application: Do you struggle with the confining space of life today? Ask the Great Surveyor to give you a glimpse of the wide open space that He has prepared for you and be inspired to start digging again to find more of the fresh, living water to share with those around you.

Comment - 13:20 02Dec24 FB: When we live in the Spirit, our lifestyle clashes with that of this world. But praise Yah, we have a sacred home space that Yeshua is preparing for us.

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© Jonathan Allen, 2024

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