Study Desk

She said to the servant, "Who is that young man walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "That is my master's son." So Rebekah covered her face with her veil.

Then Isaac brought the girl into his mother's tent. Rebekah became his wife that day. Isaac loved her very much. So he was comforted after his mother's death.

Isaac's wife could not have children. So Isaac prayed to the Lord for her. The Lord heard Isaac's prayer, and he allowed Rebekah to become pregnant.

The first baby was red. His skin was like a hairy robe. So he was named Esau.

When the second baby was born, he was holding tightly to Esau's heel. So that baby was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born.

So Esau said to Jacob, "I am weak with hunger. Let me have some of that red soup." (That is why people call him "Red.")

Esau said, "I am almost dead with hunger, so what good are these rights to me now?"

But Jacob said, "First, promise me that you will give them to me." So Esau made an oath to him and sold his rights as the firstborn son to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil soup. Esau ate the food, had something to drink, and then left. So Esau showed that he did not care about his rights as the firstborn son.

Now there was a famine. This was like the famine that happened during Abraham's life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines.

So Isaac settled in Gerar.

His wife Rebekah was very beautiful. The men of that place asked Isaac about Rebekah. He said, "She is my sister." He was afraid to tell them Rebekah was his wife. He was afraid the men would kill him so that they could have her.

Abimelech called for Isaac and said, "This woman is your wife. Why did you tell us that she was your sister?" Isaac said to him, "I was afraid that you would kill me so that you could have her."

So Abimelech gave a warning to all the people. He said, "No one must hurt this man or this woman. If anyone hurts them, they will be killed."

So they destroyed all the wells that Isaac's father Abraham and his servants had dug many years before. They filled them with sand.

So Isaac left that place and camped near the little river of Gerar. He stayed there and lived.

Long before this time, Abraham had dug many wells. After he died, the Philistines filled the wells with sand. So Isaac went back and dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them.

But the men who herded sheep in the Valley of Gerar argued with Isaac's servants. They said, "This water is ours." So Isaac named that well Esek. He gave it that name because it was the place where they had argued with him.

Then Isaac's servants dug another well. But there was an argument over this well too. So Isaac named that well Sitnah.

Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one came to argue about this well. So Isaac named it Rehoboth. He said, "Now the Lord has found a place for us. We will grow and be successful in this place."