06.5.7. Isaac in the Philistines' Land
VII. -- ISAAC IN THE PHILISTINES’ LAND
HERE Isaac comes into collision with the Philistine, and the result is something like a repetition of Abraham’s conduct under the same circumstances. In the main the two scenes are alike, shewing the dangers which await the elect spirit when it leaves its own high ground to go down towards Egypt. The difference is that in Abraham we see the trial, as it meets us at the faith stage of our spiritual life. Isaac shews the same, when instead of faith the spirit of sonship and understanding is come and rules within us.
Now the Philistine, as we have already seen, represents that spirit which seeks by knowledge to enter into heavenly things. (Note: See on Genesis 20:1-18 and the notes there.) Unknown before the flood, such a mind too surely grows out of the evil nature which still lives in us after we are regenerate. This mind is the Philistine in us, who is left to prove, and does more than once severely prove, the true elect (Judges 3:1-4). For the ground of promise often tries us: most truly is it the "land of promise," not of attainment, or of perfect rest. If, then, in addition to the common trials of the way, extraordinary pressure comes, and the springs fail, and the fields wither, the temptation is strong to leave the ground of promise, to find on the ground of sense or worldly knowledge that which for a season the promise does not minister to us. Egypt holds out strong inducements to go there; and this not only in the days of Abraham, that is, at the stage when faith is our ruling life; but also in Isaac’s days, that is, when the spirit of sonship is come and is even fruitful in us.
Now "there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham" (Genesis 26:1). Pressed by this, Isaac moves towards Egypt, but stops or is stopped at Gerar in the Philistines’ land. "The Lord appeared, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: and I will be with thee, and I will bless thee, and to thee and to thy seed I will give all these countries; and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham, and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven; and I will give unto thy seed all these countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." But "Isaac dwells in Gerar" for awhile; and here each of his peculiar blessings is seriously imperilled through the Philistines; till pushed by them from place to place he returns again to Beersheba, where the Lord again appears to him, saying, "Fear not, for I am with thee." On this ground the Philistine takes his proper place, submitting to the elect’s superiority; after which Isaac finds fresh wells of water, beside which again he dwells in peace (Genesis 26:2-33).
All this is yet fulfilled in those who by grace have reached this stage of man’s development. After long enjoyment of Beer-Lahai-roi, and the good things of Canaan, comes a time of dearth and dryness. The soul is parched: the usual blessing is withheld. The ground of promise seems to yield us nothing. Then we think of the good things of sense, not dependent like the hills of promise upon the dews and rain of heaven, but, like Egypt, ever rich in itself, in its own abundant and apparently unfailing river. So we turn to go down thither. Once turned, a few steps bring us into the Philistines’ land, that is, the ground of worldly knowledge, -- a descent which can be effected only too easily. (Note: See on Genesis 20:1-18) Here the elect’s best blessings, first, intercourse with God, then possession of Rebekah, and lastly, provision sufficient for him, are each and all more or less affected, though spite of all failure Isaac by grace is not only sustained but even enriched here (Genesis 26:12). For the elect can gather much from science or knowledge, though mere knowledge cannot enter into spiritual things. The whole experience on this ground is here described, fulfilled in spirit in thousands who in their understanding are all but unconscious of it.
Intercourse with God is Isaac’s first blessing. "The Lord appeared to him, and said, Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee" (Genesis 26:3). This was the presence of the Lord, better than all His gifts. But this belongs to certain ground. In Egypt, nay among the Philistines, half way to Egypt, the elect cannot enjoy this. If Isaac walks with God, the Lord appears. Walking with Philistines, the Lord’s presence is unperceived by him. But no sooner does he come back to the old ground of promise, than heavenly revelations are at once again restored to him. So we read, "Isaac went up from thence to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared to him the same night; and Isaac builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord" (Genesis 26:23-25).
It is so still. The ground of promise often tries us, but conscious intercourse with the Lord is here abundantly enjoyed by us. Driven by trial we get off this ground, turning to sense; and we find, that though this or the other trial ceases, God’s revelations cease also. On the ground of promise, God is needed. To stand there, did not God interfere, would be far beyond our spirit’s powers. Our very need therefore calls out for God, and in the need He reveals Himself as He could not otherwise. But if, instead of this, trial is an excuse to leave the ground of promise, to take refuge either in sense or knowledge, though we reap the good things such ground can give us, for a season we lose the Lord’s better manifestations.
Isaac’s next blessing was Rebekah. In Gerar "Isaac said, She is my sister" (Genesis 26:7). He shrinks from owning his true relation to her, while the ground he takes subjects her to the risk of dreadful profanation. Very strange it seems that men like Abraham or Isaac should so lightly have imperilled what must have been most dear to them. Could we see into the world within, we should perceive how that truth, which is to us what Rebekah was to Isaac, is imperilled by us with just as little thought, with no more apparent remorse or inward self-condemnation. Our inward man, when pressed by dryness and dearth, forsakes the ground of promise, and seeks relief in mere knowledge. Then the truth we love, our Rebekah, is risked, through the mind in us, which by knowledge would enter heavenly things. But the truth may not be so known or embraced. The spirit of sonship, is that which alone may lay hold of spiritual truth. Mere knowledge would only pervert it. God therefore interferes to prevent such adulteration. We have already seen this at the faith stage. Here we learn that even when the spirit of sonship is come, we are still liable to the very same temptation. Grace, indeed, again averts a fall, but the elect cannot but be humbled as he reviews such stages of his pilgrimage.
Further, upon this ground Isaac’s more outward blessings, his "bread and his water," are the occasion of strife and envying. He sows, and the Philistines envy his fruits: he digs wells, and they labour to stop and fill them up (Genesis 26:12-15). Then he removes and digs again, but the herdsmen of Gerar still strive. He digs yet again, and the Philistines yet more strive with him. On the ground of knowledge the elect can never rest. He may reap much there; he may open living wells, "for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof" (Psalms 24:1); the fields of knowledge, therefore, the Philistines’ land, may be subdued, and much may be obtained thence; but on this ground there are disturbing thoughts withal, which can only be escaped by returning to the true ground of promise, where the Lord’s oath again comforts us. There Philistine herdsmen cannot come: (Note: As to these "herdsmen," see on Genesis 13:1-18.) there the restlessness of mere knowledge cannot trouble us. Beside "the well of the oath," we rest in peace. Here the Philistine in us submits himself, and takes his proper place. So we read, "Then Abimelech came to him, and said, We saw the Lord was with thee: let there now be an oath between us and thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt. And Isaac made them a feast, and they sware one to another, and they rose up and departed from him" (Genesis 26:23-31). Knowledge is rebuked, but no violence is offered to it. For the elect is now on ground where "the oppositions of knowledge, falsely so-called" (1 Timothy 6:20), (Note: The notes on Genesis 20:1-18 have already shewn the views of the Fathers as to the spiritual import of the "Philistine." I may add the following: Orig. Hom. xiv. in Gen. xxvi. He pursues the subject at considerable length.) cannot disquiet him.
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I have thus briefly traced this scene within. But the same thing is continually being re-enacted in the outward Church. Sons of God through trials leave their own high ground, seeking greater ease among those who without circumcision are reaching toward heavenly things; for sweet and blessed as the "well of vision" is, it does not exempt us from trials of faith, and other difficulties. Then the temptation is strong to descend to lower ground, to seek shelter in the things of sense, and in the ways of men of this world. (Note: Compare the scene, Genesis 20:1-18) There direct revelations cease: there the Church, and the truth which it embodies, is in danger of profanation; for worldly men, like Abimelech, and that with pure intentions, will seek carnally to know what, as worldlings, never can be theirs. Sons of God yet think too lightly of the shame and peril incurred here; but did not the Lord Himself most graciously interfere, such a course would bring only worse judgment upon the world, and disgrace on God’s children. Nevertheless on this ground bread is found, and wells are dug; though envy assails us for the one, while against the other there is open opposition. "The bread is my flesh: he that eateth me, even he shall live by me:" and again, "The water which I will give, shall be in you a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." Bread is the outward form of the word of truth: water is its quickening and refreshing spirit (John 7:38-39). The chief strife is ever for the waters. The "staff of bread" (Psalms 105:16) may be grudged, but it is not destroyed; but the waters are actually choked; Philistines, who never worked to dig wells, will gladly work to stop them. Out of the world we may dig as we please, and sweet and calm are the hours spent at the "well of the oath," or beside the "well of vision." There no envying hand mars the joy by fouling the spiritual stream. It is far otherwise when we are among Philistines. Philistine herdsmen count wells an evil: they are deep and dangerous pits: not only sheep, but men also, -- so they judge, -- may perish in them. Have not some souls, while pretending or attempting to dig for hidden fountains, hurt themselves or others by leading them, from the firm ground of the letter, into uncertain and slippery quagmires of mystic nonsense, or into dry depths which yielded no water? Some have slipped: the well is therefore to be stopped, and the stagnant pool preferred, lest some blind leader of the blind should fall into it. Who is there that in the faith of the "deep which coucheth beneath" (Deuteronomy 33:13), reckoning on a vein of living water, out of sight perhaps, but yet not far off from them that seek it, has dug below the surface, and brought into view the hidden streams of the Spirit’s pure and living waters, but has met with strife at the hand of Philistines for the waters, clear and refreshing though they be, which he has opened out. And the strife is from "herdsmen" who have charge of flocks, and who should know the value of living waters. But they know it not. And like the Scribes, they "take away the key:" they "neither enter themselves, and those who would enter in, they hinder" (Luke 11:52). (Note: Orig. Hom. xiii. in Gen. So also Gregory the Great, Moral. in Job, l. xvi. c. 18, § 23. Ambrose dwells on the spiritual import of each of the wells named here, De Isaac et Anima, c. iv. § 20-22.) Thus are the Isaacs troubled still, and God’s most precious gifts, given for our cleansing and refreshment, are made occasions of contention; so that such words as hatred and strife become, even in the mouths of the elect, almost synonymes for these pure wells of living waters, (Note: "Isaac called the name of the well Esek, or contention, because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called it Sitnah," or hatred. -- Genesis 26:20-21.) till they return from this low ground and communion with worldlings to the ground of promise where men of this world care not to come. There the Lord again appears in peace: the "well of the oath" is safe from the distractions which infest us among the men of this world. There the uncircumcised must see that God is with the pilgrim, and though they will not walk with him there, they cease to fight against him. He offers them a feast of fat things: they may grudge and strive with him; he will return them love for their hatred. Another age may shew yet other fulfilments, when the pilgrimage among the Gentiles being ended, the opposing world shall seek and find peace. Then shall the earth be glad, and the sons of God shall dwell by living waters where none can harass them. Lord, Thou only canst bring us to that rest. Bring us thither, whom Thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood. Amen.
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Such is Isaac’s course, that is the path and experience of the spirit of sonship in us; very different to the energies of faith, freed from the peculiar struggles which mark each stage of Abraham’s history; differing widely too from Jacob’s path, knowing nothing of that long toil for flocks and children in the far country; but coming in at once to rich blessing, as Abraham’s heir inheriting all faith’s good things; yet with its special blessings having special trials of its own, first mocked and laughed at, then called to be a sacrifice, to give up as an obedient son its own will in everything, to be even as a lamb appointed unto death, only in the act of perfect self-sacrifice to find deliverance; then, when fruitful, to be pained, at home by its own seed, abroad by seeing the living waters which faith had opened choked by aliens; such is the path; for there is no form of spiritual life which in its progress towards the perfect man must not be tried to the uttermost. The form of the trial varies with the growing form of the elect life, for that which tries us at first is not the trial of the riper and more advanced spirit; but a cross and trial there must be at every stage, to purify the elect from the hereditary evil which still so perseveringly cleaves to him. Many therefore are the inward groans and deaths, which must be passed through in the journey towards perfection. For as the vine draws its sap from the impure earth, and so yields a fluid fruit, first sour, then sweet, which, being crushed in the wine-press, is then turned into wine by fermentation, and thus by successive changes spiritualised and advanced into a more powerful and enduring form of being; so in the great change of man’s renewal unto God, the new life, growing out of and in part and for a season sustained by the defiled and earthly nature, is dissolved and purified by successive changes and ferments, till it is transformed and rectified into that which is immortal. But many stages are there in the labour, and many times does nature halt before this final rest. And often do we think the work is done, and the promised rest is come, while yet we are far indeed from seeing it. But it shall come at last to those who by grace yield themselves to God in everything.