Genesis 26:8

Abimelech … looked down … to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah: The Hebrew word for "caressing" is the same as the word used for Ishmael "mocking" Isaac (21:9). This Hebrew word is also related to the name Isaac (Hebrew yitskhaq). It is as if Isaac’s lack of faith made Abimelech look foolish and brought shame on Rebekah and on the great promise connected to Isaac’s name.

While Isaac was living in Gerar, he, like his father Abraham, told people that his wife was his sister. Some think this story repeats the accounts of Abraham’s deception (12:10–20; 20:1–18). But there are more differences than similarities. It is not surprising that a son repeated his father’s lie.

Genesis 26 shows, through many similar patterns, that God’s plan continued through Isaac. Even when Isaac put the covenant at risk, as Abraham had done, God prevented something terrible from happening and protected the marriage. God would bless Abraham’s descendants because of Abraham, but they still needed to trust God themselves to experience those blessings.

True faith in God's promises leads to a life without fear as one follows him. Fear, however, can put the blessing at risk and make a person’s faith seem empty.

This section pauses Jacob’s story to focus on Isaac. Isaac’s success and wealth in chapter 26 show that God’s blessing had passed to him (compare 25:11), even though he sometimes failed to trust God.