He said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife
Isaac’s false expedient
I. THE TEMPTATION COMES AFTER A TIME OF GREAT BLESSING. We are wise and happy if we can use the time of great blessing so as to gather strength for future trials.
II. HE DID NOT THRUST HIMSELF IN THE WAY OF TEMPTATION. He was in the way of Providence and duty.
III. HE REPEATED THE SIN OF HIS FATHER, BUT INCURRED GREATER GUILT,
IV. THE TREATMENT HE RECEIVED PLACES HEATHEN VIRTUE IN A FAVOURABLE LIGHT.
V. HIS DELIVERANCE SHOWS THAT GOD PROTECTS HIS SAINTS FROM THE EVILS WHICH THEY BRING UPON THEMSELVES. (T. H. Leale.)
Isaac’s temptation and sin
Isaac had generally lived in solitude; but now he is called into company, and company becomes a snare. “The men of the place asked him of his wife.” These questions excited his apprehensions, and put him upon measures for self-preservation that involved him in sin. Observe--
1. He did not sin by thrusting himself into the way of temptation; for he was necessitated, and directed of God, to go to Gerar. Even the calls of necessity and duty may, if we be not on our watch, prove ensnaring; and if so, what must these situations be in which we have no call to be found?
2. The temptation of Isaac is the same as that which had overcome his father, and that in two instances. This rendered his conduct the greater sin. The falls of them that have gone before us are so many rocks on which others have split; and the recording of them is like placing buoys over them, for the security of future mariners.
3. It was a temptation that arose from the beauty of Rebekah. There is a vanity which attaches to all earthly good. Beauty has often been a snare both to those who possess it and to others. (A. Fuller.)
Isaac’s deceit
Here we have--
I. A. sin COMMITTED. Cowardly fear led to it, and fear kept it up. There are three faults in Isaac’s character exposed by it--
1. Cowardliness.
2. Selfishness.
3. Want of reliance on God.
II. A. sin DETECTED. Every sin will be some day found out.
III. A. sin REPROVED. Abimelech, although reproving Isaac, does so with great forbearance, and follows up his reproof with an act of great kindness. Learn:
1. Avoid deceit--“be sure your sin will find you out.”
2. Reprove sin with kindness; be merciful to those who err. (J. H. Smith.)