The Sons of Isaac(68)
Anatah, the king’s sister, had been bitterly disappointed that after the great sacrifice of her son, there had still been no rain. The days went by and then the weeks, and she had spent them in growing disillusionment. Gradually, she had begun to question her whole belief in the goddess. It was Isaac who was prospering. His God had given him a beautiful wife and two sons, and now it seemed to be his God who blessed him even in the midst of the famine.
On impulse she went to her brother’s apartments and confronted him. “Who is this God that Isaac worships?” she demanded.
Her brother had at first looked startled and then puzzled. “Why are you interested?” he asked.
“It’s evident that his God has blessed him. Even with my great sacrifice to the goddess, we have had no rain. She is either deaf or, worse yet, doesn’t even exist.”
Abimelech frowned and stood up. He tugged at his short beard as he began to walk back and forth across the floor. “Isaac and his father, Abraham,” he said, “believed in Elohim, the creator God. A God not made with hands. There was a time when our people too believed in that God. We called Him El.”
“It is that God, then, who has blessed Isaac.”
“You are right. The God of Abraham has blessed Isaac even in the midst of the famine. However, Isaac did deceive me about his wife. I cannot forgive him for that.”
“But he did it out of fear. You must admit, there have been times when husbands have been killed, even in Gerar, for their wives,” Anatah reminded him. “We must not forget that when he had grain he shared it with us, and he was always generous with his animals.”
Abimelech buried his face in his hands as he pondered what she said. It was all true. Isaac had been his friend. They had shared many good times together and he had to admit that while the goddess had miserably failed them, Isaac’s God had continued to bless him. “It is evident that I must go to Isaac and tell him all of this. We can be friends again.”
Abimelech was a man of action, and so the very next day he gathered his chief captain and some of his friends and started out up the Way of Shur to find Isaac’s camp and make things right with him.
* * *
Isaac had expected the worst as he prepared to greet the king and his men at the door of his tent. “Why have you come?” he challenged. “Everyone knows that you hate me and have caused me nothing but trouble.”
The king motioned for his chief adviser to speak. Ahuzzath stepped forward with a bow of reverence and kissed the hem of Isaac’s robe. “We have seen that the Lord is with you,” he said, “and we have come to make a covenant with you. Let there be an oath between us, that you will do us no hurt as we have not touched you but have done good things for you and have only sent you away in peace.”
Isaac was so astonished that he motioned for his servants to wash his guests’ feet and serve them dried fruit while he went aside to take counsel with his men.
“They have spoken falsely,” one old man said. “They have caused us nothing but heartache and trouble.”
“They did not send us away in peace as they say,” Esau said with a bitter tinge to his voice.
“They have seen that El Shaddai is blessing you and they are ready to make peace. This is the time to attack them and make them pay for all the trouble they have caused,” one of the young well diggers said with great feeling.
“They want peace only because they see that you are stronger than they are,” Jacob charged.
“Ah, but they are sincere in wanting peace,” Isaac said. “That is all I need to know. Revenge is expensive while peace is all we have ever wanted.”
“But … they deserve to be punished,” his men chorused in a harsh whisper.
Isaac raised his hands for silence. “Who are we to turn our backs on the gift of peace? This is an answer to our prayers.”
With that he turned and went back out to where the guests sat and welcomed them and urged them to rest for the night while he ordered a feast prepared in their honor.
Everything went well and the king was friendly as he had been in the past. In the morning they called witnesses together, not only of their men but of some men passing through with their caravans, and they swore an oath and made promises that they might have peace between them.
No sooner had they finished, and the king and his men were vanishing into the distance along the old caravan route leading back to Gerar, than Isaac’s well diggers appeared. They were streaked with mud so that their white teeth flashed in brilliant smiles as they set a leather bucket before Isaac.
“We have found water. Plenty of water,” they shouted as they dipped their hands in it up to the elbows and stood laughing and dripping, waiting for Isaac’s approval.