A26 Isaac Lives At Gerar Poem by Simple Simon

There was a famine,
Besides the earlier one
During Abraham's time,
That came a second time.

But the Lord appeared,
Before Isaac and said,
'Do not go to Egypt;
For you, it will not suit.'

'Do not leave this land.
This was my command,
What I gave to Abraham.
In this land, I had kept him.'

'My all commands and laws,
He obeyed with no flaws;
So, My promises to him,
I'll maintain for all time.'

'Live here. I'm with you.
This terrain I give you.
And descendants aplenty,
As many as the stars in sky.'

Isaac obeyed God's command,
And stayed at Gerar's land.
Men asked about his wife there.
He told that she was his sister.

The King saw from window above,
Isaac and Rebecca in love.
He sent for Isaac and then asked,
'When she's your wife, why have you lied? '

With respect, Isaac replied,
'The truth if I had told,
I was almost afraid,
I would have been killed.'

The King reprimanded him
'You’ve done what harm!
You’ve risked your wife,
Just to save your life? '

The king warned, 'Anyone,
Whoever ill-treats this man,
And his wife, will be punished;
By death, he'll be finished.'

Seeds in his land, Isaac sowed.
The merciful Lord bestowed
A hundred times of what was sown.
So much grain had grown!

A very rich man, he became,
People were jealous of him.
Abraham's wells, they closed.
In many ways, he was teased.

The king said, 'Powerful you are
Now, more than what we are.
Better leave this country,
With your people early.'

Isaac moved to Gerar Valley,
And stayed there with his family.
He dug the closed wells once again,
As his father's dutiful son.

In the valley, about a well,
There arose a severe quarrel.
The Gerar's Shepherds claimed
That it lay in their grazing land.

Isaac named that well
And called it as 'Quarrel.'
The next one disputed,
As 'Enmity', he named.

The third one was dug up.
For that no dispute came up.
As 'Freedom', he named it.
Thus, it became God's gift.

The King Abimelech came
To meet Isaac this time.
'What for have you come? '
Isaac politely asked him.

The king replied, 'As God is with you,
I make an agreement with you.
In peace, we'll live on either side.
And without harm, we’ll reside.'

Isaac honored them with a feast.
O’er the night, they took good rest.
Next day morning, a vow they took,
'In any fight to ne'er partake.'

Another new well came.
As 'Vow', he gave its name,
To honor this great occasion,
That gave a permanent solution.

Esau's Foreign wives

When Esau was forty years old,
Two Hittite girls, he had married.
Life for Rebecca, Isaac was
Miserable because of the girls