Genesis 26:32

Gen 26:32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.

Ver. 32. We have found water.] As crosses, so mercies, seldom come single, but by troops; as she said, when her son Gad was born, "A company cometh". {Gen 30:11}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. And it came to pass the same day. Hence it appears, (as I have said a little before,) that the waters were not found in a moment of time. If it be asked, whence a supply of water had been obtained for his cattle and his household during the intervening days, I doubt not, indeed, that he either bought it, or was compelled to go to a distance to see if any one would be found from whom he might obtain it by entreaty. With respect to the name, (Sheba,) they are mistaken, in my judgment, who deem it to be any other than that which Abraham had first given to the well. For since the Hebrew word is ambiguous, Abraham alluded to the covenant which he had struck with the king of Gerar; but now Isaac recalling this ancient memorial to mind, joins with it the covenant in which he had himself engaged.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(32) We have found water.—As there are two wells at Beer-sheba, it is uncertain whether this was Abraham’s well, re-opened by Isaac (see Gen_26:25), or a new one.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Esau was forty years old,.... The same age his father was of when he married, Gen 25:20,

when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite; Josephus (m) makes her to be the same with Aholibamah; but her father's name was Zibeon, and an Hivite, and must therefore be another person, not only the name being different, but the tribe, Gen 36:2,

and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; whom Aben Ezra takes to be the same with Adah, and so does Josephus; and in this they may be right, since the name of her father, and his nation or tribe, agree, Gen 36:2. The fathers of these two women are represented by Josephus as men of great power and authority among the Canaanites, as very probably they were. Esau had another wife of the same name with this last, but she was daughter of Ishmael, and sister of Nebajoth, Gen 36:3; for he had more wives than those; these were his two first, who very probably were not taken together, but one after another, though it may be but at a short distance from each other.

(m) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 18. sect. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And it came to pass the same day (i.e. the day of the treaty), that Isaac"s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, the operation of sinking this well had probably commenced on the day of Abimelech s arrival at Beersheba (vide ver. 25). Almost immediately on the king"s departure the well-diggers returned to the patriarch"s encampment to report the success of their operationsand said unto him, We have found water. The LXX, mistaking wOl, to him, for alo, not, read, "We have not found water;" the incorrectness of which is sufficiently declared by what follows.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He called the well Shibah

"So he called the well Shibah." Translators may add a footnote that says "The name Shibah sounds like the word that means 'oath.'" (See: How to Translate Names)

Beersheba

Translators may add a footnote saying "Beersheba can mean either "well of the oath" or "well of seven." (See note on Genesis 21:32)

translationWords

servant

cistern

Beersheba

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

AND ISAAC’s SERVANTS CAME AND TOLD HIM CONCERNING THE WELL WHICH THEY HAD DIGGED. This is the same well mentioned above in the verse, And there Isaac’s servants digged a well. They had begun to dig it, and Abimelech came to him during that period, and on the day of the making of the covenant, when Abimelech and his retinue had left, Isaac’s servants brought him the tidings that they had found water.It appears feasible to me that this is the same well which Abraham dug, in connection with which he gave Abimelech seven lambs as a witness [to his ownership of the well]. The Philistines, however, stopped it together with the other wells, whereupon Isaac dug it again and called it by the same name which his father had called it. It is for this reason that the name of the city is Beer-sheba: on account of the well (be’er) which both the father and the son called by that name because there they swore both of them., Verse 31. The verse there refers to Abraham and Abimelech. Ramban uses it here only as an expression to indicate that both Abraham and Isaac called the same well by the same name and both had occasion to swear over it. The name of the city “Beer-sheba” thus derives its historical significance from both the first patriarch and his son.This well of theirs alludes to the Tabernacle at Shiloh, which the Philistines stopped when the Ark of G-d was taken captive by them. And they redug it, indicating that the Philistines indeed returned the Ark together with the honorary gift to G-d., 6:11.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויהי ביום ההוא, before Avimelech and his entourage had departed. This was deliberately timed by G’d to demonstrate to Avimelech the extent of Yitzchok’s success so that they would remain in awe of him.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.