And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah his wife.
All Commentaries on Genesis 26:8 Go To Genesis 26
Clement Of Alexandria
AD 215
Isaac means “rejoicing.” The inquisitive king saw him playing with his wife and helpmate, Rebekah. The king (his name was Abimelech) represents, I believe, a wisdom above this world, looking down upon the mystery signified by such childlike playing. Rebekah means “submission.” Oh, what prudent playing! Rejoicing joined to submission, with the king as audience. The Spirit exults in such merrymaking in Christ, attended with submissiveness. This is in truth godly childlikeness …. It is possible to interpret the meaning of the inspired Word in still another sense: that it refers to our rejoicing and making merry because of our salvation, like Isaac’s. He rejoiced because he had been saved from death; that is why he played and rejoiced with his spouse, as we with our helpmate in salvation, the church. The church too has been given the reassuring name “submissive endurance,” either because its enduring continues for all eternity in unending joy or because it is formed of the submission of those who believe: of us who are the members of Christ. The testimony given by those who have submissively endured until the end, and their gratitude as well, is a mystical playing; the helpmate of this holy gladness of heart is salvation. The king is Christ, looking down from above on our rejoicing and “peering through the door,” as Scripture says, on our gratitude and benediction that works in us joy and cheerfulness with submission. .
