Genesis 26:11-16: a reflection

11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” 12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him. 13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

When God blesses Isaac in the land of the Philistines, so that he sows and reaps a hundredfold and grows very great, the response of those around him is not gladness but envy. The Philistines envied him, the account says; and out of that envy they stopped up the wells his father had dug, filling them with earth, and finally asked him to leave. Isaac's blessing, his prosperity, provoked their envy, and their envy drove them to harm him, to undo his good, to resent and oppose what God had given him. Envy is a destructive thing: it cannot bear another's good, and moves to spoil it. The Philistines could not rejoice in Isaac's blessing; they resented it, and their resentment turned to harm. Envy resents the good of others and moves to destroy it; it is a corrosive and destructive thing that spoils what it cannot bear to see prosper.

Notice what envy did in the Philistines: it turned Isaac's blessing into a cause of resentment and harm. They could have rejoiced in a neighbor's prosperity, or at least left it alone; but envy could not bear it. They resented Isaac's blessing, and their resentment moved them to spoil it, stopping up his wells, opposing him, driving him out. This is the destructive nature of envy: it cannot rejoice in another's good but resents it, and moves to undo it. Envy poisons the heart against the prospering of others and drives us to harm what we cannot bear to see flourish. It is a corrosive thing, destructive both of others and of the envious heart itself. Where love would rejoice in another's good, envy resents it; where generosity would bless, envy seeks to spoil. To harbor envy is to nurse a resentment of others' good that will move us to harm. Envy is a poison we do well to root out of our hearts.

That is worth taking to heart, for envy is destructive, resenting another's good and moving to spoil it, and we must guard our hearts against it. We can find envy rising in us at another's blessing or success, resenting their good rather than rejoicing in it, even moved to undo or oppose it, as the Philistines envied Isaac and stopped up his wells. But envy is a destructive thing, a poison that resents what it cannot bear to see prosper. There is wisdom in rooting envy out of our hearts, learning to rejoice in others' good rather than resent it. Do not harbor envy at another's blessing, which resents their good and moves to spoil it; root it out, as the Philistines' envy of Isaac warns. Guard your heart against envy, which resents another's good and moves to spoil it, as the Philistines envied Isaac's blessing and stopped up his wells out of resentment; for envy is a corrosive and destructive thing that cannot rejoice in another's prosperity but moves to undo it, poisoning both the one it targets and the envious heart itself, so that we do well to root it out and learn to rejoice in the good of others rather than resent it.

Lord, when you bless Isaac in the land of the Philistines, so that he sows and reaps a hundredfold and grows very great, the response of those around him is not gladness but envy. The Philistines envied him, the account says; and out of that envy they stopped up the wells his father had dug, filling them with earth, and finally asked him to leave. Isaac's blessing, his prosperity, provoked their envy, and their envy drove them to harm him, to undo his good. Envy is a destructive thing: it cannot bear another's good, and moves to spoil it. Show me what envy did in the Philistines: it turned Isaac's blessing into a cause of resentment and harm. They could have rejoiced in a neighbor's prosperity, or at least left it alone; but envy could not bear it. They resented Isaac's blessing, and their resentment moved them to spoil it. This is the destructive nature of envy: it cannot rejoice in another's good but resents it, and moves to undo it. Envy poisons the heart against the prospering of others. Where love would rejoice in another's good, envy resents it. Take that to my heart, for envy is destructive, resenting another's good and moving to spoil it, and I must guard my heart against it. I can find envy rising in me at another's blessing or success, resenting their good rather than rejoicing in it, as the Philistines envied Isaac. But envy is a destructive thing, a poison. There is wisdom in rooting it out of my heart. Keep me from harboring envy at another's blessing, which resents their good and moves to spoil it; help me root it out, Lord, as the Philistines' envy of Isaac warns, and learn to rejoice in the good of others rather than resent it.