a heel · noun, common masculine singular construct
Abraham
אַבְרָהָ֖ם'av.ra.Ham
H85
Abraham · proper noun, a man's name
obeyed
שָׁמַ֥עsha.Ma'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
voice
בְּקֹלִ֑יbe.ko.Li
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
kept
וַיִּשְׁמֹר֙vai.yish.Mor
H8104
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
charge
מִשְׁמַרְתִּ֔יmish.mar.Ti
H4931
watch · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
commandments
מִצְוֹתַ֖יmitz.vo.Tai
H4687
a command · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
statutes
חֻקּוֹתַ֥יchu.ko.Tai
H2708
an enactment · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
laws
וְתוֹרֹתָֽיve.to.ro.Tai
H8451
a precept or statute · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Genesis 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
Psalms 112:1-2 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not k…
Psalms 128:1-6 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:1-5
Here, I. God tried Isaac by his providence. Isaac had been trained up in a believing dependence upon the divine grant of the land of Canaan to him and his heirs; yet now there is a famine in the land, Gen 26:1. What shall he think of the promise when the promised land will not find him bread? Is such a grant worth accepting, upon such terms, and after so long a time? Yes, Isaac will still cleave to the covenant; and the less valuable Canaan in itself seems to be the better he is taught to value it, 1. As a token of God's everlasting kindness to him; and, 2. As a type of heaven's everlasting blessedness. Note, The intrinsic worth of God's promises cannot be lessened in a believer's eye by any…
Abraham obeyed my voice - מימרי meimeri, my Word. See Gen 15:1.
My charge - משמרתי mishmarti, from שמר shamar, he kept, observed, etc., the ordinances or appointments of God. These were always of two kinds:
1. Such as tended to promote moral improvement, the increase of piety, the improvement of the age, etc. And
2. Such as were typical of the promised seed, and the salvation which was to come by him.
For commandments, statutes, etc., the reader is particularly desired to refer to Lev 16:15, etc., where these things are all explained in the alphabetical order of the Hebrew words.
John Gill on Genesis 26:5
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice,.... In all things, and particularly in offering up his son at his command:
and kept my charge; whatever was given him in charge to observe; this, as Aben Ezra thinks, is the general, of which the particulars follow:
my commandments, my statutes, and my laws; whether moral, ceremonial, or civil and judicial; all and everyone which God enjoined him, he was careful to observe. Here seems to be something wanting, for the words are not to be joined with the preceding, as if Abraham's obedience was the cause of the above promises made to Isaac, or to himself: but this is mentioned rather as an example to Isaac, and to stir him up to do the like, as if it was…
Isaac is a patriarch who had no second wife, nor any concubine, but was content with the twins who were the fruit of a single intercourse. He too had the same fears as his father of the perilous beauty of his wife when he lived among strangers, and he too called her sister without a word about her being his wife, since in fact she was nearly related on the paternal and the maternal side. And Rebekah too was safe, once it was known that she was his wife. Not, however, that we should esteem him higher than his father for knowing no woman other than his single wife; undoubtedly the merits of his father's faith and obedience were so much greater that it was because of the father that God was so good to the son.
But what is the meaning of "for the reason that he obeyed my voice and kept my commands, my orders, and my judgments"? I said to Abraham, "Go forth from your country and your kindred, onward to a land that I will show you." He left what he had and set off for an uncertain goal. He did not dally or delay; instead, with complete enthusiasm, Abraham obeyed my call and carried out my commands. In turn I promised him things beyond nature and, despite his despair on the score of age and the unsuitability for childbearing on the part of himself and your mother, he heard from me that his descendants would develop into such a great number as to fill the whole land. Yet he did not become deranged in mind or lose faith. Hence it was reckoned as righteousness in Abraham to trust in my power and have confidence in my promises.…After your birth your mother was ill disposed toward her maidservant's child Ishmael and wanted to drive him out of the house with Hagar so that he should have nothing in common with you. The patriarch had some natural inclination toward him out of his fatherly affection; but when he heard from me, "Do what Sarah wants," he ignored his natural affection and drove out Ishmael along with the maidservant, obeying my call and keeping my commands in every detail. I mean, when he received the ultimate command from me to offer up as a sacrifice the son he so much desired, the gift of his old age, Abraham did not pry into the reasons. Neither was he disturbed in his thinking; nor did he betray the news to your mother or reveal to you what was about to be done by him. Instead, with steadfast resolve and heightened zeal, he pressed ahead to put my command into effect. So I rewarded his intention by preventing the execution of the deed. Since, then, he had in everything given evidence of complete obedience and observance of my commands, consequently I am making you, his child, the inheritor of the promises made to him. So imitate his obedience, and believe my words so as to be found worthy of a manifold reward for your father's virtue and also for your own obedience. Don't go down into Egypt; rather, stay here. Do you see God's loving kindness in strengthening Isaac's resolve through the memory of his father's virtue?
Dictionary and topics
Abimelech — My father a king, or father of a king, a common name of the Philistine kings, as “Pharaoh” was of the Egyptian kings. (1.) The Philistine king of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. 20:1-18). By an…
Isaac · .Abrahamic covenant confirmed in — .Abrahamic covenant confirmed in
Jews, The · Promises respecting made to: Isaac — Promises respecting made to: Isaac
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Genesis 26:5-6
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice. Moses does not mean that Abraham's obedience was the reason why the promise of God was confirmed and ratified to him; but from what has been said before, (Genesis 22:18,) where we have a similar expression, we learn, that what God freely bestows upon the faithful is sometimes, beyond their desert, ascribed to themselves; that they, knowing their intention to be approved by the Lord, may the more ardently addict and devote themselves entirely to his service: so he now commends the obedience of Abraham, in order that Isaac may be stimulated to an imitation of his example. And although laws, statutes, rites, precepts, and ceremonies, had not yet been writte…
Renewal of the Promise. - A famine "in the land" (i.e., Canaan, to which he had therefore returned from Hagar's well; Gen 25:11), compelled Isaac to leave Canaan, as it had done Abraham before. Abraham went to Egypt, where his wife was exposed to danger, from which she could only be rescued by the direct interposition of God. Isaac also intended to go there, but on the way, viz., in Gerar, he received instruction through a divine manifestation that he was to remain there. As he was the seed to whom the land of Canaan was promised, he was directed not to leave it. To this end Jehovah assured him of the fulfilment of all the promises made to Abraham on oath, with express reference to His oath…
The Lord assured Isaac that the covenant promises (cp. 12:2-3; 15:5-8; 17:3-8; 22:15-18; 28:13-14) would pass to him because Abraham faithfully listened to God and obeyed all his requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions. These terms were later used in Deuteronomy to describe God’s full legal covenant with Israel. An Israelite reader would immediately think of the complete Torah when hearing these words and be prompted to obey God’s law as Abraham did, though Abraham had only a few commands from the Lord. Through these words, the text emphasizes that Abraham would have obeyed the later commands if he had had them, because he was an obedient servant of the Lord.