I am trying to write a children’s book for my nephew based on the account of the Old Testament figure who had his servants dig numerous wells which were taken by the heathens until finally, he dug one they didn’t take.\u00a0 Can you help me find the story and who it was about?\u00a0 I think maybe it was Lot?<\/p>\n\t
Genesis<\/a>\u00a0in the chapter titled “Jacob and Esau<\/a>.”<\/p>\n The following is taken from that lesson:<\/p>\n That year, Isaac’s crops returned a hundred-fold. He prospered so well that his Philistine neighbors became jealous of Isaac. The people plugged up Isaac’s wells to force him to move away. Abimelech, too, asks Isaac to leave. Perhaps he felt he could no longer protect Isaac, or perhaps he too felt that Isaac was becoming wealthy at the expense of his own people.<\/p>\n Isaac could have stayed. There was an earlier agreement between the kings of Gerar and Abraham, which allowed Abraham and his descendants to use the wells and reside in the area (Genesis 20:15). However, Isaac chooses to move on.<\/p>\n Isaac moves further east and reopens some of Abraham’s wells. However, the Philistines laid claim to the water, even though the wells were unused and had been filled in. Isaac names the well “Quarrel Well” and moves further east.<\/p>\n Here Isaac and his men dig a new well at the second spot, but the same thing happens. The Philistines claimed the water was theirs. So, Isaac names the well “Hatred Well” and moves further to the east. At the third location, no one bothers Isaac or lays claim to the well he had dug. He names this well “Well of Ample Room.”<\/p>\n Sometime later, Isaac moves back to Beersheba. God appears to Isaac again and reaffirms His covenant with Abraham. In tribute, Isaac builds an altar to God at that place and digs another well near it. This is the only altar the Scriptures mention that Isaac built. From this we conclude that Isaac is more material-minded than his father Abraham. As Abraham moves, we find the first thing he frequently does is to build an altar. When Isaac moves, the first thing that is mentioned is that Isaac digs a well.<\/p>\n After Isaac settles in at Beersheba — a long distance from Gerar — Abimelech and his captain visit Isaac to make peace. Isaac is too rich and powerful to leave as an enemy encamped on the borders of Gerar. This is especially true when it is obvious that God is on Isaac’s side. Once again, an oath is made on this spot. The name Beersheba means “the well of the oath.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am trying to write a children’s book for my nephew based on the account of the Old Testament figure who had his servants dig numerous wells which were taken by the heathens until finally, he dug one they didn’t take.\u00a0 Can you help me find the story and who it was about?\u00a0 I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[24,696],"class_list":["post-4019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-isaac","tag-wells"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":410,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/410-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":0},"title":"How were Isaac and Jacob blessed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How were Isaac and Jacob blessed? Answer: In the times of the Old Testament children could inherit two things from their parents: property and a blessing. If your parents had three children, then on their death their property was divided four ways (one more than the number of living\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5177,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-jesus-created-since-he-is-the-firstborn-of-creation\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":1},"title":"Was Jesus created since he is the firstborn of creation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Throughout the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and Jesus are mentioned. For clarity, I wanted to know if the Holy Spirit and Jesus were created by God or were they ever in existence. Many people use the analogy that all three are of one body, but the Bible says that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8720,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-birthright-and-a-blessing-as-in-the-story-of-esau-and-jacob\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":2},"title":"What is the difference between a birthright and a blessing as in the story of Esau and Jacob?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the difference between a birth right and a blessing as in the story of Esau and Jacob? Answer: Birthright: A birthright referred to a person's inheritance. For most of the world's history, the firstborn child of a family would receive an extra inheritance from his father. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92741,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-isaac-want-to-bless-esau\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":3},"title":"Why did Isaac want to bless Esau?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey there. Regarding Genesis 27. Why does Isaac intend to bless Esau when the prophetic voice had already declared, \"The older shall serve the younger\" (Genesis 25:23)? Also, why does Isaac twice indicate that he suspects that Jacob is pulling a trick on him, yet does nothing? It seems\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29388,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-mahalath-a-canaanite-and-did-esau-marry-her-to-get-back-at-his-father-isaac\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":4},"title":"Was Mahalath a Canaanite and did Esau marry her to get back at his father, Isaac?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Mahalath a Canaanite and did Esau marry her to get back at his father, Isaac? Answer: \"When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93028,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/beware-the-hands-of-esau\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":5},"title":"Beware the Hands of Esau","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by William V. Beasley via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 3, September 1993 Rebekah and Jacob conspired to deceive Isaac and, thereby, to obtain the blessing intended for Esau (Genesis 27:1-29). God has never tried to whitewash the character of those who serve Him; He presents the bad along with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}