Abimelech again testified to God"s blessing of Isaac and gave God glory ( Genesis 26:28-29). [source][source][source]
Isaac and Abimelech made a parity covenant of mutual non-aggression. They sealed it by eating a meal together. Eating together was often a sacred rite in the ancient Near East. This covenant renewed the older one made between Abimelech and Abraham ( Genesis 21:31). The exchange of oaths and Isaac"s naming the town Beersheba again (cf. Genesis 21:31) also strengthened this agreement. [source][source][source]
". . . this account of Isaac"s dealings with the Philistines portrays Isaac as very much walking in his father"s footsteps. He receives similar promises, faces similar tests, fails similarly, but eventually triumphs in like fashion. Indeed, in certain respects he is given more in the promises and achieves more. He is promised "all these lands [1]," and by the end of the story he is securely settled in Beersheba and has a treaty with the Philistines in which they acknowledge his superiority." [2][source]
God"s people must maintain confident trust in God"s promise of His presence and provision in spite of the envy and hostility of unbelievers that His blessing sometimes provokes. [source][source][source]