22 Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do; 23 now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.” 24 Abraham said, “I swear it.” 25 But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. 26And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.”
27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. 28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” 30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.
This is not a fun lesson for me right now, but here it is. God had been with Abraham in everything he did, and Abimelech knew it. Abimelech wanted to make sure that Abraham had no cause to be angry with him, and Abraham brought up the well that Abimelech’s servants had seized. Even though Abraham had been wronged, and had every right to simply demand the well back, he offers Abimelech seven ewe lambs to be the price of the well, and guarantee that they belonged to Abraham. Sometimes, we are completely within our rights to make a demand, but making demands often goes ill in the long run. We may have to make a sacrifice to get what belongs to us. We may have to compromise, even when we don’t think it should be necessary. I really don’t want to hear that right now, but that’s the only thing I can get out of this passage.