So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. – Genesis 26:15

Today's Scripture Reading (August 24, 2021): Genesis 26

We live in a world that is increasingly vulnerable to cyberwarfare and cyberterrorism. The problem is that the very thing that makes our lives easier can also be attacked, compromising our convenience, but more importantly, also making our world much more dangerous. Ransomware attacks on utility delivery companies can endanger the very things that we depend on or expect to be part of our lives. There might not be a better way to attack someone in our modern world than to hit them where it hurts, making the commodities we use every day unavailable or our access to those goods and services unreliable. And trying to fix our cyber systems after an attack can be very expensive. It is also time-consuming to make the repairs, meaning that at least for a while, we have to do without the things on which we rely. And until we can fix it, we have to do without, making life a little less comfortable.

As Isaac moves south, in an attempt to escape famine, to Gerar and the land over which Abimelek ruled, he returns to the same area where his father Abraham had lived a generation earlier. At that time, Abraham had dug the wells he needed to live in the area. As Isaac returns to the same place, he finds the wells were still in good working order, which was a good thing because while wells were essential to life, they were also expensive and time-consuming to build. Using Abraham's wells meant that obtaining freshwater during a time of famine was one thing about which Isaac simply didn't need to worry.

But as tensions heat up as the famine grabs hold of the region, so does the conflict between the Philistines and Isaac's servants. In contemporary society, a cyberattack against the other side might have been a course of action that could be considered. It would increase the pain of the enemy without engaging in a physical war. But, of course, Isaac lived in a computerless world. Most conflicts seemed to end in a physical attack between combatants. But if that was not desirable, there were other ways to attack your enemy.

Maybe the counterpart of a modern cyberattack in the ancient world was to throw dirt in a well, plugging it up and making the well unusable. A stopped well had to be either repaired or rebuilt. Neither of these things could be done cheaply, and both took time, leaving the enemy inconvenienced for a while. The fact the Philistines had stopped up the wells that had remained functional since the days of Abraham indicated how severe the conflict had become between Isaac and the Philistines. The next step would likely be a war between the Philistines and Isaac, something in which neither Abimelek nor Isaac really wanted to participate.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 27