A Prophet's Eye-View Of Bible History"

This period of history covers the lives of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We already covered the first two (Noah and Abraham) in previous lessons. This lesson will look at Isaac's life.

Isaac

Isaac was born when his mother was 90 years old and his father 100. His first recorded experience with God was rather dramatic and occurred when he was a boy -- we are not sure of the exact age but maybe 10 or 11 years old. This is when his father took him along to a special sacrifice to God. Isaac traveled three days journey with his father on the back of a donkey. When they got to the base of the mountain, they left their two servants at the base camp and started up the mountain. Isaac carried the wood while his father carried the fire and knife. Apparently he was no stranger to sacrifices because he noticed that they had left a very important part of the sacrifice behind -- the lamb! And his father only said, "God will provide the lamb." I imagine Isaac kept one eye on the bushes as they walked up the path, looking for the lamb that God was going to provide.

It must have been a shock to him when his father bound his arms and legs and laid him on the altar. Isaac had probably been told the story of his miraculous conception over and over again, he probably knew he was a miracle child. And suddenly his young life was about to be taken away from him by the very God who miraculously caused him to be born. I wonder what was going through his mind as his father raised the knife, about to kill him?

Suddenly an angel called out to his father and spared his life. God provided a ram (not a lamb) as the sacrifice and he walked down the mountain with his father. I am guessing that Isaac was forever changed by that experience, that he had a sense of destiny on his life, and maybe a sense that he was living for God and not just for himself.

The next major event in Isaac's life took place maybe 26 or 27 years later. His mother died when he was about 37. Isaac was very close to his mother and took her death very hard. He grieved for over three years and only stopped grieving for his mother when his father found him a beautiful young wife and he got married. Even the story of how God provided his wife, Rebekah, is quite miraculous. It is filled with multiple "divine coincidences" and can be found in Genesis chapter 24.

As it turned out, Rebekah was barren. (That is not too surprising, since she is related to Sarah, who had also been barren. Isn't it amazing that the women who God selected to be the mother's of the nation of Israel were both barren?) There is no doubt that Abraham taught Isaac about the promises and covenant that God had made with him. He knew he was destined to help father the great nation that God had promised would come through Abraham's linage. And yet he remained childless.

Isaac spent 20 years praying to God for a son before God answered that prayer. When he was 60 years old, God finally gave him twins -- Jacob and Esau. The boys were as different as day and night. Esau was an outdoorsman, a hunter. But Jacob was a "mama's boy" and a bit of a manipulator. Isaac really spent time with and favored one son, Esau. And Rebekah favored the other. This seemed to cause some tension between the boys.

Isaac's dad, Abraham, died when he was 175. Isaac had an older half-brother named Ishmael, who had been exiled from the family just after Isaac was born. Ishmael grew up in the desert. But apparently the boys kept in some sort of touch. When Abraham died, he was buried by both of his sons (Gen 25:9). After their dad's funeral, Ishmael sort of dropped out of the story. The bible mentions Ishmael had sons and that he was 137 years old when he died. It also mentions that his sons lived in hostility towards all of their brothers. So it sounds like Isaac and Ishmael's relationship was, at best, distant and strained.

Good family relationships seemed to be a serious weakness in this entire family line. First there was the conflict between Sarah and Hagar. Then there was a conflict between the two half-brothers, Ishmael and Isaac that started when Ishmael mocked his baby brother and was "exiled" from the family. Then there were strained relationships between Isaac and Jacob because Isaac as a father strongly favored one son over the other. And there was the strained relationship between Jacob and Esau.

After the boys were born, God came and personally made a covenant with Isaac, giving him the same promise as his father had received -- that God would make him a great nation. There was a famine and Isaac planned to go to Egypt. But God instructed him to go to the land of the Philistines instead.

Once he got there, Isaac ran into the same "problem" and same inappropriate response as his father had made. The king, Abimelech, noticed Rebekah, who was apparently a stunning beauty. So the king sent palace representatives to inquire about Rebekah and Isaac said, "She is my sister." (When his dad did the same thing, it was a half-truth -- Sarah was Abraham's half-sister. But Isaac told an outright lie. Rebekah was his cousin, not his sister.) This time the king did not take Rebekah into his harem. However, there was still a danger that any number of other men could have taken her as a wife or concubine. So God allowed Abimelech to discover she was really Isaac's wife, and then he rebuked Isaac for the lie, but he also made an official decree protecting both of them.

Isaac earned his living as a farmer. God blessed Isaac while he was in Abimelech's kingdom and be became so wealthy and prosperous that he became a political threat. The king asked him to leave his kingdom, explaining that he felt Isaac had become "too powerful" for him.

Despite his massive wealth, Isaac had some health problems -- he became blind in his old age. Some time after his vision failed, Isaac knew that he was getting on in years. So he wanted to bless his firstborn son, Esau. He sent Esau away to hunt and prepare some game, so that he could eat and then bless his son. But Rebekah overheard Isaac and Esau talking and she schemed for Jacob to get the blessing instead. She made a meal from goats and disguised Jacob to "feel" like Esau. (Esau was a very hairy man, so she attached goat's skin to his hands and neck). Then Jacob went in and intentionally deceived his father to get the first-born's blessing.

Once Isaac realized what had happened, he decided to let the blessing stand. His favorite son asked if he could also have a blessing and Isaac did not have much left to bless him with. This created a terrible tension between the twins, so much so that Esau wanted to kill Jacob. So Rebekah decided to send Jacob back to her brother's house until things "cooled down" a bit. Isaac apparently realized he had a role in creating this tension. He called Jacob in for a blessing and commission. He charged Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman but to take a wife from his uncle Laban's family.

Isaac did not see very much of his younger son, Jacob, after that incident, but his oldest son, Esau, continued to live near him. Jacob went to live with his uncle Laban for many years. When Jacob came back, he reconciled with his older brother and moved back to the general area. But things were still a bit on the tense side, so Jacob ended up settling pretty far away from his dad and brother.

However, when Isaac was close to death, Jacob moved back to live near him. Isaac was 180 years old when he died. Both of his two sons jointly held his funeral. Here we have another parallel. Isaac and his estranged brother Ishmael had jointly buried their father, and now Jacob and Esau jointly buried Isaac.

When we look at the interactions that both patriarchs (Abraham and Isaac) had with their families, we see that even God's elect and chosen ones are human and have human flaws. Both had faith in God and generally obeyed God. But neither one's faith in God was perfect -- such as the "she's not my wife, she's my sister" lie because they did not trust God to protect them. Both had sons who could not get along at all, and both contributed greatly to causing that conflict. We can take encouragement from their example because it shows us that we don't have to be perfect for God to use us -- we just need hearts that are after God and a commitment to obey Him.