Genesis Lesson 14
GOD BLESSED ISAAC
Genesis 25:19-28:5
Key Verse 26:3a
“Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you.
For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and
will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.”
In Chapter 24 we learned that God established Isaac’s house-church through the faith of Abraham and the faithfulness of Abraham’s servant. With Isaac’s marriage God formed a spiritual vessel to hand down his blessings. In today’s passage Isaac appears as the main character after Abraham’s death. However, the story of Isaac appears only in three chapters (Chapters 25-27) and it seems minor compared to stories of other patriarchs of faith. Even in Chapters 25-27, most of the story is about Jacob; only Chapter 26 is completely dedicated to Isaac. But Isaac became one of the three patriarchs of the faith. God said to Moses in Exodus 3:15, “Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers -- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob -- has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”
Some people may think that Isaac is not important because he is between Abraham, the father of the faith, and Jacob, the father of the Israelites. However, he has his own position and value in God’s eyes. His life was relatively trouble free, compared to the lives of other patriarchs of the faith. Isaac was born in a house of believers. He loved to meditate in a field. He liked wild game and he loved his wife Rebekah. He enjoyed God’s blessings given to him through his father Abraham and finished his life by handing down God’s promise to Jacob. Outwardly he did not do any great work, but he was a man of great inner character because he bore God’s blessings and handed them down to Jacob without fail. From Isaac we can learn the faith required to bear God’s blessings. Through today’s passage we want to learn the reason why Isaac became one of the patriarchs of faith. Above all, we want to learn who the God of Isaac is.
Isaac Prayed (25:19-22)
Genesis 25:1-6 lists the names of descendants of Abraham through his other wife. While Abraham was alive he gave gifts to the sons of his concubine and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. In this way he prepared an environment centered on Isaac. Verses 7-10 are about the death of Abraham. Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years and Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah. See 25:11: “After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.” This verse shows a turning point in God’s history. It shows that the old generation was gone and the new generation had come. Abraham disappeared into history and Isaac became the main character in God’s history.
Isaac was born as a promised son from his old parents. His life was not always smooth. When he was young Ishmael abused him. He could easily have been spoiled by loving parents because he was the one and only son. He was almost burnt by his own father as an offering on Mount Moriah. This must have been a shock in his life. He could have become a reserved person after the event. He loved to meditate in a field. He lived a happy life by establishing his house-church with Rebekah through the help of his father Abraham and Abraham’s chief servant.
Isaac married at the age of 40. However, his wife Rebekah was as barren as her mother-in-law had been. There was no child for ten years. The atmosphere in Isaac’s house must have not been bright. Rebekah must have felt embarrassed whenever she saw Abraham, who was waiting for his grandchildren. It was a serious problem not to have a child, because Isaac was the only son of Abraham and God’s promise of blessing had to be handed down through Isaac. When Rebekah left her father’s household, her family members had prayed that she might become the mother of thousands upon thousands. Yet, she seemed incapable of becoming the mother of even one child. The Hebrews regarded children as God’s blessings and to be barren was God’s curse. So it was a great shame for Isaac and Rebekah when they did not have any children. Even Ishmael, the son of Abraham’s concubine, had twelve sons, so Isaac could have doubted God’s promise and love because his wife was barren. He could have followed in his father’s footsteps and taken a concubine.
But what did Isaac do? Look at verse 21. “Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.” Isaac did not seek any human help. He prayed for his wife earnestly. When we look at the fact that he had his sons at the age of 60, he must have prayed for twenty years. Why didn’t God give Isaac a child for twenty years? It was to teach him that God’s blessings are not given naturally, but as God’s gift, according to one’s earnest prayer. God wants us to pray, even if he promises. Isaac must have believed in God’s promise to give him a son. By faith he prayed with thanksgiving, day in and day out, without doubting the love of God. He prayed for his wife and he loved her without fail. He must have treasured her and he comforted his wife in good times as well as bad. His prayer shows his great inner character. He was a great man who cherished his wife. He was a broad-minded man, a man of prayer and man of patience. He must have fought against Satan’s accusations in order to pray for twenty years. He must have fought against himself. He did not give up praying and a great victory was given to him. God heard his persistent prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. She was given twins, two sons.
Here we can see that sometimes God’s blessings are delayed, even though we pray arduously. When we do not receive God’s answer as quickly as we want, even though we pray by faith in God’s promise, we may doubt the love of God and lose heart. We may even complain to God. But there is God’s sovereign will in it when God does not answer our prayers quickly. First, it teaches us that God’s promise is fulfilled not by man’s effort but by God’s grace alone. Second, God wants to train us spiritually so that we may become his useful servants. Isaac may have learned about patience through 20 years of prayer. He prayed persistently, even when there was no human way to solve his problems. Through his prayer he was disciplined spiritually. Isaac did not seek a concubine and loved only one woman, Rebekah, and labored to pray for her. By allowing him to wrestle with his childlessness, God molded Isaac into a man of prayer and a man of faith. Isaac may have met his God through his prayer. James 1:3,4 reads, “Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” God disciplines us so that we may become men of faith through many problems and troubles.
When Rebekah was pregnant, the babies jostled each other within her. Then she inquired of the Lord, saying, "Why is this happening to me?" The Lord answered her prayer specifically (25:23). We may think that God may be bothered if we ask him about small matters. Then, instead of asking God, we may act according to our own ideas. But Rebekah inquired of the Lord specifically. This shows that Rebekah was a woman of prayer who asked the Lord about anything, even small matters. In this way, Isaac and Rebekah prayed as husband and wife. God’s Spirit is with families where husband and wife pray together; God’s blessings and grace are overflowing in such families. God uses praying people, praying families, praying fellowships and praying nations.
Isaac Obeyed God (26:1-15)
There had been a famine in the time of Abraham. There was another famine in the time of Isaac. This famine began after an interval of one hundred years. The climate in Canaan is a combination of Mediterranean, tropical and desert weather. The yearly rainfall is 7.8 inches. If there was a drought in the land, then a severe famine followed, because there was no irrigation system at the time. Because of the famine, Isaac’s practical life became very difficult. He went to Gerar and planned to go down to Egypt in order to escape the famine. Then the Lord appeared to Isaac. In 26:2 we read: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live.” God had commanded Abraham to leave his country, his people and his father’s household. But God commanded Isaac to stay in the land. God asked both Abraham and Isaac to obey his commands absolutely. It had not been easy for Abraham to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and go to the land God showed him. It was also not easy for Isaac to stay in a land where there was a famine. In order to obey God’s command Isaac had to go through great pain and suffering in his practical life.
Why did God ask absolute obedience from Abraham and Isaac? It is because they could establish a correct relationship with God through absolute obedience. God gave the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve and his only request was obedience. As long as Adam obeyed God, the creation order between the Creator God and men and all creatures was maintained. When there is disobedience, the spiritual order is broken and God’s blessings turn into a curse. Obedience is painful, but it opens one’s eyes to spiritual secrets and helps a man to experience God’s blessings. To become a man of faith means to become a man of obedience (Jn 3:36). In verses 3 and 4, God promises Isaac blessings that would come through obedience: “Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” God gave his promise to Isaac as it had been given to Abraham. God gave Isaac the same promise he had given to Abraham because he intended to keep that promise. God wanted to bless Isaac because Abraham had obeyed God completely. As we see here, God will be the God of our descendants and watch over them when we live by faith in him. When we live by faith in him we become blessings even for our descendants.
What did Isaac do when he heard God? See verse 6: “So Isaac stayed in Gerar.” Isaac was blessed by God because of Abraham, but Isaac himself lived as a man worthy of God’s blessing. He obeyed the word of God at the risk of starving to death. How did the Lord bless him then? First of all, God was with him and protected him like the apple of his eye. For example, Isaac lived in Gerar and he told the men of the land that Rebekah was his sister. He was afraid that they might kill him on account of Rebekah. But one day, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah and realized that Rebekah was his wife. Isaac was rebuked by Abimelech, who was an unbeliever. Abimelech could have punished Isaac because he had lied to him, but God protected Isaac: Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." God protects us from all danger and disaster when we live by faith in him.
Secondly, God blessed Isaac financially. Consider verses 12 and 13: “Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.” The Lord blessed Isaac with an unimaginably abundant harvest, even in famine. Isaac became so rich that the people of Gerar envied him. The Lord blesses us more than we can imagine when we live by faith in him. When God blesses us, we can enjoy an abundant harvest even in a time of famine and economic prosperity even in a time of economic depression. God wants to bless us as much as we can bear. God’s blessings are beyond our imagination. Therefore we must believe in the God of blessings. If we do not believe in the God of blessings, we may live according to our own wisdom and effort and integrity, but all of that labor will be in vain if the Lord does not bless us. There is a great limitation to man’s effort and integrity. According to Numbers Chapter 11, the Israelites cried out for meat because they had not had meat for a long time after they left Egypt. The Lord heard their grumbling and told them that they would be able to eat meat until it came out of their nostrils and they loathed it. Then Moses worried about how the Lord could do that, and asked the Lord, "Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!' Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?" (Nu 11:21,22). Then Lord rebuked Moses, saying, "Is the Lord's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you" (Nu 11:23). Then a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day's walk in any direction” (Nu 11:31). What man can do with his effort and integrity is like catching one or two quail with a gun. But God’s blessing is like bringing them in on the wind. God is the sovereign Lord who can do whatever he wants to do. Faith in God means to believe God’s existence and his reward (Heb 11:6). To believe in the God of reward is to believe in the God of blessings. To believe in the God of blessings means to believe in the God of judgment and curse. God can exalt a man with honor and wealth. He also can humble him with poverty and failure. When we believe in the sovereign Lord and live in obedience to his word we will be blessed beyond our imagination, even if we need to temporarily sacrifice in our practical life. When we believe in God’s blessings and live by faith in him we will be truly blessed through the God of blessings.
Isaac Dug Wells (26:16-36)
Because God blessed Isaac and he became rich, the Philistines envied him and began to fill in the wells that his father Abraham had dug. In the land of the Philistines, a well was a vitally important property, because the main industry was tending animals. To stop up the wells and fill them with earth was like declaring war. Since the land of Canaan was the Promised Land, Isaac could have fought to protect the wells and keep his land. People can be generous in time of peace, but they easily become aggressive and hostile at times when life and death are at issue. However, Isaac gave others wells, even at such a critical time; he chose peace with them. Isaac moved to the Valley of Gerar; his servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" Then Isaac named the well Esek, because they had disputed with him, and he moved away. Then Isaac’s men dug another well, but the locals quarreled over that as well; so Isaac named it Sitnah, moved from there and dug yet another well. No one quarreled over that one. He named it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land" (22). Isaac knew that Abimelech had given his father Abraham the authority to dig wells anywhere (Ge 20:15); the wells belonged to his father because his father had dug them. So Isaac could claim ownership of as many wells as he wanted. Since he had become extremely rich, he could even have waged war against Abimelech if he had wanted to, but he did not. He gave up everything. It may seem that Isaac was a foolish man because he did not even fight once and gave up all the wells. It may seem that Isaac did not have the guts to stand up for himself. But Isaac could walk away from the wells because he had faith in God. His faith made him meek and gentle. Most of all, he could do so because he believed in the God of blessings and believed that the Lord would lead him to the best situation (22). Isaac began to trust in the Lord deeply after he experienced God’s miraculous blessings during the time of famine. By means of that experience, he learned to hold God rather than blessings from God. He lived in a world where people were selfish and mean, but he could live a generous life because of his faith in sovereign Lord who controls all of man’s blessings and curses.
Here we learn from Isaac the importance of bearing God’s blessings, carrying them. It is important to receive God’s blessings, but it is more important to maintain them. If one does not bear God’s blessings they become a trap for one. Isaac was blessed by God, but he was not bound by the blessings. He believed in the God of blessings and gave up many wells and dug wells diligently wherever he went. When people are blessed by God they easily become proud and lazy and useless. They do not struggle with all their heart anymore. The most challenging thing in the world is to bear God’s blessings, to continue to carry them. If we do not bear God’s blessings well, our condition will be worse than what it was before, because God’s blessings will become a curse. In order to maintain God’s blessings, Isaac had to continually dig wells. It was not easy for him to give up wells that he had dug and to continually dig new ones. The ground was hard; many parts of the land were composed of rocks and lime. It was not easy to dig wells. Most of all, Isaac must have waged battles against his own laziness and emotions. He might have been angry when his wells were taken away from him. It is easy to act according to one’s emotions; it is not easy to overcome them. But Isaac overcame himself by faith. He repaid evil with good. His inner heart was like a deep well. He was meek and he was a peacemaker. Jesus said in his sermon on the mount, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Mt 5:5). From Isaac we learn that meek people are victorious even in a competitive and selfish society. They are meek and patient because of their faith in God. Inheritance of the earth does not come from fighting viciously. The earth belongs to those who are meek. The meek win people over and become prosperous.
Isaac fought a good fight of faith in a world of evil and selfish people. But fear must have crept into his heart, because the Lord appeared to Isaac and comforted him: “That night the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham’" (24). Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well (25).
Verses 26-33 show Isaac’s good influence. Fear came into the hearts of unbelievers when they saw that Isaac prospered although he had given up his wells. Then Abimelech, who had cast Isaac out, came to Isaac with Ahuzzath, his personal adviser, and Phicol, the commander of his forces, to propose a peace treaty. They confessed to Isaac, "We saw clearly that the Lord was with you.” “You are blessed by the Lord.” They saw the living God through the life of Isaac. The life of Isaac was a living testimony to the fact that God was alive. Isaac was a man of good influence. Then Isaac threw a feast for them and sent them on their way in peace. That day, Isaac’s servant dug and found a new well. Here we learn that Isaac dug wells wherever he went. By digging wells, in addition to making himself prosperous, he made many people around him prosperous.
What, then, are the wells we have to dig in our generation? Our generation enjoys the most material wealth in all of human history, due to technological and scientific advancements. But we are in a severe spiritual famine. We have overflowing books and knowledge but it is rare to hear the word of God that gives life to men. The Prophet Amos said, "’The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I will send a famine through the land -- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst’” (Amos 8:11-13). Spiritual famine is the most serious problem of our generation. Even young men are tired and weary because they do not have the word of God in their hearts. Because they do not have the word of God, they seek temporary and sinful pleasures. Thus we have the divine obligation to dig for the word of God and provide spiritual water for the many thirsty souls in our generation. The word of God revives our souls and gives true satisfaction and joy to our soul (Ps 119:24,25). It leads us to the wisdom of salvation and gives us the hope of eternal life (2 Ti 3:15; 1 Pe 1:23,24).
Another well we have to dig is the well of love. Love is rare in our generation. Ours is a selfish generation. People live for their selfish interests and do not care about others’ pain and suffering. Even believers do not have room for others in their hearts. So in our generation we need a well of love. There are many people who cry because they do not know the love of God. We believers are obliged to share the love of God with those who cry in our practical lives because we have received his love first. A person can grow healthy when he or she grows with the word of God and the love of God. So let us pray that we can provide a well of God’s word and God’s love for thirsty souls.
Isaac Handed Down God’s Blessings to Jacob (27:1-28:5)
When his eyes became weak, Isaac believed that he was going to die soon. So he called his oldest son, Esau, and wanted to bless him after eating wild game. When Isaac’s physical eyes became weak, his spiritual eyes became weak, too. He knew that Esau was not suitable for God’s blessings because he was a physical man, but he lost his spiritual discernment because he loved wild game. With the help of Rebekah, Isaac could hand down God’s blessings to Jacob. 27:27-29 show how Isaac blessed Jacob. This blessing was that he would have abundance of grain and new wine and that he would become a Lord of Nations and himself a source of blessings. Isaac also blessed Jacob in 28:3 and 4, saying, “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."
Isaac’s life ended once he had handed down God’s blessings to Jacob after enjoying them himself. Isaac was a successor to the covenant. The greatness of Isaac lies here. He accomplished his mission of inheriting the great promise and history of his forefather and of handing them down to his son Jacob. This was not an easy thing. America has been abundantly blessed by God due to its forefathers’ faith and devotion, but we have trouble because we do not bear God’s blessings properly. In our ministry we have also inherited genuine faith and absolute faith in the gospel. We have inherited love of the word of God and the campus mission. We have a mission to raise spiritual leaders for the future on campuses, through the word of God. We are obliged to enjoy such blessings and to hand them down to the next generation.
In conclusion, who is the God of Isaac? The God of Isaac is the God of blessings and the God of grace. Isaac was weak and could not keep his faith in a very competitive and selfish society. But the Lord blessed Isaac through his father Abraham and helped him in many ways. God blessed Isaac by establishing a house-church for him with Rebekah; through Abraham’s faithful servant, and with the help of Rebekah Isaac could successfully hand down God’s blessings to Jacob. The Lord helped him and strengthened him whenever he needed help, so that he could live a victorious life in a wicked, fallen world. It was only through the grace of the Lord that Isaac could live a victorious and fruitful life in such an evil world. God blesses us beyond our imagination and leads us to quiet waters when we live by faith in him. We are weak and limited in many ways, and cannot claim a victorious life in this competitive world. But as long as we depend on God and live by faith in him he will help us in many ways, until we become fruitful and victorious. We praise the God of Isaac, our God, the God of our descendants.