Isaac, the son of promise

Between two giants of faith, Abraham and Jacob, stands Isaac, a quieter and less spectacular patriarch. His story fills fewer chapters, and he is often remembered only as the son who was nearly sacrificed or as the father deceived by Jacob. Yet Isaac is a fundamental piece of God’s plan: he is the son of promise, the heir of the covenant and the link through which Abraham’s blessing passes to the following generations. His life teaches us that God also works through simple, patient and peaceable people.

The son of laughter

Isaac was born when his father was a hundred and his mother ninety. His name, Yitzhak, means “he laughs”. Abraham laughed when God announced he would have a son; Sarah laughed behind the tent door; and when he was born, Sarah said everyone would laugh with her. The laughter of unbelief became the laughter of joy. Isaac is a living reminder that nothing is impossible for God.

“And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.”

Genesis 21:1-3

Isaac and Ishmael

At the feast when Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael, Hagar’s son, mocking, and asked Abraham to cast out the bondwoman and her son. Abraham was grieved, but God told him that in Isaac his seed would be called, and that he would also make a nation of Ishmael. Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, and when the water ran out, God heard the voice of the lad and opened Hagar’s eyes to see a well. God was with Ishmael, who grew up in the wilderness of Paran. Paul would later use this story as an allegory of two covenants (Galatians 4:21-31).

On the altar of Mount Moriah

The best-known episode of Isaac’s life comes when God asks Abraham to offer him on Mount Moriah. Isaac was not a small child: he could carry the wood for the burnt offering. Many commentators have noted that, young and strong, he could have resisted his aged father, but he did not. His question —“where is the lamb?”— and his silence when bound on the altar speak of trust and submission. God stayed Abraham’s hand and provided a ram. Isaac came down the mountain as one who had received his life again.

A wife for Isaac: Rebekah

Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in the book and tells a beautiful story of providence. Abraham sent his eldest servant back to his homeland, to Mesopotamia, to find a wife for Isaac among his kindred. The servant came to the city of Nahor with ten camels and prayed beside a well: he asked that the young woman who would give him a drink and also offer water to the camels would be the chosen one.

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her pitcher. She gave him a drink and offered to draw water for all the camels, an enormous task, since a thirsty camel can drink a great deal of water. The servant worshipped God for leading him on his way. Rebekah agreed to go with him in a brave decision: “I will go” (Genesis 24:58).

“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

Genesis 24:63-67

Isaac had gone out to meditate in the field at eventide, a detail that reveals his contemplative character. He lifted up his eyes and saw the camels coming. He took Rebekah as his wife, loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death. It is one of the first times the Bible explicitly mentions a man’s love for his wife.

Prayer for a barren wife

Like Sarah, Rebekah could not have children. Isaac married at forty, and for twenty years they waited. “And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him” (Genesis 25:21). Isaac did not turn to a maidservant as his father had; he prayed. Rebekah conceived twins, who struggled within her. God revealed to her that two nations would come from her, and that the elder would serve the younger. Esau was born red and hairy, and Jacob holding his brother’s heel.

The wells of peace

In a time of famine, God told Isaac not to go down to Egypt but to stay in the land, and confirmed the promise made to Abraham. Isaac settled in Gerar, in the land of the Philistines. There he repeated his father’s mistake: he said Rebekah was his sister. Even so, God blessed him: he sowed and reaped a hundredfold.

His prosperity stirred the envy of the Philistines, who had stopped up the wells Abraham had dug. Isaac reopened them. When he dug new wells, the herdsmen of Gerar claimed them. Isaac did not fight: he moved on and dug another. He named the wells Esek (“contention”), Sitnah (“enmity”) and finally Rehoboth (“room”), saying: “For now the Lord hath made room for us” (Genesis 26:22). Isaac is an example of meekness. In the end King Abimelech came to make a covenant of peace with him, acknowledging that God was with him.

The stolen blessing

Old and nearly blind, Isaac wanted to bless Esau, his favourite. Rebekah, who favoured Jacob, devised a plan: she dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothes, put goatskins on his hands and neck and prepared a savoury dish. Isaac hesitated —“The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau”— but in the end blessed him. When Esau arrived, Isaac trembled very exceedingly on discovering the deception, but acknowledged that the blessing had already been given.

Isaac’s family shows the damage done by favouritism: one parent preferred one son and the other parent the other. The result was deceit, resentment and separation. Yet God fulfilled his purpose even amid these human failings, just as he had told Rebekah before the birth. Hebrews 11:20 says: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”

Isaac’s death

Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years, longer than Abraham. Before he died he saw Jacob return after twenty years in Haran. He died at Mamre, in Hebron, and his two sons, Esau and Jacob, reconciled, buried him in the cave of Machpelah beside Abraham and Sarah.

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

God does the impossible: Isaac was born against all human expectation. Prayer is better than shortcuts: Isaac prayed for Rebekah instead of looking for other solutions. Meekness opens doors: Isaac gave up his wells until God gave him room. Favouritism harms the family. God fulfils his purpose even through our failures. A simple life is valuable too: not everyone is called to great exploits, but everyone can be faithful.

On the road to Jesus

Isaac is one of the clearest figures of Christ in the Old Testament. He was the promised son, miraculously born. He was the “only” and beloved son who went up the mountain carrying the wood, as Jesus carried his cross. He let himself be bound on the altar without resistance, as Jesus was “brought as a lamb to the slaughter”. And he came down the mountain alive, received back “in a figure”, says Hebrews 11:19, as from the dead. Moreover, just as the servant went to find a bride for the son, many have seen in Genesis 24 an image of the Holy Spirit preparing the Church, the bride of Christ.

In the next episode we will meet Jacob, Isaac’s son, whose life of struggles ended with a new name: Israel.

Prayer

God of Isaac, thank you that nothing is impossible for you. Give me a meek heart that does not fight over wells, but trusts that you will make room for me. Teach me to pray rather than look for shortcuts, and to meditate in your presence. Thank you for Jesus Christ, the beloved Son who gave himself for me. Amen.