Isaac

Isaac
1. Isaac And Rebekah Have Twins
2. Esau Sells His Birthright
3. Isaac Experiences A Famine
4. Isaac's Well Problems
5. God Appears To Isaac
6. Isaac Makes A Covenant With Abimelech
7. Esau's Marriage Grieves Isaac And Rebekah
8. Isaac Plans To Bless Esau

1. Isaac And Rebekah Have Twins - Back to Page Index
Genesis 25:19-26
Here is a list of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Isaac was forty years of age when he took as his wife Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-Aram. She was the sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer and Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her. She asked the LORD, "What can this mean?" The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb. When they become two peoples they shall be divided. One will be stronger, and the older shall serve the younger."

When her time to deliver had come, she had twins. The first came out red and hairy like a garment. They named him Esau. Then his brother was born holding on to Esau's heel. They named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

2. Esau Sells His Birthright - Back to Page Index
Genesis 25:27-34
When they grew up Esau became a skillful hunter, a man who was comfortable in the field. Jacob was a quiet man, preferring to live in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed the wild game he brought home. And Rebekah love Jacob.

One day Jacob was cooking some stew when Esau returned from the field. He was very hungry. Esau said to Jacob, "Please give me some of your red stew. I'm famished." This is why he was called Edom. Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright." Esau replied, "I am about to die. What do I care about the birthright?" Jacob persisted, saying, "Prove your intention by swearing to me." So Esau swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank and was on his way. This showed just how little he cared for the birthright.

3. Isaac Experiences A Famine - Back to Page Index
Genesis 26:1-17
A famine came to the land like the one in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines. The LORD appeared to him and told him not to go down to Egypt."Stay in the land where I will direct you. Sojourn in this land I will be with you. I will give you and your descendants all of these lands to fulfill the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants so that they are numbered like the stars of heaven. I will give them all these lands and through them all of the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham obeyed Me, keeping My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws."

So Isaac lived in Gerar. When the men of the place asked about his wife Isaac said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say she was his wife. He thought they might kill him on account of her beauty. After he had been in Gerar for a long time, Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, looked out a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Surely she is your wife. Why did you say she is your sister?" Isaac said, "I feared for my life and thought that I might die on her account." Abimelech said, "What you have done is wrong. One of us might have been guilty of taking your wife for himself." So Abimelech told all the people to not touch Isaac's wife on penalty of death.

Isaac sowed a crop in that land reaped a hundred fold that same year, because the LORD blessed him. He became very wealthy. His flocks, his herds and his great household caused the Philistines to envy him. The Philistines had filled with dirt the wells his father had dug.

Abimelech told Isaac to move away because his holdings were too much for him to continue to live with them. So Isaac move his herds and household to the valley of Gerar.

4. Isaac's Well Problems - Back to Page Index
Genesis 26:18-22
Isaac dug again his father's wells that the Philistines had filled in. He gave them the same names his father had given them. When Isaac's servants dug in that valley and found a flowing well, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsman. They claimed that the water was theirs. So Isaac named that well Esek, because they had contended with him.

His servants dug another well and that one was quarreled over, too, so he named it Sitnah. Isaac moved away from that place and dug yet another well. There was no quarreling over it so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, "At last the LORD has made room for us and we will be fruitful."

5. God Appears To Isaac - Back to Page Index
Genesis 26:23-25
After that he went up to Beersheba. The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham." So Isaac built an alter there and called upon the name of the LORD. He pitched his tent and his servants dug a well.

6. Isaac Makes A Covenant With Abimelech - Back to Page Index
Genesis 26:26-33
Then Abimelech came from Gerar with his advisor, Ahuzzath, and Philcol, the commander of his army. Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you wanted nothing to do with me and sent me away?" They replied, "We can tell that the LORD is with you and we want to make a covenant with you. We want to be sure that you will do us no harm, just as we did you no harm when we sent you away. It is clear to us that the LORD is blessing you." So Isaac made them a feast and they ate and drank together. In the morning they got up early and exchanged oaths and Isaac sent them away in peace.

It was that same day that Isaac's servants told him that they had reached water in the well they had been digging. He called that well Shibah and the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

7. Esau's Marriage Grieves Isaac And Rebekah - Back to Page Index
Genesis 26:34-35
Esau was forty years old when he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite. He also married Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. These two caused Isaac and Rebekah much grief.

8. Isaac Plans To Bless Esau - Back to Page Index
Genesis 27:1-46
When Isaac was old and could no longer see, he called for his older son Esau. Isaac said to him, "I am old and I do not know when I will die. Please take your hunting gear and get me some game. Then prepare the kind of meal I so enjoy. I want to bless you before I die."

Rebekah heard Isaac talking to Esau. So when he had gone out to hunt game for his father, she told Jacob what she had heard his father say to Esau. "Esau has gone to get some game for his father and prepare a tasty dish that he may eat it and bless him in the presence of the LORD before he dies."

"Listen, my son, and do as I command you. Bring me two choice young goats from the flock that I may prepare a tasty dish for your father. I know what he likes. Then you shall take it to him that he may eat and bless you before his death." Jacob said, "Esau is hairy and I am not. Perhaps my father will feel of me and discover the deception. Then he will curse me instead of blessing me." His mother replied, "My son, let any curse on you fall instead on me."

So Jacob brought the goats to his mother and she made the food tasty just the way his father liked it. Next Rebekah put Esau's best garments on Jacob. And she put the skins of the young goats on the exposed skin of Jacob's hands and neck. Then she gave Jacob the tasty dish she had prepared for Isaac.

Coming to his father, Jacob greeted him. Isaac asked him, "Who are you?" Jacob answered, "I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you asked. Sit up and eat of my game so that you may bless me." Isaac said, "My son, how did you get back so quickly?" Jacob replied, "The LORD your God made it happen." Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come closer that I may feel you and know that you are actually Esau." So Jacob came close and Isaac felt of him, saying, "I hear the voice of Jacob but these are Esau's hands." The hairy skins on Jacob's hands made Isaac believe he was his brother Esau. So Isaac bless him. Then he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And Jacob said, "I am." So Isaac said, "Bring the food to me, and I will eat my son's game. Then I will bless you."

Jacob brought the food to Isaac and he ate. He also gave him wine to drink. Then Isaac said, "Come close and kiss me, my son." So Jacob came close and kissed him. And when Isaac smelled the garments Jacob wore, he blessed him and said, "Your garments have the smell of a field that is blessed of the LORD. Therefore, may God give you the dew of heaven and the good things of the earth including an abundance of grain and new wine. May people serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be the master of your brothers and they will bow down to you. Those who curse you will be cursed and those who bless you will be blessed."

As Isaac finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had gone from Isaac's presence, Esau came in from the hunt. He had made a tasty dish from his hunt and was now bringing it to his father. He said, "Please get up and eat the game I have prepared for you, that you may bless me." Isaac said, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am Esau, your firstborn." Isaac trembled greatly and said, "Who was it that hunted game and brought it to me just a little while ago? I ate it and blessed him and he has the blessing." When Esau heard this he cried out bitterly, "O my father, bless me, too." Isaac said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken your blessing." Then Esau said, "He is correctly named Jacob. Twice he has usurped what is mine. He took my birthright and now he has stolen my blessing. Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?" Isaac replied, "I have made him your master. All his relatives are to be his servants. He is blessed with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?" Esau said, "Don't you have even one blessing for me? O my father, bless me." And he wept bitterly. Then Isaac answered him, saying, "You will dwell where it is not fertile and have little water. You will live by your sword and you will serve your brother. Eventually you will break his yoke from your neck."

So Esau hated Jacob because he had stolen his father's blessing. He planned to kill Jacob after his father was gone. Rebekah heard of his plans and sent for Jacob. She said, "Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. Now do as I tell you. Go to my brother, Laban, in Haran. Stay with him until your brother's fury subsides. When he has forgotten what you did to him I will send for you. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of living beside the daughters of Heth. Should Jacob take a wife like one of these my life will not be worth living."

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