Isaac
page 2

Isaac’s weakness

Genesis 26:34,35.

Esau married a Hittite and it caused sadness in Isaac and Rebekah. Though Isaac was sad over Esau he did not try to prevent the marriage. Abraham had been careful that the wife of Isaac came from Mesopotamia, not from the local people.
This was not the only failure by Isaac, God had made it clear that Jacob was His chosen heir of the promise,
Genesis 25:23.
Even though Isaac knew of this when the time came for the blessing and inheritance to be given to Jacob, Isaac instead tried to give the blessing to his favorite son Esau. This resulted in Rebekah and Jacob planning a way to prevent Esau from getting the blessing.

Rebekah’s Plan.

Isaac had already shown that he was not to be trusted, he had been prepared to let Rebekah lose her honour to protect his life by telling Abimelech that she was his sister,
Genesis 26:6-11.
She realized that he was about to leave the plans of God out of his plans by giving Esau the blessing. Unfortunately her plan was to result in her not seeing Jacob again, what would have happened if by faith she had let God sort out the failure of Isaac.

Read the story in Genesis 27:1-4.

In the story we see another of Isaac’s weaknesses, he relied upon his own natural senses instead of asking God for guidance. Jacob’s action was not of faith,
see Romans 14:23;
Numbers 32:23.
Soon after Jacob had received the blessing and left the room, Esau returns, on discovering the loss of the blessing he weeps, but he was only reaping what he had sown earlier, for he had sold the birthright for a meal, his stomach was more powerful than the inheritance,
read Hebrews 12:16,17,
The Word of God called Esau "a profane person".

Isaac also realized what he would have done, he had failed to follow the purpose of God, "And Isaac trembled very exceedingly." God had made it very clear, before they were born, that Jacob would be served by Esau, the birthright became Jacob’s,
Genesis 25:22,23.
Though it had been part of the plan of God, Jacob should not have used an unspiritual act to achieve the blessing. It was not until 30 years later that Jacob was to enjoy the blessings of the birthright.

Once Isaac had realized what had happened, he told Esau that the blessing must remain with Jacob. It is interesting to note that in,
Hebrews 11:20 God has ignored the failures of Isaac and credits him with faith.
It is obvious that Isaac could not upset the plans of God, however, he was to find that "what you sow you reap," because Jacob has to run away to avoid the anger of Esau.

Though Isaac lived another 43 years the Bible records nothing about his life, good or bad, we must assume he continued to serve God in quite faith. It was 30 years before Isaac saw Jacob again, Rebekah never saw Jacob again, having died before his return. All the family had been affected by this one event.

Isaac had benefited from Abraham being blessed by God, Isaac had never been made to suffer the trials and tests of faith his father had gone through. Isaac was a mild and meek man, always accepted the events, not standing for his rights, the world thinks nothing of this way of life, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit spoke of being rewarded for meekness.

Matthew 5:5;
Galatians 5:23
see also Philippians 4:5.

The notes on Isaac as a PDF file for download.

To Isaac page 1
To people from the Old Testament Index
Back to previous page Return to Home Page

Copyright - Bible Thoughts
email - study@bible-thoughts.co.uk