Zach Hartwig
Theology 100-10
The Story of Isaac
Isaac was Abraham's second child and only child by his wife Sarah. Abraham was one-hundred years old when Isaac was born. Isaac, not Ishmael, Abraham's child by Sarah's maid Hagar, would be the child through whom Abraham's descendants would number like the sands of the sea and the covenant would be kept.
One day, when Isaac was probably about seven or eight years old, God decided to test Abraham's faith. He commanded Abraham, "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust..." (Genesis 22:2) Abraham went and did as God had instructed, but only when Abraham had almost sacrificed his son did God stop him.
When Isaac had grown older, Abraham wished to secure a wife for him but not a Canaanite woman, but a woman of his own people. So he sent a servant to the city of Nahor. He met Rebekah, daughter of Laban, and secured her for Isaac's wife. She returned to Canaan and there wedded Isaac. Rebekah became pregnant by Isaac and the children in her womb were constantly struggling. Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac when he was sixty years old.
Soon, a famine struck the land, and Isaac went to Abimelech, King of the Philistines, for help. But God came to him and renewed the covenant he had made with Abraham. God told him to stay where he was, so Isaac settled in Gerar. But the men of the town kept inquiring about his wife, Rebekah, because she was so beautiful. Isaac kept replying to them that she was his sister, for he feared the men would kill him for her if they knew he was her wife. But Abimelech found out the truth and told his men that any man who molested Isaac or Rebekah would be killed.
Since God was with him, Isaac grew richer and richer. So rich in fact, that the Philistines were growing extremely jealous. So Isaac was forced to leave Gerar by Abimelech and eventually made his way to Beersheba. There, God appeared to him and renewed the Covenant again. Soon after, Abimelech and his advisors came to meet Isaac. Abimelech proposed that they should live in peace and under the Lord's blessing. Isaac prepared a feast and they departed in peace.
As Isaac grew older, his eyesight failed him. When he was close to death, he called Esau to him. He told him to go hunt for an animal to eat so he could bless Esau after the meal. Rebekah, who favored Jacob, was listening to this conversation and helped Jacob prepare a dish in place of Esau's. She then put sheepskin on Jacob's smooth arms to feel like Esau's hairy ones and clothed him in Esau's best clothes so Jacob would smell like Esau to Isaac. Then Jacob served Isaac the meal and pretended to be Esau and in this way, tricked his father into giving him the birthright. When Esau returned home and learned of what his brother had done, he hated Jacob and vowed to kill him. With Rebekah's forewarning of Esau's plans, Jacob fled to go live with Rebekah's brother Laban in Haran.
After Jacob returned and he and Esau had reunited and forgiven each other, Jacob and Esau went to Mamre, in Hebron, to be with Isaac while he neared death. Isaac died at the old age of one hundred and eighty years. His sons, Jacob and Esau, buried him among his kinsmen.
A parent, Mr. bob Tandler, wrote
The two stories by Zack Hartwig in the TEEN HEBREW SCRIPTURES section, The Story of Isaac and Jacob, both describe Jacob, dressing like Esau and tricking an old, blinded Isaac into giving him the birthright (that naturally belonged to Esau).� I understood the story to be that Esau traded his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of food.� What Jacob received when he tricked his father by dressing like Esau was Isaac's coveted blessing.