Isaac

A Man of Peace

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.—Matthew 5:9,10

David Rice

The account of Isaac is much briefer than that of Abraham, the main narrative appearing in one chapter, Genesis 26. Isaac was 40 when he married. His wife Rebekah was barren for some time, as Sarah her mother-in-law had been, and as Rachel her daughter-in-law would be. Thus in all three generations the children of favor were born in direct answer to prayers to God.

His twin sons were born when Isaac was 60, after being married 20 years, and Abraham would have lived to see his grandsons grow to the age of 15. Isaac would have been 75 years old when Abraham died. Thus Isaac became the patriarch of the community at the same age his father Abraham was when Terah died and Abraham entered Canaan, a hundred years earlier. This is one of several parallels between the two.

“There was a famine in the land” (Genesis 26:1), as there was in Abraham’s day, and as there would be later in Jacob’s day. Both Abraham and Jacob went to Egypt for relief, but in this case “The LORD appeared unto [Isaac], and said, Go not down into Egypt” (Genesis 26:2). However, Isaac did seek relief in Gerar, and of its leader “Abimelech king of the Philistines.” This was a long generation after Abraham had gone to Gerar, and this Abimelech —a title rather than a name—would have been a different Abimelech than the one Abraham dealt with.

When Abraham went to Gerar he called Sarah his sister, and Isaac used the same tactic, for the same reason, fearful that he might be killed for his wife who “was fair to look upon” (Genesis 26:7). In fact Rebekah was his first cousin, once removed, and his wife. In the loose meaning of “sister” in the language of his day Isaac’s claim may have been technically correct, but it was not forthright.

When Abimelech recognized the truth, he mildly reproved Isaac, as his predecessor had Abraham, and decreed that anyone transgressing upon Rebekah would be killed (Genesis 26:11). If Rebekah represents the church, as she did in Genesis 24 when being called to be the bride of Isaac, then perhaps this shows that their true relationship is not apparent to the world. The world recognizes that the Lord’s people have a familial relationship in the “household of faith,” but do not grasp the true grandeur of their position. Those who transgress upon the church do so with jeopardy, and those systems which persecute the saints will be “killed” in the trouble which ends this age (Daniel 7:11; Revelation 19:2).

The Covenant Reaffirmed

When Isaac journeyed south to Gerar, God appeared to him and affirmed his covenant with him. This also is a parallel with Abraham, for God first affirmed the covenant to him (as no longer provisional) when Abraham journeyed southward out of Haran. All this time, of course, the promised land was foreign land, with foreign inhabitants. Just so when our Lord journeyed “south,” representing the earthly sphere, it was the first step in the program which would result in the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, blessing “all the nations of the earth” (Genesis 26:4).

Isaac Prospered Greatly

While in Gerar, “Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: for he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants. (Genesis 26:14)

This is the first time the Bible introduces the concept of sowing. We generally think of the patriarchs as nomadic, and herding, but here it is clear they also sowed crops, and did very well at it. It reminds us of the opening parable of Matthew 13, the parable of the sower, showing the work of our Lord sowing the seed of the gospel. As Isaac reaped “an hundredfold,” so the increase of the most zealous is represented in that parable as “an hundredfold” (Matthew 13:8). Christ used the same term respecting the spiritual gain of sacrificing saints. “He shall receive an hundredfold now in this time . . . and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:30).

Isaac was heir to the riches of Abraham, and now year by year growing richer and richer, his entourage must have grown to considerable size. Abraham had 318 men of fighting age in his retinue, and conservatively estimating for women and children, his entourage may have numbered more than 1000. Isaac was heir of this, and was augmenting that beside.

This disturbed Abimelech, who asked Isaac to leave the area, complaining “thou art much mightier than we” (Genesis 26:16). So the rapid growth of Christ’s retinue alarmed the Roman world, and the forces of Christianity proved mightier than the forces of paganism, as symbolically portrayed in Revelation 12:7-9.

Always a Man of Peace

Isaac was a man of peace, and left as requested. He pitched his tent in an uninhabited valley and dwelt there. This was an area formerly visited by his father Abraham, and the wells he had dug had been blocked up by the Philistines out of envy. Isaac redug these wells “andhe called their names after the names by which his father had called them,” and besides this dug in the valley a new well of “springing water” (Genesis 26:18,19).

But this success also led to jealous strife. “The herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek [contention]; because they strove with him” (Genesis 26:20). Peacefully, Isaac withdrew “and they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah [hatred]” (Genesis 26:21). Peacefully, Isaac withdrew again. “He removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth [room] . . . for now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful” (Genesis 26:22).

Isaac had sufficient men to demand his rights, but as Abraham before him, when strife rose between his men and Lot’s men, he separated peacefully, leaving the temporal benefits to others. In this he followed the principles Christ would advocate, who said when enemies persecute you in one place, flee to another. Probably these various difficulties picture the difficulties the saints have had during the age. Papacy, represented by the Philistines, extended its reach over every fountain of spiritual refreshment it could. But there would come a time when the truth could not be contained, and could not be dominated.

If the first contention had its fulfillment in the rise of the false church, in the Pergamos period of the church, then the second episode, “hatred,” would fit the Thyatira period of bitter persecution. Following this would come the Reformation, which allowed the church “room” to expand and multiply.

But the true saints progressed further, even as Isaac “went up from thence to Beersheba,” where God reaffirmed his covenant on Isaac’s leaving the Philistine area, just as he had when Isaac entered the Philistine area (Genesis 26:23, 24). Isaac offered sacrifice in honor of the occasion, and “there Isaac’s servants digged a well” (verse 25), which may represent the increasing light of truth, the “pearl of great price” in the parable of Matthew 13:46.

At this juncture his nemesis the Philistines, headed by Abimelech, appeared again, having sought Isaac out in order to make a covenant of peace with him (out of fear for Isaac’s growing power). Isaac received them graciously. “He made them a feast . . . and they departed from him in peace” (verses 30, 31). So the organized opposition to the saints measurably eased after the “time, times and half a time” of prophecy, which closed during the sixth church.

Immediately afterward, Isaac’s servants reported “we have found water!” (Genesis 26:32). Thus we, at the end of the age, now enjoy the sweet bounties of the water of life unhindered. “And he called it Shebah [oath], therefore the name of the city is Beersheba [well of the oath] unto this day.” Thus is God’s oath of care secured to the promised seed by the water of present truth which seals the saints.

Let us emulate the spirit of Isaac and the spirit of our Master who left us a legacy of peace (John 14:27).