Under the radar Isaac’s blessings

Blessings Isaac

The Blessing—Genesis 27

It is surprising how little we know of Isaac, in comparison with his father and son. He makes no stir in the world; no noise; he excites no emotion. We only catch glimpses of him now and then, sufficient to enable us to recognize him as a dutiful son to his father, a loving son to his mother, an affectionate and uxorious husband, a partial father, and a pious but weak old man. He seldom speaks. He wants force of character; and soon subsides into an instrument in the hands of others, who use him for their own purposes. It is the destiny of such to be acted upon, rather than to act upon others. So we never meet with Isaac in positive and decisive action; but commonly find him in some instrumental position or other. He seems to have also been of a weakly constitution. We read of infirmity or illness in none of the other patriarchs, till they came to their death-beds; but at an age far short of that which his father, and even his son, attained, we find him blind and feeble, confined to his bed, and expecting to die.

By far the most important and most fully recorded incident of hiBy far the most important and most fully recorded incident of his life occurs while he is in this condition; and as thus the fullest picture of him is given, “In age and feebleness extreme,” we perhaps derive therefrom an impression of his character, different from that which might have been entertained, had we been permitted to behold him as distinctly in the prime and vigor of his days. We would suppose that the quiet and home-staying Jacob was more likely to be a favorite with such a father than the rough, boisterous, and rambling Esau. But we constantly observe that persons manifest the greatest liking for those whose character and habits are least similar to their own. Esau, and not Jacob, was the favorite of Isaac. Believing death to be near, he privately desired this beloved son to procure him, by his hunting, some food, such as he was particularly fond of, that after partaking of it, he may bestow on him the paternal benediction. This is overheard by Rebekah, whose skilful cunning contrives to pass off Jacob upon him for Esau; and thus the blind old patriarch is led to believe that he is invoking blessings upon his elder son, when it is in fact the younger whom he addresses. The details of this scene of unprincipled deception—the more shocking from such advantage being taken of the infirmities of a father—are familiar to the reader, and we may gladly be spared following the particulars which the Scripture necessarily, for the coherence of the narrative, relates. By sparing ourselves this pain and regret, we obtain room for a few observations on some remarkable circumstances in the narrative. It is the mother who suggests the device, and who, in fact, seeks to ease the alarm of Jacob’s conscience by taking all the consequences upon herself. It is quite possible that she thought she was doing a duty. Knowing that the blessing Isaac was about to bestow on Esau belonged, in the purposes of God, to Jacob, ... Content not shown in limited preview… Sunday. Benoni—Genesis 35:18 Of Jacob’s twelve sons all but the youngest were born in Padanaram. That youngest, the only one native to the land of promise, was also the child of the well-beloved Rachel, whose earnest and not always reasonable craving for children had rendered much of her husband’s life uncomfortable. At last her desires were gratified. She had one son in her own country. That was Joseph. And now, when Jacob was on the way from Bethel to join his father at Mamre, just before coming to Bethlehem, another was given to her. But this blessing was won at a costly price. She died in giving him birth. In her dying agony she gave her child the name of Benoni, “the son of my sorrow;” but Jacob changed this name to Benjamin, “son of the right hand.” Thus Jacob lost, soonest of all, and still young, the wife he loved most, and probably the only one to whom he felt bound by any other tie than that of duty. That loss—and the deep pang it gave, he remembered well—it was always present with him to his dying day. Witness that touching incident in his last discourse with Joseph—the abrupt transition of ideas with which, while discoursing of other matters, he suddenly and sorrowfully remarks: “As for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath; and I buried her there, in the way to Ephrath.” How is it that the favorite of Heaven should thus suffer? Except David—also highly favored of God—and scarcely excepting him, there is no man in all the Scripture so deeply tried in his affections as Jacob. That which he most loved—on which his heart was most fixed, is constantly torn from him, and more than once he had occasion to ask, “Could not the grave forget thee, and lay low Some less majestic, less beloved head?” First he lost Rachel, whom he loved so that his seven long years of service for her, “seemed to him but a few days for the love he bore to her.” Then the son of the lost Rachel twines himself around his heart, and that son is also suddenly reft from him. He sees his bloody robe; he believes him torn of beasts; and when his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I will go down to the grave unto my son mourning.” Next his Benjamin, the sole remaining relic of that beloved wife, is demanded from him, and he gives him up in the strong fear that he shall see his face no more. He resists long in this instance: “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him in the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” But stern necessity compels. He yields him up—he suffers him todepart, with the sad words which strike the ear like a groan, “If I be bereaved, I am bereaved.” Genesis 42:38; 43:14. It was, therefore, in his most treasured affections—in the things that touch the heart most dearly—that it was the lot of Jacob ... Content not shown in limited preview… Sunday. “Remember Me When It Shall Be Well with Thee”—Genesis 40:14 Some have thought, as will be shown in tomorrow’s paper that Joseph’s anxiety to find a place in the remembrance of the chief butler, when he should become prosperous, was not altogether free from objection. It must be confessed that his words have a worldly sound. But since God so generally works by means, and does signally so work throughout the history of Joseph, it may be thought that he was right in taking such means as appeared to him proper for effecting his deliverance; nor is it needful to suppose that he thereby abandoned his trust in God. It may, however, be written here as one of those instances of human weakness, from which the history of no one of the patriarchs is wholly free. We incline to this view. Joseph desires the influence of this man, to speak on his behalf to the king; which does not appear, as if it was then strongly present to his mind, that he had direct access to a greater King than Pharaoh, who, he had full reason to suppose, had a special regard for him, and would not suffer a hair of his head to perish. If this be a correct view of the case, we are not, nevertheless, to be hard upon Joseph; but the fact should be pointed out, lest that which may be regarded as a temporary failure of his faith, should be hastily deemed a rule of conduct. The strongest faith has at times wavered; and if in this instance Joseph’s faith was for a moment shaken, it may be said in his behalf, that very few, perhaps none, have lived whose faith would not, under the same circumstances, have been shaken far more. It was a trying moment—when he had to tell this man, who had been but a short time a prisoner, that in three days he would go forth from his dungeon, and be restored to light and honor—and to feel that for himself, who had lain in bonds so much longer, there was no such prospect. Ask any one who has been shut up in the prison-house, whether at any time the sense of bondage is so strong and painful, and the craving for liberty so intense, as at that moment when a fellow-prisoner goes forth to freedom. It was under the influence of this strong and natural feeling that the captive Joseph spoke. But again, although God works by means, it is by means of his own choosing. There is not one point more clearly taught by the history of Joseph than this. Every human plan and contrivance—every calculation of probabilities, come to naught, or if attended with any effect, that effect is altogether different from what was intended—is even adverse to it. God, in his own time, is seen moving the hearts of men, and turning their devices to accomplish his own high purposes—and even the fierce and proud wrath of man is constrained to glorify his providence and grace. Without, however, inquiring further, whether Joseph was right or wrong in bespeaking the interest of the great man whom the Lord had given him an opportunity of obliging, let us see how exactly the words he employs are such ... Content not shown in limited preview…