God's Grace in the life of Issac
Notes
Transcript
Genesis 25:19-26:35
Scene 1/ Some of the great characters in both Biblical & Church History demonstrated some significant flaws.
Video Clip
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A number of the greatest people in church history suffered from severe depression.
John Knox saw his life as quite miserable He said Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and put an end to this miserable life.—
Charles Spurgeon said, “There are dungeons beneath the castles of despair”.
He suffered debilitating bouts of depression all his life
Others made some very poor choices which cost them dearly.
John Wesley was a great preacher and evangelist, but made very poor choices in regards to a wife[1]
William Carey’s work was almost destroyed by His co-worker, John Thomas, who squandered all their money, leaving Carey virtually destitute.[2]
Scene 2 /Isaac demonstrated some character traits that don’t match our impression of greatness.
In Genesis 25:28 we discover that Isaac showed favouritism by preferring Esau over Jacob.
Esau was an outdoorsman and Jacob wasn’t.
Isaac liked the wild game his eldest son brought home.
Now while there is a clear prophecy given to Rebekah in Genesis 25:23-26.
The fact remains that the favouritism shown by both parents, which Isaac should not have permitted contributed greatly to the conflict between his two sons.
In fact so great was their conflict that it takes up much of chapters 27 to 33 of Genesis.
The story of the conflict between Jacob and Esau does not end with Genesis.
As their names and the oracle make apparent, Jacob and Esau are the forefathers of two nations, Israel and Edom, who were bitter rivals throughout the Old Testament period.
Edom’s traditional home was south and east of the Dead Sea.
When Israel wandered through the wilderness on the way to Canaan, they had to skirt the land of Edom because of their refusal to allow the Israelites to pass through their territory (Num 20:14–21).
Throughout the monarchy period there was conflict between Edom and Israel.
Sometimes Edom was incorporated into the Israelite empire (1 Sam 14:47; 2 Sam 8:14); sometimes it enjoyed independence and used every opportunity to assert itself against Israel (2 Kgs 8:20, 22).
At the fall of Jerusalem, Edom sided with the Babylonians and helped cut off those Judeans trying to escape from the Babylonians.
This unbrotherly action is recalled bitterly in the prophets (Ezek 25:12–14; Obad 10–14; Ps 137:7).
It is, therefore, predicted that Edom will be destroyed once and for all and incorporated into the kingdom of Israel (Obad 18–21; Mal 1:4).
That would represent the ultimate fulfilment of the prediction that “the older will be slave of the younger.”
So significant is this conflict that the Apostle Paul refers to it in the book of Hebrews. (Heb 12:15–17).
In Genesis 26:7 we see another character trait that demonstrates a great flaw.
Isaac demonstrates the same weakness as his Father Abraham.
Isaac himself tells us, “he was afraid.” of those around him
Isaac was timid.
He had great wealth and power yet he was afraid of the local people.
He had received a divine promise, but he was prepared to sacrifice his wife’s honour for his own safety.
Happily for all concerned, the real situation was discovered before Rebekah was abducted, but, as King Abimelek points out, the sin of Isaac could have led to divine punishment befalling the whole people.
Once again the patriarch and his wife are saved from his folly by the mercy of God and the integrity of the foreign king.
Abimelek’s decree, “Whoever touches this man and his wife shall certainly be put to death,” underlines his concern for sexual morality.
Again in 26:14-22 we see this same timid behaviour in Isaac.
Repeatedly his shepherds are treated harshly by some locals.
Repeatedly his wells are filled in.
He allows King Abimelech to expel him from the land without even putting up an objection.
And then when Isaac’s men discover fresh sources of water and dig wells he allows these wells to be taken from him.
He is a powerful chief, so powerful that in verse 16 we specifically read that the local King Abimelech orders him to leave because he fear Isaac’s power.
In a land where water is literally life, this is very weak behaviour.
Scene 3/ Yet God made him great!
Throughout Chapter 26 we read again and again of the greatness of Isaacs, wealth.
God makes a promise in 26:2-6.
We see the immediate results of that promise in 26:12-14
Where Isaac’s grain harvest reaped 100 fold what he had planted.
The fact that he was even able to plant a crop is amazing.
Nomadic shepherds normally only planted crops along their normal routes to do so right next to a major city is unusual!
Especially as the land is in the midst of a famine!
Yet Isaac planted a crop and reaped an enormous harvest.
And his flocks and herds grew enormously.
The numbers of his servants continued to grow.
In 26:23-25 we read again of God’s promise.
And the immediate result of that promise is the desire of King Abimelech to make a treaty.
A resident King, with his walled city, an army and people settled in their own land does not come and request a treaty with a nomadic herdsman.
The power should reside with the King.
But note carefully the words of the King in verses 28-29
28 They replied, “We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant. 29 Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the Lord has blessed you!”
The riches of the Patriarchs demonstrate God’s favour towards them.[3]
It is not a sign that Isaac deserved God’s blessing, clearly he did not.
Scene 4/ God made him great because of his covenant of Grace.
He has promised, land, descendants and wealth.
But in 25:21 we learn that Rebekah is childless.
For any woman in ancient society this is a miserable condition, let alone one who has been promised a multitude of children.
For nearly twenty years she suffered until the Lord heeded her husband’s prayers and she conceived.
Here we see great tension.
The promise has been given, yet there is a risk that it will not be fulfilled if children do not arrive.
Then Rebekah conceives but the happiness of motherhood was clouded by the agonies of carrying twins.
The pregnancy is difficult the two children struggle in the womb.
This is not the ordinary kicking of a child which causes so much discomfort during later pregnancy
The sense of the Hebrew is that this was a full blown war, so that she wondered if life was worth living.
The promise is being fulfilled, but Rebekah is wondering if she will even survive.
Rebekah survives childbirth as do the children and God’s promise is being fulfilled.
In chapter 26 we read that Isaac is prohibited from following his father’s example of seeking relief from famine by fleeing to Egypt.
Instead the Lord repeats the promise he gave to Abraham.
These promises in chapter 22:16–18 are enhanced.
The promises are now made to you and your descendants.
It is not merely the land of Canaan that is promised but “all these lands.”
So although it would be easy to write Isaac off as a second-class character among the patriarchs, the promises made to him here outshine any that his father Abraham received.
Indeed, he saw more of the promise fulfilled than his father did.
Isaac did nothing to deserve these promises.
But God gave him this covenant of grace.
Through him all the nations on earth will be blessed.
The thread of the salvation line continues through Isaac to Jacob.
Scene 5/ God’s purposes always prevail even in the face of apparent failure.
Joseph was Isaac’s grandson, and in Genesis 50:20.
He said to his brothers who had tried to kill him.
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
In Romans 9:1-16 we read
1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” 14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
The renowned commentator Gordon J. Wenham sums it up like this;
Certainly, here Paul seems to have caught well the spirit of Genesis.
There is no disguising the failures of the chosen line.
Noah stumbles.
Abraham goes astray more than once.
Isaac and Rebekah are partisan.
Jacob is at times positively obnoxious, and the author of Genesis does not disguise his disapproval of such conduct.
Yet despite all their sinfulness, God’s chosen are preserved and blessed.
God’s saving purpose is not thwarted by human weakness, though it may be delayed.
God chooses the patriarchs not because they are particularly loveable characters but because of his declared intention that in them all the families of the earth should find blessing.
So the patriarchs emerge from Scripture not as lily-white heroes but as real men of flesh and blood, red in tooth and claw.
And with them and their failings everyone can identify.
The fact that God was able to use men like Isaac to forward his purposes may shock us, but it should surely encourage us, too, for at times we fall as badly as he did.
If God could use him, may he now graciously use us.[4]
[1] Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes(electronic ed., p. 206). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[2] Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes(electronic ed., p. 229). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[3]Mathews, K. A. (2005). Genesis 11:27–50:26 (Vol. 1B, p. 120). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4]Wenham, G. J. (1998). Genesis 16–50 (Vol. 2, pp. 179–181). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
