Isaac and Rebekah

Isaac is left everything when his father Abraham dies and he marries Rebekah, Abraham’s niece. They live by Beer-lahai-roi. Rebekah has a hard time conceiving but finally does. She becomes pregnant with twins, who fight in her womb and she inquires of the Lord about the what is going on in her womb. The Lord responds, “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:23) Esau, a hunter and outdoorsman, is the older and Jacob, peaceful and living in tents, the younger. When they were born, Jacob was holding onto Esau’s heel. Isaac favored Esau and Rebekah favored Jacob. At one time, Jacob prepared some stew and when Esau came in from the field he was hungry and ended up selling Jacob his birthright for bread and stew.

A famine came upon the land and God instructed Isaac to move his family to Gerar and he will be blessed. So he does and while he is there he is questioned by Ambelech the king of the Philistines about Rebekah, and he lies about her being his sister (like Abraham). Ambelech finds out and Isaac explains he was afraid he would be killed for his wife since she was so beautiful, and Ambelech instructs no one to touch either one or be put to death. (It is mentioned perhaps this protection was God preserving His chosen seed in my bible commentary)

Isaac was very prosperous in Philistine. He sowed the land and reaped a hundredfold. He became very wealthy and the Philistines envied him and stopped up the wells Abraham had dug by filling them with dirt. Ambelech came to him and told him he had become too powerful and asked him to leave, so he left and camped in the valley of Gerar.

There were wells there also that Abraham had dug and he dug them out again, finding a well of flowing water. The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with him and moved away and he dug a different well which no one laid claim to. He was excited to finally find a place he belonged and could be fruitful and went up to Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him and promised to bless him and multiply his descendants, so he built an altar to the Lord there and dug another well.

Ambelech and the people see the Lord is with him and make an oath with him that they will be peaceful. The same day Isaac’s servant found yet another well.

Isaac was old and he was ready to give his blessing. He calls Esau and tells him to go kill some game and cook it for him that he might give his blessing to him. Rebekah convinces Jacob to pretend to be Esau and steal the blessing. So Rebekah cooked a meal for Isaac to give to Jacob to take into him. Jacob wore Esau’s garments and put the skins of young goats on his hands and neck to be like the hair on Esau and he went into Isaac and tricked him into blessing him instead of Esau, making him Esau’s master and blessing him with servants and new grain and wine. When Esau found out he wept and his anger burned toward Jacob. Isaac tells him his destiny is to live by the sword, and he will serve his brother until he becomes restless, at which point he will break his yoke from his neck.

Rebekah is scared that Esau will kill Jacob, so she convinces Isaac to send him away by saying he needs to find a wife elsewhere. Isaac blesses Jacob and sends him Paddanaram to take a wife from the daughters of Laban and charges him not to take a Canaanite wife.

Isaac dies at 185 years old and is gathered to his people and buried by both of his sons.