Isaac

The son of promise, carried by a covenant he did not earn

Place in the genealogy

Matthew · name 2 · Abraham forward to JesusFrom Abraham to David: the promiseMatthew 1:2
Luke · name 55 · Jesus back to AdamFrom Jesse back to AbrahamLuke 3:34

Where Scripture records this person

Genesis 21:1-8Born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age.
Genesis 22:1-19Carries the wood and is bound on the altar.
Genesis 24:1-67Receives Rebekah as his wife.
Genesis 25:19-28Prays for barren Rebekah; Esau and Jacob born.
Genesis 26:1-33The covenant repeated to him; the wells; the same lie his father told.
Genesis 27:1-40Deceived into blessing Jacob.
Genesis 35:27-29Dies at 180 and is buried by his sons.
Matthew 1:2
Luke 3:34
Hebrews 11:20By faith blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

Who this person is in Scripture

Isaac's life is bracketed by other people's stories. He is the child of Abraham's long wait and the father of Jacob's long struggle, and Genesis gives him fewer chapters than either. What it does give is a man who received the rather than negotiated it: God appears to him at Gerar and repeats the promise word for word because of the oath sworn to his father (Genesis 26:3-5).

He is the only patriarch who never leaves the land, the only one with one wife, and the only one whose great test happened to him rather than through him. He also repeats his father's fear, calling Rebekah his sister, and grows old preferring the son God had not chosen. Genesis records his quietness and his weakness together.

Family, as Scripture gives it

Father: Abraham
Mother: Sarah
Spouses: Rebekah
Children: Esau, Jacob
Siblings: Ishmael

In order

Abraham is 100Born, and named laughterGenesis 21:1-5
As a young manBound on the altar at Moriah and spared by the ramGenesis 22:9-13
Age 40Marries RebekahGenesis 25:20
Age 60Esau and Jacob born after twenty years of prayerGenesis 25:21-26
In famineGod repeats the covenant and forbids him to go to EgyptGenesis 26:2-5
Old and blindBlesses Jacob, then confirms it knowinglyGenesis 27:33
Age 180Dies; Esau and Jacob bury himGenesis 35:28-29

Promises and covenants this life carries

The does not stop with the generation that received it. God ties his own name to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, showing that his purpose runs through families and centuries.

How Scripture connects this person to Christ

He carried the wood for his own up the hill (Genesis 22:6), as Jesus carried his cross (John 19:17).
He was received back, Hebrews 11:19 says, in a figure of , and the son who was as good as dead was given back to his father.

What this teaches

An unremarkable life can be a faithful one. Isaac is remembered for receiving and keeping what he was given rather than for anything he initiated.
Family sins repeat unless they are faced. Isaac told his father's lie, and his own household then ran on .
God's choice stands even when a parent's preference does not. Isaac learned that at the moment he most wanted to overturn it.

Read further in Scripture

Genesis 26:3-5
Romans 9:7-9Through Isaac your offspring will be called.
Galatians 4:28Believers are children of promise, as Isaac was.

Read in the Bible

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