Week 2 Genesis 25-42
When he wrote about the big three – Abraham-Isaac-Jacob – the author of Genesis had the least to say about Isaac. That’s not to say that Isaac was a lightweight – but he had a stronger start than finish.
When his twins are born one of the first things I see is that Isaac loved his first-born son the most. Number one son was Esau, who grew up to be a flawed, brutish and intemperate man.
It’s not as if the rest of the family was a flawless domestic masterpiece. Rebekah orchestrated an elaborate scam to trick her husband, Jacob lied straight-faced to his dad, and Esau, the fall-guy, predictably began making plans to murder his tricky brother.
Isaac’s life seemed to peak at that point, and from then on settled into a holding pattern, maybe even a slow descent. The last we see of him he’s hurrying Jacob out of the country while Rebekah kisses her favorite son good-bye. A last good-bye. Neither saw Jacob again. And even though Jacob and Esau met years later it was in a pretty formal let’s-let-bygones-be-bygones kind of waltz.
So there’s a bit of tarnish on the end-story of Isaac. The corrosion is sad to see. His life seemed to follow a contrasting trajectory to his son Jacob, who started out weathered with the oxide of great natural strength and ambition, but after quite a bit of buffing polished up pretty well.
Note: the main part of the Isaac story is in Genesis 25:19 – 28:9.