Isaac, the Son of Promise (Genesis 21-28)

(1) Bible Study Questions

Note: The birth of Isaac is the fulfillment of not just the hopes of Abraham and Sarah, but of the promise of God that they will have a child from their own bodies (Genesis 21:1-3). The name ‘Isaac’ means ‘he laughs’ or ‘he smiles’, and reflects the skeptical laughter of his parents when told of his birth (Genesis 17:17; 18:12-15). But like all biblical names, it will have a deeper meaning, as he brings joy to his mother (Genesis 21:6-7) and displaces his older half-brother, Ishmael (Genesis 21:9).

Discussion starter

Can you think of a child who is the spitting image of his or her mum or dad, not just in looks but also in personality? Describe the characteristics that they share.

The younger son displaces the older

Read Genesis 21:1-14.

1. How is Isaac’s birth a fulfillment of God’s promises? (Genesis 21:1-2)

2. How is Ishmael a threat to God’s promise? (Genesis 21:9,12; cf 17:18-19; Galatians 4:28-30)

3. How do you think Abraham felt about God’s command? (Genesis 21:9-12). What do you think of Abraham’s response. (compare 21:14 with 22:3)

4. Do you think God is unjustly harsh to Ishmael and Hagar? (Genesis 21:13,17-21; compare Genesis 17:18-20 and 25:1-6, 9)

Note: Given that on God’s command, Abraham has already sent away his eldest son, Ishmael, the command to sacrifice the son of the promise, Isaac, is a test of faith indeed (Genesis 22:1). Our first way of thinking about the story of Genesis 22 is from the point of view of the faith of Abraham (see James 2:21-24). So viewed, Genesis 22 is the high point of the Abraham story. However, another way of looking at the story is from the point of view of God’s fulfillment of his promise in our search for the serpent crusher (Genesis 3:15), God himself is, seemingly, threatening the promise. But not in reality. Abraham’s obedience is rewarded with God’s reiteration and intensification of the previously given promises (Genesis 22:16-18). Indeed, it is Genesis 22 that we first hear of Rebekah, Isaac’s future wife, who was born to Abraham’s relative (see Genesis 22:23). This will prepare us for her betrothal to Isaac in chapter 24.

When Isaac was 37, Sarah died (Genesis 23:1). The extended discussion of Abraham’s purchase of a tomb for his wife at an exhorbitant price reminds us that he has not received the land as his inheritance, as Stephen says ‘[God] gave [Abraham] no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground.’ (Acts 7:5; cf Hebrews 11:13-16)

Rebekah’s betrothal

Read Genesis 24:1-27.

5. Why is it necessary that Isaac marry?

6. Why does Abraham forbid taking Isaac from the land of Canaan? (Genesis 24:6-8)

7. Why do you think Abraham’s servant sets the test for the prospective bride (Genesis 24:12-14)?

Note: For God’s promises to be fulfilled Isaac, must get married. However, he also needs to stay separate from the people of Canaan, for they are ungodly (see Gen 9:20-27; 15:16). Rebekah by her hospitality, industry, service and humility is shown to be a proper wife for the son of the promise. Their betrothal and wedding is not a model for how we should seek a marriage partner. It was an arranged marriage, both accepted each other ‘unseen’, and it seems that they married pretty soon after meeting. However, there are some things we can learn from the story. We see Isaac’s self control and patience. H e has not married from the Canaanites, as his son Esau later would. Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. We see God’s provision of a marriage partner in answer to prayer (see Genesis 24:13-14, 27), to fulfill not only the promise, but also Isaac’s need for companionship (Genesis 24:67).

At one level, the story of Isaac does not have all the spice of Abraham before him or Jacob after him. I think the main reason for this is that Isaac in many ways is another Abraham. He is ‘a chip off the old block’, Abraham’s ‘Mini-me ‘. A number of the crisis and events in his life mirror those of his father’s, as do his successes and failures. Reading about Isaac is a bit like reading ‘Abraham Mark II’

• Rebekah is baren and cannot conceive, just like Sarah. Rebekah had to wait 20 years to conceive. Again, her falling pregnant is portrayed as an activity of God. (Genesis 25:21; compare Genesis 11:30)

• Isaac must endure famine, just as Abraham did (Genesis 26:1-6; compare Genesis 12:10ff). Isaac, however, does not journey to Egypt to find relief, unlike Abraham before him and Jacob after him.

• Like Abraham twice before him, Isaac deceives Abimelech by saying that his wife is his sister, again putting the promise at risk (Genesis 26:7-11).

• He grows wealthy because the Lord blessed him (Genesis 26:12-14; compare Genesis 13:2)

• He covenants with Canaanite Kings who approach him to seek his blessing (Genesis 26:26-33; compare 21:22-23)

• He argues with Canaanites about wells that he has dug (Genesis 26:15-25; compare 21:25-34)

However, like Abraham, YHWH will appear to Isaac and make his covenant with him.

Read Genesis 26:1-6.

8. Why does God forbid Isaac from moving to Egypt?

9. Why will God bless Isaac?

10. What does God promise Isaac?

Read Genesis 26:23-25.

11. Why does YHWH appear to Isaac at this time?

12. What will God do for Isaac?

13. How does Isaac respond?

Read Genesis 28:1-4

14. What is Isaac passing on to his son Jacob?

Note: Isaac is the true Son and Heir of Abraham. It is thus not surprising that just as Abraham is pre-eminently the ‘man of faith’ so also Isaac is a man of faith (Hebrews 11:20). However, he is pre-eminently the man of promise, not in that he was ‘a promising person’ (no doubt he was), but that he was the Son promised to Abraham and Sarah, and the one through whom the blessings promised to Abraham will flow. In the Letter to the Galatians, Paul characterizes Isaac as a child of the promise, and thus the pattern for all who put their faith in Christ (Galatians 4:22-23, 28).

Isaac ‘s death is recorded in Genesis 35:27-29. He lived 180 years, 5 years longer than Abraham. His life is characterized as blessed, and yet, he too did not receive everything he was promised. Therefore, he is a good model for the Christian, who awaits a better place, as the author to the Hebrews says:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV)

[Y]et none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV)

(2) Sermon Script

Reading Genesis 24:1-27.

Introduction

Let me tell you about a 61 year old Englishman named Charles. If he was born in Sydney, we might be talking about Charlie. He is not a great celebrity with magnetic charisma, but we all know about him. He is not a great orator or statesman, but he potentially will play an important part of the English government. He is not known for his movie star good looks, but he has appeared on many magazines. I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but probably the most important thing he has done is that he got married and had kids.

Do you know who I am talking about? His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, Charles Phillip Arthur George… The man next in line to be King of Australia!

In this case, the position is more important than the individual occupying it, isn’t it? Say Charles was third oldest son in his family, and Edward first. It wouldn’t really change things much. He is an heir to the throne whose main job is to provide other heirs to the throne. The Heir here doesn’t actually do very much! It is not what he does or achieves, so much as who he is and what he receives.

And so it is with Isaac. He is the son of promise. Not in the sense that he shows this amazing potential to do wonderfully things. He might be a really promising person. But that is not what I mean when I call him a ‘son of promise’. Rather, he is the son of promise in that he is the promised son. And at one level, ‘who Isaac is’ is more important than ‘what he does’. Isaac is the heir apparent to all the promises that God made to his father Abraham.

The Son of the Promise (Genesis 21:1-7)

The very time we meet Isaac, he is introduced as the one who fulfills God’s word to Abraham. Genesis 21:1-2:

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said (‘amar), and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised (dabar). Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time that God had promised him (Genesis 21:1-2 NIV).

The long wait is over. After Abraham and Sarah have reached ages older than anyone here, they produce a son. And those two verses I read emphasise that God is fulfilling his promises. Three times it is said. God was gracious as he had said. He did what he had promised. Isaac was born at the very time that God promised him.

And God commands that the child be named ‘Isaac’, ‘he laughs’. A name that would forever remind Abraham and Sarah that when God told them they would have a son, each of them laughed (Genesis 21:3; compare 17:17-19; 18:10-15).

But now they hold the promised son in their arms. And in him, they see the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Sarah nurses not only a son, but the promise of sons more numerous than the sand of the seashore, the stars of the sky, the dust of the earth[1]. And Abraham circumcises him, in obedience to God’s command (Genesis 21:4; compare 17:10)[2].

Brothers in conflict: Isaac v Ishmael (Genesis 21:8-21)

Well, Isaac’s father and mother laughed, first in unbelief, but in the end in joy. But Isaac’s half-brother Ishmael would laugh in mockery (Genesis 21:9).

Though Abraham is heir to God’s precious promises, this is no guarantee of peaceful family relationships. No, Abraham’s decision to sleep with Hagar is now coming back to bite him. And Sarah rightly sees in Hagar’s son a threat to Isaac. Adding to the sibling rivalry that fills the book of Genesis. It started with Cain and Abel. Here it is again with Ishmael and Isaac. It will continue with Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his brothers.

It takes nothing less than a word from God to bring a resolution. And the resolution comes in the form of expulsion. God tells Abraham to send Ishmael and his mother away (Genesis 21:11ff)[3]. God says: ‘He will be blessed, yes. But it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned’ (Genesis 21:12). Isaac is heir apparent.

So Abraham was down to one son. That solved the problem of family conflict. Isaac is his father’s sole heir (Genesis 24:35-36). But this is what makes the events of Genesis 22 so unusual.

The only Son spared (Genesis 22:1-19)

For Isaac is now Abraham’s only beloved Son (Genesis 22:2) But almost as soon as Isaac’s situation is safe as the sole heir, God himself puts the promise at risk[4]. When God commands Abraham to sacrifice his Son as a burnt offering.

Now, this is a horrible thought from so many angles. It’s child sacrifice, something God later says he hates (Deuteronomy 18:10; cf 2 Kings 3:27 16:3, 21:6; 23:10). For sacrificing a son is an abomination for humans. But it is something that God reserves for himself alone.

Yahweh doesn’t require the sacrifice of Abraham’s son because on that same mountain, 2000 years later, Yahweh would sacrifice is only Son, the Son that he loved. And on that mountain, God indeed provided the sacrifice.

But at that time, from the point of view of the covenant, the sacrifice of Isaac is God putting at risk all of the promises he made to Abraham. God promised innumerable descendants who will occupy the land. How will they be fulfilled if God wants Abraham to kill his promised son?

Well, Abraham by faith figures that God can do both. God could command the sacrifice of the son of the promise. And God could raise up Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:18-19).

But God wouldn’t require that. Because in the end God doesn’t require the sacrifice of anyone’s son except his own. And so the promised son is spared.

In search of the promised wife (Genesis 24:1-67)

So the next stage in the fulfillment of the promise is to get Isaac a wife. And that is what Genesis 24 is about. Finding the promised wife for the promised Son.

What do we make of this unusual, long distance romance? Is this a model for how we should find a marriage partner? I don’t think so! Few of us arrange marriages in our culture, and even fewer delegate the role to a servant!

What we have here is a blow by blow description of how God shows his kindness and love to Abraham, by fulfilling his promise that ‘it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned.’ For the promises to be fulfilled, it is not enough for Abraham to have a Son. The Son must have a wife! This is not just a clucky parent asking ‘when am I going to have grandchildren?’ God promised Abraham that he would have innumerable descendants, and that it was through Isaac that his offspring will be reckoned[5]. A wife must be found for the son of the promise.

Abraham is concerned to arrange the marriage for his son. And for Abraham, some things are not negotiable.

First, the bride must not be a Canaanite (Genesis 24:3). This is not racism, as when sometimes an Anglo parent objects to their child marrying an Arabic person or Korean. Or when a Chinese parent objects to an anglo-Australian spouse. Rather, the Canaanites are ungodly, wicked. And God promised Abraham they would be destroyed because of their wickedness in the fullness of time (Genesis 15:16). No, Isaac must marry from the Semites, the blessed line (compare Genesis 9:24-27). He must marry from Abraham’s family and people (Genesis 24:3). And it is a reminder to us that Christians marry Christians. Neither should we be unequally yoked.

Second, Isaac must not go himself. Isaac must stay in Canaan[6]. Both Abraham, and later God himself, forbade Isaac leaving the land (Genesis 24:5-9, 26:2ff). Isaac must trust his father and his father’s servant, indeed, he must trust his God in the matter of a wife. Indeed, we all must entrust ourselves to God for such blessings as a husband or a wife.

But a wife must be found. That the servant will succeed is sure. For it is through Isaac that Abraham’s offspring will be reckoned (Genesis 21:12). The servant will succeed, because God is faithful to his word (Genesis 24:7)

Now, if you want to find just the right woman, where do you go? Real question? Church, Bible College, Bible study, Youth Group… CSSM (Come Single Soon Married) SUFM, KCC, CBS, MYC, MTC, SMBC… Yes, it is not the main reason to go to these things. But it might be one of the by-products.

What about in the ancient world? Where do you go to meet the right woman? You go to a well! A watering hole. That’s where all the women are! (compare Genesis 24:10-11) Isaac’s was the first of relationships between a man and a woman in the bible that begin by a meeting at a well. Jacob met Rachel at a well (Genesis 29:9ff). That’s where Moses met Zipporah, his wife (Exodus 2:15ff). Indeed, that is where Jesus met the Samaritan woman (John 4). And he offered the woman who had 5 failed marriages and was now in a de facto relationship something better and more fulfilling than marriage -- life giving water.

But this is no ordinary romance. In fact, Abraham the prophet knew that God would send his angel to make the servant’s quest a success (Genesis 24:7, 40). The salvation of the world depends on this marriage. For the one who will crush the serpent’s head will issue from it.

Now there are some interesting things about the process. It is an arranged marriage. That was pretty typical for the time, even though not for us. But Abraham delegates the search to his trusted servant. We never even learn this servant’s name. It was probably Eliezer of Damascus. But we see here an interesting interplay between trust in God, and shrewd character assessment. Read with me Chapter 24 verse 12:

12Then he prayed, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’ – let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” (NIV)

Humanly speaking, this unnamed servant bears the great responsibility of finding the promised wife. His wisdom or lack thereof will affect his master’s son. So he decides a shrewd test of character. This test will show the woman’s kindness, hospitality, industry, and willingness to help a stranger. Let’s see if she is hospitable, hardworking, and willing to help. And his prayer is essential a committing of this plan to the Lord. He prays that the plan he has conceived might be in accordance to the will of God[7].

Again, even in this task, we see that success depends on the interplay of human wisdom and action, and the work of YHWH, who guides all actions and thoughts and activities. And the servant’s prayer reflects faith in God, committing his pre-conceived plan and purpose to him. And God, who knows our needs before we even ask them, has already started answering his prayer: Chapter 25 verse 15:

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. (NIV)

Here is God, providentially, immediately, providing the promised wife. She is, as it turns out, from the right family, and has the right character. We see that Rebekah had learnt her hospitality from her family, who invited the unnamed servant and his caravan home. Indeed, Rebekah (who readily consents to go: v58) and her whole family recognise God’s sovereign hand behind these events.

Chapter 24 verse 51:

Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has directed [dabar, in other words, promised]. (NIV)

God is fulfilling his promise to Abraham. And like Abraham, so Rebekah will leave her father and her people, to go to the promised land of Canaan. And so Rebekah’s family give Rebekah a parting blessing. Chapter 24 verse 60:

Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring [seed] possess the gates of their [lit his] enemies.’ (NIV)

Here is the blessing on Abraham and his seed, who will be carried by Rebekah (compare the promise made to Abraham in 22:17). And it bears similarity with the promise to Eve. The Seed of Eve will bruise the serpents head. And the seed of Rebekah will possess the cities of his enemies. The seed is spoken of as a single, victorious figure.

Match, Dispatch and Hatch (Genesis 24:62-25:34)

What follows the remote control courtship is an account of three events in rapid succession. Three events that relate to the fulfilment of the promise. There is a wedding, a funeral, and a birth. Or what some people think my job is: Match, dispatch and hatch! Now, they are out of chronological order. Actually, Abraham lives long enough to see Isaac’s children, Jacob and Esau, as high school age children, junior teenagers[8]. But the order tells us something.

A Wedding (24:62-67)

First, Isaac’s wedding is recorded for us. Chapter 24 verse 67:

67Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. (NIV)

Three years after the death of his mother, he marries Rebekah, at age 40 (Genesis 25:19). He has been patient, he hasn’t gone and married the Canaanite woman around him, as his son Esau, unfortunately would (Genesis 26:34-35; 28:6-9).

A funeral (25:1-10)

Abraham’s last act is to arrange Isaac’s marriage. But once that is finalised, he has passed the baton. He can die now, as far as the narrative is concerned. Even though, as I said, he actually dies some 35 years after Isaac’s marriage, the son of the promise takes centre stage.

But there still remains some mopping up to do. Abraham has at least 6 other sons by Keturah. Not bad for someone 140! And though he gives his other sons gifts while he still lives, he sends them all away from the promised land, just as he did Ishmael. For Isaac is his sole heir. Isaac only will receive the inheritance. Isaac will receive the promises. For it is through Isaac that [Abraham’s] offspring will be reckoned. (Genesis 21:12)

And so Abraham dies. And Ishmael and Isaac bury him. And they bury him in the only part of the promised land he actually owned. The only part he owned became his tomb. And Abraham’s part in the story is over.

A birth (25:19-34)[9]

Well, we have the son of the promise. We have the promised wife. But we have no baby. It looks like Rebekah, like Sarah is barren. Chapter 25 verse 21:

21Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. (NIV)

Again, God is making it clear that the promised offspring, the promised seed, is supernatural, not natural. Notice, Isaac didn’t resort to concubinage, as did Abraham and Jacob. Neither does he say, ‘Oh well, God’s promised innumerable descendants, I don’t have to worry!’

He knows God’s promise. And this doesn’t encourage sloth. Rather, God’s promise encourages him to pray. Because it is a prayer that God has promised to answer.

And I hope that is what God’s promises do for you. That they do not encourage sloth. But they encourage prayer and action. And so we read in the second half of chapter 25 verse 21:

The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

Not just one but twins. Instant family. Well, not quite instant. It has been a long wait. For we learn that Isaac and Rebekah had waited 20 years for the birth of the twins (compare Genesis 25:19 with v26). Being unable to have children is a difficult trial, even today. And Just as Abraham had to wait 25 years for the promised son, so Isaac had to wait 20 years.

Like father like Son: a chip off the old block (Genesis 26)

A survey of Genesis 26 shows that Isaac is truly Abraham’s son. He bears his father’s likeness, in both his strengths and weaknesses, his successes and failures. He is Abraham’s ‘mini-me’. He’s a chip off the old block

As we have seen, like Abraham, he trusts God over the difficulty of Rebekah’s barenness. We also read that Isaac faced a similar test of famine (Genesis 26:1). And while Isaac does not go down to Egypt, as Abraham did (Genesis 26:2-6), he does stay close to Abimelek of the Philistines[10]. And this leads him to fear, and lying. He falls into his father’s bad habit of saying his wife is his sister. And unlike Abraham, Isaac cannot even say this is half true! In this way, Isaac like his father puts the promise at risk.

Like his father Abraham, Isaac was blessed by God with wealth (Genesis 26:12). But it was a mixed blessing. For the Philistines become jealous, stop up his wells, and quarrel with him. But, as with Abraham, Abimelek sees a treaty and blessing from him in the end (Genesis 26:26-33; compare Genesis 21:22ff).

Isaac the man of faith (Genesis 27)

The story of Jacob stealing Esau’s blessing shows the favoritism of Isaac. God had clearly said that Jacob was the chosen Son (Genesis 25:24). But because Isaac loved gamey meat, he preferred Esau, and sought to bless him instead. Isaac wanted to bless his favourite, in spite of God’s choice. Of course, through Jacob’s deception, God does not let Isaac get away with it. And indeed, he doesn’t see his son Jacob for twenty years as a result. But in spite of all his failings, Isaac, like his father, is a man of faith. Hebrews 11:20 tells us:

‘By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future’[11].

During his 180 years, Isaac walked by faith in the promise of God (Genesis 35:27-29).

And we who by faith, walk in the promises of God, are likewise children of the promise, with Isaac. Galatians 4:22-23, 28:

22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way? but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. … 28Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. (NIV)

We are children of the promise. For we do not just have Isaac as our brother. We have Jesus Christ, the seed of Rebekah who will possess the gates of his enemies (see Genesis 24:60; John 20:17; Hebrews 2:10-17). He is not ashamed to call us brothers. And so we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ (Romans 8:17). We will share in his victory over his enemies and ours. Praise God our Father and the Lord Jesus our brother.

Let’s pray.

Footnotes

[1] Waltke notes the plural baniym in Ge 21:7

[2] Waltke, 291

[3]Galatians 4:22-23, 28-31: 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way? but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. … 28Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Romans 9:6-9: 6For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a Son.”

[4] Note Sarna’s comments: ‘With the departure of Ishmael and Hagar, all obstacles were removed to the future of Isaac as the one and only heir, the recipient and transmitter of the divine promises. But suddenly, God commanded Abraham to take his son to “the land of Moriah”, there to offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the heights.’ Sarna, Understanding Genesis, 157

[5] Friesen rightly criticises using this passage as a guarantee of guidance beyond the moral will of God, using a circumstantial fleece, and that God’s individual will includes the specific person a believer is meant to marry: G Friesen, Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View, 299ff

[6]Isaac never left Canaan. Of all the patriarchs, Isaac only is recorded to have sowed crops, with great success: Sarna, Understanding Genesis, 172

[7] Sarna, Understanding Genesis, 173

[8] Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born (Gen 21:5), and died at age 175 (Gen 25:7). Isaac married at 40 (Gen 25:20), and 60 at the birth of his children (Gen 25:26). They would have been 14 or 15 when Abraham died. Abraham also had at least 6 other children by his third wife, Keturah, presumably after Sarah died at age 127 (Gen 23:1, 25:1-4; they may have been born earlier: see Waltke, 335). Not a bad effort.

[9] The account of Ishmael’s sons is found in Genesis 25:12-18. He is blessed with 12 tribes of descendants (compare the 12 tribes of Israel). They live in hostility toward their brothers (v18, cf Gen 16:9-12).

[10] Compare Lot’s actions in going to Sodom, Abraham in going to Egypt.

[11] The author to the Hebrews does not have the abundant testimony regarding that faith of Isaac that he did concerning Abraham. All he says is ‘By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future’. Why is this so? Isaac certainly was a faithful man. Like his father, he lived in tents awaiting for the future promise to be fulfilled (Hebrews 11:9). Stephen in his speech says only that ‘Isaac became the father of Jacob’ (Acts 7:8). That was Isaac’s contribution! He had children. Clement seems to go beyond Hebrews when he says of Isaac: ‘And it was Isaac’s confident faith in what would follow that stretched him on the altar with a light heart.’ (1 Clem 31:3; in Staniforth and Louth, Early Christian Writings, 35). Compare 4 Macc 13:123 ‘Isaac endured to be slain for the sake of piety’. Josephus says he ‘rushed to the altar to be slain’. It is likely Isaac at the time of the Akedah was not a man but a boy, and in the Genesis account nothing is said of his consent (See Bruce, Hebrews, 312 fn 153).