11. The Life of Isaac

Jehovah Walked and Ate

Then the Lord appeared to him, Abram, ... and he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; ... and he, Abram, stood by them under the tree as they ate. Genesis 18:1-8.  The Bible distinctly says that it was the Lord that appeared to Abram and also that the Lord ate meat.  This brings to mind a former quote, Historical records and modern testimony describe them (saucerians) as physically humanlike, racially diverse, and, most importantly, very similar to human beings behaviorally.

The Lord was sitting with his back to the tent and he asked, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he, Abram, said, “Here, in the tent.” And He, the Lord, said, “... Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Genesis 18:9-15.  

The Legitimate Imposter

After Abram had fathered a child with Hagar, Sarai's servant, Sarai learned to resent her. Undoubtedly, the resentment grew, that is what resentment does!  So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she (Hagar) fled from her presence.

Now the Angel of the Lord found her ... And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” Genesis 16:6-9.  She stayed on, as a servant to Sarai another sixteen years, until after Isaac, Abraham's and Sarai's son, was weaned.  Interestingly, normally it does not take 16 years to wean a child!

Abram and Sarah had made a mistake; that mistake was truly emotionally expensive for them. Sixteen years of friction between husband and wife.  For fourteen years Sarai wondered, Does Abram love her more than me?  After all, she is the mother of his only child.  How could Abram get any peace even though the whole idea had been Sarai's?  

Now that Sarai was a mother, she could vaunt about her position.  She need not put up with Hagar's insults any more.  Then, one day when she heard, Ishmael, Hagar's sixteen-year-old son, scoffing her, (he, no doubt, had learned this from his mother) Sarai said to Abram, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac." Genesis 21:10.

Early, the next morning, Abram provided provisions for Ishmael and Hagar and sent them out into the wilderness.  The Jerusalem Bible writes it like this, He (Abram) put the child on her shoulder and sent her away.  This sounds somewhat unbelievable, after all, Ishmael was sixteen years old by then and Hagar would most likely not be carrying him.  

Soon the water which Abram had provided was used up, and Hagar put her son into the shade of a shrub, where he would die of thirst, and she said, Let me not see the death of the boy.  Genesis 21:16.  

Again, I wonder, would a sixteen-year-old quietly lie down in the shade to die, while the mother goes away to weep?  It sounds to me as if the person who wrote this story failed to calculate the time frame, it is totally unbelievable!

Through a miracle, both, mother and son, survived and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. ... and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt. Genesis 21:20-21.  The fact that she wanted an Egyptian woman for her son is not surprising, because she was of Egyptian descent.

The Bible's Unsung Hero

The Bible does not say very much about Isaac.  However, a few details are given.  He was forty years old when he married Rebekah, and when he was sixty they became the parents of twins, Esau and Jacob.

We also learn that he was travelling in Gerar, where his father Abram had also meandered. Isaac pulled the same stunt there that his father had done years ago; he told the king that his wife was his sister, and for the same reason, too.  Did Abram brag to Isaac about that unwarranted trick so often that Isaac thought it was worth repeating?

Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife. Gen. 24:67.  We learn here that a man and a woman do not become a couple at a marriage ceremony, but rather at the first time they engage in "that very intimate act".  

A wedding is merely a superfluous, man-made ordinance as far as a couple's relationship to each other is concerned.  It is when a man and a woman first engage in sex that they become "married".  All wedding trappings are beside the point; maybe that is why so many non-christian wedding ceremonies have become nothing more than a circus act, each trying to outdo the other in absolute stupidity and ungodliness.

When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26:34-35.  Cross-cultural marriages create their own sets of problems. Even if the spouses can learn to accommodate each other's cultural differences, the parents in law - not so easily. 

When the time came for Jacob to find a wife, Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, (that is, Esau's wives, Rebekah's daughters-in-law) what good will my life be to me? Genesis 27:46.

Also, Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan (his wives) did not please his father Isaac. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. Genesis 28:8-9.  Esau tried so very hard to please his father, Isaac.  He went so far as to marry his father's half brother's daughter, just so that Isaac would be proud of him. 

We also notice here that Esau did not care what his mother thought about the whole issue.  After all, Esau was Isaac's favourite and Jacob was Rebekah's favourite.  Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25:28.

Isaac died at the age of one hundred and eighty.