(The History of Ancient Israel )
So much anticipation was on the birth of this one son Isaac, because he would be the chosen son to inherit Abraham’s birthright, his birth changed everything. This is the story of the promised son Isaac and how the birthright passed on and affected his children.
Before his father Abraham died he asked his most trusted servant to go back to his brother’s kinspeople still around Harran to find a kinswoman for his son Isaac:
Genesis 24:1-33
“Abraham was now very old, and…He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, ‘…I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.’ The servant asked him, ‘What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?’ ‘Make sure that you do not take my son back there,’ Abraham said. ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.’ So the servant …swore an oath to him concerning this matter. Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim [Abraham’s family homeland] and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘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.’ Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’ ‘Drink, my lord,’ she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, ‘I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.’ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, ‘Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?’ She answered him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.’ And she added, ‘We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.’ Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.’ The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. ‘Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,’ he said. ‘Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.’ So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, …Then food was set before him,…”
So, Abraham sent this servant on a very long journey to find his Hebrew relatives still living near Harran to get a Hebrew wife for Isaac. Despite his doubts that a woman would come all the way back to a strange land with him, he prayed to God to give him a sign of which was the right one and right on time he gave him one: Rebekah was the one!
Genesis 24:54-67
“He and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, ‘Send me on my way to my master.’ But her brother and her mother replied, ‘Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.’ But he said to them, ‘Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.’ Then they said, ‘Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.’ So, they called Rebekah and asked her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ ‘I will go,’ she said. So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
‘Our sister, may you increase
to thousands upon thousands;
may your offspring possess
the cities of their enemies.’
Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So, the servant took Rebekah and left. Now Isaac…went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, ‘Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?’ ‘He is my master,’ the servant answered. So, she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac 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.”
Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40:
Genesis 25:20
“…Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah”
After Abraham died, God officially passed on the Birthright (Called the Abrahamic Covenant) to Isaac as he had promised Abraham he would do:
Genesis 25:11
“After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac,….”
He inherited these promises:
His children would be a large uncountable number like the stars in the night sky and then possibly even more greatly multiplied than that.
The whole land of Canaan was given to him and to his Children forever to be their land and all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates was given to his Children.
He would become a great nation and his descendants would become many nations he and Rebekah would be the ancestor of all of them
His children would become many kings
God would bless him
He would become famous
He would be a blessing to others and all blessings would go to all other families through him
If anyone cursed him (does him wrong hates him) or blessed him (treats him well and loves him) God would curse or bless them in return.
God would be his personal God and his children’s personal God
His descendants would control the cities of their enemies (would dominate their enemies)
Now he would be the carrier of the Abrahamic promises [Birthright] and give it to his own Children to fulfil the promises to his father.
God re-confirmed these promises to Isaac:
Genesis 26:2-5
“The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘…I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.’”
Genesis 26:24-25
“…the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.’ Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord.”
However there was once again another famine in Canaan that caused him to move from where he was he and Rebekah were on their way to Egypt like his father when God stopped them:
Genesis 26:1-3
“Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you…’”
So Isaac obeyed God and stayed in this philistine land of Gerar:
Genesis 26:6
“…So Isaac stayed in Gerar.”
But while in Gerar, Isaac and Rebekah run into some trouble with the local philistines and it brings up familiar situations:
Genesis 26:7
“…When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ because he was afraid to say, ‘She is my wife.’ He thought, ‘The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.’”
So once again like his father Abraham he also used the same lie but fortunately, for the people there, they found out it was a lie before anyone actually tried to marry her so they were never cursed but angry that he lied:
Genesis 26:8-11
“When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, ‘She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?’ Isaac answered him, ‘Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.’ Then Abimelek said, ‘What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept[Had sex] with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.’ So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: ‘Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.’”
So Isaac and Rebekah stayed there in peace God blessed him as he had promised, and Isaac became very rich:
Genesis 26:12
“Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him.”
Genesis 26:13-14
“The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.”
He eventually became so powerful with men and wealth he was like his own little kingdom and Abimelek began to see him as a threat and asked him to move away from his land:
Genesis 26: 16-17
“Then Abimelek said to Isaac, ‘Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.’…So Isaac moved away from there…”
However, they also tried to have children, but like Sarah, Rebekah had a hard time getting pregnant:
Genesis 25:21-28
“Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her,
‘Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.’”
So, God revealed why the unborn babies were moving and even fighting in her womb: He was showing
her these babies were going to eventually form two nations! And one of these people were going to conquer the other and even told her how to tell which one it would be: The younger one (the baby born first) would be the stronger nation.
So even in the first generation from Abraham; Isaac was already going to have 2 nations! But one of these nations was going to be stronger than the other and the weaker one (the older child’s nation) would be a slave to the stronger one (The younger child’s nation).
What an interesting revelation! And how could these children (which would become two nations) be affected by the Birthright?
Genesis 25:24-28
“When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[ Hebrew for “hairy/red”.] After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[ Hebrew for “he grasps the heel” it also was a Hebrew idiom for “he deceives”.] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”
So, the younger and older children are identified: The older was Esau and the younger was Jacob. So, despite being younger Jacob was the one prophesized to become the stronger nation and Esau’s nation were to be slaves to Jacob’s nation: and Rebekah knew it.
Promise added:
His children would be a large uncountable number like the stars in the night sky and then possibly even more greatly multiplied than that.
The whole land of Canaan was given to him and to his Children forever to be their land and all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates was given to his Children.
He would become a great nation and his descendants would become many nations he and Rebekah would be the ancestor of all of them
His children would become many kings
God would bless him
He would become famous
He would be a blessing to others and all blessings would go to all other families through him
If anyone cursed him (does him wrong hates him) or blessed him (treats him well and loves him) God would curse or bless them in return.
God would be his personal God and his children’s personal God
His descendants would control the cities of their enemies (would dominate their enemies)
Now he would be the carrier of the Abrahamic promises [Birthright] and give it to his own Children to fulfil the promises to his father.
Esau’s descendants would serve Jacob’s descendants, and be their slaves
So, what did this revelation mean for the birthright?
We find out that both sons would not inherit the Birthright but only one would and Isaac was going to give Esau the Birthright according to tradition because he was the oldest and the oldest son usually got the birthright in this culture. Jacob knew this so one day he decided to make a deal with Esau in order to get the birthright:
Genesis 25:29-34
“Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, ‘Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!’ Jacob replied, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ ‘Look, I am about to die,’ Esau said. ‘What good is the birthright to me?’ But Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.”
So through a somewhat fair trade, Jacob bought Esau’s lawful birthright: He officially owned the Abrahamic Birthright through forfeit despite that Isaac did not know yet. Esau was still going got get the blessing, despite that he had already sold his birthright to Jacob, Isaac was still going to give him the Birthright, what would Jacob do?
Eventually, Isaac became so old that he officially was going to pass on the Abrahamic Birthright to Esau:
Genesis 27:1-13
“When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, ‘My son.’'Here I am,’ he answered. Isaac said, ‘I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.’ Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.’ Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.’ His mother said to him, ‘My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.’"
So, Rebekah and Jacob were going to get the birthright by LYING and TRICKING Isaac!
You may think “Well, how God could bless someone willing to do this? and how could Rebekah even suggest a thing like this?”
Well, there was a very good reason! Because God told her beforehand that Jacob all along was the one to have the birthright (Jacob being the younger) instead of Esau that was automatically given it for being older. So, Rachel was not just doing this because Jacob was her favorite son but rather because she knew something Isaac and Esau might not have known: that Jacob was God’s rightful heir to the Abrahamic Birthright not Esau, and since Esau also sold his Birthright to him it legally was given to him anyway! So, it had to be his, even if the way to get it seemed deceitful and wrong.
Genesis 26:14-29
“So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. He went to his father and said, ‘My father.’ ‘Yes, my son,’ he answered. ‘Who is it?’ Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.’ Isaac asked his son, ‘How did you find it so quickly, my son?’ ‘The Lord your God gave me success,’ he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, ‘Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.’ Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, ‘The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’ He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ he asked. ‘I am,’ he replied. Then he said, ‘My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.’ Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought some wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, ‘Come here, my son, and kiss me.’ So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, ‘Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.’”
So here being tricked, he rightfully gives the Birthright to Jacob that fulfills what God said would happen:
His Brothers (Esau) would serve him! It was because he was the rightful Birthright heir after all! And also, more detail is added about the Birthright:
Promises Added/Inherited:
His children would be a large uncountable number like the stars in the night sky and then possibly even more greatly multiplied than that.
The whole land of Canaan was given to him and to his Children forever to be their land and all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates was given to his Children.
He would become a great nation and his descendants would become many nations he would be the ancestor of all of them
Nations would serve/be slaves to his descendants and honor them as their rulers even closely related nations like the nation coming from Esau.
His children would become many kings
God would bless him and his descendants with plenty of natural wealth, minerals, farmland, crops, and food.
He would become famous
He would be a blessing to others and all blessings would go to all other families through him
If anyone cursed him (does him wrong hates him) or blessed him (treats him well and loves him) God would curse or bless them in return.
God would be his personal God and his children’s personal God
His descendants would control the cities of their enemies (would dominate their enemies)
Now he would be the carrier of the Abrahamic promises [Birthright] and give it to his own Children to fulfil the promises to his grandfather.
So, after receiving the Birthright, he immediately left before his brother Esau came and found out:
Genesis 26:30-37
“After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, ‘My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.’ His father Isaac asked him, ‘Who are you?’ ‘I am your son,’ he answered, ‘your firstborn, Esau.’ Isaac trembled violently and said, ‘Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!’ When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, ‘Bless me—me too, my father!’ But he said, ‘Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.’ Esau said, ‘Isn’t he rightly named Jacob[deceiver]? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!’”
(For more information about Esau's story see Esau's Destiny)
After this though Esau held a grudge against his brother and even wanted to kill him for what he says as stealing from him:
Genesis 27:45
“Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, ‘The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.’ When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, ‘Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose…you…?’”
So, Esau was so angry he was going to kill him! So, Rebekah told him to run away from Canaan and go back to Harran for 2 reasons: To get away from his angry brother and come back when he calmed down and to get a Hebrew wife from Rebekah’s Brother’s daughters. Isaac somehow found out about this and was surprisingly not upset about Jacob’s deceit to get the Birthright but even understanding and approving of him getting the Birthright over Esau. It doesn’t say why in the Bible to why he all of a sudden understood, but Rebekah might have talk to him about she was behind it and why she told her son to do it. Whatever the case, Isaac understood and realized he was the rightful son to inherit the birthright:
Genesis 28:1-5
“So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: ‘…Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now reside as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.’ Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah…”
So along with commanding him to go and blessing him, he also adds a detail to the promises of The Birthright:
His Brothers (Esau) would serve him! It was because he was the rightful Birthright heir after all! And also more detail is added about the Birthright:
Promises Added:
His children would be a large uncountable number like the stars in the night sky and then possibly even more greatly multiplied than that.
The whole land of Canaan was given to him and to his Children forever to be their land and all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates was given to his Children.
He would become a great nation and his descendants would become many nations until they formed a company of people he would be the ancestor of all of them
Nations would serve/be slaves to his descendants and honor them as their rulers even closely related nations like the nation coming from Esau.
His children would become many kings
God would bless him and his descendants with plenty of natural wealth, minerals, farmland, crops, and food.
He would become famous
He would be a blessing to others and all blessings would go to all other families through him
If anyone cursed him (does him wrong hates him) or blessed him (treats him well and loves him) God would curse or bless them in return.
God would be his personal God and his children’s personal God
His descendants would control the cities of their enemies (would dominate their enemies)
Now he would be the carrier of the Abrahamic promises [Birthright] and give it to his own Children to fulfil the promises to his grandfather.
After Jacob left for Harran, Isaac stayed with his wife Rebekah many years and his son Esau until Jacob retuned eventually his wife died, and Esau came to own all his property with the absence of Jacob; and this is the end of Isaac’s story and so Jacob as the Birthright holder became the next and last Chosen son.