BRAGADAYJAH 84

That same night when Isaac moved to Beersheba, the Lord appeared to him and told him; “I am the God of Abraham your father; fear not, for I am with you; I will bless you and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.” God’s promises to Isaac do not imply that Isaac was not worthy of God’s blessings in his own right; but rather a confirmation to God’s promise to Abraham to bless his seed. That is one attribute of the God of heaven; He is consistent with himself. When God was making promises of blessing to Abraham and his seed, He already saw Isaac, and knew that he was also worthy of blessing. So the statement, “for my servant Abraham’s sake,” can well be read, in accordance with the promises I made to Abraham concerning you. After his conversation with God, Isaac built an altar there and worshipped the Lord in that place and dug a well there. Why did Isaac dig his well right after God spoke with him? The truth may well be, that he expected God to fill it. If we are in a dry place and we don’t dig a well, we can’t except God to fill it. But soon the adversary was at Isaac’s door again, in the persons of King Abimelech, all the way from Gerar, with one of his high ranking officials and also the chief of his generals. Upon seeing them, Isaac asked them, why they came to see him seeing they hated him and drove him out of Gerar. Then the King said to him, the same words he had spoken to Abraham before; We perceive that God is with you and we are here to make a pact with you, that you will not do us any harm. Yes we sent you away, but we did so in peace and for your good. We did not hurt you, and we are here seeking a promise from you that you will likewise do no hurt to us. More

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God is a covenant keeper. He is God and he cannot lie, and he cannot break His promises. God promised Abraham to make his son Isaac a blessing and God kept his promise. So Isaac, once his affair with Abimelech was settled, settled down to planting and growing crops; and to this end he was very successful. In the first year of planting, his crops increased a hundredfold and thereafter, his fortunes grew and grew until he became a great man in the land. As Isaac grew in wealth, of flocks and herds and servants, the Philistines envied him. They went about filling up the wells that Abraham his father had dug. And it got to the point where Abimelech the king suggested to Isaac that he should go away from among them because he had grown too big for comfort. So Isaac departed from among them and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there Returning to Gerar, Abraham reopened the wells that the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham, and called the wells by the same names as his father had called them. Notwithstanding that Abraham had moved away, he was still in territory claimed by the Philistines and they did their best to provoke war with Isaac. Having herds of animals to take care of, one thing Isaac needed apart from grass was water; and so to provide water for his flock he had to dig wells. But it turned out that every time Isaac dug a well, the Philistines would move in and claim it. He dug the first well, and the Philistines claimed it; Isaac moved away and dug another; they claimed it again; he moves away and dug a third, and this time they left him alone; and Isaac’s reaction was, this time the Lord has made room for us; so he called the name of the place Rehoboth. But eventually, he moved away again and settled in Beersheba. More

BRAGADAYJAH 82

How often does history repeat itself? How often do certain things run in the same family? We know that Abraham twice ran away from a famine situation. Once he went down into Egypt and the other time he went into Abimelech’s country; and both times he said Sarah was his sister; and both times disaster would have struck if God did not intervene. Did Isaac know of his father’s story, his history of running away and lying, or did he merely remember his father as the hero of faith who trusted God to the extent of being willing to offer him, Isaac, his only son, as a burnt sacrifice? Well now we see Isaac, doing the same thing, or wanting to do the same thing as his father. So either he did not know, or had forgotten, or perhaps he thought he would push his luck as his father did. But God warned Isaac not to run and made him the promises outlined above; but yet Isaac lied; but his lie was found out. So Abimelech asked Isaac, “What is this that thou hast done? One of my people might have innocently lain with your wife and thou would have brought guiltiness upon us.” Furthermore, Abimelech made a proclamation that Rebekah was off bounds to all; and further that any man who touched her would be put to death. Abimelech knew who Isaac was. He was the son of that great man of God, Abraham; and Abimelech had reason to know who Abraham was and knew enough not to want to mess with Abraham’s son or his wife. More.

BRAGADAYJAH 81

It is sometimes said, “Like father like son.” The Bible speaks of ‘he sins of the father.” Be that as it may, just as it were in the days of Abraham, and there was a famine which caused him to run, so it is now in the time of his son Isaac; there was a famine in the land, and Isaac resolved to go to Egypt also. Knowing Isaac’s intention, the Lord advised him not to go down into Egypt, but to go to the land to which he will direct him. “Remain in the land and I will be with thee; and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, will I give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments statutes and laws.” Accordingly, Isaac decided to remain in Gerar, Abimelech’s country; and seeing his wife the men of the place asked him about Rebekah, and he said, “she is my sister.” It is an odd thing that so many times when faced with the choice of speaking the truth or telling a lie, the lie always seems to be more instantly forthcoming. Quite often, with a little thought we would conclude that the truth was indeed a better choice; but we often do not think, or do not think correctly; so the lie projects itself and we go with it. In Isaac’s case, the Lord Had promised to be with him. With a little thought he ought to have concluded that if the Lord promised to be with him, he would be with him all the way; but Isaac did not think his situation or his reply through; so his lips spoke the lie, “She is my sister.” And so it was, after a period of time, King Abimelech looked through his window one day and saw Isaac playing with Rebekah and from the manner of the play concluded that she must have been his wife. So he called Isaac and asked him why he had said in the beginning that Rebekah was his sister. Isaac lie had found him out. What would Abimelech do to him? Find out tomorrow.

BRAGADAYJAH 80

So the day came when Rebekah would deliver her twins and true to God’s word, there were indeed two boys that came forth from the womb. The first one came out red all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau; then the second twin came out and held his brother Esau by his heal, and they called his name Jacob. Here we see that Jacob had to wait 20 years before his first born; for he was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. Two boys, one hirsuites, hairy, the other smooth of skin, grew together; but pursued different lifestyles. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. The difference here is that one was a hunter and the other a farmer. Not unnaturally, Jacob had a fondness for Esau, after all he was his first born, but Rebekah’s love was more towards Jacob, he was her younger son, less ruddy and milder. One reason why Isaac loved Esau more was that Esau was a fine cook of venison and he would often cook it and feed it to his father Isaac. It happened, however, that one day when Esau returned home he was very hungry, and he saw his brother Jacob with some lentil stew. He therefore begged Jacob to let him have some of his stew because he was faint. Seeing his condition and the nature of his want, Jacob struck a bargain with his brother. “Sell me your birthright,” he said. Now Esau could have said, “Not on your life or some such other response; but low and behold he said; “I am at the point of death for hunger, so what good is my birthright to me now?” Was Esau really that hungry, or was he just a greedy man? Did he not have a high regard for his birthright, or was it just a case of providential direction and inevitability? For it was already foretold that the elder shall serve the younger. Well Jacob made his brother swear over his birthright unto him, in exchange for which he gave him some lentil soup with a piece of bread. Was it fair exchange or was it robbery? Did God command and or ordain it, or did God merely state earlier the inevitable by foreknowledge? More

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In the meantime, Ishmael was being very prolific, fathering twelve sons, which became twelve tribes, each settling in a separate camp. As the angel had predicted they were a fierce and hostile people constantly at war with themselves as well as everyone else. Finally, when he was 137 years old, Ishmael died; but not before he sired twelve tribes of descendants which were to keep the world on edge for ever thereafter. Isaac, on the other hand was not so prolific; in fact he was not prolific at all. Just as his own mother Sarah was barren unto old age, and required God’s special intervention long after she had past the natural time for childbearing, so Isaac’s wife was barren and required Isaac to petition the Lord to intervene on her behalf. As a result of Isaac’s prayer, the Lord opened up Rebekah’s womb and she became pregnant; but lo, she carried twins who even in the womb were at war with each other. “Why is this happening to me Rebekah enquired of the Lord?” “Because you are carrying two nations within you; and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.” Do we not see here a principle, that sin carries a price, that no evil deed goes unpunished? Going back to Abraham and Sarah, we know that God had promised to make their seed great; but they became impatient and tried to second guess God, and find a way round Him. It was their sin that created the tension between Hagar and Sarah and between Ishmael and Isaac. So the tension continues between the descendants of Isaac and of Ishmael. Then again the Lord had withheld children from Sarah until that time of life when he supernaturally intervened. It was His will that opened up Sarah’s womb; so just so that all would know for all eternity that God is the creator of all flesh, we see now again that it was by God’s hand, within His will and purpose that Rebekah would bring forth; but the tension created by the will of man continues. But just as the first born Ishmael was relegated to the inferior place, so the twins vying within Rebekah’s womb, would follow the same pattern; and the older shall be inferior to the younger. More

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So Isaac found himself a wife and settled down; but father Abraham was not about to pass away quietly into the cloud of oblivion. God had promised him productivity and it would seem he was about to find it. He was 117 years old when his wife Sarah died; but he was not about to hang up his spurs; for Abraham found himself a wife named Keturah with whom he had six sons, and it would seem he had time on his hands to engage the services of other women, concubines as well. In the course of the next 60 years, Abraham would live to see many more children and grandchildren; but he was just an old man spreading his wings not his fortune. So in course of time he gave them all gift and sent them away; because his inheritance was intended for and given to his son Isaac. But indeed, all good things must come to an end. Abraham’s life spanned almost four decades; so at the age of 175 he finally gave up the ghost and died. It would seem that wherever Ishmael was, he learnt or knew of his father’s death; for it is recorded that Abraham was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael in the cave of Machpelah in the self same field he had earlier purchased of the sons of Heth, the very place where Sarah his wife was buried. So father Abraham was buried there, having died at a ripe old age. More