The Bible Tales Online website presents a various simple timelines for the lives of Bible characters.  Timelines can help us visualise their lives in order, making their lives more real to us.

The life of Isaac

Sandwiched in between the more famous Abraham and Jacob is Isaac, the longest-lived of the patriarchs.

Isaac is probably best known for being tricked into blessing his younger son Jacob when he intended to bless Esau.  The result of this deception was Isaac gave a blessing to Jacob that fulfilled what God had promised before the birth of the twins: the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob).

There are a few other details in Isaac’s life that may be well-known, so let's go through a few below.

Before Isaac’s birth, his parents, Abraham and Sarah, had no children together, but God promised they would have a son called Isaac.  They did – Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 91 years old.

While Isaac was still young, Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, the later site of Yahweh’s temple in Jerusalem.  Based on the mature conversation Abraham had with Isaac on the way, it is likely that Isaac’s cooperation would have been required for the sacrifice to go ahead.  It was about to proceed when God stopped Abraham and provided a ram to be sacrificed instead.

After Sarah died, Abraham wanted to find a wife for Isaac from among his relatives in Haran and sent a servant to visit them and find a suitable young woman.  This servant showed great faith in setting up a test that identified Rebecca as the right wife for Isaac and also showed that she was a very generous and hard-working young woman.  Isaac and Rebecca were married after she agreed to return to Canaan with Abraham’s servant.

For 20 years, Isaac and Rebecca could not have any children, but finally Rebecca became pregnant.  The pregnancy was difficult and she asked God what was wrong.  It was at this time that God advised her that she would have twins and that the younger would be greater than the older.

The firstborn twin was Esau, red all over and hairy, who grew up to be a real man’s man, loving hunting and the outdoors life.  Isaac admired these characteristics in his older son, while Rebecca loved the quiet godliness of her younger son, Jacob.

Esau had no interest in God and little respect for his status as firstborn.  As a result, he sold his birthright to Jacob – it was worth less to him than the meal Jacob offered him when he came in from the field feeling exhausted.

He also married two Hittite women whose behaviour troubled Isaac and Rebecca greatly.

When Isaac was about 137 years old, he thought he was about to die, prompting him to give a blessing to his sons as the custom was.  He planned to bless Esau, but Rebecca prompted Jacob to trick his father.  It worked, but inspired such hatred in Esau that he threatened to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died.

Isaac, however, didn’t die.  He recovered and lived another 43 years.  Yet Rebecca didn’t trust Esau and prompted Isaac to send Jacob away to find a wife from among their relatives back in Haran, her hometown.  Isaac agreed and Jacob subsequently obeyed his parents and left to look for a wife.

By contrast, Esau, taking the hint that Isaac and Rebecca didn’t like his wives, took another wife from among Ishmael’s descendants, completely missing the point that his parents wanted their children to marry women who believed in El Shaddai, God Almighty, the great creator.

Isaac appears to have been a quiet man himself, one who did the best he could to get on with everybody, from his family to his neighbours, even those who caused him plenty of trouble.

An interesting point about Isaac is that Jacob describes God as “the fear of Isaac” to his father-in-law Laban.[1] 

As well as being Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban was also Rebecca’s brother (and thus Jacob’s uncle) and Laban’s grandfather Nahor was Abraham’s brother.  Laban and Jacob shared a great grandfather, Abraham and Nahor’s father Terah who had all worshipped El Shaddai.

Yes, their family tree was very confused and the relationships are closely interlinked!

When Jacob and Laban parted as Jacob returned to Canaan, Jacob promised never to attack Laban and, in seeking common ground, swore an oath by the God of Abraham, Nahor and Terah, who is once more described as “the fear of his father Isaac”.[2]

The reason for this title is not specified, but perhaps it was a direct result of God’s command to Abraham that he should sacrifice Isaac.  In Hebrews 11:17-19, we are told that Abraham was confident that God would raise Isaac from the dead if he had to kill him as a sacrifice, but it is still easy to understand why Isaac could be genuinely afraid.

Notes

[1] Genesis 31:42
[2] Genesis 31:53