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The Story of Isaac |
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The First Son of the Covenant |
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Introduction |
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As the LORD promised
Sarah bears Abraham a son when Abraham is
about 100 years old, and he calls him Isaac.
Some time later God puts Abraham to the test
and tells him to offer up his only son Isaac
as a holocaust. Without hesitation as the
LORD commanded Abraham goes to the mountain
of Moriah, builds an altar and prepares to
sacrifice Isaac.
The angel of the LORD
intercedes and commends Abraham for
not hesitating to do as the LORD commanded.
Abraham is promised that his
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descendants will be as numerous as the
stars. The LORD tells Abraham that from Isaac will
spring forth nations and rulers.
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The LORD Saves Isaac |
Finding a Wife for Isaac
Abraham is now of the ripe old age, and the LORD
had blessed him in every way. Abraham says to
his servant who had charge of all his
possessions to swear by the LORD that he will
find a wife for his son Isaac in Abraham’s own
land and among his kindred and not from the
daughters of the Canaanites among whom Abraham
lives. Further Abraham makes his servant swear
to bring the chosen one back to Canaan and not
to take Isaac back to his own homeland for any
reason.
Abraham also tells him that the LORD will send
His messenger before the servant so he will
obtain a wife for his son there. Abraham tells
his servant that if the woman is unwilling to follow
him, he will be released from this |
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oath.
So the servant swears to his master Abraham and
then takes ten of his master's camels laden with
all kinds of gifts from his master on his way to
the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. |
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Abraham's
Servant Meets Rebekah |
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Rebekah at the Well |
Near evening he and the camels stop at the
well outside the city. He then prays to the
LORD, God of his master Abraham, to fulfill the
mission that his master had given him. He adds
that while he stands at the spring to let the
girl who offers him a drink and water to his
camels, too, be the one whom He has decided upon
for His servant Isaac.
Just as he finishes praying a very beautiful
virgin girl named Rebekah comes out with a jug
on her shoulder. She goes down to the spring and
fills her jug. As she comes up, the servant runs
toward her and asks to give him a sip of water
from her jug. Rebekah tells the servant to take
a drink and quickly lowering the jug onto her
hand, she gives him a drink. After that she says that she will draw
water for his camels, too, until they have drunk
their fill. |
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With that, she quickly empties her jug into the
drinking trough and runs back to the well to
draw more water, until she has enough water for
all the camels. The man watches her the whole
time, silently waiting to learn whether or not
the LORD has made his errand successful.
When the camels finish drinking, the man takes
out a gold ring weighing half a shekel, which he
fastens it on her nose. He also takes out two
gold bracelets weighing ten shekels, which he
puts on her wrists. Then he asks her who her
father is and he also asks if there is room in
her father's house for them to spend the night.
Rebekah turns out to be the daughter of Bethuel,
son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother
Nahor. She also says there is plenty of straw
and fodder at her place and room to spend the
night. |
The man then bows down in worship to the
LORD thanking Him for not failing his master
and leading him straight to the house of his
master's brother. Then the girl runs off and
tells her mother's household about it.
Rebekah has a brother named Laban. He rushes
outside to the man at the spring as soon as
he sees the ring and the bracelets on his
sister Rebekah and hears her words about
what the man had said to her. When he
reaches him, he is still standing by the
camels at the spring. |
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Then Laban invites the servant and the men who
came with him to dine in his house and offers fodder
for their camels. Then they bring water to bathe
the servant’s feet and the feet of the men who
are with him. When it is time to eat, the
servant tells them that he cannot eat until he
tells them his mission.
He tells them that he is a servant of Abraham’s,
whom the LORD has blessed so abundantly that he
has become a wealthy man. He also tells them the
wife of his master Abraham Sarah bore Abraham a
son in their old age, and he has given the son
everything he owns. He tells them that his
master Abraham sent him here to his home land in
search of a wife for his only son.
He then recounts to them his oath to Abraham until
what happened at the well. Since this is the
will of the LORD, Laban and his household offers
Rebekah to take with him that she may become the
wife of his master's son, as the LORD has said.
Then the servant bows to the ground in
thanksgiving before the LORD. Then he brings out
objects of silver and gold and articles of
clothing and presents them to Rebekah. He also
gives costly presents to her brother and mother
and starts to eat. After feasting, they rest for
the night and on the next morning the servant
asks leave to return to his master. After some
hesitation on the part of Laban and his mother,
the servant leaves with Rebekah and her nurse
back to his master’s house. |
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Isaac
Meets Rebekah
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Isaac Meets Rebekah |
Meanwhile Isaac had left from Beer-lahai-roi and
is living in the region of the Negeb. One day
toward evening he goes out in the field and sees
a caravan of camels approaching.
Rebekah on seeing him approach gets down from
her camel and asks the servant who the man out
there is. The servant answers that the man
walking towards them is his master. Rebekah
then
she covers herself with her veil. The servant
recounts to Isaac all the things he had done.
Then Isaac takes Rebekah into his tent; he marries
her, and thus she becomes his wife. In his love for
her, Isaac finds solace after the death of his
mother Sarah. Isaac is by then forty years old.
Although Abraham has other sons by his concubines,
he deeds everything that he owns to his son Isaac.
To his sons by his |
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concubines, however, he makes grants while he was
still living, as he sends them away eastward, to
the land of Kedem, away from his
son Isaac.
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Rebekah does not bear a son for Isaac for she is
barren. So Isaac prays to the LORD on behalf of his
wife. The LORD hears Isaac, and Rebekah becomes
pregnant with twins who even in her womb are
quarrelling. The LORD tells Rebekah that from her
two sons will rise two nations, and that the older
shall serve the younger.
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God
Appears to Isaac |
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In
these days there is a famine in the land and
Isaac goes down to Abimelech, king of the
Philistines in Gerar. The LORD appears to Isaac
and tells him not to go down to but continue to
camp wherever in this land. The LORD tells Isaac
to stay in this land, and that He will be with
him and bless him. The LORD promises to give
Isaac and his descendants all these lands, in
fulfillment of the oath that He swore to his
father Abraham.
The LORD then tells Isaac that
He will make his descendants as numerous |
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as
the stars in the sky - all these because Abraham
obeyed the LORD, keeping His commandments,
ordinances, and instructions.
So Isaac settles in Gerar where the men ask
questions about his wife. Isaac tells them that
she is his sister for fear of being killed on
account of Rebekah who is very beautiful. But
later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, sees
Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.
Abimelech then calls for Isaac and reprimands
for lying to him. Abimelech then warns all his
men that anyone who molests Isaac or his wife
shall be put to death. |
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Isaac sows a crop in that
region and reaps a hundredfold the same year.
Since the LORD blessed him, he becomes richer
and richer all the time, until he is very
wealthy indeed, acquiring flocks and herds, and
many work animals, that the Philistines become
envious of him. They fill with dirt all the
wells that his father's servants had dug back in
the days of his father Abraham.
Because of the continuing conflicts Abimelech
tells Isaac to leave them. Isaac leaves and
makes the Wadi Gerar his regular campsite. Isaac
reopens the wells which his father's servants
had dug back in the days of his father Abraham
and which the Philistines had filled up after
Abraham's death. |
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But when Isaac's servants
dig in the wadi and reach spring water in
their well, the shepherds of Gerar quarrel
with Isaac's servants, and take the well. When
they dig another well and reach water they
quarrel over that one, too. So Isaac moves
from there and digs still another well but
over this one they do not quarrel.
From there Isaac goes up to Beer-sheba. That
same night the LORD appears to him and repeats
His promise to bless him and multiply his
descendants for the sake of His servant
Abraham.
So he builds an altar there and invokes the
LORD by name. After he pitches his tent there,
his servants begin to dig a well nearby.
Abimelech has meanwhile come to him from Gerar,
accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and
Phicol, the general of his army.
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Isaac asks them why he comes to him after
driving him away. They answer that they
are convinced that the LORD is with him,
so they propose to make a pact of peace
with Isaac. Isaac then makes a feast for
them. Early the next morning they exchange
oaths. Then Isaac bids them farewell, and
they depart from him in peace.
That same day Isaac's servants tells Isaac
that the well they had been digging reach
water!
Hereon begins the story of the life of
Jacob, whom through a ruse usurps the
birthright of his older brother Esau and
obtains the blessings of his father Isaac.
Because of this Esau swears to kill Jacob
when his father Isaac dies.
When Rebekah hears of this, she sends
Jacob to the |
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house her brother Laban by interceding with Isaac to not allow
Jacob to marry a Canaanite woman. Isaac
therefore orders Jacob to choose a wife from
among the daughters of his uncle Laban.
Isaac dies when he is one
hundred and eighty years. After a full life,
he dies as an old man and is taken to his
kinsmen. His sons Esau and Jacob bury him.
Jacob and Esau made peace with each other. |
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For
other towering figures from the Old Testament,
please go
to this link. |
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Preaching from the Old Testament
by Elizabeth Achtemeier (Author) Reader
Review: The author of these
thirty-two short chapters begins and ends
with the assumption that problems we
experience with the Old Testament are our
problem, not the Bible's. This
subordinating of the Bible reader to the
well-weathered book he holds in his hand
opens doors, not to forced harmonisations
of problematic passages, but to fresh
reappraisal of difficult texts on their
own terms. -
David A. Baer |
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The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch (The Navarre Bible: Old Testament)
This volume helps you make the first five
books of the Old Testament a vital part of
your spiritual reading and practical
growth in the Christian life. It contains
the full English and Latin texts of these
books, along with extensive and faithfully
Catholic commentaries. Like other volumes
in the world-renowned Navarre Bible
series, these commentaries draw on Church
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documents, the exegesis of Fathers and Doctors
of the Church, and the works of contemporary
spiritual writers — particularly St. Josemaría
Escrivá, who initiated the Navarre Bible
project. |
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Samson and Delilah and Other Old Testament Stories (Discovering the Bible) (Hardcover)
by Victoria Parker (Author), Retold by Victoria Parker (Author)
This
book provides known Bible stories from Israel in the Promised land to the Story
of Ruth. It has the stories we grew up with but it adds historical and religious
facts to each story. It tells the stories gearing them toward elementary school
children. |
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Moses
Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the Bible's real Moses-the
Moses who tried to decline his assignment from God; the Moses who dazzled Pharoh;
the Moses who received the Ten Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of God's people in all of history.
Through his faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually chose to follow
God's will through difficult and seemingly impossible situations. |
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Jacob and Esau
by Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer
Curtiss (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005) |
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The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary
by J. A. Motyer
Recipient of a Christianity Today 1994 Critics
Choice Award! Among Old Testament prophetic books no other equals Isaiah's
brilliance of style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the Holy One of Israel
and its kaleidoscopic vision of God's future restoration of Israel and the
world. Now, after over three decades of studying and teaching Isaiah, Alec
Motyer presents a wealth of commentary and perspective on this book. |
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Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts
(Paperback)
by Leonard Foley (Editor), Pat McCloskey (Editor) |
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Lives of the
Saints You Should Know by Margaret R. Bunson,
Matthew E. Bunson |
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New Illustrated Book of Saints
Author: Catholic Book Publishing Company |
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One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses
Drawn from Butler's
This is a coffee-table collection of 100
popular saints illustrated with art works taken
from international galleries. The saints are
listed alphabetically in a valuable table of
contents, with a larger list of patron saints
following the text. Inclusion is based on
popularity within the Christian world and the
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availability of
atypical art works. Entries are generally based
on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the
Saints, with the length of each entry varying
from one-half page to several pages. Short
entries giving written insight into the lives of
pious individuals are combined with depictions
rendered by artists such as Raphael and El
Greco. An inexpensive tribute to art and faith
more appropriate for gift-giving than for
libraries. |
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Apologetics |
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Mary
and the Saints |
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Mass
and the Eucharist |
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Prayers |
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Novenas |
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The Rosary |
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Traditional Prayers:
Discover the origin of your favorite prayer. We might
even have the original Latin version, too. |
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Novenas:
Learn how
to say a novena in honor of your favorite
Saint.
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Archived Articles |
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Prayer Requests |
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Tours and Pilgrimages |
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