Isaac, Son of Abraham, Who Dug His Father's Wells Again

Who he is, and when

Isaac (יִצְחָק) is the son of Abraham and Sarah, a man of the patriarchal era. According to Ussher, Annals of the World (1650), he was born 1896 BC and died 1716 BC (180 years), a span the text itself confirms: "The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years" (Genesis 35:28). His name first appears at Genesis 17:19 and his last mention falls in James. In all, Scripture names him in about 123 verses spread over twenty-one books, with the bulk of them (74) in Genesis. He is husband of Rebekah, father of Esau and of Israel, and brother of Ishmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.

Born to a father of a hundred

The birth notice is spare and exact. "Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him" (Genesis 21:3-5). Everything about the start of this life is done to him and for him: he is named, he is circumcised, he is counted against his father's years.

The record also carries Genesis 22:2-3 and Genesis 22:6-7, where Isaac appears with his father. The dossier holds those verses by reference without their wording, so nothing will be retold here that the text does not put in front of us. Hebrews 11:17-18 and James 2:21 name Isaac again in the New Testament.

The field at evening, and a wife

"Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South. Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel" (Genesis 24:62-64). The meeting continues at Genesis 24:66-67. His age and her family are given later: "Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived" (Genesis 25:19-21). That is the one prayer of Isaac the record puts on the page, and it is answered.

Wells, and a name for a quarrel

In Gerar he is strong enough to be feared and quiet enough to move on. "Abimelech said to Isaac, 'Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.' Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there. Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them. Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, 'The water is ours.' He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him" (Genesis 26:16-20). Other moments in that same chapter stand at Genesis 26:8-9 and Genesis 26:31-32. He inherits from his father at Genesis 25:5-6.

The blessing he gave with his hands

The hardest scene is one Isaac cannot see through. "Isaac said to his son, 'How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?' He said, 'Because Yahweh your God gave me success.' Isaac said to Jacob, 'Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.' Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, 'The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau'" (Genesis 27:20-22).

Read it slowly. Isaac is suspicious of the speed. He is suspicious of the man. He names the contradiction out loud, hearing one son and touching another, and he lets his hands overrule his ears. His son answers him with the name of Yahweh on a lie. What follows is recorded at Genesis 27:32-33, and the aftermath reaches into Genesis 28:5-6. Scripture does not soften Isaac here; it lets us watch a father who knew something was wrong and proceeded anyway.

Buried by both sons

"Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners. The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. Isaac gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him" (Genesis 35:27-29). The two brothers stand at the same grave. His name is spoken again in blessing at Genesis 48:15-16.

Outside Genesis, most of what remains is not scene but mention: single verses and short recollections at Exodus 2:24; 3:6; 3:15-16; 4:5; Deuteronomy 1:8; 6:10; 9:5; 9:27; 29:13; 30:20; 34:4; Joshua 24:3-4; 1 Chronicles 1:28; 1:34; 16:16; 29:18; 1 Kings 18:36; 2 Kings 13:23; 2 Chronicles 30:6; and Amos 7:9; 7:16, with further mentions in Psalms and Jeremiah. His name became a way Israel spoke of its own beginnings.

What we are not told

We are told he went out to meditate in the field at evening, and not one word of what he thought (Genesis 24:63). Long stretches of those one hundred eighty years are simply absent. The dossier records no other wife than Rebekah and no other children than Esau and Israel, and it lists no reasons, no motives, no inner life behind the blessing he misgave. Where the text is silent, guessing would only be invention.

The line to Christ

The genealogies at Matthew 1:2 and Luke 3:34 carry Isaac's name in the descent set down for Jesus Christ. Beyond the genealogies, the New Testament keeps naming him: Matthew 8:11; 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 13:28; 20:37; Acts 3:13; 7:8; 7:32; Romans 9:7; 9:10; Galatians 4:28; Hebrews 11:9; 11:17-18; 11:20; and James 2:21. The son who was named, circumcised and carried by his father's obedience is still being named centuries later, in the book that tells us who Jesus is.