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Scripture Reading: Gen. 17:19; 21:10-12; 25:5, 11a, 21-26; 26:2-22, 24-25; 28:10-22; 30:31-43
I. Working on Isaac:
А. Raising him as the unique heir to Abraham to inherit God’s promise to Abraham and God’s covenant with Abraham — Gen. 17:19; 21:10-12; 26:3-4.
B. Making him a type of Christ as the son of Abraham — Matt. 1:1:
1. As the only begotten Son of the Father — John 1:14b; 3:16a.
2. Given by the Father all that the Father has — Gen. 25:5; John 3:35; 13:3.
3. Offered to God for God’s satisfaction and resurrected from the dead — Gen. 22:2-13.
4. Gaining the Gentile church as His counterpart through the Holy Spirit — ch. 24.
C. Putting him under His rich blessing — 25:11a; 26:24b:
1. Given by his father all that he had — 25:5.
2. Given by God two sons as twins by the names of Esau and Jacob — vv. 21-26.
3. God appearing to him and promising him — 26:2-4:
а. To be with him and bless him — v. 3a.
b. To give him and his seed all these lands — vv. 3b, 4b.
c. To establish the oath He swore unto Abraham his father — v. 3c.
d. To multiply his seed as the stars of heaven — v. 4a.
e. To cause all the nations of the earth to be blessed in his seed — v. 4c.
4. Prohibited by God from going down to Egypt and protected secretly with his wife by God — vv. 2, 6-11.
5. Becoming rich and continuing to grow richer until he became very rich, having possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great household and becoming much mightier than others, and God having made room for him that he might be fruitful in the land — vv. 12-22.
6. God appearing to him again and promising him — vv. 24-25:
а. As the God of Abraham to be with him.
b. To bless him.
c. To multiply his seed for the sake of His servant Abraham.
D. As a whole, making him an heir to inherit all that his father had and blessing him all the way in peace and prosperity.
II. Working on Jacob with Joseph:
А. Having loved and chosen him — Mal. 1:2b; Rom. 9:10-13.
B. Raising him as an heir to Abraham and to Isaac to inherit God’s promise to them and God’s covenant with them — Gen. 28:13-14.
C. Having destined him to live a struggling life all his days:
1. From his mother’s womb to struggle to be the firstborn of the twins — 25:22-26a.
2. To struggle to receive the blessing of the firstborn son through his deceiving according to his mother’s device — 27:1-29:
а. God giving him of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine — v. 28.
b. Letting peoples serve him, and nations bow down to him: being lord over his brothers, and letting his mother’s sons bow down to him — v. 29a.
c. Cursed be those who curse him, and blessed be those who bless him — v. 29b.
3. To be forced by his brother’s hatred and his mother’s partial love and natural wisdom to leave his parents and go to his uncle Laban — v. 41—28:5.
4. To suffer loneliness and homelessness in the journey to his uncle — vv. 10-11:
а. When God appeared to him in Bethel and promised him for his comfort that:
1) He as the God of Abraham his father and the God of Isaac would give to him and his seed the land on which he lay.
2) His seed would be multiplied as the dust of the earth, spreading to the west, east, north, and south.
3) All the families of the earth would be blessed in him and in his seed.
4) He would be with him, keep him wherever he went, and cause him to return to this land; He would not leave him until He had done that of which He had promised him — vv. 12-19.
b. And when Jacob vowed a vow to God as his terms to God’s promise that:
1) If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on, so that I return to my father’s house in peace.
2) Then Jehovah will be my God.
3) This stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house: and of all that You give me I will surely give one tenth to You — vv. 20-22.
5. To arrive at his uncle Laban’s home by suffering a long, lonely journey, indicated by his weeping to his cousin Rachel — 29:1-14.
6. To marry four wives and beget eleven sons by fourteen years of hard labor and much grinding under his wives — v. 15—30:24.
7. To endeavor to become rich by deceiving his uncle Laban with his subtle skill — vv. 25-43.
In the previous chapter we saw the God of Abraham in His dealings with Abraham. In this chapter we want to see how God worked on Isaac and Jacob. Because the Bible considers Joseph as a part of Jacob, we want to see God’s history in the life of Jacob with Joseph.
We should not forget that we are studying the history of God, not merely the history of man. Now that we have seen the history of God in Abraham, we want to see the history of God in Isaac.
God raised Isaac as the unique heir to Abraham to inherit God’s promise to Abraham and God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:19; 21:10-12; 26:3-4). Some consider that Isaac was a good person, a meek person, and a person of prosperity. This is a superficial understanding. Actually, he was raised up to inherit the promise God gave to his father and the covenant God made with his father. God’s promise and God’s covenant are two great things inherited by Isaac.
Paul says that the unbelieving Gentiles were strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no participation in God’s promise (Eph. 2:12). Today, however, in Christ we inherit all of God’s promises and God’s covenant. God’s covenant with Abraham eventually became a new covenant promised to the people of Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and that covenant was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus enacted it at His table (Matt. 26:26-30). Therefore, the real covenant of God to His elect actually is only one, and that one covenant is altogether concerning Christ. Christ is the centrality and universality of God’s covenant with His elect, and this covenant is the new covenant, the new testament.
Today we are destined by God to inherit His promise and His covenant. His promise is a precursor of His covenant, and His covenant is with Christ as the reality. What we inherit is Christ Himself. Isaac’s inheriting God’s promise to Abraham and God’s covenant with Abraham means that he inherited Christ. This is a part of God’s history.
God’s working on Isaac made him a type of Christ as the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1 says that Christ is the son of David and the son of Abraham. God promised Abraham that the whole earth would be blessed in his seed. Then Paul says in Galatians 3 that this seed of Abraham, not many seeds, is Christ (v. 16). Therefore, Isaac was a person who is a type of Christ as the son of Abraham, the one who inherits the promise and blessing God gave to Abraham (Gen. 22:17-18; 14, Gal. 3:16).
Isaac is also a type of Christ as the only begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14b; 3:16a).
Isaac is a type of Christ as the One who was given by the Father all that the Father has (Gen. 25:5; John 3:35; 13:3).
Isaac as a type of Christ obeyed his father even unto death and was resurrected from death (Gen. 22:9-10; Heb. 11:19). In like manner Christ was offered to God for God’s satisfaction, obeyed His Father even unto death, and was resurrected from death. Isaac was put on the altar, and right at the time Abraham was about to kill him, God intervened, providing a ram as his substitute. This meant that Isaac was resurrected from death.
God gained Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife, his counterpart, through Abraham’s old servant who typifies the Holy Spirit as God’s servant sent by God. Isaac took Rebekah, a Gentile woman, as his wife (Gen. 24). This is a type of Christ taking the church as His bride out of the Gentiles. He is gaining the Gentile church as His counterpart through the Holy Spirit.
We can now see that Isaac is a type of Christ in four aspects: the unique only begotten Son, the Son who inherits all that the Father has, the Son who was offered to be the burnt offering and resurrected, and the One who gains a corporate Rebekah for His counterpart through God’s sending of the Holy Spirit to the Gentile world.
God raised Isaac as the unique heir of Abraham, God made him a type of Christ, and God also put him under His rich blessing (25:11a; 26:24b).
Abraham, his father, gave all that he had to Isaac (25:5).
Isaac was also given by God two sons as twins by the names of Esau and Jacob (vv. 21-26).
God also appeared to Isaac and promised to be with him and bless him, to give him and his seed the land, to establish the oath He swore unto Abraham his father, to multiply his seed as the stars of heaven, and to cause all the nations of the earth to be blessed in his seed (26:2-4). The whole life of Isaac was a life in which God was with him and in which God blessed him. God would multiply his seed as the stars of heaven. The stars in the heaven cannot be touched by earthly things. We, the New Testament believers, are the stars of heaven. Eventually, all the nations of the earth would be blessed in Isaac’s seed, that is, in Christ.
Isaac was prohibited by God from going down to Egypt and was also protected secretly with his wife by God (vv. 2, 6-11). Egypt is a type of the world. Going down to the world is a big temptation to the believers. For Abraham’s descendant to go down to Egypt signifies the believers in Christ going down to the world.
Isaac became rich and continued to grow richer until he became very rich, having possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great household. He became much mightier than others, and God made room for him that he might be fruitful in the land (vv. 12-22). The prosperity of Isaac was not for himself but for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
God appeared to Isaac again and promised as the God of Abraham to be with him, to bless him, and to multiply his seed for the sake of His servant Abraham (vv. 24-25).
As a whole, God made Isaac an heir to inherit all that his father had and blessed him all the way in peace and prosperity. Isaac was a person of inheritance and of a pleasant, enjoying life. The only trouble he experienced was due to his wife, but God protected him with his wife secretly.
God loved Jacob and chose Jacob (Mal. 1:2b; Rom. 9:10-13).
God raised Jacob as an heir to Abraham and to Isaac to inherit God’s promise to them and God’s covenant with them (Gen. 28:13-14).
God destined Jacob to live a struggling life all his days. His life was absolutely different from the life of Isaac. Isaac’s life had no struggle, just enjoyment. But Jacob’s life was full of troubles.
Even from his mother’s womb, he struggled to be the firstborn of the twins (25:22-26a). Even before he was brought forth in birth, he struggled with his brother. Jacob wanted to be the first.
He also struggled to receive the blessing of the firstborn son through his deceiving according to his mother’s device (27:1-29). Rebekah told Jacob to pretend that he was Esau so that he could receive his father’s blessing. After Jacob stole his father’s blessing from Esau, Esau purposed in his heart to kill Jacob. Thus, Rebekah told Jacob to flee to her brother Laban. Rebekah’s device ushered Jacob into trouble. As a young man, he was forced to leave his father’s home to flee from his brother. Furthermore, his staying with Laban brought him much hardship.
Because of his deceiving, Jacob received Isaac’s blessing, the blessing of the firstborn son. Isaac blessed Jacob by telling him that God would give him of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine (v. 28). Peoples would serve him, and nations would bow down to him. Jacob would be lord over his brothers, and his mother’s sons would bow down to him (v. 29a). Then Isaac told Jacob, “Cursed be those who curse you, / And blessed be those who bless you” (v. 29b).
Jacob struggled for the blessing of the firstborn son, and because of this, he had to suffer. He was forced by his brother’s hatred and his mother’s partial love and natural wisdom to leave his parents and go to his uncle Laban (v. 41—28:5).
Jacob suffered loneliness and homelessness in the journey to his uncle (vv. 10-11). While he was on his journey, he had to sleep in the open air. No doubt, he was lonely and even fearful of being attacked by wild beasts or robbers. In that situation God appeared to him to comfort him (vv. 12-19).
God promised Jacob that He, as the God of Abraham his father and the God of Isaac, would give to him and his seed the land on which he lay (v. 13). He also promised Jacob at Bethel that his seed would be multiplied as the dust of the earth, spreading to the west, east, north, and south. He told Jacob that all the families of the earth would be blessed in him and in his seed (v. 14). In Jacob’s seed, Christ, the whole earth would be blessed. Finally, God promised Jacob that He would be with him, keep him wherever he went, cause him to return to his father’s land, and not leave him until He had done what He had promised him (v. 15).
Jacob’s response to God’s comforting promise was to vow a vow to God as his terms to this promise. Jacob made God’s promise a kind of business transaction with terms. In his vow he said, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on, so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then Jehovah will be my God, and this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house; and of all that You give me I will surely give one tenth to You” (vv. 20-22). These were Jacob’s terms. If Jehovah did not fulfill them, Jacob would not take Him as his God. This transaction was absolutely according to the nature of Jacob. He was born this way. Jacob is a full type of us. We are today’s Jacobs.
Jacob eventually arrived at his uncle Laban’s home by suffering a long, lonely journey, indicated by his weeping to his cousin Rachel (29:1-14). When he reached his uncle’s land, his uncle’s daughter Rachel met him. He wept before her, indicating that his journey was very unpleasant. He surely suffered through his long journey to Laban’s home.
Eventually, Jacob married four wives and begot eleven sons by fourteen years of hard labor and much grinding under his wives (v. 15—30:24). Jacob wanted to marry Rachel, but Laban deceived him and gave him his older daughter, Leah. Then Laban said that if he wanted Rachel, he would have to serve with him seven more years. Rachel and Leah were competing with each other, so they gave their maids to Jacob to give them more children.
Jacob came to Laban as a young, single man, but he left Laban with four wives and eleven children. His wives and children caused him to be greatly burdened and troubled. We may think that this was because of Jacob’s mistakes, but we should not forget that Jacob was loved by God. Surely he was in the hand of God. God allowed him to have four wives and eleven sons because God destined him to live a struggling life.
Jacob also endeavored to become rich by deceiving his uncle Laban with his subtle skill (vv. 25-43). On the one hand, Jacob deceived his uncle, but on the other hand, his uncle deceived him. Laban changed Jacob’s wages ten times (31:7, 41). Actually, Laban was more subtle than Jacob, but Jacob was more benefited. When Jacob left Laban, he left with four wives, eleven sons, and many flocks and herds.
We will see in the next chapter that Jacob had to struggle to leave Laban. Laban pursued him and overtook him, and he had to face Laban (vv. 14-55). Eventually, he had to face his brother Esau (33:1-16). Before he faced Esau, he saw God face to face and even wrestled with God (32:24-32). He struggled with God, so God made him lame and changed his name to Israel, a prince of God.
