Isaac and Sons

At Isaac and Jacob's generations no new items are added to Abraham's Covenant. It does, though, get confirmed with both men. It also sees certain elaborating words, such as North, South, East and West and Community of Nations.

Confirmed to Isaac

God did not stop at Abraham. The next generation was told the same thing. This time, though, since the covenant was set, there was no need to execute a new covenant. All that remained was reasurance for the people involved that God had a great thing planned.

We see this in Isaac's life in Genesis chapter 26. The following is the relavant text:

1 Genesis 26:1-6
¹And another famine was in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimeleck king of the Philistines.
²And Yahvah appeared to him, and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you;
³reside temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you; for to you and to your sons I will give all these kingdoms, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father;
⁴and I will make your sons to multiply as the stars of the skies, and will give to your sons all these lands; and by your sons will all the nations of the land be blessed;
⁵because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

⁶And Isaac lived in Gerar;

Each of the main components of Abraham's covenant are repeated here again. Isaac will now be blessed.1 Isaac, together with his decendents will receive the land.2 Isaac will have numerous offspring, as numerous as the stars in the sky.3 Finally, through his offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed.4

The nature of the covenant being made with Abraham, not with Isaac, is reiterated.5 Isaac is not required to do anything. Because of the covenant that God made with Abraham it is sure to happen. It will happen as surely as God exists. This has less requirement placed on Isaac than even the New Covenant. Isaac does not even need to believe that this will happen, it still will. Those of us, under the New Covenant, are required to believe.

The next generation, Jacob, has the same thing happen. We now turn there.

Confirmed to Jacob

Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was fleeing the wrath of his brother Esau, when he had a dream. The following is the relavant text:

1 Genesis 28:10-15
¹⁰And Jacob went out from Well of Sheba, on his way to Haran.
¹¹And he arrived at a certain place, and spent the night there, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of the place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
¹²And he dreamed, and look, a ladder was set on the land, and the top of it reached to the skies; and look, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
¹³And look, Yahvah stood above it and said, I am Yahvah God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying, I will give to you and to your sons;
¹⁴and your sons will be as numerous as the dust of the land, and you will spread abroad to the east and to the west and to the north and to the south; and in you and through your sons will all the families of the land be blessed.
¹⁵And look, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done the thing of which I spoke to you.

The place were the dream happens, known as Bethel, but also known as Luz, meant litterally, "house of God" and it was a picture of the linkage between the house of God and access to heaven that the stairway represented. 500 years later, this man's decendents would see into heaven again, with their visit to the base of Mount Sinai. 500 years after that they would build a "House of God" with the construction of Solomon's Temple. 1000 years after that, Jesus, "God With Us" would appear in the temple at age 12, and finally, 2000 years after that the age would close.

In this dream God reiterates that Jacob and his decendents are being given the land. The same land that was demarcated by the border with Egypt and the Euphrates river to the east.6 Jacob's decendents would become as numerous as the "dust of the earth," another reference to an enormous number.7 Jacob is also told that these people would spread out to the West, East, North, and South providing our first look at the four winds of the skys and providing our first key to this expression in later prophetic literature.8 Jacob is told that through him all nations will be blessed, a reference to the New Covenant.

Jacob's name changed

When Jacob finally returns home from his flight to Padan Aram, he has a restless night where he struggles with an angel. He is told:

1 Genesis 35:10-15
¹⁰And God said to him, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but your name will be Israel; so he called his name Israel.
¹¹And God said to him, I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply. A people and a multitude of peoples will come from you, and kings will come out of your loins;
¹²and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and I will give the land to your sons after you.
¹³And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.
¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place, where God spoke with him, House of El.

Jacob's name, which means "deceiver" is changed to Israel. At this point we see a pattern we last saw with Abraham, where Israel is told that both a nation, and community of nations, will come from him.9 He is also reminded that kings will come from his body. Again, like Abraham, this is king David, about 920 years later, and Jesus about 1000 years after that. Finally, the land based promise is given to Israel as well.

A curious feature of this story is the way that Jacob pours out wine and oil at this place. Wine is symbolic of Jesus' shed blood, while oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit of God, or of the anointing that comes through the Holy Spirit. Jacob is reflecting knowledge of that here.

By Phil Stone
Posted Monday, Issachar 6, 12991

1 Genesis 26:3
2 Genesis 26:3
3 Genesis 26:4
4 Genesis 26:4
5 Genesis 26:5
6 Genesis 28:13
7 Genesis 26:14
8 Genesis 26:14
9 Genesis 26:11