The Faith of Isaac- Genesis 26:1-5

Bible Study Lesson for January 27

The book of Genesis has an interesting literary structure that we too often gloss over because we are so familiar with the stories. If I asked a hundred lifelong churchgoers who the “main human characters” are in Genesis, I suspect that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would appear pretty close to the top of the list. What surprises me when I read Genesis afresh is how little of the story actually focuses on Isaac. In chapters 21-24, Isaac exists basically as Abraham’s son. He doesn’t do much for himself. In chapter 25, Isaac’s purpose is to bury his father and then the story introduces his sons, Esau and Jacob. Chapter 26 is the only chapter that is really “about” Isaac.

If Abraham’s story is about the Promise of God, as we have seen again and again, Isaac’s story continues this theme. But Walter Brueggemann points out that Isaac’s story builds upon the theme of promise to focus on the blessing that Isaac experiences. In Abraham’s story, the promise is always about the future, and what “will” happen. Abraham will have a son, and from that son will come descendants who will number more than the stars in the sky. Abraham’s descendants will inherit the Promised Land. We certainly see this future promise in God’s words to Isaac in Genesis 26:2-5. But we also see a shift into the present tense; God will not merely bless Isaac’s offspring, but God will also bless Isaac himself. It is interesting that God ties this blessing of Isaac to Abraham’s faith: “because Abraham obeyed...” God will bless Isaac.

In a way, the shift from Abraham to Isaac is the shift from promise to fulfillment. Abraham obeyed God because he believed that God could accomplish what God promised. But most of his life, Abraham lived a life of faith in promises unfulfilled. He had to wait a hundred years into his life for the birth of his son Isaac. As we have noted, Abraham did not live a perfect life, and we shouldn’t model our lives after his. But he does give us an example of walking by faith and not by sight.

Isaac’s faith seems to be more secure. Many of God’s promises have been fulfilled or are being fulfilled by the time Isaac takes over the story. Abraham’s estate grew as he lived, and Isaac is the chief inheritor of that wealth. So the test of Isaac’s faith is how he understands this inherited wealth. Brueggemann points out that Isaac’s faith allows him to see the wealth as a result of God’s promise. The world around Isaac, however, doesn’t recognize the hand of God in Isaac’s wealth. They just use his wealth as a measure of his value to the community. It is true however you look at Isaac’s inheritance that is he a wealthy man. Faith in God’s promise allows Isaac to see his wealth as a direct blessing from God.

Does faith guarantee prosperity? In Isaac’s story, that seems to be the case. Brueggemann argues that it is necessary to correct a simplistic interpretation that makes prosperity a sign of faithfulness or goodness in a person. We need to be careful not to assume in the Bible or in our own lives that someone’s wealth is the direct blessing of God and someone’s lack of wealth is God’s curse. It helps to remember the story of Job. In Job 1, Job is presented as a righteous and wealthy man. By the end of chapter 2, Job has lost everything: his livelihood, his children, and his health. The whole book is a caution against understanding prosperity as direct evidence of faith, and poverty as evidence of sin. 

A biblical faith is a faith lived in tension between promises fulfilled and promises not yet fulfilled. The secret of living well in any circumstance (wealth or poverty, sickness or health, community or isolation) is in seeing with the eyes of faith. Genesis faith is life lived in response to the Promise. Sometimes we live like Abraham, in expectation of future fulfillment (“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done!”) and sometimes we live like Isaac, in view of tangible and substantial blessing (“Give us this day our daily bread”). Both circumstances present their own challenges. Life with Abraham’s  faith might be “the assurance of things not seen,” but Isaac’s faith requires us to recognize our God as the Source of every blessing, and to recognize that as sweet as life can be, there are greater things yet to come.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul reminds us of these tensions in the life of faith in a famous portion of his letter from prison to the church at Philippi. Paul says:

“I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

(Philippians 4:12–13 NRSV)

Finally, we should note that even in Isaac’s blessing, God points him to a love of his neighbors, for “all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring.” When we see wealth and material blessings as our own earnings or deserved reward, we lose sight of the Source of our blessing and hold onto it for ourselves. This results in the cheapening of the American Dream best summed up in the old motto: “Get all you can, can all you get, and sit on your can.”  If our neighbors do not have enough, it is not because God has not blessed them enough. It is because we have not shared enough. Part of how God’s economy works is for us to recognize all we have, even if it doesn’t seem like much, and share with our neighbors. And to also allow our neighbors to share with us. This is how we best experience the blessings of God - in sharing with those around us.