Letter to the Hebrews Volume 134

 The Faith of Isaac

Hebrews 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. KJV

In his old age Isaac brought forth his two sons to himself and pronounced a blessing upon each one of them, however, Isaac had planned to pronounce the first and supreme blessing to his first born son Esau, but God had already determined (even while they were still in the womb) that the second born son of the twins would be the ruler over the first born twin son Esau, as it is written, "And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them." (Genesis 25:20-26) (KJV). Although Isaac had been faithful to the Lord God from his early childhood and manhood, as we saw in the last study/commentary of him being willing for his Father Abraham to sacrifice him at the command of God when he could have easily stopped his Father Abraham from killing him seeing that he (Isaac) was perhaps a 33 year old man in his prime and his Father Abraham was about 133 years old. Despite that, Isaac had planned to give the primary blessing to his first born son Esau, even though God had pronounced to Rebekah (his wife) that the second born son Jacob would receive the primary blessing.

God made a promise to Isaac that he surely recounted, recalled, and remembered all the way up to his old age when he was about to bless his sons, as it is written with these words, "And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:1-5) (KJV). This promise pertained to the seed of Isaac, so he took it to mean both his sons Esau and Jacob, therefore, we find the writer of Hebrews now documenting the faith of Isaac in this list of the Old Testament Patriarchs with these words, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." (Hebrews 11:20) (KJV). Isaac's wife Rebekah favored her son Jacob more than Esau, therefore, she devised a plan of deceit with Jacob so that he could receive the first blessing (the primary blessing), as it is written in Genesis 27:5-29. When Isaac realized that his second born son had deceived him because now Esau had arrived back from his hunt for deer and made the savory meal for his Father, Isaac trembled, as it is written here, "And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed." (Genesis 27:32-33) (KJV). Despite this successful deception by Jacob and his Mother, Isaac still pronounced a blessing upon Esau to, as it is written, "And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." (Genesis 27:38-40) (KJV).

Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of Hebrews 11:20, "He blessed them; that is, he resigned them up to God in covenant; he recommended God and religion to them; he prayed for them, and prophesied concerning them, what would be the condition, and the condition of their descendants: we have the account of this in Genesis 27. Observe, (1.) Both Jacob and Esau were blessed as Isaac's children, at least as to temporal good things. It is a great privilege to be the offspring of good parents, and often the wicked children of good parents fare the better in this world for their parents' sake, for things present are in the covenant; but they are not the best things, and no man knoweth love or hatred by having or wanting such things. (2.) Jacob had the precedency and the principal blessing, which shows that it is grace and the new birth that exalt persons above their fellows and qualify them for the best blessings, and that it is owing to the sovereign free grace of God that in the same family one is taken and another left, one loved and the other hated, since all the race of Adam are by nature hateful to God - that if one has his portion in this world, and the other in the better world, it is God who makes the difference; for even the comforts of this life are more and better than any of the children of men deserve. The difficulties Isaac's faith struggled with. (1.) He seemed to have forgotten how God had determined the matter at the birth of these his sons, Genesis 25:23. This should have been a rule to him all along, but he was rather swayed by natural affection, and by general custom, which gives the double portion of honour, affection, and advantage, to the first-born. (2.) He acted in this matter with some reluctance. When he came to pronounce the blessing, he trembled very exceedingly (Genesis 27:33); and he charged Jacob that he had subtly taken away Esau's blessing. But, notwithstanding all this, Isaac's faith recovered itself, and he ratified the blessing: I have blessed him yea, and he shall be blessed. Rebecca and Jacob are not to be justified in the indirect means they used to obtain this blessing, but God will be justified in overruling even the sins of men to serve the purposes of His glory. Now, the faith of Isaac thus prevailing over his unbelief, it has pleased the God of Isaac to pass by the weakness of his faith, to commend the sincerity of it, and record him among the elders, who through faith have obtained a good report."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…