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Isaac....
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Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah, and the father of Esau and
Jacob, who God renamed Israel. The patriarchs are
often named together in both the Old Testament and
New Testament e.g. when
speaking to Moses, God said, "I Am The God of your father, The God of
Abraham, The God of Isaac, and The God of
Jacob." (Exodus 3:6). Jesus
Christ quoted that very Scripture while He was discussing the
resurrections with the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23-32).
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Isaac's birth came about from a miracle -
Abraham was 100
years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5), and Sarah, at age 90, had been
unable to have children (Genesis 16:1, 17:17). As explained, "Then God said,
"Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him
Isaac.
I will establish My Covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his
descendants after him." (Genesis 17:19). |
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Isaac was not
Abraham's firstborn, or only, son. Fourteen
years before, when Abraham was 86 (Genesis 16:16), Sarah (then called Sarai)
had arranged for a child to be born to Abraham through her own
Egyptian
maidservant, Hagar. Ishmael was born from the arrangement
(Genesis 16:1-4).
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Abraham sacrificing his
son Isaac
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The
covenant had already been made with Abraham, with a yet-unborn
Isaac the
designated heir, before Ishmael was born (Genesis 15:2-6). While God does
not play favorites, He was also not bound to any other arrangements for
children that Abraham and Sarah had taken upon themselves to bring about
after the matter had been firmly decided by God. At the age of 40, Isaac
married Rebekah (Genesis 25:20). After they had been married for 20 years,
they had twin sons, Jacob and Esau
(Genesis 25:23-26). Jacob
eventually
became the sole heir of the promise - a very hungry Esau foolishly sold
his birthright for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34), and
Jacob obtained
the blessing through deception of the then nearly blind
Isaac (Genesis
27:1-40). It was while he was fleeing Esau's wrath for that deception that
Jacob had his Stairway To Heaven dream. |
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