but he who and by how fended at the idea of being blessed for another's sake; walked in the steps of his father's faith would enjoy it much he loved him for whose sake the blessing was bestowed, by so much would his enjoyment be the greater. The promises are the same for substance as were made to him on his going to Gerar. The same truths are new to us under new circumstances, and in new situations. To express the grateful sense he had of the divine goodness, he arose and built an altar, and called upon the name of the Lord and now the very place being rendered doubly dear to him, THERE he pitched his tent, and there his servants digged a well. Temporal mercies are sweetened by their contiguity to God's altars, and by their being given us after we have first sought the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Ver. 26-31. One would not have expected after driving him, in a manner, out of their country, that the Philistines would have bad any thing more to say to him. Abimelech, however, and some of his courtiers pay him a visit. They were not easy when he was with him, and now they seem hardly satisfied when he has left them. I believe they were afraid of his growing power, and conscious that they had treated him unkindly, wished for their own sakes to adjust these differences before they proceeded any farther. Isaac, while they acted as enemies, bore it patiently, as a part of his lot in an evil world; but now they want to be thought friends, and to renew covenant with him, he feels keenly, and speaks his mind. Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? We can bear that from an avowed adversary, which we cannot bear from one in habits of friendship. It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it. To this they answer, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. Had they any regard, then, for Isaac's God, or for him on that account? I fear they had not: they feel however a regard to themselves, and a kind of respect for Isaac which is very commonly seen in men of no religion towards them that fear the Lord. We do not blame them for wishing to be on good terms with such a man as Isaac; but they should not have pretended to have done unto him nothing but good, when they must know, and he must have felt the contrary. But this is the very character of a self-righteous heart, when seeking reconciliation with God, as well as with man. It palliates its sin, and desires peace in return for its good deeds, when in fact its deeds are evil. Isaac, being of a peaceable spirit, admitted their plea, though a poor one, and treated them generously. Next morning they arose; and having solemnly renewed covenant with each other, parted in peace. Ver. 32, 33. The same day in which Ambimelech and his courtiers took leave, the news came out of the field that Isaac's servants had discovered a well. It is the same well as they are said to have digged in the 25th verse; only there the thing is mentioned without respect to the time. Here we are told that the news of the discovery of the well arrived immediately after the mutual oath which had been taken between Isaac and Abimelech, and he for a memorial of the event called it, Sheba, an oath ; and a city being afterwards built on the spot was from hence, it seems, called Beersheba, the well of the oath. Indeed this name had been given it by Abraham above a hundred years before, and that on a similar occasion; but what was now done would serve to confirm it. Ver. 34, 35. The Lord had promised to multiply Isaac's seed; and they are multiplied in the person of Esau; howbeit not to the increase of comfort, either in him or in Rebekah. Esau went into the practice of polygamy, and took both his wives from among the Canaanites. Whether he went into their idolatrous customs, we are not told, nor whether they lived in the father's family. However this might be, their ungodly, and some think undutiful behaviour, was a grief of mind to their aged parents. Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife when she bare no children: and now they have children grown up, one of them occasions much bitterness of spirit; this indeed is not uncommon. Such an issue of things in this instance, would tend to turn away the hopes of Isaac from seeing the accomplishment of Abraham's covenant in the person of his first-born son, to whom he appears to have been inordinately attached. By other instances of the kind, God teaches us to beware of excessive anxiety after earthly comforts, and in receiving them to rejoice with trembling. DISCOURSE XXXVI. JACOB'S OBTAINING THE BLESSING. Gen. xxvii. BEFORE we entered on the history of Isaac, we met with some painful events respecting the departure of Ishmael; but in the introduction to the history of Jacob, we find things much more painful. In the former instance, we found him that was rejected a mocker; but in this we see in the heir of promise a supplanter. This deviation from rectitude, though it changes not the divine purpose, but, on the contrary, is overruled for its accomplishment, yet sows the seed of much evil in the life of the offender. Isaac retained his place in the family; but Jacob was obliged to depart from it. When the former was of age to be married, an honourable embassy was sent to bring it about: but the latter is necessi tated to go by himself, as one that had just escaped with his life. There is a deep mystery in the system of Providence, and much eventual good brought out of great evils, Ver. 1-4. Isaac was now about a hundred and thirty-seven years of age, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. He therefore called Esau his eldest son, and said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death-take I pray thee thy weapons -and go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. Isaac lived forty-three years after this; but as it was unknown to him, he did very properly in settling his affairs. The day of our death is concealed from us for the very purpose that we may be always ready: and when life is upon the wane especially, it becomes us to do what we do quickly. The above account, however, does not appear greatly to his honour. His partiality towards Esau would seem to imply a disregard to what had been revealed to Rebekah; and his fondness for the venison has the appearance of weakness. But passing this, there are two questions which require an answer-Wherein consisted the blessing which was now about to be bestowed? and, Why was savoury meat required, in order to the bestowment of it? Respecting the first, I might refer to what has been said already on the birthright.* There was, no doubt, a common blessing to be expected from such a father as Isaac on all his children, and a special one on his first-born; but in this family there was a blessing superior to both. It included all those great things contained in the covenant with Abraham, by which his posterity were to be distinguished as God's peculiar people. Hence that which Isaac did is said to have been done in faith, and was prophetic of things to come. The faith of this good man was however, at first, much interrupted by natural attachment. Desirous of conferring the blessing on Esau, he gives him directions as to the manner of receiving it. And here occurs the second question, Why was savoury meat required in order to the bestowment of the blessing? The design of it seems to have been, not merely to strengthen animal nature, but to enkindle affection. Isaac is said to have loved Esau on account of his venison ; this therefore would tend, as he supposed, to revive that affection, and so enable him to bless him with all his heart. It seems, however, to have been but a carnal kind of introduction to so divine an act; partaking more of the flesh than of the Spirit, and savouring rather of that natural affection under the influence of which he at present acted, than of the faith of a son of Abraham. Ver. 5-10. Rebekah overhearing this charge of Isaac to his son Esau, takes measures to direct the blessing into another channel. This is a mysterious affair. It was just that Esau should lose the blessing, for by selling his birthright he had Chap. xxv. 23. * Chap. xxv. 29-34. + Heb. xi. 20. despised it. It was God's design too that Jacob should have it. Rebekah also, knowing of this design, from its having been revealed to her that the elder should serve the younger, appears to have acted from a good motive. But the scheme which she formed to correct the error of her husband was far from being justifiable. It is one of those crooked measures which have too often been adopted to accomplish the divine promises; as if the end would justify, or at least excuse, the means. Thus Sarah acted, in giving Hagar to Abraham; and thus many others have acted, under the idea of being useful in promoting the cause of Christ. The answer to all such things is that which God addressed to Abraham: I AM GOD ALMIGHTY; WALK BEFORE ME, AND BE THOU PERFECT. The deception practised on Isaac was cruel. If he be in the wrong, endeavour to convince him; or commit the affair to God, who could turn his mind, as he afterwards did that of Jacob, when blessing Ephraim and Manasseh: but do not avail yourself of his loss of sight to deceive him. Such would have been the counsel of wisdom and rectitude: but Rebekah follows her own. Ver. 11-13. We ought not to load Jacob with more of the guilt of this transaction than belongs to him. He was not first in the transgression. His feelings revolted at it when it was proposed to him. He remonstrated against it. Considering too that it was against the advice, or rather the command, of a parent, such remonstrance would seem to go far towards excusing him. But no earthly authority can justify us in disregarding the authority of God. Moreover, the remonstrance itself is founded merely on the consequences of the evil, and not on the evil itself. What a difference between this reasoning, and that of his son Joseph. I shall bring a curse upon me, said he, and not a blessing. How can I do this great wickedness, said the other, and sin against God! The resoluteness of Rebekah is affecting: Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice. Surely she must have presumed upon the divine promise, which is a dangerous thing our Lord considered it as tempting God.* Those who do evil under an idea of serving * Matt. iv. 7. |