Part two of the series. The link to the other two parts is at the bottom of the article
Among the life stories of the patriarchs, the story of Isaac's life in the Bible is the shortest. The history of Yitzchak's life as an adult is described in chapters 19 to 9, and the last three verses are added to them in chapter la verses 29-27, in which he is told about his death at the age of 180.
Isaac married Rebecca when he was 40 years old and he became a father when he was 60 years old, when he had twins Esau and Jacob. How old was Rebecca when she married Isaac? In chapter 9 the reference to her as the one who will marry Isaac is as a girl. She appeared to be in her teens. What can strengthen this hypothesis is the verse describing those who accompanied her on her journey to Canaan, "And they sent their sister Rebekah and her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men" (5:8-20). The key word is the nurse, the same woman who actually took care of her from birth, nursed her and accompanied her throughout the years until her election. In chapter la 40 it was stated that her name was Deborah and that she was buried in the oak tree in Beit El. This verse is not related to the verses before it and the verses that follow it and it stands on its own. It is possible that the very mention of her indicates her status in the family and that the writers of the Book of Genesis remembered her during the editing of the book long after the writing of the story of Isaac. They didn't know exactly where to put it and for reasons reserved with them they put it in this place. It is also possible that this verse is a remnant of a more extensive source that described Deborah's place within the family fabric. There was a difference of at least 21 years between Isaac and Rebecca. There is no reference from the scriptures regarding Yitzchak's relationship with other women until he was XNUMX years old. In chapter XNUMX it is written "And Yitzchak bowed to the Lord in the presence of his wife because she was barren and the Lord bowed to him and Rebekah his wife became fertile". Rebecca, contrary to Sarah's story, gave birth as a young woman, and how does that fit with her barrenness? It could be that the birth of Esau and Jacob was after previous attempts to get pregnant without success or that these children died at birth.
As in the days of Abraham, so in the days of Isaac, a severe famine struck the land and he thought of going down to the Egyptians, but following God's request, he gave up on that and went to the land of Gerar, the land of the Philistines, in order to solve the plight of the famine. Like his father, Yitzchak asks Rebekah to present herself as his sister so that he will not be swallowed by him, but this disguise attempt is revealed, and both of them receive the full protection of Abimelech Malka of Gerer. Yitzchak builds himself up financially and accumulates many agricultural assets as it is written "And Yitzchak will sow in that land and will find a hundred gates in that year and Jehovah will bless him. And the man grew and grew bigger and bigger until he grew very big. And he had a lot of sheep and a lot of cattle and a lot of work, and the Philistines envied him" (14:12-32). His wealth is so great that the Philistines begin to feel threatened and block the cisterns he digs. Yitzhak did not accept the challenge that was placed before him, he left Gerer and only outside its borders did the harassment stop. Yitzchak is portrayed as a person who did not like fights and wars. He took the path of "don't want, don't need", and headed his way to a place where he could live his life in peace without being bullied. In retrospect, it turns out that it was a wise move on his part. It was then, when he was outside Gerar, that Abimelech, the king of Gerar, signed an alliance with him (26-29). It is not clear if this is a military or political or economic alliance. The impression we get from the dialogues between them is that this alliance was more on a personal basis (26-XNUMX).
The central event in Isaac's life as told in the Bible is the sale of Esau's firstborn to Jacob. Actually there are two stories describing the transfer of the birthright to Jacob. One short story in chapter 34-29, and a long story that spans the entire length of chapter 46 - 33 verses. In both stories Jacob obtains the birthright by fraudulent means. The central verse in the short story is in chapter 27: "And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentils, and he ate, and sat down, and arose, and went, and Esau despised the firstborn." Esau was not interested in the birthright that was given to him by virtue of being the eldest brother, and saw it as something less valuable and not worth considering. This could be due to two possibilities. One possibility is that he had assets that he accumulated himself and therefore did not need it as a basis to build himself up financially and the second possibility is that he was not smart enough to understand its meaning. Jacob was indeed "a perfect man who dwells in tents" (cha 33), but he was more sophisticated and waited for the first opportunity to obtain the birthright. The opportunity came to him when Esau returned from a particularly hard day's work. Jacob prepared a lentil stew for his brother and was ready to give Esau the soup he wished for, only on the condition that he would give him the firstfruits and Esau did indeed sell it to him. In order to give effect to this, Jacob asked him to swear an oath, "And he said, swear to me today, and he sat down and sold his firstborn to Jacob" (Ko XNUMX)
In the second, longer story, four people are involved, and they are Jacob and Esau and the parents Isaac and Rebekah, and it takes place at the end of Isaac's life as it is written, "And it came to pass that Isaac was old and his eyes were dark" (1 24). Yitzchak was already half blind and may also have suffered from senility even if it was partial. Rebekah, who knew Yitzchak's love for Esau, took advantage of father Yitzchak's poor health and before he could close his eyes, she dressed Jacob in Esau's clothes and instructed him on how to receive the longed-for blessing and birthright. As Jacob approached him, he suspected that it was not Esau but Jacob as it is written "And Jacob approached his father Isaac and touched him and said the voice was the voice of Jacob and the hands were the hands of Esau, and they did not recognize that his hands were like the hands of Esau his brother Eirat and blessed him. And he said, "You are the sons of Esau." And he said, "I am" (22-36-34). Isaac is convinced that it is indeed Esau and gives his blessing to Jacob. When Esau arrives home after the day's work, the scam is discovered. Esau breaks out with a loud cry (45:42-XNUMX) because his birthright was taken from him, and Isaac makes up for it by giving him another blessing. Rebekah understands what is happening and when she learns that Esau is preparing to murder Jacob, she urges Jacob to flee to Haran to her brother Laban's house, until his anger passes (XNUMX:XNUMX-XNUMX). According to this story Esau was indeed interested in the birthright and she was taken from him through a fraud that was entirely planned by the mother Rebekah and not the fruit of Jacob's head, as told in the previous story. We therefore have two stories of a different nature that tell the story of the transfer of birthright from one brother to another. It seems that the authors of Genesis had two sources in their hands, each with its own characteristics and they did not know which one to give up. It may be that they decided to put them together, under the same literary roof, because each of them stood for different characterizations of the acting characters.
Esau's anger rose to corruption from the moment he learned of the act of deception and he decided to murder his brother as it is written, "And Esau silenced Jacob for the blessing that his father had blessed and Esau said in his heart the days of my father's mourning will draw near and I will kill Jacob my brother" (41 180) because Isaac died at home at the age of 60 and his children Born when he was 120 years old, it is concluded that both were 120 years old when he died. Here several questions arise. If they received the blessing at such an extreme age, when their main work is already behind them, what is the point of the blessing? If Jacob had to run away as advised by his mother, can a 180-year-old man run away from those who were pursuing him in an attempt to destroy him? Will his physical and mental powers really withstand him? If this event occurred in their youth, Isaac died at the age of less than 120, how old was he then? If this incident happened in their youth, can't there be forgiveness over the many years accompanied by more forgiving relationships? According to chronological logic, Rebekah instructed Jacob when he was XNUMX years old, too old an age to instruct a man to commit an act of deceit, unless he was completely senile.
About the circumstances of Jacob's arrival in Haran, there is another version, which follows the end of the act of fraud perpetrated by Rivka. "And Rebekah said to Yitzchak, ``Take my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, such of the daughters of the land, why should I live?'' (46:1). And immediately later in chapter twenty-one it is said: "And Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him not to take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Get up, go to Aram's house in Bethuel, the father of your mother, and take a wife from there from among the daughters of your mother's brother's son" (Kh 2-1). According to the circumstances of the matter and from a chronological point of view, the last verse of chapter XNUMX should join chapter XNUMX. The trip to Haran came to maintain the family framework. According to this version, both Rebekah and Yitzchak were interested in maintaining the family framework and sent Jacob far away to the place where part of the extended family lived, to take one of her daughters as a wife. This story is suitable for a young person. Which of the two versions is the correct one?
It is said about Esau that when he was 40 years old "he took as wife Judith the daughter of Bari the Hittite and Beshemat the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And there will be displeasure for Isaac and Rebekah" (35-34). Esau got married when he was 40 years old, and unlike his father he had two wives and both of them are not part of the family. Contrary to the iron rule that accompanied the extended family, starting from the days of Abraham and perhaps even earlier. Later he softened and went towards his parents, "And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father, and Esau went to Ishmael and took the disease of the daughter of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, the sister of the Prophets, for his wife" (9-8). He did not marry in Haran into his mother's family, but into his father's family and took one of the family's daughters as his wife. Did this step involve the divorce of Judith and Shemat? These two verses, in terms of their content, could have been placed in chapter 35 after verse XNUMX. But it is possible that they were placed where they were for the purpose of emphasizing Jacob's journey to Haran.
Like Avraham Yitzchak he also received God's blessing. The blessing is repeated several times, but one of them is unusual in terms of software. God reasons his blessing due to Abraham's behavior: "He did according to what Abraham heard in my voice and he kept my watch over the commandments of my constitutions and my teachings" (5 19). Throughout the story of Abraham's life there is no reference to God's commandments, laws and teachings. This blessing can indicate more about the time of writing the story of Isaac's life. It makes sense that this story was written down, when the people were already living in Israel as a political entity with an organized and cohesive set of laws. The closest thing to such a blessing that was given to Abraham appears in chapter XNUMX XNUMX and the reason for the blessing, "For I knew him so that he would command his sons and his household after him and keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and justice so that Jehovah would bring upon Abraham what he had spoken about." It is more about normative behavior than a legal social variable. This can only be understood against the background of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are described below. The writer or writers of Genesis wanted to use this blessing to emphasize the seriousness of the actions of the residents of these cities.
Within such a short story several stories are interwoven, transferring the historical sequence from the character of Abraham to the character of Jacob, with minimal reference to the character of Isaac, but even from this little we can learn something about his personality and perhaps this was done on purpose. Yitzchak is depicted as a gray man and contrasted with the great figure of Abraham, to show that those gray people are also gray, their importance stands in its place. They can be the foundation for great characters to come. Society as a whole cannot rely only on monumental figures. After the heroic period, there must come a period of relaxation, otherwise the mental burden on society as a whole will be too great.
