022. Isaac--Blessed by God

Isaac--Blessed by God And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac: And Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.--Gen 25:11.

Those scenes in human life which make the greatest figure in history, are far from being the most beneficial to mankind; neither were the persons, whose names have been transmitted to us with the most renown, and whose actions have dazzled posterity with their luster, either the happiest in themselves, or the greatest blessings to the age in which they lived. To make one man a hero, how many garments must have been dyed in blood? And what are the acclamations of a triumph, but the miserable echo of the cries of the wounded, and the groans of the dying?

We are this night to trace the history of a man of peace: the history of one, who was not indeed exempted from his share of the ills which flesh is heir to, but whose afflictions, being private and domestic, were patiently borne by himself, and disturbed not the repose of others; the history of one, who, by the example of his piety and virtues, did more to instruct and to bless mankind, than all the conquerors which ever existed, from Nimrod of Assyria, down to Frederic of Prussia. The life of Isaac, for seventy-five years of it, is blended with that of his illustrious father. For though, upon the face of the narration, the birth of Esau and Jacob does not appear till considerably after the death of Abraham, yet, by comparing dates, we find that the lads must have been fifteen years old when their grandfather died. And we may justly consider it as no slight trial of the faith both of the father and son, that Isaac the heir of the promise, should live twenty years childless, from his marriage with Rebekah. But their patience of hope, their importunity of prayer, and their confidence of faith, are at length rewarded by two sons at once.

I mean not to recapitulate the extraordinary circumstances of Isaac’s conception and birth, as they have already been considered in the history of Abraham. We shall only take up those particulars of his story which are more personal and peculiar; in which Isaac himself was either an agent or a sufferer. And, we find him at an early period indeed, feeling distress and suffering persecution. The day he was weaned, how was the festivity of that joyful occasion embittered to his childish, innocent heart, by the cruel taunts and mockings of his brother Ishmael! It is remarkable that almost all, at least the severest trials which this patriarch endured, arose from his nearest and dearest relations. Hated and scorned from the womb, by his brother; devoted in sacrifice of his father; called early to mourn the loss of his affectionate mother; afflicted for twenty years with the barrenness of his only and beloved wife; vexed from their very conception, with the strife of his jealous sons, struggling for superiority; mortified and grieved to the heart, with the inconsiderate, unwise, idolatrous marriages of his favorite Esau; practiced upon, and deceived in old age and blindness by the address and cunning of his wife, and younger son; involved in quarrel upon quarrel with his powerful neighbors, through the rashness and contentiousness of his servants: never faulty, yet throughout unfortunate. Indeed a man’s liableness to distress and disappointment is in exact proportion to the number and quality of the good things which he possesses. Do we enjoy peculiar delights? We are on the brink of danger. At the partiality of Sarah to such a son as Isaac, we need not be at all surprised. It is pleasant to observe, however, that this partiality neither corrupted his understanding nor his heart. Neither the indulgence which he met with, nor the prospects to which he was born and brought up, seem to have rendered him, on any occasion, insolent or assuming. And maternal fondness met with its dearest, best reward, in filial duty and tenderness. Sarah lived respected, and died lamented, by her only and beloved son. In reviewing the sacrifice of Isaac, that I may not encroach on your time, I shall only make this remark--that this memorable transaction was not less a proof of the faith of Isaac, than of Abraham himself. As the obedience of the father was prompt and cheerful, so was that of the son. If the resignation of Abraham merits praise, the submission of Isaac claims no less; for his consent must undoubtedly have been obtained. In both it was “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, and a reasonable service;” and the blessing pronounced from heaven on that occasion, applied to both, equally and in the same manner. The next important event of Isaac’s life, upon the sacred record, is his marriage. Swallowed up of sorrow for the loss of his mother, or absorbed in devout meditation, he leaves all concern about his future fortunes, and establishment in the world, to the care and wisdom of his father. And he thereby reproves the forwardness and self-sufficiency of our young men, who presume to think for themselves in every thing before they have learned to think at all; who attempt the works of men with the knowledge and the strength of children. In the various particulars of this transaction, we have a beautiful and interesting picture of the simplicity of ancient manners and customs. Is it not a custom rather ancient and obsolete, to see all parties piously acknowledging God, upon such an occasion as this? Is it not rather uncommon to see a prudent father, anxious to match his only son with virtue and religion, not with rank and affluence, to the endangering of his moral and religious principles! With us, the most valuable accomplishments, whether bodily or mental, go for nothing, unless set off with gold; but Rebekah, without a dowry, was with jewels and gold courted to the arms of Isaac. Has the female heart alone in all ages been the same; perpetually accessible to the allurements of finery, presents, and praise! Where shall we now look for servants such as Abraham’s, at once affectionate to his master, faithful to his trust, and filled with reverence to his God. This part of the history is an excellent commentary upon that injunction of the wise man, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”[*]Pro 3:6 Abraham’s servant has hardly finished his address to heaven, when lo, Providence which works unseen, unknown, unobserved by us, has brought the subject of his prayer already to his eye. And in what place, in what employment is the destined bride of Isaac found! Indolently reclined under a canopy of state, or issuing forth to breathe the evening air, accompanied by a numerous and splendid retinue of domestics! No, my fair hearers, look at Rebekah, beautiful, and young, and high born, bearing her pitcher on her shoulder to the well, to draw the evening’s water for the family--and learn, that the humble, yet useful employments of domestic life, are a virtuous woman’s most honorable station; that whether in virginity, wedlock, or widowhood, God and nature have destined you to occupations, not perhaps highly honorable in the eyes of unfeeling wealth, or giddy dissipation, but highly consequential to the happiness of others, and therefore essential to your own. Look yet again to Rebekah, and learn affability, and kindness, and condescension--learn at once to perform your duty, and to promote your interest. It suits the early bloom of life, it suits your sex, it is congenial to your natural propensities, to be gentle, to be courteous; and, believe me, it is equally conducive to your honor and advantage. The obliging deportment of Rebekah to the servant, paved the way to her advancement to the rank of his mistress. And can you think the dignity of Isaac’s future wife in the smallest degree impaired, by her civilities to his servants, or by her humanity to the poor dumb brutes which followed him! Believe me, an insolent, unfeeling, uncomplying young woman, is an odious, contemptible, unnatural--a monstrous thing. Look at Rebekah yet once more, my beloved daughters, and learn openness, frankness, sincerity. Was she deficient in virgin modesty, that most attractive of all female graces, if, when asked, “wilt thou go with this man!” she ingenuously replied, “I will go.” No; but the honest simplicity of nature was not then corrupted and disguised by modes of behavior, the beggarly refinement of modern education. Then, what the heart and conscience dared to avow, the cheek blushed not at hearing, the tongue scrupled not to utter. I cannot yet cease to speak of that sweet, that amiable creature. Mark again, I beseech you, as she approaches her destined lord, how female delicacy, how maiden diffidence and reserve, resume their empire! “She alighted off the camel, she took a veil and covered herself.” And where, and how was Isaac found of his fair spouse! He had gone out “to meditate, or to pray in the field at the even-tide.” This is the leading, prevailing lineament in the good man’s character: a heart turned to devotion, an eye continually directed to wards heaven. Meditation and prayer are the proper improvement of all mercies past, and the best preparative for mercies yet expected; a cordial balm for the woes which we already endure, and an infallible antidote to the poison of those evils which we have yet to fear. What is not to be hoped for, from an union built on such a foundation? The fear and love of God on both sides; calmness, wisdom, fidelity, and affluence on the part of the husband; humility, decency, meekness, frankness, and discretion on the part of the wife; a mutual desire of pleasing, and of being pleased. “Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”[*]Gen 24:67 So wisely and so graciously hath God provided a suitable relief from every human calamity. And thus Providence prepares us, in one form of the school of relative duty, for a higher and a higher still, till we have filled every station with some degree of comfort and of credit. The transition from a dutiful and affectionate son, to a kind and indulgent husband, is natural and easy. And here, my young friends, you are furnished with a plain, but important rule, for forming the great choice of life. Is an undutiful child likely to make a good husband or wife? Have I reason to expect that one who has violated the first law of nature, of morality, of religion, will fall at once, and without preparation, into the more complicated and more difficult duties of the conjugal state? But what lot of humanity is free from anxiety, free from disappointment, free from pain! The heir of Abraham’s wealth; but what signifies Abraham’s wealth! The heir of the promise goes childless. Who is so foolish as to look for perfect happiness in a world of vanity, in a valley of tears? Those to whom the blessing of children is denied, are fretful and discontented; and those on whom it is bestowed, are in terror, anxiety, and vexation every hour. Happily, I hear of Rebekah’s suggesting no dangerous, no unwarrantable expedient as a remedy for this sore evil; and holy Isaac thinks of seeking relief there only, where he was accustomed to seek, and to find the cure of all his ills. “Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated 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 inquire 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 other.”[*]Gen 25:21-23 He asked a child, and his prayer is answered by the gift of two sons. And thus Providence, often slower than our wishes and desires, frequently compensates that delay by greatly outdoing our requests and expectations. But to again how care and sorrow arise out of our greatest comforts! The children are hardly conceived when their strife begins; and Isaac has as much reason to entreat the Lord, that his wife might be spared in the pangs of an unnatural labor, as he formerly had, that she might be delivered from the infelicity of barrenness. Indeed, “who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow!” But this we know, “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”[*]Rom 8:28 The strife which thus began in the womb, becomes visible at the birth, and continues through life: nay, is transmitted to posterity. The remark of the fanciful and ingenious bishop Hall on the passage, is to this purpose. “Before Rebekah conceived she was at ease: so before spiritual regeneration, all is peace in the soul: but no sooner is the new man formed in us, but the flesh conflicts with the spirit. There is no grace where there is no unquietness. Esau alone would not have striven; for nature will ever agree with itself. Never any Rebekah conceived only an Esau, or was so happy as to conceive none but a Jacob: she must be the mother of both, that she may have both joy and exercise. This strife began early: every true Israelite begins his war with his being. How many actions which we know not of, are not without presage and signification. In this contest, Esau got the right of nature, Jacob of grace: yet that there might be some pretence of equality, lest Esau should outrun his brother into the world, Jacob holds him fast by the heel, so his hand was born before the other’s foot. But because Esau was some minutes the elder, that the younger might have better claim to that which God had promised, he buys that which he could not win. If either by strife, or purchase, or suit, we can attain spiritual blessings, we are happy. Had Jacob come out first, he had not known how much he was indebted to God for his advancement.” Thus far the bishop. And thus, at the age of threescore years, and after twenty years from his marriage with Rebekah, Isaac became the happy father of two hopeful sons. And here, the expiration of your time obliges me to interrupt this story. But I must not conclude the Lecture till I have, in a very few short hints, endeavored to show you the analogy of Isaac the son of Abraham, and Jesus Christ the son of God.

They were both raised up for one and the same purpose; even to manifest the mercy and love of God to fallen men; the one as the bright and morning-star to usher in the day, the other as the meridian sun, “traveling in the greatness of his strength.” Isaac, the natural root and progenitor of Christ: Christ, the spiritual author, root and head of Isaac. Isaac was the son of much expectation, the subject of many prophecies. The set time of his birth was determined and foretold by almighty Power, by unerring Wisdom, long before it happened; thus the birth of Christ, the desire of all nations, was announced to the world by a cloud of witnesses, not years, but ages, centuries, many centuries before the time. The time, the place, all the circumstances attending it, were written as with a sun-beam, so as to render mistake impossible. Both Isaac and Christ were conceived out of the usual course of nature, that the finger of God might be seen and acknowledged in both events; Isaac of a mother beyond the natural possibility of having children, Jesus of an immaculate virgin. Isaac was early hated and persecuted of his brother, the son of his own father; and the persecution of Jesus from the sinful world he came to save, began at his birth, continued through the whole of his life, and issued in a shameful, painful, and accursed death. “He came to his own and his own received him not. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” But what was seen in the mountain of the Lord, forms the closest resemblance, and affords the sublimest instruction. In the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, we behold the father and son like-minded in presenting it cheerfully at the command of God. Abraham withheld not his son, his only son, and Isaac voluntarily surrendered himself, as a lamb, for a burnt offering. And on Mount Calvary what do we behold! “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”[*]John 3:16 “God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, and how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”[*]Rom 8:32 And Jesus gave himself for us, “a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor unto God.” He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood.” Here also the Father and Son like-minded, and in the same view, and for the same end, the redemption of an elect world. “O the height and depth, the length and breadth, of the love of God: it passeth knowledge!” The private personal character of Isaac, a man of calmness, contemplation, and peace; the dutiful son of his affectionate mother; the respectful observer of his father’s will, might, without doing violence to the subject, be brought into comparison with the pure and perfect character of his antitype, whose spirit nothing could discompose, whose nights were spent in prayer, and his days in doing good; “whose meat and drink it was to do the will of his Heavenly Father, and to finish his work,” and whose dying breath uttered the accents of filial affection, and provided a son, a protector, and a home, for his desolate, afflicted mother. O the glorious excellency of that character, which exhibited the example of every personal, every relative virtue which comprised the essence of all that is amiable in every other character, and left all created goodness at an infinite distance behind! Look to Isaac and be instructed. Look to Jesus and “grow in grace,” and go on towards perfection, and “press towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The next Lecture, with the divine permission, will contain the remaining part of the life of Isaac, from the death of his father to his own. May God communicate saving knowledge to us all, by every mean of instruction: and to his name be praise in Christ. Amen.