Hebrews 11:20: By Faith Isaac
2023-08-26
Hebrews 11:20
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. (Hebrews 11:20)
Though much time was given to Abraham’s life in this chapter, we are limited to one verse about Isaac. This does not mean he was not a man of faith, but rather this was a key event that described his faith. Isaac’s faith is seen in this blessing of his sons. Consider the discussion on blessing here.
Jacob and Esau
Let us consider Jacob and Esau. Isaac and Rebekah prayed 20 years for these boys. When they were conceived, we read, “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” (Genesis 25:23-24). God pronounced that Jacob would serve Esau from the beginning.
Regardless of this pronouncement, the custom was for the firstborn to get the birthright and the blessing. However, God engineered everything so that His pronouncement would be worked out in space and time. First, Esau would voluntarily give up his birthright.
Isaac’s Blessings to His Sons
Isaac disregarded any pronouncement that we saw earlier. Isaac chose to bless Esau instead because of the custom to bless the firstborn and because of the type of food he made for him. “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob” (Genesis 25:28). Consider Genesis 27:1-4. In the first four verses, we see that Isaac wanted to bless Esau before he died. He felt led of the Lord that this was the time, even though he ended up living at least 20 more years. After that, we see Jacob and Rebekah’s ruse to fool Isaac and his failing eyesight by Jacob’s dressing and smelling like Esau. Now consider Genesis 27:23-40. Isaac could not figure it out that it was Jacob and not Esau. The voice was wrong, but the smell and feel were right. There came a point where he trusted the Lord for the blessing to give. He never mentioned the name of his son; perhaps the Lord restrained him from using the name Esau.
There was only one primary blessing. When Esau came, Isaac 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 27:33). Isaac could only bless one of his sons to be the ruler. Isaac did not try to change the blessing at this point. It was settled. He must have trusted God with the results, even when it did not go his way.
When Esau protested, Isaac did bless him as well, but it was quite different. Both sons would receive of the “dew of heaven” and would dwell in the “fatness of the earth.” The similarity ends there.
For Jacob, we see that nations would serve Jacob, including Edom. Those that bless Jacob are blessed and those that curse Jacob are cursed. This is much like the Abrahamic blessing in Genesis 12. All this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
For Esau, he would live by the sword. He and his descendants would be in constant war. The people of Edom would eventually break off from Israel’s authority. Perhaps it was in the days of the kings. In the days of Jehoshaphat, we read, “There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king” (1 Kings 22:47). During the days of the king’s son, we read, “Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day” (2 Kings 8:22). It could also be that Edom cheered for Israel’s demise when the Babylonians invaded. “Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof” (Psalms 137:7). And again, “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword” (Ezekiel 25:12-13). It could also be fulfilled by the Herods, who were Idumean, or Edomites.
However you look at it, these blessings Isaac gave were given by faith, even though there was a lot that was wrong on how this whole thing was executed. Herein is an encouraging thought, that faith does not mean that everything you do is going to be perfect each time. In this case, we see that faith is trusting God with the results. Isaac did this when he blessed his sons, even though it did not turn out the way he wanted.