The angel hinders the offering up of Isaac, by Rembrandt
Isaac is the only son of Abraham and Sarah, and the father of Jacob and Esau. When God gave the news of the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was beyond the age of having children and privately laughed at the prediction. When the child was born, she said "God had made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me". Isaac was the only child that Abraham and Sarah had together. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac and urged her husband to banish Hagar and her child so that Isaac would be the only heir of Abraham. Abraham was hesitant but at God's order he listened to his wife's request. Several years later, God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son. Abraham obeyed and took Isaac to the mount Moriah. Without murmuring, Isaac let Abraham bind him and lay him upon the altar as a sacrifice. Abraham took the knife and raised his hand to kill his son. At the last minute, an angel of the Lord prevented him from doing so. Instead of Isaac, Abraham sacrificed a ram that was trapped in a thicket nearby.
Isaac had caught the vision from the Lord of the importance of living by His promises for the future as opposed to current, more instant, gratification. Through Isaac's current life trials, like a famine in Canaan, he listened and obeyed when the Lord spoke to him. "I will be with you," the Lord promised. Isaac and his family were still living among the Philistines near the coast of the Mediterranean a little south of Gaza. The Philistines had a sense of right and wrong that included guilt for sleeping with another man's wife, but perhaps not for killing the husband of a beautiful woman. As Isaac's wealth increased through crops, flocks, herds, and servants, the Philistines started filling up wells Abraham's servants had dug years before. Controversy followed, and Philistine king Abimelech told Isaac to put more space between them. As Isaac and his people moved their tents further inland, they opened and dug more wells until finally, no Philistines contested them over a new well at Rehoboth. From here, Isaac moved on to Beersheba, and that night the Lord appeared to him, confirming the promises again..
One of the great patterns we see with Isaac is a re-run of a situation that Abraham also confronted. The Book of Genesis (chapters 20 and 21) relates that Abraham went to the land of the Philistines and he lived among them for a while. But he had some problems -- for example, they tried to take his wife, Sarah. A few years later, (Genesis, chapter 26) Isaac faces the same situation. He's living amongst the Philistines somewhere on the coastal area of Israel, they try to take his wife, Rebecca.
The Philistines become jealous of Isaac's success and throw him out, even though he's done nothing to deserve it as far as the Bible tells us. In addition, they plug up all the wells that Isaac has dug -- an illogical act given the value of water in the arid climate of the Middle East and the difficulty of digging wells. Abimelech comes after Isaac and he says, "I see that we prospered because of you." Because once Isaac leaves, things go downhill for the Philistines. Their economy declines. Nothing's going well, and the Philistines come to realize it's because of the Jews. So the king offers a treaty and asks Isaac to return.
Isaac is married to Rebecca. Rebecca is pregnant with twins, and the twins are fighting in the womb already -- it's a difficult pregnancy for Rebecca. When they're born there is a rivalry between them. Although they are twins, Jacob and Esau have totally different personalities and they are also physicallyvery different. The Bible describes Esau as hairy and Jacob as smooth-skinned. Esau is a hunter, a man of action. Jacob is more a man of thought than of action.
It's also clear from the narrative that Isaac is favoring Esau who is the first-born of the twins. He's a couple of minutes older but that's significant when it comes to who will be the one to inherit the family birthright.... When Isaac is old and blind, he decides to give each of his sons a blessing, and, of course, he wants to give an extra-special blessing to the first-born, Esau. ... When a great spiritually connected person like an Isaac gives someone a blessing, that blessing has tremendous power of potentiality that can have a huge impact not only on the recipient of the blessing but also on history itself.
But Rebecca realizes that the blessing has to go to Jacob as he is the one who is willing and able to change the world in the manner of Abraham. So while Esau is off hunting to catch something for his father's dinner so he'll bless him, she covers Jacob's arms with a goat skin so they will feel hairy like Esau's. And Isaac, who is blind, is fooled.
When Isaac encounters Jacob pretending to be Esau, he remarks: "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." (Genesis 27:22)... . Later in our story, Jacob will have his name changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29) and his children will create the Jewish nation.
Esau, who embodies the power of might and sword, will, through his descendants, give rise to the Roman Empire or "Edom" as the Bible calls it. King Herod was an Edomite or a descendant of Esau. The power or Rome clearly lays in its ability to conquer, dominate and build an Empire. Even after the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the spirit and power of Rome perpetuates itself through the rise of the Revived Roman Empires or European Union. Esau, like Ishmael, does not carry on the mission, yet becomes a great power, both physically and spiritually. As intense as the rivalry is between Isaac and Ishmael (the Jews and the Arabs) they are only half brothers. Jacob and Esau are twins with the same genetic material. This rivalry is possibly the ultimate rivalry in history. that is : the Roman Empire and the Jews.
Who is the ultimate enemy of the Jewish people in history? The nation of Amalek. This is the people that epitomize evil and rebellion against God. There is a commandment in the Bible to wipe them off the face of the earth. With Amalek there is no compromise. It's a fight to the finish. This is a nation whose pathological hatred for Jews is so great that they will show no mercy. Given the have a chance they will wipe the Jews off the face of the earth.The nation of Amalek is no longer identifiable, but it's spirit lives on.
So we have a confrontation between Esau and Jacob. Jacob steals the blessing and then Esau shows up and finds out what happened. And patriarch Isaac realizes that he's been tricked. He's not angry, however, because he sees now that Jacob is capable of action and can carry on the mission. Rebecca, overhearing that Esau's plans to kill his brother, sends Jacob away. She tells him to quickly go to her brother, who lives in Haran. (today located in Turkey)
Jacob works for Rachael's hand
The first member of his family that Jacob encounters is his cousin and from his firs encounter with her he realizes that she is his soul mate. Next He wants to marry Rachel but he has arrived penniless on his uncle's doorstep. Jacob offers to work seven years for her hand. At the end of the seven years, Laban substitutes Rachel's older sister Leah and demands Jacob work another seven years to get Rachel. In the end, Jacob winds up with four wives -- Leah, Rachel, and their handmaidens Zilpah and Bilhah. From these women will come 13 children, 12 sons and 1 daughter.
Unlike other generations where a child went off in a different direction and did not follow in the foot steps of Abraham, all of Jacob's sons are going to be totally dedicated to the mission. They are the core group -- an extended family that is going to make the nation that is going to change the world.
Next God tells Jacob that he must return to the Land of Israel because he has a mission. Just as Abraham knew that Israel was the only place where Jewish potential could be actualized, so too Jacob realizes that this is the only place to be. Despite his lingering fear of Esau's revenge (even though 20 years has passed) he gathers up all his family and his belongings and heads home.
THE REUNION
As he makes his way home, Jacob hears that Esau is coming out to meet him with an army of 400 men.In response, always using his brains, he pursues a multi-pronged strategy to protect himself against any eventuality: First, he prepares for war by dividing his family into two parts in case one is attacked the other half will survive. Next he pursues the diplomatic track by sending elaborate gifts to Esau. Finally, he prays realizing that ultimately the outcome of the coming encounter is in God's hands.
They meet. Esau doesn't try and kill Jacob although it's very clear that he still hates him. Esau invites Jacob to travel together with him.. Jacob is not interested in the offer, no doubt aware that Esau still harbors deep enmity toward him. He tells Esau, "You go ahead of me. I'll catch up later." Now we know from the narrative Jacob never goes to Har Sa'ir to live with Esau. The ultimate struggle in history will be between Jewish ideas and the ideas of Esau and the Roman culture that Esau is going to create. Jewish sources depict this as a major theme in Jewish history.
Some use the analogy of Caesarea (Roman administrative capital of Israel - shown above) built on the coast of Israel over 2,000 years ago by Herod the Great. (a descendant of Esau)