Reading: Genesis 25-28, Psalm 8
When I was in early grade school, I spent the night at a friend’s house and was introduced to the coolest thing I had ever seen: Disney’s 1982 special effects extravaganza Tron. We finished watching the movie and immediately rewound the tape (remember that?) and played it through again. I was hooked, and I was sure there must be more to the story of Flynn, Alan, Tron, and Yori. Little did I know I would have to wait until 2010 to see the story continued. Tron: Legacy is a mixed bag for me, but I recall greatly appreciating the ironic line Flynn delivers in the middle of the film: It’s surprising how productive doing nothing can be. In addition to perfectly expressing Disney’s long-term marketing strategy for the franchise, Flynn was occupying the place of the static hero. The character everyone expects to be doing all the work, but who barely moves at all. Reading the life of Isaac reminds me of this kind of “hero.”
But before we rush on to Isaac, let’s look at the character Keturah. Often brushed by in the story of Abraham is his second wife. There is a reason for this: nothing much happens with her. So the question is, what does she have to do with the Story?
Consider: Abraham has been promised to be the father of many nations, and to have descendants beyond number. But so far he has fathered only Isaac and Ishmael. Now, following his final test by God, he has another six children. And these children are named things like Midian and Sheba, which will show up as nations later in the story. God has shown that he will deal differently with the family of Abraham (see the incident with Lot). While it is to Isaac that the promise of God will be repeated, the author is going out of their way to tell us that many, many people are in the family of Abraham, and they are all over the place. So many, perhaps, they could never be counted.
Finally, we have the passing of Abraham, and the beginning of the story of Isaac. There are high expectations for Isaac at this point. A promised child. Miraculous. Obedient. Plays an integral part in God’s test of Abraham’s heart. One might think that at this point Isaac would begin doing something great. So what do we get from the story of Isaac?
He prays for children (and gets them)
He repeats his father’s strange obsession with lying about his wife being his sister.
He quibbles with the locals over water rights.
He gets deceived by his own wife and younger son.
Finally, he disappears from the scene until his death, ten chapters later.
Considering his frail state and his announcement that he will die soon, one might expect to read about Isaac’s death soon after the blessing incident. But Isaac doesn’t expire following his deception by his son Jacob. He lives many, many more years. If one looks carefully, it appears Isaac lived at least another 20 years, and possibly as many as 80.
So what is the deal? The child of the promise is presented as weak, easily deceived, a carbon copy of his father in his fear of the surrounding peoples, but even less impressive in regards to his actions.
His wife is presented as the primary mover in the Isaac narrative. Rebekah receives the prophecy about their sons. She engineers Jacob’s actions and his flight to his uncle Laban’s country.
His sons, often the measure of the effectiveness of a father in the Biblical story, are a mess. Continually at odds with one another, violent and impulsive on the one hand, deceitful and manipulative on the other. Esau is running around hunting not only game but Canaanite wives. When his parents aren’t happy with the two women he already married, he goes off and gets a third one from the family of his uncle Ishmael. His impulsiveness doesn’t end with women. He trades away his birthright, his status as firstborn, for Jacob’s soup. Jacob does no better, forcing Esau to trade him his birthright for soup and deceiving his own father into thinking he is Esau.
So Isaac’s narrative ends. His life goes on, but the action is over as far as he is concerned. The promised child is not only no hero, he is considerably less impressive than his father. But God still maintains his promise with Isaac, as he did with Abraham. God is taking his broken chosen instruments and doing something different with them. In this case, Isaac did little but bring the next generation into being. His son Jacob, in contrast, will occupy a great deal more of the story.
Eventually Jacob leaves his home, fleeing from Esau’s wrath in the guise of finding a wife acceptable to his parents. While on the road he sees a vision and receives the promise that God had made to his grandfather and his father, so make him a great nation, to make his name great, and to bless all the families of the Earth through him.
Given our track record so far with new heroes, it is hard to have great hopes for Jacob being the answer to the human problem. But he will move the story forward in some dramatic ways, and his sons will propel this nomadic family into becoming a nation.