Empowerment – Isaac’s Legacy

Week 2: Content vs. Intent

Introduction

During this study, we will be doing a ‘deep dive’ into a scriptural passage. It is strongly encouraged that you study the passage and entire chapter ahead of the study. Also be prepared with your research tools, for example Google or your study Bible, as you will need to reference it during the study. Spend time answering and discussing each question with the intention to gain sufficient understanding to help your own private Bible study as you further explore these topics.

Study Chapters: Genesis 26-27

Pilot text

Genesis 26:22

22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

Discussion Points

Thinking beyond the content of this passage, what can we infer about the intention behind this narration? Of Israel’s 3 patriarchs, Isaac is the one we know the least about as an adult. This chapter is the first of two providing us the most detailed insight we have into Isaac’s life as an adult. The other chapter is the next one – Gen 27. From this passage we learn why the Bible describes God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What do we learn about how Isaac got to know God for himself, after his father passed on?

• He made mistakes out of fear (v6-9) – but this did not disqualify him because he did not choose himself.

• He experienced adversity, perhaps even being called a failure. His father had been very wealthy, and left Isaac a lot of wealth. Yet by the time we get to this passage he seemed to have lost it all.

• His journey brought him closer to God. In v3 God says ‘I will be with you”; but in v24 God says to him “I am with you”. Something evidently happened during the events of that chapter that moved his experience of God from the future into his present. And in the very next verse, we see Isaac build an altar – thus demonstrating him as a patriarch of Israel. 

Closing thoughts: Isaac’s experience shows us that, even if we feel that we have squandered a privilege or opportunity in the past, God is more than able restore us to the right path. The key thing is to find God, or more accurately allow God to find us, through the storm. Isaac’s story started with famine and confusion but ended in prosperity and clarity about his own identity as the heir of promise.