11.27.24 ~ Abraham begat Isaac

Good morning!

I was sharing in a Q&A Monday evening how the Midrash/opinions from the studious students of Scripture, weaves its interpretations, enriching the written word with oral elaboration, and brings focus into the text; but not always with 'factual' statements. Huh? Often, to the untutored ear, speaking of my own ear, Midrash sounds fanciful, far removed from the plain sense of the verse. For instance, in last week's Torah portion, Chayei Sarah/the life of Sarah, one Midrash expresses that Rebecca was 3 years old when she married Isaac. Huh? How could that be? None of her activities at the well or beyond could be done by a 3 year old! But, if we realize that it was 3 years earlier that Isaac was offered on Mt. Moriah, and take into consideration the 3 years of determining a good tree (Lev. 19), then the Midrash makes sense. Once we have learned the language and sensibility of Midrash, we begin to realize how deep are its spiritual and moral insights. I hope that makes a little sense.

In the opening verse of this week's Torah portion, we see a clear example.

And these are the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham: Abraham begat Isaac (Gen. 25:19)

You and I may just glance over this, but upon further inspection, we see there is an obvious problem...the first half of the sentence tells us that Isaac was the son of Abraham. Why does the text repeat, 'Abraham begat Isaac'?

What would you think if a couple who was 100 and 90 were having a child? Yea, right. We know Abraham was incapable of reproducing at that age, and Sarah was in the same boat (Rom. 4:16-22). The rumor going through the grapevine, by the gossip circles ,was that Sarah became pregnant through Abimelech (Gen. 20:2).

How did God resolve this dilemma? According to tradition, not a FB or twitter account, He made Isaac's facial features identical to that of his father Abraham (Jn. 14:9; 15:24), so that everyone had to admit that Abraham begat Isaac. Thus, the double mention.

But there is a deeper point at stake. To understand it we need to turn this time on the opening verse of Genesis 24:

And Abraham was old, well advanced in years: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things (Gen. 24:1)

If Abraham was old, why does the verse need to add that he was well advanced in years? With our Sherlock Holmes investigative kits we see that Abraham (and Sarah) are the first people in the Torah described as being old (Gen. 24:1, 36), despite the fact that many previously mentioned biblical characters lived to a much greater age. Putting these two facts together with the tradition that Abraham and Isaac looked identical, we can deduce some interesting thoughts that we can conform our lives to...Until Abraham, people did not grow 'old'. However, because Abraham and Isaac looked alike, people who saw Abraham said, 'that is Isaac' and people who saw Isaac said, 'that is Abraham'.

And though this identifies Isaac and Abraham as father and son, it also creates some issues. By being 'twinkies' they suffered loss of individual identity. This is clearly seen in Genesis where Isaac is the least individualized of the Patriarchs. His life reads like a replay of Abraham's. He is forced by famine to go to the land of the Philistines (Gen. 26:1). He too encounters Abimelech (Gen. 26:1-26). He too feels compelled to say that his wife is his sister (Gen. 26:7). He redigs the wells his father dug (Monday's study)...'twinkies'.

Why would I emphasize this to you on this 4th day of the week? The day before Thanksgiving? Enquiring minds want to know! If Abraham represents 'The Father' and Isaac represents the 'Son' and if we are in the 'Son'/in Christ , then we are Abraham's seed (Gal. 3:29). If seeds were designed to reproduce after their kind (Gen. 1:11,12) and we are Abraham's seed, we should do as Abraham did (John 8:39). Hence, we should be imitating Christ (1 Cor. 11;1, 2) and of God the Father (Eph. 5:1).

Just some food for thought before you begin enjoying the food at your dining room table.

Shalom!

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