The Faith of Isaac
J. T. Hamly. Hebrews 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. I suppose it was natural and right that Isaac should take his place next to Abraham in this record of men of faith; he stands next in the historical line of patriarchs who handed on the promise from one to another. And yet we cannot help feeling that in passing from Abraham to Isaac we are descending to a lower level. He seems to have possessed a timid, yielding disposition — a nature calculated to obey rather than to command — to follow rather than to lead. Wherever he comes before us in history we see a character just the opposite to that of Abraham — quiet, meditative, shrinking from everything like individual action, and timorously yielding to every pressure put upon him. Here was poor material, one might think, for faith to work with; such a man seems ill-calculated to sustain the tradition of faith so gloriously begun in Abraham, and to play a worthy part in handing on the covenant of Divine promise. And yet he is unhesitatingly placed in this glorious line of believers — he also was a man of faith, in his own measure loyal to God and to His covenant. The stream of faith flowed on through him to his successors unchecked and unpolluted. Just as a stream, when flowing through a mountainous and rocky country, is broken into swift-flowing rapids and dashing cataracts, harmonising in their picturesque grandeur with the surrounding features, but on reaching the plain below flows quietly along through green pastures where flocks are peacefully grazing, so the faith, which in Abraham's rugged character comes out in striking and impressive scenes, in the quiet life of Isaac assumes the form of an unobtrusive principle, giving an air of calm assurance and peace to his whole life. Faith now, as then, has to work through a variety of temperaments. The trees, the flowers, the corn, the grass, all are different manifestations of the same life; it assumes various forms, according to the nature of the organism through which it works; so the life of God takes hold of the constitution of a man, and develops results in harmony with the nature God has given him. Some of the most beautiful effects of faith have often been wrought out in retiring characters like Isaac's. There are some delicate forms of spiritual beauty that require a reposeful spirit to blossom in, just as there are flowers growing in sheltered retreats that would perish on the rough mountain-top. We should learn to admire the grace of God in all its manifestations. To return to Isaac. We have no record in his case of any great feats of faith accomplished, any striking deeds done, as in the case of some of the other patriarchs. His faith never rose to that white heat of enthusiasm which leads a man to do immortal deeds. There was an even tenor about his life which was never broken by any special crisis of any stirring event. It is significant of the character of the man that he is celebrated in this chapter by an act of blessing. The most that could be said of him was that he held fast by the faith of his father, that he cherished the heavenly covenant as a precious heirloom which he had faithfully to preserve, and when his failing strength warned him that he would soon have to pass away, his chief thought was to transmit the promise to his posterity. And in many lives to-day faith manifests itself in the same fashion. The most that some men do is to cherish their faith as a source of strength and joy in their own hearts and their own homes, and seek to pass it on as a spiritual legacy to their children. There are many who have neither the opportunity nor the gifts to do great and bold things for God in the world; their efforts must be confined within a narrow circle; if their faith is to be useful at all, it must be in the influence it exerts in the home. And this is not the least fruitful kind of religious life. Some of the most blessed work that has ever been done for God and humanity has been done in the home circle, by those who have never made any great stir in the world or done any great thing in the Church. Quiet, unobtrusive lives have often been blessedly useful in fostering that choicest fruit of faith — family religion. Let every Christian man set this before him as a sacred ambition — to leaven his family with his own faith and leave it as a legacy to those who shall come after him. The blessing which Isaac pronounced upon his sons was something more than the ordinary form of blessing — something more than a pious wish or prayer that prosperity and peace and the favour of heaven might attend them. It was a blessing in which prophetic insight was blended with holy desire and intercession; the illumination of the Spirit enabled him to pronounce an effectual benediction which remained as a permanent good upon the head of him who received it. And every human life ought to end like Isaac's — with a blessing. Some lives end with a curse; they leave behind them a baneful influence which goes on blighting the lives of those that come after. A man's real legacy to posterity is the influence of his character. The bit of parchment which disposes of his material accumulations is not half so important as the distribution of that influence which has been silently accumulating through all the years of his life. In how many hearts there is a memory more cherished than the richest earthly possession — the memory of one who still lives to bless and influence them, to restrain from evil and incite to good I This is the kind of legacy we should strive to leave behind. And if we would do this we must begin to lay up the sacred treasure now. Such wealth is not accumulated in a day. It is the work of years; it is the product of "patient continuance in well doing." (J. T. Hamly.) Parallel Verses KJV: By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. WEB: By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.