Yitzhkak (Isaac) seems to have repeated a number of events from Abraham’s life: a famine and claiming his wife was his sister. Yitzkhak also seems to have been obsessed with digging wells, but what should get our attention are messianic symbols of three days of live and death in the ground.
What is the connection between this account of the death of Abraham and the prophecy of warring children in the womb of Rivkah (Rebecca) and the accounts of Creation and of the Flood?
God had a wife in mind for Yitzkhak. Although the servant Abraham sent to find her didn’t know who she was or whether she would respond to the call, God knew who He had chosen, and Abraham had faith that God would send His angel ahead of the servant.
This is a review of 11 examples of Abraham’s faith in God in Genesis 17-23. It culminates in his trusting God to resurrect the son of the promise, Yitskhak (Isaac), and in buying property in the Land to bury those also trusting in God to resurrect them.
This is the first part of a recap of Abraham’s life, looking at about two dozen key events that show why God picked him to be the start of a special group of people on Earth and to be a key example of trust in God being considered righteousness.
This chapter sounds like a drawn-out real estate transaction, but it shows two things: Abraham was so important that Hittites, people of a major international power at the time, had great respect for him. Abraham’s first title to land in Canaan was to bury Sarah, who was very significant as the mother of the promised son by way of God, Yitskhak.
Most of this account is God’s ordered sacrifice of Yitskhak (Isaac). This is a disturbing command until we see that the point was to show Abraham’s deep trust in God’s promises and power to resurrect as well as to show how heart-wrenching a future act against God’s “one and only son” would be.