4. Isaac passed his early days under the eye of his father, engaged in the care of flocks and herds up and down the plains of Canaan. At length his father wish- ed to see him married. Abraham therefore gave a com- mission to his oldest and most trustworthy servant to the effect that, in order to prevent Is.aac from taking a wife fi'om among the daughters of the Canaanites, he should proceed into IMesopotamia, and, mider the divine direction, choose a partner among his own relatives for his beloved son. Rebekah, in consequence, becomes Isaac's wife, when he was forty years of age (Gen. xxiv). B.C. 2023. In connection with this marriage an event is recorded Avhich displays the peculiar char- acter of Isaac, while it is in keeping Mdth the general tenor of the sacred record regarding him. Probably in expectation of the early return of his father's messenger, and somewhat solicitous as to the result of the embassy, he went out to meditate in the field at the eventide. While there engaged in tranquil thought, he chanced to raise his eyes, when lo ! he beheld the retinue near at hand, and soon conducted his bride into his mother's tent. In unison with all this is the simple declaration of the history, that Isaac " loved her." Isaac was evi- dently a man of kind and gentle disposition, of a calm and reflective turn of mind, simple in his habits, having few wants, good rather than great, fitted to receive im- pressions and foUow a guide, not to originate important influences, or perform deeds of renown. If his charac- ter did not take a bent from the events connected with his father's readiness to offer him on Mount IMoriah, certainly its passiveness is in entire agreement with the whole tenor of his conduct, as set forth in that narra- tive. (See Kitto's Daily Bible Illust. ad loc.)
Isaac having, in conjunction with his half-brother Ishmael, buried Abraham his father, "in a good old age, in the cave of jNIachpelah," took up a somewhat perma- nent residence "by the well Lahai-roi," where, being blessed of God, he lived in prosperity and at ease (Gen. XXV, 7-11). B.C. 1988. One source of regret, however, he deeply felt. Rebekah was barren. In time, however, two sons, Jacob and Esau, were granted to his prayers (Gen. XXV, 21-26). B.C. 2003. As the boys grew, Isaac gave a preference to Esau, who seems to have possessed those robust qualities of character in which his father was defective, and therefore gratified him by such dain- ties as the pursuits of the chase enabled the youth to offer; while Jacob, "a plain man, dwelling in tents," was an object of special regard to Rebekah — a division of feeling and a kind of partiality which became the source of much domestic unhappiness, as well as of jealousy and hatred between the two sons (Gen. xxv, 27, 28). See Esau.
5. The life of Isaac, moveover, was not passed wholly without trials coming in from without. A famine com- pels him to seek food in some foreign land (Gen. xxvi, 1 sq.). B.C. cir. 1985. At the occurrence of this fam- ine Isaac was expressly admonished by God not to go down into Egypt, but to abide within the boundaries of the Promised Land ; and occasion Avas taken to renew
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the promise to him and his seed, and to confirm in his behalf tiie oath which had been made to his fatlier. Tlie Lord pledged his word to be with him and to bless him in the land— which he certainly did, though Isaac did not feel so secure of the promised guardiansliip and support as to be able to avoid falling into the snare which had also caught his father Abraham. When so- journing in the neighborhood of Gerar, during the prev- alence of the famine, and no doubt observing the wick- etbiess of the jilace, he hatl the weakness to caU Kebekah his sister, in fear that the people might kill him on her account, if they knew her to be his wife. It does not appear that any violence was offered to Kebekah ; and the Philistine king, on discovering, as he did, from the familiar bearing of Isaac towards Rebekah, that she must be his wife, simply rebuked him for having, by his prevarication, given occasion to a misapprehension which might have led to serious consequences (Gen. xxvi, 10).
No passage of his life has produced more reproach to Isaac's character than this. Abraham's conduct while in Egypt (ch. xii) and in Gerar (ch. xx), where he con- cealed the closer connection between himself and his wife, was imitated by Isaac in Gerar. On the one hand, this has been regarded by avowed adversaries of Chris- tianity as involving the guilt of " lying and endeavor- ing to betray the wife's chastity," and even by Chris- tians, undoubtedly zealous for truth and right, as the conduct of "a very poor, paltry earthworm, displaying cowardice, selfishness, readiness to put his wife in a ter- rible hazard for his own sake." But, on the other hand, with more reverence, more kindness, and quite as much probability, W'^aterland, who is no indiscriminate apolo- gist for the errors of good men, after a minute examina- tion of the circumstances, concludes that the patriarch did "right to evade the difficulty so long as it could lawfully be evaded, and to await and see whether di- vine Providence might not, some way or other, inter- pose before the la'-t extremity. The event ansAvered. God did interpose" {Scripture Vindicated, in Works, iv, 188, 190).