I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 26-28.

    When Isaac lived among the Philistines he did something which Abraham had done twice. He told the locals that his wife was his sister. However, Isaac’s lie came out when the two of them were seen sharing public displays of affection. Now ordinarily, my comment would be on the lack of faith in God demonstrated by Isaac here. However, it struck me that it actually tells us something about Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage. The fact that Isaac and Rebekah shared public displays of affection, even when they were trying to pass themselves off as brother and sister, tells us a lot about their relationship. Despite having two sons (and only two sons), it is clear that Isaac and Rebekah were deeply in love, and still attracted to each other.

    Usually when we look at the account of Rebekah and Jacob tricking Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing he intended to give Esau (which, it could be argued, Esau had sold to Jacob for a bowl of soup years earlier), we focus on the mechanics of the trickery, or the dynamics of the relationship between Jacob and Esau, or sometimes on Rebekah’s role. However, it struck me today that even after being tricked in a way which must have angered him, Isaac continued to love Rebekah and Jacob. I suspect that Isaac knew that Rebekah’s reason for sending Jacob to Paddan-Aram was as much to protect Jacob from Esau as it was to get him a wife from her people (who were technically Isaac’s people as well). So, despite being tricked by his wife and son in a way which must have angered him, Isaac still loved them.

    Finally, I want to point out that Isaac and Rebekah had a problem with their sons taking wives from among the local people similar to the one Abraham had. Esau married two local women. We are not told what about them made Isaac and Rebekah unhappy. However, whatever caused the dislike was something related to the actions of Esau’s wives, not just because of who their families were.