And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:
Genesis 25:19 (KJV)
Generations of Isaac – When someone begins to tell you about the generations of a person, they normally begin with that person’s children. I’m expecting this verse to end with and Isaac begat Jacob, but instead the verse jumps to Abraham. Why?
Generations are often discussed as a way to describe the legacy of a noteworthy person. If the generations that this person brought forth are significant, the legacy was renown. The stronger the impact this person had on society, or in the world, often times correlated with a strong legacy. But Isaac’s generations, or his legacy, first begins with Abraham.
Think about that. What do you know about Isaac? What is Isaac’s generations… or legacy? The first story that comes to mind is Abraham offering Isaac to God. But that was more about Abraham than Isaac. What was significant in Isaac’s life?
And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
Genesis 26:18
The Philistines would come and block up the wells that Isaac’s father Abraham dug because they were jealous of him. Isaac would go and dig them again, and he had to do it more than once. He had to redig those wells a couple times. Isaac’s legacy was to ensure that Abraham’s legacy continued.
This is why when the Torah begins to talk about the generations of Isaac, it takes us back to Abraham, his father. Isaac was not a spectacular person performing miracles and leading people. And sometimes we are not called to be visibly astounding either. It could be that our calling is to continue the work of our predecessor, to make the sure the work of someone else is firmly established.
It is not the most glorious calling, but nonetheless it is equally essential. So whatever God has called for you to do, think of Isaac, the man whose legacy was to ensure the life of his father’s legacy. We are called to be part of God’s plan, let us rejoice in knowing that He called us.
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