G-d's Covenant with Isaac

G-d's Covenant with Isaac

In Genesis 17, G-d tells Abraham that He will establish His covenant with Isaac as "an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him" (Genesis 17:21).  The details of G-d's covenant with Isaac are the same as those of G-d's covenant with Abraham.

The Covenant

• Introduction- Genesis 17:1-3
• Parties-
  • The covenant is G-d's (Genesis 17:4)
  • The covenant is made with Isaac (Genesis 17:19)
  • The covenant is made with Isaac's descendants (Genesis 17:19)
• Covenant Responsibilities-
  • Required actions-
    • Every male of his household shall be circumcised (Genesis 17:10-11)
    • Every male child of his household in the future shall be circumcised when he is eight days old (Genesis 17:12)
    • Servants or slaves who are purchased who are not of his lineage shall be circumcised (Genesis 17:13)
    • A male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people (Genesis 17:14)
  • Prohibited actions-
  • Benefits
    • G-d will make him exceedingly fruitful
      • He will become nations (Genesis 17:6)
      • Kings will come forth from him (Genesis 17:6)
    • The Land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river Euphrates; the land of the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite, is given to him and his descendants after him (Genesis 17:8).
    • G-d will be the G-d of his descendants (Genesis 17:7, 17:8)
      ["...to be G-d to you...", "...and I will be their G-d."]
  • Penalties-
    • An uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people (Genesis 17:14)
• Conditions for perpetuation
  • The covenant is specified to be for Abraham and his descendants throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant [l'brit olam] (Genesis 17:7)
• Enumeration of witnesses - none given
• Covenant sign- circumcision of males' foreskin on the eighth day (Genesis 17:10-13)
• Covenant seal- none given

Observations

The Covenant Belongs to G-d

Twice G-d refers to the covenant with Isaac as "My covenant" (Genesis 17:19, 21).  As I noted previously in this series, the ownership of and authority in His covenants is G-d's alone.  Only He has the authority to initiate a covenant and can bring something of value to the covenant.  We have nothing to offer Him except that which is already His.
 

A Covenant of Grace

As with all of G-d's covenants, this covenant with Isaac is extended as a measure of G-d's grace.  Isaac did nothing to merit this covenant with G-d.  We find that G-d had selected Isaac to receive the covenant before he was even born (Genesis 17:21). Continuing in the theme of the series and paraphrasing the l'olam y'hay adam prayer of the ancient believers:

It is not in the merit of Isaac's righteousness but in the merit of G-d's abundant mercy that Isaac was shown grace and G-d established His covenant with him.

Avraham's faithfulness

Isaac did nothing to merit this covenant with G-d; however, He informed Isaac that He would extend the covenant to him because of Abraham's faithfulness to His instruction (Genesis 26:5).

An Everlasting Covenant

In Genesis 17:19, G-d describes His covenant with Isaac as an "everlasting covenant" [בְּרִ֣ית עוֹלָ֔ם - brit olam].  As I mentioned earlier in this series, the Hebrew word olam is used in various passages to describe G-d's eternal and everlasting nature.

A Covenant of the Land

This is not a salvation covenant. Instead, it is the covenant through which G-d promises the Land of the kingdom being extended to Abraham's son, Isaac.

G-d Establishes an Oath with Isaac

As found in the study of G-d's covenant with Abraham, G-d says to Abraham that He "will establish" (Genesis 17:19,21) His covenant with Isaac as "an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him" (Genesis 17:21).  Yet Scripture does not record G-d entering into a covenant with Isaac using the term brit.  Does this mean that G-d went back on His Word and did not establish a covenant with Isaac?

May it never be!

There is evidence that G-d did make a covenant with Isaac.  The evidence is that the covenant is referenced elsewhere in Scripture: Exodus 2:24, Leviticus 26:42, and 2 Kings 13:23.  These all reference G-d's covenant with Isaac.  So where in Scripture do we find G-d establishing His covenant with Isaac?

In Genesis 26:3, G-d tells Isaac that He will "establish the oath" He swore to his father, Abraham.  What was the oath that G-d sword to Abraham?  The pledge is that He would establish His covenant with Isaac!  (Genesis 17:21).
 

Language of the Promise

G-d uses the language of the promise He gave to Abraham:

• Multiply descendants as the stars of heaven (Genesis 22:17)
• "To your descendants, I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7, 24:7)
• In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 18:18, 22:18)

Using these same terms in Genesis 26:4, G-d says to Isaac, "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and will give your descendants all these lands, and by your descendants, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."

Interestingly the sentence does not end there.  G-d goes on to tell Isaac why He will do such a thing:

because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments [mitzvot], My statutes [chukkim] and My laws [Torot... the plural of Torah] (Genesis 26:5)

This reaffirms what G-d stated to Abraham in Genesis 22:18 after he did not withhold his son at the akeidah¹

Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.  "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."  (Genesis 22:15-18)

Traditional Judaism points to this Genesis 26 passage and other similar verses as evidence that the details of the Law given at Sinai were already known to the Patriarchs.² They claim it is here that, as G-d is about to establish His covenant with Isaac, He informs him that his father kept G-d's charge, commandments, statutes, and laws.  He then tells Isaac that he is expected to do the same.

Isaac's Name is NOT Changed

The details of G-d's covenant with Isaac are the same as those given to Abraham.  The only significant difference is that Isaac's name is not changed as he enters this covenant.

Why?

G-d gave Isaac his covenant name while he was as yet unborn.  In the same verse where G-d promises to establish His covenant with Isaac, He gives Abraham the name by which he will be known:

But G-d said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac [Hebrew: Isaac] and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.  (Genesis 17:19)

Even before he was conceived in his mother's womb, Isaac had a covenant relationship with the G-d of all creation.

The next mention of covenant found in Scripture is in Genesis 31:44 and involves Isaac's son, Jacob.