Isaac pt 3

Read Genesis 25:1-18, 26:1-33

Abraham settled his family in the hills of Judea, but Isaac loved the wilderness. After Abraham’s death, Isaac moved the tribe into the southern wilderness – the Negev. There might have been a lot of reasons for this, but it appears that there was some kind of famine or plague in the hill country.

Isaac would spend a lot of time moving around in the southern wilderness, sometimes digging new wells but also uncovering wells his father Abraham had dug.

Isaac was ready for whatever it was that drove them into the wilderness. He had scouted ahead, spent times in the Negev and he knew where there was water. When he was driven out of a region, he went to another one. Eventually, Isaac settled in the region of Beersheba (literally “seven wells”), which sits on the barrier between the fertile farmland of southern Palestine and the wilderness of the Negev.

Abraham considered himself a sojourner but Isaac was truly a wonderer. Thanks to preparation, he was ready for the wonderings. He was ready for opposition; and he was even ready for his own failure.