In consequence of a famine (Genesis 26:1) Isaac went to Gerar, where he
practised deception as to his relation to Rebekah, imitating the conduct of
his father in Egypt (12:12-20) and in Gerar (20:2). The Philistine king
rebuked him for his prevarication.
After sojourning for some time in the land of the Philistines, he returned to
Beersheba, where God gave him fresh assurance of covenant blessing, and
where Abimelech entered into a covenant of peace with him.
The next chief event in his life was the blessing of his sons (Genesis 27:1).
He died at Mamre, “being old and full of days” (35:27-29), one hundred
and eighty years old, and was buried in the cave of Machpelah.
In the New Testament reference is made to his having been “offered up”
by his father (Hebrews 11:17; James 2:21), and to his blessing his sons
(Hebrews 11:20). As the child of promise, he is contrasted with Ishmael
(Romans 9:7, 10; Galatians 4:28; Hebrews 11:18).
Isaac is “at once a counterpart of his father in simple devoutness and
purity of life, and a contrast in his passive weakness of character, which in
part, at least, may have sprung from his relations to his mother and wife.
After the expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar, Isaac had no competitor, and
grew up in the shade of Sarah’s tent, moulded into feminine softness by
habitual submission to her strong, loving will.” His life was so quiet and
uneventful that it was spent “within the circle of a few miles; so guileless
that he let Jacob overreach him rather than disbelieve his assurance; so
tender that his mother’s death was the poignant sorrow of years; so
patient and gentle that peace with his neighbours was dearer than even
such a coveted possession as a well of living water dug by his own men; so
grandly obedient that he put his life at his father’s disposal; so firm in his
reliance on God that his greatest concern through life was to honour the
divine promise given to his race.”, Geikie’s Hours, etc.