The Fear of Isaac

"God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. ⁸ O LORD God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You."

Psalm 89:7-8

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, for all wisdom springs from the mighty God who created all things.  This glorious King is not to be reduced to "a friend next to ya" but ought to be reverenced by His redeemed.  It is one thing to imagine what God is capable of, but better yet to praise Him for all He has done and also promised to do.  He spoke the universe into existence and sustains it faithfully according to His infinite power and grace.  God is the source and spring of all life seen and unseen by men.  Having great fear of God we give Him the credit He is due, avoid what is evil, and delight to do what pleases Him.

Whilst reading through Genesis as a family we came across a couple of verses which provided a fascinating title of God.  In stating his case against Laban, Jacob said in Genesis 31:42, "Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked you last night."  He could have said the "God of Abraham and the God of my father Isaac" but Jacob did not.  He referred to God as "the Fear of Isaac."  It is right for man to fear God and greatly reverence his Maker.  Hebrew poetry employs synonymous parallelism to emphasise a point by using words which enlarge the meaning (see Psalm 89:7 above).  Fear and reverence are not synonyms (though we might use them in this manner) and expand our understanding of how man rightly relates to God.

The title of God employed by Jacob made me think:  if it was obvious to him Isaac his dad feared God, is my fear of God evident to my children as well?  How might Jacob realised Isaac feared God?  Most likely because his words and decisions reflected this fear and reverence of God.  Perhaps when he spoke to God in prayer he bowed with his face to the ground and offered costly sacrifices as a man would to a powerful king.  Isaac no doubt related Abraham's faith in God and their many interactions - like Isaac's miraculous conception or when Abraham bound Isaac on the altar intending to slay him in obedience to God.  That would put the "fear of God" in you, to hear the voice of the Angel of the LORD boom from heaven in Genesis 22:12 saying, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."  This event greatly impacted Isaac, and the righteous response of faith was to fear God.  Isaac's fear of God showed how awesome God was to him and all.

Through the testimony of his life the Fear of Isaac impacted his son Jacob as well.  Genesis 31:53 concluded the words of Jacob to Laban:  "The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac."  The Fear of Isaac became the Fear of Jacob, and Jacob spoke these binding words before the LORD the eternal and almighty Judge of All.  A parent who fears God receives no guarantee from God their children will follow in their steps concerning faith in God, and Esau and Jacob well illustrate this.  But there is no denying the impact the fear of God Jacob observed in his dad for many years was greatly influential in leading him to the Fear of Isaac as his only God and LORD.  May the Fear of Isaac be our Fear as well, for who is mighty like our LORD who is faithful in all His ways?