Following a larger than life personality can be a daunting challenge, and often the immediate successor is doomed to failure as their predecessor’s shadow looms large. This happens in business, it happens in relationships and I would suggest it also happens in the Torah.
Isaac is our rebound Patriarch, sandwiched as he is between Abraham and Jacob. Abraham is the person with whom God first made the covenant, and Jacob is the man who becomes Israel, after whom we are named. Isaac sits in between the two and holds on to the baton for only a few chapters before passing it on to his son.
This week our Torah portion begins with the birth of Esau and Jacob, and it concludes with Isaac’s blessing of Jacob as his successor in God’s covenant. Isaac only has one section in which he is the centre of attention, and not the son of Abraham or the father of Jacob. And yet in these few verses he offers us an important lesson in contrast to either his father or his son.
According to the text Isaac was a successful farmer: ‘he sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And Adonai blessed him, and the man became rich’ (Genesis 26:12-13). However, his success created envy amongst the Philistines, and they blocked up the wells which had been dug by Abraham’s servants (Genesis 26:14-15). Isaac was faced with a difficult choice: he could have fought to reassert his claim over the land and the wells; Avimelech, the king, even acknowledged ‘you are mightier than we’ (Genesis 26:16). But instead Isaac chose the path of peace, and simply moved his flock and his family to new pastures.
However, despite his continued success in the well digging business, the locals were still resistant towards him, and ‘the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen’ (Genesis 26:20), disputing the ownership of the wells. This was not the end of Isaac’s struggle, and for a third time he dug wells, and for a third time the locals challenged him, and caused trouble. And yet, rather than fight, each time Isaac simply moved his community and looked for a new place to establish himself and his family.
Finally, he was able to dig a well, which he named Rehovot, and there was no fighting or strife with the locals, and Isaac declared ‘now Adonai has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land’ (Genesis 26:22).
One could view Isaac as weak, lacking the stomach for a fight or to stand up against a local bully. However, the benefit of his strategy is present in the text. Following his successful resettlement, God appears to him and offers him a blessing (Genesis 26:24). This blessing is followed by the return of King Avimelech, the man who had first requested Isaac to uproot and leave. This time there is no suggestion of a fight, and instead Avimelech requests ‘let us make a covenant with you’ (Genesis 26:28). Isaac’s approach yields a peace treaty with his former rival, and concludes with a feast, where the two were able to eat and drink together (Genesis 26:30).
Isaac’s story is not as exciting as that of either Abraham or Jacob; it lacks the action and the excitement of our other Patriarchs. But Isaac, in his own quiet way, as our middle Patriarch, offers a path which brought blessings and peace.
Throughout his life Isaac faced challenges from within his family and from outside. But throughout his life he found ways to build bridges and avoid conflict. He did not fight, not because he was weak, but because he possessed an inner strength. It took bravery and courage to survive the Akedah at the start of his life, and it took bravery and courage to uproot his family each time. And in the end, this rebound Patriarch’s bravery and courage were rewarded with the ultimate blessing of peace.
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