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Isaac's Hideout:
Breaking the Curse in our Mouths
Chayei Sarah "the life of Sarah"
Genesis 23:1-25:18
1 Ki 1:1-31
Psalm 45
Luke 18:10-14
One of the great mysteries of the Torah is where Isaac goes after he is "resurrected" on Mount Moriah. The text plainly says where Avraham goes and what he does. He mourns for his wife Sarah in Hebron and purchases a burial plot. He sends his servant to acquire a wife for Isaac. Isaac, however, disappears for a while. The next time we see him, we realize he's been living in the strangest of places: Be'er Lachai Roi, the refuge well of Hagar and Ishmael. Isaac is praying in the field, he looks up, and voilá! There's Rivkah! According to one translation of the Hebrew text, Rivkah proceeds to fall off her camel.
Oh, the fun to be had in the original text!
A return to an earlier portion will help decode why Isaac (Yitzchak) might have chosen to go to "the well of the Living One Who sees me."
It begins with a pregnant Hagar running away from her mistress Sarai in Genesis
: 16:1-16. She encounters an angel who tells her to return to Sarai and submit to her authority:
Then
she [Hagar the Egyptian]
called the name of the LORD who spoke to her,
"You
are
a
God who sees"; for she said, "Have I even
remained
alive here after seeing Him?"
Therefore
the well was called
Beer-
lahai
-
roi
; behold, it is between
Kadesh
(holy)
and
Bered
(hail). (verses 13-14)
The well's location is a paradox. Hagar and her unborn son were perched between the holiness of Abraham and the Covenant Land and the hail-plague of Egypt that preceded Pesach for Abraham's descendants and for Hagar's kin. Another hopping opportunity for an Abrahamic relative. Of interest is whether Yitzchak is like his father Avraham, ready to intercede for those who might be hopping between holiness and destruction.
Sarai did things to Hagar to cut her back down to size. Hagar
"despised
" Sarai once Hagar became pregnant. That word is
kallal
, one of the two most frequently-used words in Scripture for a curse. It means to treat lightly, as if the person is of little or no value. When we mock people, are derisive of them, make jokes about them, or ignore them, it is making light of them. To a misguided sinful mind, this makes the joker or ignorer more powerful, raising his or her own value with those impressed by how cleverly the mocked one is put down. It's usually accomplished through humor. When we laugh, it's because in our hearts, we like to see others cut down to size. The problem is, we're just as guilty when we laugh.
This is why it was so important for the angel who visited Avraham to ask, "Why did Sarah laugh?" Her son, yet unconceived, would be named Yitzchak, "he will laugh." The prophetic joy of Yitzchak at the resurrection was holy, kadosh laughter. If Sarah were mocking or making light of the promise, this was a serious impediment to the mission. That's a great question we should all ask ourselves. Why am I laughing? Am I expressing the pure, joyful laughter of the living, or am I laughing because a curse of taking people lightly is in my mouth?
Three times the location Be'er Lachai Roi is mentioned, each one supplying information that maybe the average reader never thought to ask.
Gen 16:14 Therefore
the well was called
Beer-
lahai
-
roi
;
behold, it is between Kadesh and
Bered
.
Gen 24:62 Now
Isaac had come from going to Beer-lahai-roi
;
for
he was
living in the
Negev.
Gen 25:11 It
came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac
lived by Beer-lahai-roi
.
So there are three mentions of Bee-
lahai
-
roi
. It is Hagar's well of refuge on the border of Egypt and Israel. It is likely where she and Ishmael lived after Ishmael "grew" in Paran, learning to be an archer. Since Hagar was Egyptian, and she found Ishmael an Egyptian wife, settling there made perfect sense. Today the location straddles the border between Egypt and Israel. In the time of Joseph, the Ishmaelites had become traders with Egypt, maintaining family ties. Not surprising. What is surprising is that Yitzchak lived there, approximately sixty miles from Be'er Sheva, and even farther from Hebron.
Meanwhile, Avraham's servant finds Rivkah in Haran. Her qualifications were humility, a willingness to serve, even to water the camels. Perhaps Avraham sends to Haran for Yitzchak's wife because even though there is the residue of idolatry in that place, Avraham's relatives are most likely to have that most vital of qualities: hospitality. Hospitality is a sign of a humble, and therefore, generous, heart. Rivkah was not left out of the agreement. This precedent sets the norm for Jewish marriages even today. The potential bride must freely agree to the match.
And
they said, "We will call the girl
and
consult
her wishes
."
Then they called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go."
Thus
they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham's servant and his men.
(Ge 24:57-59)
Hagar was a slave to Sarai. Tradition says she was Pharaoh's daughter, given to Avram because Pharaoh recognized that he was a prince of God. Like the expensive, and at that time, rare, camels, Pharaoh gave Avram gifts that only a prince would merit. In perhaps a twisted interpretation of Avram's relationship with his "sister," Pharaoh recognizes that in Egypt, only royalty is permitted to marry a sister or daughter. The pharaohs took incest as a Divine right of kings. King Avimelekh, too, suffered from this belief that since he had the power, he was entitled to whatever woman he wished.
"It has also been suggested that brother-sister marriage was a way for Pharaohs to emulate the gods and goddesses and to set themselves apart from the rest of the population. We in the Twentieth Century tend to think of kings as ordinary people with extra-ordinary jobs. The Ancient Egyptian believed their Pharaoh was a god and not at all like an ordinary man." - WOMEN IN THE ANCIENT WORLD The status, role and daily life of women in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, Athens, Israel and Babylonia by James
C. Thompson, B.A., M.Ed.
Hagar is given as property, not consulted. She goes from the royal palace of Pharaoh to Avram's tent. Not a great start to a relationship. Recognizing his mistakes in taking rival wives, Avraham wants to provide Yitzchak with a bride who freely volunteers to enter the relationship. Unlike his father or his sons, Yitzchak married one wife: no coercion, no competition, no deception in the agreement.
In the refuge of Be'er Lachai Ro, Yitzchak has consecrated the "field" of the area to holiness. He's praying in the field when he lifts his eyes to see the camels approaching.
Isaac
went out to
meditate (H7742
suach
)
in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming
. (Ge 24:63)
This tells Isaac's emotional state in the field, which is borne out by what follows, that with
Rivkah's
arrival, he is comforted after his mother's death. The word
suach
is found in Psalm 102:1:
A Prayer of the
Afflicted
when he is faint and
pours out his complaint
before the LORD
. Hear
my prayer, O LORD
!
And
let my cry for help come to You
.
תְּפִלָּה
לְעָנִי
כִֽי־יַעֲטֹף
וְלִפְנֵי יְהוָה
יִשְׁפֹּך
ְשִׂיחֹֽו
׃ יְהוָה שִׁמְעָה תְפִלָּתִי
וְשַׁוְעָתִי
אֵלֶיךָ תָבֹֽוא
׃
This prayer is one of someone who has been afflicted or "humbled." Out of that humbling, the person, who is "lower," cries out for help from someone greater, YHVH. Yitzchak is mourning for his mother in the same place that Ishmael's mother Hagar was humbled and cried out for someone greater to help.
Hagar had begun to make light of Sarai; Sarai in turn "afflicted," or tried to humble Hagar, to put her in her proper place in the household. Remember, it was Sarai who promoted Hagar to the position of "wife," but the angel at the well tells Hagar to go back to her "mistress." In other words, humble yourself, Hagar. There is NO EVIDENCE that Hagar did not do this with a whole heart. She remains in Avraham's household until the infamous mocking incident.
The sages write that the sin of mockery and derision is one that is not typically open to reproof by another person. It draws a harsh Divine punishment because the mocker, one who makes light of others, uses it also as a protective fence for a fragile ego. Jokes and mockery are often rewarded with laughter and attention. "Likes" and "Shares," giggles, etc.
Making light of others is a sport. A blood-sport. Life and death are in the "hand" of the tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.
Jokes must be taken seriously.
Why
are we laughing? Jokes can be great delivery methods for gentle truths or lightening a moment, but is competitive murder at its core? The same root of Yitzchak's name, "he will laugh," is the root of Ishmael's mocking on the celebration day of Yitzchak's weaning. It can also have a sexual connotation, but in this case, the context suggests competition.
Ishmael's mother Hagar had a mocking problem, letting her mouth be filled with the
kallal curses. Although Hagar was apparently cured at the well, Ishmael, as the rabbis warned, inherited the sin of mockery. Mockery is a competition for favor. In this case, Ishmael, though loved very much by his father, felt he needed to make sport of his little brother Yitzchak. And as the rabbis also point out, it is a sin not easily remedied by reproof. It draws Divine punishment, usually through isolation. The mocker needs an audience, and at the well, Hagar was reminded that the only audience that truly matters is the Living One Who Sees Me.
Because the mocker is using the curse as an emotional payoff, he will resist reproof:
I'm just joking around. (and high on the attention and chuckles)
Lighten up a little. (while I make light of you)
Did I hit a nerve? (Yippee, I hit the bullseye!)
The sages therefore say that the mocker must be dealt with directly by God. Reproofs will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. They feed on the emotional high of "winning":
Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate
you. Reprove
a wise man and he will love you
. (
Pr
9:8)
Hagar found herself alone at a well literally in the middle of nowhere. It's not fun to be in a competition with yourself. Isaac had found the secret to the "field." Cry out to Adonai when you're grieving and need comfort. Don't get into power struggles. Pour out your heart to Him. If you isolate
yourself
with Him, then He will not drive you into isolation to deal with you.
Prayer is an act that is humbling, an opportunity to isolate ourselves to hear and see before the Father has to drive us to desolate places.
Torah is very specific about not creating rivals in a marriage. It is not life.
Avraham was a different kind of king than Pharaoh and Avimelekh. He even returned loot taken in war to the original owner.
He did not take people by force; they followed him because of love. Nimrod was the first person in history described as a king; he amassed power in order to enable him to use force. Avraham taught the world about a different King, an ethical King of love. - R. Ari Khan.
The servant sent to find a proper bride for Yitzchak prayed! Rivkah agreed to go to Isaac, who did not go and seize her or charm her, but deferred to his father's instructions to the messenger. Isaac waits for her to come to him of her own free will.
King David is familiar with overblown competitiveness. Saul saw David as a competitor for the throne and made his life one of a fugitive, like Hagar, running away. In a rare moment of weakness, David cuts of the fringe of King Saul's garment. This disrespect is to Saul's clothes, the garment of his royal privilege. Later, David's garments cannot warm him, as the haftorah says.
King David took multiple wives, but that wasn't enough. He takes another man's wife, Bathsheba. He's reached a point where he feels entitled by success to simply take what he wants and kill the competition.
His sexual immorality and sense of entitlement is rewarded in kind. He can no longer be aroused even by the most beautiful of women in Israel, Avishag. Two of his sons try to usurp his throne.
This mindset has not changed much since the pre-Flood era. Taking women for personal pleasure, economic opportunity, or as trophies won in competition goes back to:
"...that
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were
beautiful
; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose
." (Ge 6:2-3)
Pharaoh and
Avimelekh
were kings. Isn't that proof that God wanted them to have any woman they wanted, and as many as they wanted? If a man can acquire a woman, isn't it because God has privileged him to do so? Nope.
Avraham had to learn a different mindset. He was right the first time in Egypt, when he said Sarah was his dear sister in faith. He "lived" because of her. She was the wife of his youth.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, success is not a license to destroy the humanity of another person, whether taking what is his or taking what is only hers to give, her free and loving consent.
Success is not license to destroy another human soul by ridicule, mockery, sarcasm, or any other weapon of the tongue to make the other person "lighter" so that the speaker can appear greater.
So back to why Yitzchak chose to go to Hagar and Ishmael. It's a good thing that he did. It is hope for each of us who may have been a Hagar or Ishmael. We inherited a mindset not so easily transformed by Abraham and Sarah's faith. The sages say that Yitzchak was building a relationship with Hagar and Ishmael. There was still hope, for they'd learned monotheism in Avraham's house. Avraham still loved them. One tradition says that Yitzchak went to bring Hagar to Avraham in order to comfort him after Sarah's death, for Avraham had only sent her away, but never divorced Hagar. They say that Hagar repented and was renamed Keturah, which means incense. The incense of her prayer arose and she was reunited with Avraham. She could never be Sarah, but there was reconciliation.
Whether true or not, Yitzchak did live in
Be'er
Lachai
Roi
. Since both Ishmael and Isaac buried Avraham together at Hebron, there may have been mending of relationships during Isaac's time living there.
There is evidence that such is the case, for once Esau realizes how upset Isaac and
Rivkah
are about his crazy, idolatrous Hittite wives, he goes and takes a daughter of Ishmael. (Ge 28:8-9) This is written as a nod toward repentance, finding a righteous wife.
In fact, King David's sister married an Ishmaelite:
Abigail
bore
Amasa
, and the father of
Amasa
was
Jether the Ishmaelite
. (1
Ch
2:17)
The son produced from this marriage was declared by King Solomon to be "righteous," and he was the commander of Judah's army:
The LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell upon two
men more righteous and better than he
and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: Abner the son of
Ner
, commander of the army of Israel, and
Amasa the son of Jether
, commander of the army of Judah
. (1 Ki 2:32)
Some of Ishmael's descendants did marry into Judah, and they were righteous, important defenders of Israel.
They were judged on righteous character alone, which is how we all hope to be judged. Yitzchak's hideout in Be'er Lachai Roi produced good fruit in the Ishmaelites hundreds of years later. Yitzchak is like his father Avraham, ready to intercede for those who might be hopping between holiness in Israel and destruction in Egypt.
To lift a curse and speak life, give value to others with words. We live in an age where it's practically impossible to keep up with friends' and families' need for our approval and "seeing" them, but it's often because they are making Hagar mistakes. People are hoarding words as signs of success and proof of "life."
Outward success and popularity are no proof of life. It can lead to a feeling of entitlement, that success with others is a sign of God's life and approval. You don't need favor, "likes," or fans to be favored. You ARE favored. You ARE loved. You need no audience to be a prince or princess of El Shaddai.
When you are convinced that the Living One sees you, your approval needs from those in authority over you or under your authority will decrease. No need to compete, compare.
It is then that the ones who love you will come to you of their own free will. Prayers are answered. Reconciliation with enemies comes. Comfort enters your tent. That's the Isaac Hideout.
Spotlight on Israel
Interested in celebrating Passover 2020 in Israel?
We are celebrating Passover in Israel again. It is
not a tour, but everybody meeting at Tamar Park for the seder. Room and board is priced at a daily rate of $70 per person, and we all pitch in to make a schedule for cooking meals and kitchen cleanup. The price does include the seder. Alan and I plan to go into Jerusalem for at least a day. The dates we'd stay in Israel are April 6-16.
You'd be free to do whatever you wanted to do: relax, hike, volunteer, or day tour, and choose the number of days you spend at Tamar. I might do some teaching o
n the Sabbaths.
It's for fairly confident travelers who are not afraid to drive a rental car or ride a public bus (we can supply precise instructions to take bus or train).
If you want to take day tours, we'll connect you with a private guide, and those who go can price-share. We can also show you wonderful things in the Aravah near the park. I'll be continuing Biblical, historical, and archaeological research on King David's and Solomon's activities in that area for a book, so will be happy to discuss the "latest" over an ice cream in the sukkah at night.
If you're interested in this trip,
there will be a registration page available very soon, and we'll share it with you. Again, this is not an organized tour. We'll send you travel tips and our itinerary info, and you'll network with others who want to do similar things, but there is no set schedule or "leader" other than the seder, which Alan and I would sponsor.
If you're interested in a FULL-SERVICE tour, then please consider going at Sukkot 2020. We will have registration and information available for that soon.
A New BEKY Book!
Click Cloudy to order the paperback version of the new BEKY Book. The resurrection explained where it begins: the Torah portions! The second section addresses the question, "What happens when we die?" Finally, a simple Biblical correction to the modern "rapture" theory that anyone can understand.
LaMalah Children's Centre
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Thanks to your generosity, the congregations of Kenya and the children of LaMalah were able to enjoy Sukkot. We plan to disburse the 1st Quarter 2020 funds in mid-December, so if you'd like to make a special year-end donation, it would help so much.
If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre or other Torah-based orphanages through The Creation Gospel, click on the Donate link below. It will say The Olive Branch Messianic Congregation on your receipt. Our local congregation is the non-profit covering for our ministry. Checks or money orders may be sent to:
The Creation Gospel
PO Box 846
East Bernstadt, KY 40729
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