# 290 The Fear of Isaac

The Book of Genesis

Day 290

Ge 31:36 Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?  37 "Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both!  38 "These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.  39 "That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.  40 "There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.  41 "Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.  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 labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."

Twenty years of frustration with the unfairness of Laban has come to a boil and Jacob spills it all out. The last straw was Laban’s accusation that someone in Jacob’s camp had stolen Laban’s household gods. After a thorough search, (not quite thorough enough, because Rachel had hidden them away under her saddle) Laban found nothing.  But this was the last straw for Jacob and he let Laban have it with both barrels. Speaking the truth in anger, he rebuked Laban in front of everyone!  (Makes me wonder if Rachel ever told him about her theft, or if he found them after Rachel passed away.)

It doesn’t matter, because even in his righteous anger, Jacob points out a beautiful truth for all of us to remember. If it weren’t for God watching out for Jacob, he would be empty-handed.

Have you ever been shafted or short-changed by anyone else? God has seen your affliction just as sure as He saw Jacob’s and He will take care of it! Keep walking with the Lord and He will see that you are not left empty-handed.

Something of interest here is HOW Jacob refers to God, and it’s worth noting. He refers to “the God of his father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac.”  Well his father IS Isaac. Why not just say, “The God of my father Isaac, and the God of Abraham,” Why add “the Fear of Isaac?”

The gist of the statement is that Isaac is still alive and still in the “Fear of God” mode of his life. The idea of biblical fear in worship of God is that of trust. Isaac is still trusting God. God is the Fear of Isaac, the One in whom he trusts.

It was this trust in the “Fear of Isaac” this God, that carried Jacob through his 20 years with Laban, and Laban needed to know it!

It’s kinda like he was telling Laban, “your household gods aren’t worth diddly bop anyway!”

I wonder if this can be said about me and my relationship with God. Could my children say this about me? “The God of Isaac, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of my Dad?” Could your children say it about you?