Music recording by Lezlie Taguding. From The Babe of Bethlehem by William Walker, 1835. View the Lyrics. Narration by Aimee Riegert.

Devotional by Dave Chaves.

Image: Tel Haror is northwest of Beersheba and is widely accepted as the site of the ancient Philistine city of Gerar, which in the biblical accounts hosted Abraham and Isaac during the reign of Abimelech.

Isaac grew up in the shadow of a great promise. The Lord had met with his father and called him to leave his home to go to a new land, where he would become a great nation and through him all families of the earth would be blessed. A child of miraculous birth to aged parents, he was named “laughter” because the promise of his birth was almost too good to believe. From his infancy, Isaac bore the mark of the great covenant with God on his body. Beloved by his parents, his passing from toddler to childhood was marked with a huge feast.

And so Isaac grew up in Beersheba, caring for his father’s flocks and drawing water from the well that Abraham had dug. Foreigners in the country of the Philistines, Isaac’s family worshiped the Eternal and Almighty God, who had thus far cared for, provided for, and protected them. They worshiped in the hills and fields, and they planted trees and set up markers to remember their God. So it was not surprising when one day Isaac’s father led him on a journey to offer a sacrifice in worship.

A growing boy, Isaac must have enjoyed the wilderness adventure with his father. His young muscles strained as he hiked up the mountain carrying wood on his back. Isaac trusted his father and knew how much he loved him, so he did not resist when Abraham put his arms around him and placed him on the altar. The child of promise, the beloved son of the father, was to be sacrificed in faith on the mountain, but as the author of Hebrews tells us, “Abraham received his son back from the dead”—the time had not yet come for the sacrifice of the Son.

Isaac returned to Beersheba. He cared for growing herds of sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and donkeys. He enjoyed evening walks in the fields. His father arranged for him to marry, and Isaac became a husband and father of twins. It was only after Abraham’s death, when a famine came in the land, that Isaac retraced his father’s footsteps. There in the city of Gerar, the Lord appeared to him and repeated the great promise “in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”