This was strange, as well as terrible; but this was that king Jehoshaphat. And just after the same manner, our Isaac on this occasion had his _sensibilities_, but not his corresponding _energies_. With a godly mind he grieved over Esau’s marriage with a daughter of Heth; and yet that very Esau, who thus wounded the witness within him, was the one to attract and hold and order the fondest sympathies of his heart, so as to hinder him from freeing himself to act for God. It was not through vanity, as it was in Jehoshaphat, that Isaac thus sadly and strangely failed--it was rather, from the common pravity of his character, such as we have seen it to be, a general relaxed moral tone of soul. But whether it be through this or that, he is ensnared, I may say, by an earlier Ahab, though his soul had the sense of that Ahab’s apostasy. He would help Esau to the blessing all he could, as Jehoshaphat would help the king of Israel all he could to the victory at Ramoth-Gilead. What sights are these! what lessons and warnings! But we must inspect this family scene, this family circle in chap. xxvii. a little more closely. There are others beside Isaac to be looked at. Abraham’s servant in chap. xxiv. had brought two different things with him out of the house of his master, when he visited the house of Bethuel. He brought a _report_ of all that the Lord had done for Abraham, and _gifts_. These different things become tests of that household in Mesopotamia. The report dealt with future and distant things, and had God necessarily connected with it--the gifts might have been independent of Him, and were a present gain. Rebecca was moved by the report. She takes the jewels, it is true; but the tidings which the servant brought are chief with her. The report of what awaited her among a distant people whom the Lord had blessed had power to detach her. It was not Isaac merely, or Abraham’s wealth merely. Her father had wealth, and she need not go far to promise herself a home and its enjoyments. But _the Lord_ had blessed Abraham, and had now prospered the journey of his servant. It was not a question with Rebecca whether she would take Isaac and a share in Abraham’s wealth, or remain poor and lonely. The question was this--Would she take the portion the Lord was now bringing her, or that which her kindred and circumstances in the world had provided her?