The covenant line through Isaac and Jacob is significant because it is the specific line God chose to carry His covenant promises, the nation of Israel, and ultimately the promised Messiah.
While many peoples trace ancestry to Abraham, God set apart Isaac and Jacob as the covenant line. Les Feldick describes this as God pulling a pure-water creek out of humanity's idolatrous river, and through Jacob the seed—the Messiah of Israel—would come.
Genesis 22:18 — The promise that Abraham's seed would bless all nations was narrowed to the covenant line through Isaac and Jacob.
Genesis 3:15 — The promised seed of the woman becomes the ultimate focus of the covenant line through Jacob, identifying it as the line of the Messiah.
Isaiah 9:8 — It connects the word sent to Jacob with its fulfillment in Israel, confirming the covenant line's destination.
God's covenant promise to Abraham was centered on his seed: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 22:18). The Scripture traces that promised seed through Isaac, not Ishmael, and through Jacob, not Esau, so that through Jacob "the seed" would come—the Messiah of Israel, the seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15. Isaiah 9:8 confirms the same line: "The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel." The covenant promise given to Abraham is therefore not a general promise to all his physical descendants, but a specific line that runs through Isaac and Jacob into the nation of Israel.
Les teaches that God deliberately narrowed the covenant promise to the line of Isaac and Jacob. Although Ishmael's descendants, Esau's descendants, and Lot's descendants through his daughters all became part of the Arab world and trace their roots to Abraham, they were not the covenant line. The covenant passed from Abraham to Isaac, and from Isaac to Jacob, who received the birthright and blessing. Les uses the picture of a polluted human river: humanity was steeped in idolatry, and God pulled out a separate little nation—Israel—as a little pure water creek. He preserved that separate nation so that in a future time it could be a purifying, evangelistic thrust into the non-Jewish nations. Through Jacob, not Esau, the seed would come—the Messiah of Israel, the seed of the woman of Genesis 3:15.
Les identifies several non-covenant lines that still trace to Abraham. Ishmael is the father of the Arab peoples; Esau, Jacob's brother, is another segment of Arabs; and Lot's sons through his two daughters after Sodom and Gomorrah also became part of the Arab world. The Syrians were also relatives of Abraham through Nahor and Laban, and were the people from whom Isaac and Jacob took their wives.
Les points out that Esau was destitute of faith, so Jacob ascended to the place of having the birthright and the blessing. Isaac's blessing of Jacob was treated like an irrevocable decree in the ancient Middle Eastern world, just as decrees of pagan kings stood without change. The covenant given to Abraham was passed on to Isaac, and Isaac in turn blessed Jacob, making Jacob the continuation of the covenant line through whom the Messiah would come.
Les describes humanity as a mainstream steeped in idolatry. Out of that mainstream God pulled a separate little nation—the nation of Israel or the Jew—to be a little pure water creek. God preserved this separated nation so that in some future time He could use it as a purifying or evangelistic thrust back into the mass of the non-Jewish people.
After Jacob received the birthright and blessing, he went back to his relatives in Syria and married there, and eventually had twelve sons. Those twelve sons and their families ended up in Egypt because of the famine, where Joseph had stored grain during the seven years of plenty. These twelve sons became the tribes of Israel, the nation through whom the covenant line continued.
Les shows that the roots of the Middle East conflict are in Abraham himself: all Middle Eastern peoples are intrinsically connected to him. Ishmael's Arab descendants, Esau's Arab segment, and Lot's descendants through Moab and Ammon are all blood relatives of Israel, even though the covenant line ran only through Isaac and Jacob.
Abraham's Wider Family and the Arab Peoples
Ishmael, Esau, and Lot's descendants all trace to Abraham and became the Arab peoples, showing the covenant line through Isaac and Jacob was a deliberate narrowing.
Covenant Line from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob
Les traces the Abrahamic Covenant from Abraham to Isaac and then to Jacob, noting that Israel received the oracles of God.
The Days of Noah: Understanding the "Sons of God" & Coming Judgment
We've got the ungodly line of Cain, and they have been going on in their materialism and in their technology, but over against that, probably quite well separated, was this godly line of Seth, who have not become too involved with this, what today we would call this worldly community.
The Curse of Canaan & Origin of Races: Genesis 9 Bible Study
Now this carries all the way into the coming of the nation of Israel, and hopefully within just a little while we'll be getting to Genesis chapter 12, which to me is the benchmark of Genesis, because from Genesis chapter 12 we're going to get the setting of everything that leads into our own doctrine in the church age.
Jacob and the Dividing Line Within Israel
Jacob begins a dividing line between natural and spiritual covenant people, and Isaiah 9:8 shows the word sent to Jacob lighting on Israel.
The Pure Water Creek
God pulled a separate, small nation out of idolatrous humanity—Israel—as a pure-water creek to later purify and evangelize the rest of humanity.
Isaac's Blessing of Jacob
Isaac's blessing of Jacob was an irrevocable decree in the ancient Middle East, confirming Jacob as the covenant-line heir.
Covenant Through Jacob to the Messiah
Esau was destitute of faith, so the birthright and blessing went to Jacob; through Jacob the seed would come, the Messiah of Israel.
Genesis 3:15: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
This is the first promise of the coming seed, which Les says would come through Jacob, the covenant line.
Genesis 22:18: And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
This is the seed promise of the Abrahamic Covenant that was narrowed to Isaac and Jacob.
Genesis 26:5: Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
God confirms the covenant to Isaac, showing the line continues through Isaac, not Ishmael.
Genesis 27:22: And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
The blessing that passes to Jacob is at the heart of why the covenant line continues through Jacob rather than Esau.
Isaiah 9:8: The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
Les uses this verse to show that the word/covenant given to Jacob eventually rests on Israel, confirming the covenant line.
Les says Esau was destitute of faith, so Jacob ascended to the birthright and blessing. Isaac's blessing of Jacob was an irrevocable decree in the ancient Middle Eastern world, so the covenant line continued through Jacob.
According to Les, Ishmael is the father of the Arab peoples, Esau is another segment of Arabs, and Lot's descendants through his daughters became part of the Arab world. All trace their roots to Abraham.
God pulled a separate little nation out of humanity steeped in idolatry. That nation is Israel, pictured as a little pure water creek that God will one day use to purify and evangelize the non-Jewish peoples.
Les teaches that through Jacob the seed would come—the Messiah of Israel, the seed of the woman of Genesis 3:15. The covenant promise passed from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and on to the nation of Israel.
Watch the Teaching: God’s Promise to Abraham: Understanding Genesis 12 & 15