Marriage of Isaac
149
He who has entered the marriage relation while unconverted, is by
his conversion placed under stronger obligation to be faithful to his
companion, however widely they may differ in regard to religious faith;
yet the claims of God should be placed above every earthly relationship,
even though trials and persecution may be the result. With the spirit
of love and meekness, this fidelity may have an influence to win the
unbelieving one. But the marriage of Christians with the ungodly is
forbidden in the Bible. The Lord’s direction is, “Be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers.”
2 Corinthians 6:14, 17, 18
.
Isaac was highly honored by God in being made inheritor of the
promises through which the world was to be blessed; yet when he was
forty years of age he submitted to his father’s judgment in appointing
his experienced, God-fearing servant to choose a wife for him. And
the result of that marriage, as presented in the Scriptures, is a tender
and beautiful picture of domestic happiness: “Isaac brought her into
his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife;
and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”
What a contrast between the course of Isaac and that pursued by
the youth of our time, even among professed Christians! Young people
too often feel that the bestowal of their affections is a matter in which
self alone should be consulted—a matter that neither God nor their
parents should in any wise control. Long before they have reached
manhood or womanhood they think themselves competent to make
their own choice, without the aid of their parents. A few years of
married life are usually sufficient to show them their error, but often
too late to prevent its baleful results. For the same lack of wisdom and
self-control that dictated the hasty choice is permitted to aggravate the
evil, until the marriage relation becomes a galling yoke. Many have
thus wrecked their happiness in this life and their hope of the life to
come.
If there is any subject which should be carefully considered and in
which the counsel of older and more experienced persons should be
sought, it is the subject of marriage; if ever the Bible was needed as
a counselor, if ever divine guidance should be sought in prayer, it is
before taking a step that binds persons together for life.
Parents should never lose sight of their own responsibility for the
future happiness of their children. Isaac’s deference to his father’s
[176]
judgment was the result of the training that had taught him to love