The man, called laughter, falls in love and begins a new path of life.  He has found the love of his life, if you will, through the prayers and guidance of his father and those around him.  He and Rebekah begin to dream of their own future as he tells her the story of his life, the promise to his father of a great nation with countless descendants and the moment where he thought life was over (the sacrifice).

Rebekah must have heard the promise and reveled in the thought of being a mother to many and grandmother to even more.  But.  There is always a but in these stories.  But Rebekah, she is…read Genesis 25:19-21.  Did you get the but?  She too is barren.  Just like his mother before, once more the impossibility of the promise rears its head—how can a people become great if they can’t have the promised children to make them great?

He prays.  I would imagine he invites the friends and servants to pray.  Perhaps they laid hands on her and prayed for the impossible for twenty years and in a swift moment of reversal, her story changes from a barren woman of promise to holding the seeds of the vision and covenant.  Yet it isn’t just a child, it is twins!

Two children to carry on the blessing received.  Two brothers who had a case of sibling rivalry—the strong, earthy man Esau and the heel-grabbing brother Jacob.  One who was proficient in hunting and gathering; the other proficient in manipulating and planning.  Contrasts are always a spotlight in these words.  Esau—a nomadic, live off the land kind of guy (one avenue to the future) and Jacob, the crafty planner (another path to future).  Which will receive the blessing of Isaac to carry on the family promise?