Isaac
Isaac or Yitzchak (Hebrew: יִצְחָק Yiẓḥaq Arabic: إسحٰق, ʾIsḥāq ; "he will laugh") is the son and heir of Abraham and the father of Jacob and Esau, as described in the Hebrew Bible. His story is told in the Book of Genesis. The half-brother of Abraham's son Ishamel, Isaac was born miraculously when his mother was 90. He is primarily famed for his role as a the faithful son who did not complain when Abraham prepared to offer him as a burnt sacrifice to God. Later, he married the beautiful Rebekah, whom he deeply loved. He was the father of the twin sons Esau and Jacob and thus the ancestor of both the Edomites and the Israelites in the biblical narrative.
The historicity of Isaac's story in the Bible has come under serious challenge among recnet current scholars. Also, Isaac's role in Islam is significantly different than Juedo-Christian tradition.
Isaac in the Hebrew Bible
Birth and Youth
The biblical story of Isaac begins with a prediction from God that Abraham's wife will bear a son named Isaac. Although Abraham already has a son, Ishamel, through Sarah's Egtyptian slave-woman, it is through Isaac that will inherit God's covenant. (Gen. 17:19) Isaac would be the longest lived of the three great patriarchs. His name, meaning to laugh, is related to various verses in which either Sarah or Abraham laugh at the idea that they could have a son at such an old age (she was 90, he 100).
Sarah suckled the child herself and Abraham gave a great feast on his weaning day. During the festivities, however, Hagar's son Ishmael, adopted a mocking attitude (21:9). As there was already bad blood between the two women, Sarah attempted to convince Abraham to be rid of the slave woman and her son. Abraham restists, be the biblical authors inform as that God intervenes on Sarah's behalf, saying:
- Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring." (21:12-13)
Isaac and Hagar are banished to the desert, and we are told that his mother eventually finds a wife for him in Egypt.
The Binding of Isaac
An unspecified time elapses, and Isaac, now a young man, faces a tremendous test. God commands Abraham to offer sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Abraham obeys and takes Isaac, together with two slaves, to the place "the Lord would show him. On the third day, discerning the place (identified elsewhere as Mount Moriah), Abraham cuts wood as for a burn-offering. As they go together toward the mount, the bewildered Isaac asks, "We have the fire and the wood, but where is the sacrifice for the burnt-offering?" Whether merely placating his victim or perhaps uttering an unknowing prophecy, Abraham tells Isaac that God himself will provide the sacrifice. He then places the wood on Isaac, and prepares to slay him with a knife.
At this point an angel of Yahweh intervenes and damatically prevents the slaughter saying "do nothing to the lad, for now I know that you fear God." Abraham then discovers a ram caught in a nearby thicket, and this becomes the sacrifice in Isaac's place.
Apparently deeply relieved, God immediately renews his covenant with Abraham, saying:
"I swear by myself.... that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Gen. 16-18)
Besides being one of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible, the incident — known as the Binding of Isaac — is also one of the most discussed (see below).
Midlife
Isaac and his family now move to Beersheba. However, his mother dies, at age 127, at Hebron. (Gen. 17:1-2) Isaac establishes himself in the Negev. Abraham sends his steward, Eliezer, into Mesopotamia to procure a wife for Isaac, from among his kin. Isaac, now 40, thus receives Rebekah, who arrives dramatically on a camel train with her slave-girls, while Isaac meditates in a field. (Gen. 24:62-67) The two fall in love at first sight. Isaac honors Rebekeh by providing her with his mother's tent. "She became his wife, and he loved her," the Bible tells us, "and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."
Like her mother-in-law before her, however, Rebekah is apparently barren. Isaac prays for her, God responds, and when Isaac is 60, she conceives. She struggles with her pregancy, for "two nations" are warring within her womb. She is delivered of twins, named Esau and Jacob. Isaac favors the hairy Esau, a hunter, while Rebekah loves Jacob, a homebody.
If the biblical chonology is correct, Abraham dies when Isaac is 75 years old. Although he has taken several additional wives and provided both them with susbtantial property, he leaves everything he owns at his death to Isaac. The banished Ishamael now breifly reappears, and the two brothers join together in peace to bury their father. (Gen. 25:9)
Some years afterwards, a famine obliges Isaac to retire to the Philistine town of Gerar, where Abimelech was king. God now appears to Isaac and established His covenant with him (Gen 26:2) Fearing that the men of the town will kill him in order to take the beautiful Rebekah for their own, Isaac does exactly as his father had done previously. He tells the king that his wife, Rebekah, is actually his sister. (She is, in fact, his cousin.) Abimelech, looking out his window, sees the two making love, and reproves Isaac for the deception.
Abimelech places Isaac under his protection. Isaac gows very rich and his flocks multiply. Others among the Philistines, however, become envious and fill up the wells which Isaac's slaves have dug. Fearing the outbreak of hostilities, Abimelech orders Isaac to leave the city. After more troubles with nearby heardsmen, he finds a good, safe well at Rehobeth. At length, he returns to Beersheba where he establishes a more pernament habitation. Here the Lord appears to him again, and renews the promise of blessing him. Isaac also establishes a tribal altar at Beersheba. Later, Abimelech and company make a formal visit, and the two leaders form an alliance. Esau, meanwhile, takes two Hittite women as wives, much to disappointment of both Isaac and Rebekah.
Old Age and Death
Isaac, having grown very old (137 years) has now become nearly blind. He calls Esau, his eldest and favorite son, to him to receive his blessing. Isaac directs Esau to procure some venison for him. However, Rebekah has other plans. She conspires with Jacob, and while Esau was hunting, Jacob pretends to be Esau. Isaac suspects, but Rebekeh has disguised Jacob very cleverly, and the old man is deceived. He gives the blessing meant for Esau to Jacob, saying:
- May God give you of heaven's dew
- and of earth's richness—
- an abundance of grain and new wine.
- May nations serve you
- and peoples bow down to you.
- Be lord over your brothers, and
- may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
- May those who curse you be cursed
- and those who bless you be blessed.
Having thus spoken, Isaac is powerless to take his words back once he discovers what has happened. "I have made him lord over you," he tells Esau, "and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?"
Esau determines to slay Jacob, but Rebekah counsels her favorite to flee. Since both she and Isaac are unhappy with Esau's choice of Hittite women as wives, she is able to convince Isaac to send Jacob to her relatives in Haran. He does so, giving him another blessing, this time intentionally.
Esau, trying to be a good son to Isaac, realizes that he has displeased his parents by not marrying a relative. He thus takes Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael, as a bride, in addition to his other wives. Jacob would return 21 years later and make peace with Esau. But we do not hear again of Isaac until his death notice:
- Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. (Gen. 35:27-29)
Isaac's genealogy through Esau is found in Genesis 36 and 1 Chronicles 1. The story of Isaac's descendants through Jacob makes up much of the Hebrew Bible. A list detailing Jacob's lineage through the time of the Babylonian exile is found in 1 Chronicles 2-8.
Isaac in the New Testament
In the New Testament, reference is made to his having been "offered up" by his father (Heb. 11:17; James 2:21), and to his blessing his sons (Heb. 11:20). As the child of promise, he is contrasted with Ishmael (Rom. 9:7, 10; Gal. 4:28; Heb. 11:18). He is seen by many Christians as a prototype of Jesus. As Isaac was willing to become a sacrifice to God at the hand of his father Abraham, so Jesus willingly became a sacrifice on the Cross for his Father, God.
Isaac in Islam
The Qur'an preserves the traditiona that Isaac was given to Sarah when she and Abraham were old. It preserves the story that she laughed when God gave her the good tidings of Isaac's birth (14:39) (11:71-72) (37:112-113).
However, according to Islamic beliefs, it was Ismael and not Isaac whom Abraham nearly sacrificed in the name of Allah {al-Saaffaat 37:99-113}. A modern dialongue on this topic may be found at this web site.
According to the Qur'an, the God (Arabic:Allah) whom Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob worshipped was the same God who spoke to the Prophet Muhammed. These patriarchs were called neither Jews nor Arabs in that time, but were considered righteous. Isaac and Jacob were made chiefs who guided by the command of God, and God inspired in them to do good deeds and establish worship and the giving of alms. Isaac and Jacob were worshippers of God alone. Isaac and Jacob are both considered prophets and were given the mercy of God. He assigned to them a high and true renown. God established the prophethood and the Scripture among the seed of Isaac and Jacob, and they were rewarded in the world (19:49-50) (21:72-73) (29:27).
The Qu'ran states that it makes no distinction between what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus received — as well as that which other prophets received from God (2:133-140)(3:84)
Critical View
Three explanations for Isaac's name are given: the first is that his mother Sarai(Sarah) laughed when told by God that she would have a son in her old age (Genesis 17:16-17); in the second, it is Sarah who laughs (Genesis 18:10-12); and in the third, Sarah exclaims following the birth that "God has made laughter for me; every one who hears will laugh over me." (Genesis 21:6-7). The name is also translated as "He will rejoice."
Some commentators believe that in the Book of Amos there is some suggestion that Israel may actually be another name for Isaac (Amos 7:9, 16) despite the Bible stating that Israel is the later name given to Isaac's son Jacob (Genesis 32:22-28, especially 28).
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