Isaac Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Genesis narrative== ===Birth=== After God changes Abram and Sarai's names to ''Abraham'' and ''Sarah'', he tells [[Abraham]] that he will bear a second son by [[Sarah]] named Isaac, with whom a new covenant would be established. In response, Abraham began to laugh, as both he and Sarah were well beyond natural child-bearing age.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|17:15β19|HE}}</ref> Some time later, three men who Abraham identifies as messengers of God visit him and Sarah, and Abraham treats them to food and niceties. They repeat the prophecy that Sarah would bear a child, promising Isaac's birth within a year's time, at which point Sarah laughs in disbelief.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|18:10β12|HE}}</ref> God questions why the pair laughed in disbelief at his words, and if it is because they believe such things were not within his power. Now afraid, they futilely deny ever having laughed at God's words.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|18:13β15|HE}}</ref> Time passes as Isaac is born.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:1β7|HE}}</ref> Isaac was Abraham's second son and firstborn of Sarah who was then Sarai. Sarai had been barren for a long time and sought a way to fulfill God's promise that Abram would be father of many nations, especially since they had grown old, so she offered [[Hagar]] to Abram to be his concubine.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|16:1-3|HE}}</ref> On the eighth day from his birth, Isaac was [[Religious male circumcision|circumcised]], as was necessary for all males of Abraham's household, in order to be in compliance with the [[Jewish]] covenant.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:1β5|HE}}</ref> After Isaac had been weaned, Sarah saw [[Ishmael]] playing with him, and urged her husband to cast out Hagar the bondservant and her son, so that Isaac would be Abraham's sole heir. Abraham was hesitant, but at God's order he listened to his wife's request.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:8β12|HE}}</ref> ===Binding=== [[File:Beit alfa02.jpg|thumb|right|The ''Akedah'' (Binding), mosaic on the floor of [[Beit Alfa Synagogue]]]] {{main|Binding of Isaac}} At some point in Isaac's youth, his father Abraham took him to Mount [[Moriah]]. At God's command as the last of ten trials to test his faith, Abraham was to build a sacrificial altar and sacrifice his son Isaac upon it. After he had bound his son to the altar and drawn his knife to kill him, at the last moment an [[angel]] of God prevented Abraham from proceeding. Instead, he was directed to sacrifice a nearby ram that was stuck in thickets.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|22:13|HE}}</ref> ===Family life=== [[File:Esau and Jacob Presented to Isaac.jpg|thumb|right|The birth of Esau and Jacob, as painted by [[Benjamin West]]]] Before Isaac was 40 (Genesis 25:20),<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:20|HE}}</ref> Abraham sent [[Eliezer]], his steward, into [[Mesopotamia]] to find a wife for Isaac, from his nephew [[Bethuel]]'s family. Eliezer chose the [[Aramean]] [[Rebecca|Rebekah]] for Isaac. After many years of marriage to Isaac, Rebekah had still not given birth to a child and was believed to be barren. Isaac prayed for her and she conceived. Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, [[Esau]] and [[Jacob]]. Isaac was 60 years old when his two sons were born.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:26|HE}}</ref> Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah favored Jacob.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:20β28|HE}}</ref> The narratives about Isaac do not mention his having concubines.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', Volume 10, p. 34.</ref> ===Migration=== Isaac moved to ''[[Abraham#Hagar|Beer-lahai-roi]]'' after his father died.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:11|HE}}</ref> When the land experienced famine, he moved to the [[Philistines|Philistine]] land of [[Gerar]] where his father once lived. This land was still under the control of [[Abimelech|King Abimelech]] as it was in the days of Abraham. Like his father, Isaac also pretended that Rebekah was his sister due to fear that Abimelech would kill him in order to take her. He had gone back to all of the wells that his father dug and saw that they were all stopped up with earth. The Philistines did this after Abraham died. So, Isaac unearthed them and began to dig for more wells all the way to [[Beersheba]], where he made a pact with Abimelech, just like in the day of his father.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|26|HE}}</ref> ===Birthright=== Isaac grew old and became blind. He called his son Esau and directed him to procure some venison for him, in order to receive Isaac's blessing. While Esau was hunting, Jacob, after listening to his mother's advice, deceived his blind father by misrepresenting himself as Esau and thereby obtained his father's blessing, such that Jacob became Isaac's primary heir and Esau was left in an inferior position. According to Genesis 25:29β34,<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:29β34|HE}}</ref> Esau had previously sold his birthright to Jacob for "bread and stew of lentils". Thereafter, Isaac sent Jacob into Mesopotamia to take a wife of his mother's brother's house. After 20 years working for his uncle [[Laban (Bible)|Laban]], Jacob returned home. He reconciled with his twin brother Esau, then he and Esau buried their father, Isaac, in Hebron after he died at the age of 180.<ref name="JewishEncyclopedia">''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'', [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=174&letter=I ''Isaac''].</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|35:28β29|HE}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page