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ISAAC.—Son of Abraham and Sarah. The meaning of the name is ‘he laugheth,’ and several reasons for bestowing it are suggested (Gen_17:17; Gen_18:12; Gen_21:6). The narrative as it occurs in Scripture was derived from three principal sources. J [Note: Jahwist.] supplied Gen_18:9-15; Gen_21:1-7; Gen_21:24; Gen_25:5; Gen_25:11; Gen_25:26 and the bulk of Gen_25:27; to E [Note: Elohist.] may be attributed Gen_22:1-14 with Gen_27:11 f., Gen_27:17 f., Gen_27:20-22; while P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] was responsible for Gen_25:19 f., Gen_25:26, Gen_27:46 to Gen_28:9, Gen_35:27-29. Apparent discrepancies in the story, such as that Isaac, on his deathbed (Gen_27:1; Gen_27:41), blessed Jacob, and yet did not die until many years afterwards (Gen_35:27), are evidently due to original differences of tradition, which later editors were not careful to remove. Viewed as coming from independent witnesses, they present no serious difficulty, and do not destroy the verisimilitude of the story. In outline the narrative describes Isaac as circumcised when eight days old (Gen_21:4), and as spending his early youth with his father at Beersheba. Thence he was taken to ‘the land of Moriah,’ to be offered up as a burnt-offering at the bidding of God; and if Abraham’s unquestioning faith is the primary lesson taught (Gen_22:12, Gen_26:5, Heb_11:17 ff.), Isaac’s child-like confidence in his father is yet conspicuous, with the associated sense of security. His mother died when he was thirty-six years of age; and Abraham sent a servant to fetch a wife for Isaac from amongst his kindred in Mesopotamia, according to Gen_24:1-67, where the religious spirit is as noticeable as the idyllic tone. For many years the couple were childless; but at length Isaac’s prayers were heard, and Rebekah gave birth to the twins, Esau and Jacob. Famine and drought made it necessary for Isaac to shift his encampment to Gerar (Gen_26:1), where a story similar to that of Abraham’s repudiation of Sarah is told of him (ch. 20; cf. Gen_12:10-20). The tradition was evidently a popular one, and may have found currency in several versions, though there is no actual impossibility in the imitation by the son of the father’s device. Isaac’s prosperity aroused the envy of the Philistine herdsmen (Gen_26:20 f.) amongst whom he dwelt, and eventually he withdrew again to Beersheba (Gen_26:23). He appears next as a decrepit and dying man (Gen_27:1; Gen_27:41), whose blessing, intended for Esau (Gen_25:28, Gen_27:4), was diverted by Rebekah upon Jacob. When the old man discovered the mistake, he was agitated at the deception practised upon him, but was unable to do more than predict for Esau a wild and independent career. To protect Jacob from his brother’s resentment Isaac sent him away to obtain a wife from his mother’s kindred in Paddan-aram (Gen_28:2), and repeated the benediction. The next record belongs to a period twenty-one years later, unless the paragraph (Gen_35:27-29) relates to a visit Jacob made to his home in the interval. It states that Isaac died at Hebron at the age of 180. He was buried by his sons in the cave of Machpelah (Gen_49:31).
Isaac is a less striking personality than his father. Deficient in the heroic qualities, he suffered in disposition from an excess of mildness and the love of quiet. His passion for ‘savoury meat’ (Gen_25:28, Gen_27:4) was probably a tribal failing. He was rather shifty and timid in his relations with Abimelech (Gen_26:1-22), too easily imposed upon, and not a good ruler of his household,—a gracious and kindly but not a strong man. In Gen_26:5 he is subordinated to Abraham, and blessed for his sake; but the two are more frequently classed together (Exo_2:24; Exo_3:6, Mat_8:11; Mat_22:32, Act_3:13 el al.), and in Amo_7:9; Amo_7:16 ‘Isaac’ is used as a synonym for Israel. If therefore the glory of Isaac was partly derived from the memory of his greater father, the impression made upon posterity by his almost Instinctive trust in God (Gen_22:7-8) and by the prevailing strength of his devotion (Gen_25:21) was deep and abiding. Jacob considered piety and reverent awe as specially characteristic of his father (Gen_31:42; Gen_31:53, where ‘the Fear of Isaac’ means the God tremblingly adored by him). The submission of Isaac plays a part, although a less important one than the faith of Abraham, in the NT references (Heb_11:17 f., Jam_2:21).
R. W. Moss.