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Easton's Bible Dictionary
laughter. Israel, or
the kingdom of the ten tribes
( Amos
7:9 , 7:16
).
The only son of Abraham by Sarah.
He was the longest lived of
the three patriarchs ( Genesis
21:1 - 3
). He was circumcised when eight
days old (Genesis
21:4 - 7);
and when he was probably two
years old a great feast was
held in connection with his
being weaned.
The next memorable event in
his life is that connected with
the command of God given to
Abraham to offer him up as a
sacrifice on a mountain in the
land of Moriah ( Genesis
22 ). (See ABRAHAM
.) When he was forty years of
age Rebekah was chosen for his
wife ( Genesis
24 ). After the death and
burial of his father he took
up his residence at Beer-lahai-roi
( Genesis
25:7 - 11
), where his two sons, Esau
and Jacob, were born (Genesis
25:21 - 26),
the former of whom seems to
have been his favourite son
(Genesis
25:27 , 28).
In consequence of a famine (
Genesis
26:1 ) Isaac went to Gerar,
where he practised deception
as to his relation to Rebekah,
imitating the conduct of his
father in Egypt ( Genesis
12:12 - 20
) and in Gerar ( Genesis
20:2 ). The Philistine king
rebuked him for his prevarication.
After sojourning for some time
in the land of the Philistines,
he returned to Beersheba, where
God gave him fresh assurance
of covenant blessing, and where
Abimelech entered into a covenant
of peace with him.
The next chief event in his
life was the blessing of his
sons ( Genesis
27:1 ). He died at Mamre,
"being old and full of days"
( Genesis
35:27 - 29
), one hundred and eighty years
old, and was buried in the cave
of Machpelah.
In the New Testament reference
is made to his having been "offered
up" by his father ( Hebrews
11:17 ; James
2:21 ), and to his blessing
his sons ( Hebrews
11:20 ). As the child of
promise, he is contrasted with
Ishmael ( Romans
9:7 , 9:10
; Galatians
4:28 ; Hebrews
11:18 ).
Isaac is "at once a counterpart
of his father in simple devoutness
and purity of life, and a contrast
in his passive weakness of character,
which in part, at least, may
have sprung from his relations
to his mother and wife. After
the expulsion of Ishmael and
Hagar, Isaac had no competitor,
and grew up in the shade of
Sarah's tent, moulded into feminine
softness by habitual submission
to her strong, loving will."
His life was so quiet and uneventful
that it was spent "within the
circle of a few miles; so guileless
that he let Jacob overreach
him rather than disbelieve his
assurance; so tender that his
mother's death was the poignant
sorrow of years; so patient
and gentle that peace with his
neighbours was dearer than even
such a coveted possession as
a well of living water dug by
his own men; so grandly obedient
that he put his life at his
father's disposal; so firm in
his reliance on God that his
greatest concern through life
was to honour the divine promise
given to his race.", Geikie's
Hours, etc.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible
Names
laughter
Smith's
Bible Dictionary
(laughter),
The son whom Sara bore to Abraham,
in the hundredth year of his
age, at Gerar. (B.C. 1897.)
In his infancy he became the
object of Ishmaels jealousy;
and in his youth the victim,
in intention, of Abrahams great
sacrificial act of faith. When
forty years old he married Rebekah
his cousin, by whom, when he
was sixty, he had two sons,
Esau and Jacob. Driven by famine
to Gerar, he acquired great
wealth by his flocks but was
repeatedly dispossessed by the
Philistines of the wells which
he sunk at convenient stations.
After the deceit by which Jacob
acquired his fathers blessing
Isaac sent his son to seek a
wife in Padan-aram; and all
that we know of him during the
last forty-three years of his
life in that he saw that GOD,
with a large and prosperous
family, return to him at Hebron.
( Genesis
36:27 ) before he died there,
at the age of 180 years. He
was buried by his two sons in
the cave of Machpelah. In the
New Testament reference is made
to the offering of Isaac ( Hebrews
11:17 ; James
2:21 ) and to his blessing
his sons. ( Hebrews
11:20 ) In ( Galatians
4:28 - 31
) he is contrasted with Ishmael.
In reference to the offering
up of Isaac by Abraham, the
primary doctrine taught are
those of sacrifice and substitution,
as the means appointed by God
for taking away sin; and, as
co-ordinate with these, the
need of the obedience of faith,
on the part of man, to receive
the benefit. ( Hebrews
11:17 ) The animal which
God provided and Abraham offered
was in the whole history of
sacrifice the recognized type
of "the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sins of the world."
Isaac is the type of humanity
itself, devoted to death for
sin.
International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia
i'-zak: oIT- (CS:HebrewIT+`iruIT-/CS):
(1) Eldest son of Caleb (1
Chronicles 4:15); probably
to be read Ir, the syllable
"-u" being the conjunction "and"
belonging to the following word.
(2)
I. NAME
1.
Root, Forms, Analogues
This name has the double
spelling, yitschaq, and
yitschaq (Isaak), corresponding
to the two forms in which
appears the root meaning
"to laugh"--a root that
runs through nearly all
the Semitic languages.
In Hebrew both tsachaq
and sachaq have their
cognate nouns, and signify,
in the simple stem, "to
laugh," in the intensive
stem, "to jest, play,
dance, fondle," and the
like. The noun yitshar,
meaning "fresh oil," from
a root tsahar ("to be
bright, conspicuous"),
proves that nouns can
be built on precisely
the model of yitschaq,
which would in that case
signify "the laughing
one," or something similar.
Yet Barth (Die Nominalbildung
in den semitischen Sprachen,
154, b and c) maintains
that all proper names
beginning with yodh prefixed
to the root are really
pure imperfects, i.e.
verbal forms with some
subject to be understood
if not actually present.
Hence, Isaac would mean
"laughs": either indefinite,
"one laughs," or "he laughs,"
namely, the one understood
as the subject. There
are some 50 Hebrew names
that have a similar form
with no accompanying subject.
Of these sometimes the
meaning of the root is
quite obscure, sometimes
it is appropriate to any
supposable subject. Each
is a problem by itself;
for the interpretation
of any one of them there
is little help to be gained
from a comparison with
the others.
2. Implication
What subject, then, is
to be understood with
this imperfect verb yitschaq?
Or is no definite subject
to be supplied?
(1)
'El, God, may be
supplied:
"God laughs." Such
an expression might
be understood of
the Divine benevolence,
or of the fearful
laughter of scorn
for His enemies
(Psalms
2:4), or, euphemistically,
of the Divine wrath,
the "terrible glance,"
as of Moloch, etc.
(so Meyer, Israeliten
und ihre Nachbarstdmme,
255).
(2) Some human person:
"he laughs." So,
for example, he
himself, namely,
the child who receives
the name; or, the
father; or, the
brother (not the
mother, which would
require titschaq).
In the light now
of these possibilities
we turn to the narratives
of Isaac's birth
and career and find
the following subjects
suggested:
(a)
father, Genesis
17:17;
(b) indefinite,
"one laughs"
(not "she
laughs," see
above), Genesis
18:12
- 15;
21:6;
(c) brother,
Genesis
21:9;
(d) himself,
Genesis
26:8.
Of these passages
the last two
show the verb
in the intensive
stem in the
signification
of (c) "mock"
(?), and (d)
"dally." |
|
We find this same verb
in these senses in Genesis
19:14 and 39:14
, 17
, in the stories of Lot
and of Joseph, and it
is possible that here
also in the story of Isaac
it has no more connection
with the name Isaac than
it has there with the
names Lot and Joseph.
However, this may be,
there is obviously one
interpretation of the
name Isaac, which, required
in two of the passages,
is equally appropriate
in them all, namely, that
with the indefinite subect,
"one laughs." Consideration
of the sources to which
these passages are respectively
assigned by the documentary
hypothesis tends only
to confirm this result.
|
II. FAMILY AND KINDRED
The two things in Isaac's life
that are deemed worthy of extensive
treatment in the sacred narrative
are his birth and his marriage.
His significance, in fact, centers
in his transmission of what
went before him to what came
after him. Hence, his position
in his father's family, his
relation to its greatest treasure,
the religious birthright, and
his marriage with Rebekah are
the subjects that require special
notice in this connection.
1.
Birth and Place in the
Family
The birth of Isaac is
represented as peculiar
in these respects: the
age of his parents, the
purity of his lineage,
the special Divine promises
accompanying. What in
Abraham's life is signalized
by the Divine "call" in
the from his father's
house, and what in Jacob's
life is brought about
by a series of providential
interpositions, seems
in Isaac's case to become
his by his birth. His
mother, who is not merely
of the same stock as Abraham
but actually his half-sister,
is the legal wife. As
her issue Isaac is qualified
by the laws of inheritance
recognized in their native
land to become his father's
heir. But Ishmael, according
to those laws, has a similarly
valid claim (see ABRAHAM,
iv, 2), and it is only
by express command that
Abraham is led to abandon
what was apparently both
custom and personal preference,
to "cast out the bondwoman
and her son," and to acquiesce
in the arrangement that
"in Isaac shall thy seed
be called."
2. Relation to the Religious
Birthright
But the birthright of
Isaac was of infinitely
more importance than the
birthright in the family
of any other wealthy man
of that day. All that
limitless blessing with
which Abraham set forth
under God's leadership
was promised not only
to him but to his "seed";
it was limitless in time
as well as in scope. To
inherit it was of more
consequence to Isaac than
to inherit any number
of servants, flocks or
wells of his father's
acquisition. A sense of
these relative values
seems to have been a part
of Isaac's spiritual endowment,
and this, more than anything
else related of him, makes
him an attractive figure
on the pages of Genesis.
3. Significance of Marriage
The raising up of a "seed"
to be the bearers of these
promises was the prime
concern of Isaac's life.
Not by intermarriage with
the Canaanites among whom
he lived, but by marriage
with one of his own people,
in whom as much as in
himself should be visibly
embodied the separateness
of the chosen family of
God--thus primarily was
Isaac to pass on to a
generation as pure as
his own the heritage of
the Divine blessing. Rebekah
enters the tent of Isaac
as truly the chosen of
God as was Abraham himself.
|
III. STORY OF LIFE
Previous to his marriage Isaac's
life is a part of the story
of Abraham; after his marriage
it merges into that of his children.
It is convenient, therefore,
to make his marriage the dividing-line
in the narrative of his career.
1.
Previous to Marriage
A child whose coming was
heralded by such signal
marks of Divine favor
as was Isaac's would be,
even apart from other
special considerations,
a welcome and honored
member of the patriarchal
household. The covenant-sign
of circumcision (which
Isaac was the first to
receive at the prescribed
age of 8 days), the great
feast at his weaning,
and the disinheritance
of Ishmael in his favor,
are all of them indications
of the unique position
that this child held,
and prepare the reader
to appreciate the depth
of feeling involved in
the sacrifice of Isaac,
the story of which follows
thereupon. The age of
Isaac at the time of this
event is not stated, but
the fact that he is able
to carry the wood of the
offering shows that he
had probably attained
his full growth. The single
question he asks his father
and his otherwise unbroken
silence combine to exhibit
him in a favorable light,
as thoughtful, docile
and trustful. The Divine
interposition to save
the lad thus devoted to
God constitutes him afresh
the bearer of the covenant-promise
and justifies its explicit
renewal on this occasion.
From this point onward
the biographer of Isaac
evidently has his marriage
in view, for the two items
that preceded the long
24th chaper [sic], in
which Rebekah's choice
and coming are rehearsed,
are, first, the brief
genealogical paragraph
that informs the reader
of the development of
Nahor's family just as
far as to Rebekah, and
second, the chapter that
tells of Sarah's death
and burial--an event clearly
associated in the minds
of all with the marriage
of Isaac (see Genesis
24:3 , 16
, 67).
Divine interest in the
choice of her who should
be the mother of the promised
seed is evident in every
line of the chapter that
dramatizes the betrothal
of Isaac and Rebekah.
Their first meeting is
described at its close
with the tender interest
in such a scene natural
to every descendant of
the pair, and Issac is
sketched as a man of a
meditative turn (Genesis
24:63) and an affectionate
heart (Genesis
24:67).
2. Subsequent to Marriage
The dismissal of the sons
of Abraham's concubines
to the "East-country"
is associated with the
statement that Isaac inherited
all that Abraham had;
yet it has been remarked
that, besides supplying
them with gifts, Abraham
was doing them a further
kindness in thus emancipating
them from continued subjection
to Isaac, the future head
of the clan. After Abraham's
death we are expressly
informed that God "blessed
Isaac his son" in fulfillment
of previous promise. The
section entitled "the
toledhoth (generations)
of Isaac" extends from
Genesis
25:19 to 35:29.
At the opening of it Isaac
is dwelling at Beer-lahai-roi
(Genesis
25:11), then at Gerar
(Genesis
26:1 , 6)
and "the valley of Gerar"
(Genesis
26:17), then at Beer-sheba
(Genesis
26:23 ; 28:10),
all localities in the
Negeb or "South-country."
But after the long narrative
of the fortunes of Jacob
and his family, occupying
many years, we find Isaac
at its close living where
his father Abraham had
lived, at Hebron.
For 20 years Isaac and
Rebekah remained childless;
it was only upon the entreaty
of Isaac that God granted
them their twin sons.
A famine was the usual
signal for emigration
to Egypt (compare Genesis
12:10 ; 42:2);
and Isaac also appears
to have been on his way
thither for the same cause,
when, at Gerar, he is
forbidden by God to proceed,
and occasion is found
therein to renew to him
the covenant-promise of
his inheritance: land,
posterity, honor and the
Divine presence (Genesis
26:1 - 4).
But Isaac had also received
from his father traditions
of another sort; he too
did not hesitate to say
to the men of Gerar that
his wife was his sister,
with the same intent to
save his own life, but
without the same justification
in fact, as in the case
of Abraham's earlier stratagem.
Yet even the discovery
by the king of Gerar of
this duplicity, and repeated
quarrels about water in
that dry country, did
not suffice to endanger
Isaac's status with the
settled inhabitants, for
his large household and
great resources made him
a valuable friend and
a dangerous enemy.
The favoritism which Isaac
showed for one son and
Rebekah for the other
culminated in the painful
scene when the paternal
blessing was by guile
obtained for Jacob, and
in the subsequent enforced
absence of Jacob from
his parental home. Esau,
too, afforded no comfort
to his father and mother,
and ere long he also withdrew
from his father's clan.
The subsequent reconciliation
of the brothers permitted
them to unite at length
in paying the last honors
to Isaac on his decease.
Isaac was buried at Hebron
where his parents had
been buried (Genesis
49:31), and where'
his place of sepulture
is still honored. |
IV. BIBLICAL REFERENCES
There is a great contrast between
Abraham and Jacob on the one
hand, and Isaac on the other,
with respect to their prominence
in the literature of the nation
that traced to them its descent.
To be sure, when the patriarchs
as a group are to be named,
Isaac takes his place in the
stereotyped formula of "Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob," or "Israel"
(so 23 times in the Old Testament,
7 times in the New Testament).
1.
In the Old Testament
But apart from this formula
Isaac is referred to in
the Old Testament only
as follows. During the
lifetime of Jacob the
names of Abraham and Isaac
are repeatedly linked
in the same way as are
all three subsequently:
they form for that age
the dynasty of the covenant.
But several times Jacob
calls Yahweh the God (or,
the Fear; see infra) of
Isaac, because Isaac is
his own immediate predecessor
in this chain of the faithful.
Isaac is called the "gift"
of God to Abraham, in
the farewell address of
Joshua, just as Jacob
and Esau are called God's
"gifts" to Isaac (Joshua
24:3; compare Koran,
Sura 6 84). The "house
of Isaac" is used by Amos
as a parallel expression
for "Israel," and "the
high places of Isaac"
for "the sanctuaries of
Israel" (Amos
7:16 , 9),
in the same way as "Jacob"
is often used elsewhere
Septuagint in Amos
7:16 reads "Jacob").
Other references to Isaac
are simply as to his father's
son or his children's
father.
2. In the New Testament
He fares better in the
New Testament. For, besides
the genealogical references,
Isaac's significance as
the first to receive circumcision
on the 8th day is remembered
(Acts
7:8); his position
as first of the elect
seed is set forth (Romans
9:7); his begetting
of two sons so unlike
in their relation to the
promise as were Esau and
Jacob is remarked (Romans
9:10); the facts of
his being heir to the
promise, a child of old
age, and, though but one,
the father of an innumerable
progeny, are emphasized
in Hebrews (11:9
- 12),
which also discovers the
deeper significance of
his sacrifice and restoration
to his father (Hebrews
11:17 - 19
; compare James
2:21); and in the
same context is noticed
the faith in God implied
in Isaac's blessing of
his sons. But Isaac receives
more attention than anywhere
else in that famous passage
in Galatians (Galatians
4:21 - 31),
in which Paul uses Isaac
and his mother as allegorical
representations of Christians
who are justified by faith
in the promise of God,
and are the free-born
heirs of all the spiritual
inheritance implied in
that promise. Even Isaac's
persecution by Ishmael
has its counterpart in
the attitude of the enemies
of Paul's gospel toward
him and his doctrines
and converts. |
V. VIEWS OTHER THAN THE HISTORICAL
Philo, the chief allegorizer
of Scriptural narratives, has
little to say of Isaac, whom
he calls "the self-instructed
nature." But modern critics
have dissolved his personality
by representing him as the personification
of an ethnic group. "All Israel,"
writes Wellhausen (Prol., 6th
edition, 316), "is grouped with
the people of Edom under the
old name Isaac (Amos
7:9 , 16)
.... the material here is not
mythical (as in Genesis
1 - 11)
but national." And just as Israel
plus Edom had little or no significance
in national customs or political
events, when compared on the
one hand with Israel alone (=
Jacob), and with Israel plus
Edom plus Moab and Ammon (=
Abraham) on the other hand;
so likewise the figure of Isaac
is colorless and his story brief,
as compared with the striking
figures of Jacob on the one
hand and of Abraham on the other
hand, and the circumstantial
stories of their lives.
Other scholars will have none
of this national view, because
they believe Isaac to be the
name of an ancient deity, the
local numen of Beersheba. Stark,
whom others have followed, proposes
to interpret the phrase translated
"the Fear of Isaac" in Genesis
31:42 , 53
as the name of this god used
by his worshippers, the Terror
Isaac, Isaac the terrible god.
For the sense of Isaac in that
case see above under I, 2, (1).
Meyer (loc. cit.) defends the
transfer of the name from a
god to the hero of a myth, by
comparing the sacrifice of Isaac
("the only story in which Isaac
plays an independent role"!)
with the Greek myth of Iphigenia's
sacrifice (Hesiod, Euripides,
etc.), in which the by-name
of a goddess (Iphigenia) identified
with Artemis has passed to the
intended victim rescued by Artemis
from death.
The most recent critical utterances
reject both the foregoing views
of Isaac as in conflict with
the data of Genesis. Thus Gunkel
(Schriften des Altes Testament,
5te Lieferung, 1910, 41) writes:
"Quite clearly the names of
Abraham, Isaac, and all the
patriarchal women are not tribal
names. .... The interpretation
of the figures of Ge as nations
furnishes by no means a general
key." And again: "Against the
entire assumption that the principal
patriarchal figures are originally
gods, is above all to be noted
that the names Jacob and Abraham
are proved by the Babylonian
to be personal names in current
use, and at the same time that
the sagas about them can in
no wise be understood as echoes
of original myths. Even Winckler's
more than bold attempt to explain
these sagas as original calendar-myths
must be pronounced a complete
failure." Yet Gunkel and those
who share his position are careful
to distinguish their own view
from that of the "apologetes,"
and to concede no more than
the bare fact that there doubtless
were once upon a time persons
named Abraham Isaac, etc. For
these critics Isaac is simply
a name about which have crystallized
cycles of folk-stories, that
have their parallels in other
lands and languages, but have
received with a Hebrew name
also a local coloring and significance
on the lips of successive Hebrew
story-tellers, saga-builders
and finally collectors and editors;
"Everyone who knows the history
of sagas is sure that the saga
is not able to preserve through
the course of so many centuries,
a true picture" of the patriarchs.
See also ABRAHAM
J. Oscar Boyd
RELATED:
Abraham,
Esau,
Ishmael,
Jacob,
Rebekah,
Sarah
Copyright
Information: "Easton's
Bible Dictionary", Matthew
George Easton M.A., D.D., 1897;
"Hitchcock's Dictionary
of Bible Names", Roswell
D. Hitchcock, 1869; "International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia",
Orr, James, M.A., D.D., 1915;
and "Smith's Bible Dictionary",
Smith, William, Dr., 1901. are
public domain and may be freely
used and distributed.
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