Isaac (Yitschak or Yitzhak) (יִצְחָק "He will laugh", Standard Hebrew Yiẓḥaq, Tiberian Hebrew Yiṣḥāq; Arabic اسحاق ʾIsḥāq) 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.

Name

Isaac was named because when his mother, Sarah, overheard that she would bear a child in her old age, she laughed (Genesis 18:10-15, 21:6-7). 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).

Life

Isaac was born to Abraham by his wife Sarah, and the only child they had together. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs

The next memorable event in his life is that connected with the story of God testing Abraham by asking him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice on a mountain in the land of Moriah (Genesis 22).

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 twin sons, Esau and Jacob, were born (Genesis 21-26), the former of whom seems to have been his favorite son (Genesis 27, 28).

Due to a famine (Genesis 26:1) Isaac went to Gerar. In order to avoid being killed, he lied about his relationship to Rebekah, and his wife was believed to be his sister much like Abraham's sojourn in Egypt (12:12-20) and also his sojourn in Gerar (20:2). The Philistine king rebuked Isaac for his dishonesty when he discovered him sporting with Rebekah. After staying for some time in the land of the Philistines, he returned to Beersheba, where God gave 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), 180 years old, and was buried in the Cave of Machpelah.

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.

Christianity

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).

Islam

In Islam, he is called Ishaq, and stories about him are found in the Qur'an.

The story also appears in the Qur'an, except Islam asserts that Ishmael was the one to be sacrificed because he was the only son of Abraham at the time, not Isaac (see Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an).

Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 — Please update as needed.Maori:Ihaka

اسحاق Isaac Isaak Ισαάκ Isaac Isaac יצחק Isaac Izaäk (Hebreeuwse Bijbel) イサク Isak Izaak (Biblia) Isaac Исаак Isak (patriark) 以撒