Genesis 21:1-35:29
Isaac (Heb. Yitsjâq, “he laughs” or “laughs”; Gr. Isaák). Son of Abraham, according to the promise (Gen 21:1-3; Gal. 4:28). The name Isaac reflects the joy of his parents when he was born (Gen 21: 6, 7). Both Abraham and Sarah laughed as they questioned each other and showed some disbelief at the promise that Sarah would have a son (17:17-19; 18:9-15); but they laughed with joy when it was fulfilled (21:3, 6). Since Abraham’s entry into Palestine, 25 years before Isaac’s birth, God had repeatedly promised him a son and heir (12:2, 4; 13:15, 16; 15:4, 5, 13, 18; 17:2-7; 18:10); he even specified the name and the time in which he would be born (17: 16-21). Childless late in life, and not fully understanding God’s purpose, Abraham had once proposed to adopt his servant Eliezer as his son and heir, but God told him that a son of his own was to inherit him (15:1- 6). Shortly after this Abraham took Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant, who bore him a son, Ishmael, when he had already been in Canaan for 11 years (16:1-5, 15, 16). When, 13 years later, God announced the imminent birth of Isaac (17: 1-8, 15-17), Abraham interceded on behalf of Ishmael whom he loved dearly and whom he had considered as his son and heir (vs. 18, 19). A year later Isaac was born, Abraham being 100 years old and Sarah 90 (17:17; cf v 1; 21:5). Isaac was circumcised on the 8th day (21:4) in recognition of the covenant promise (17:2-17). Because of friction and jealousy, Hagar and Ishmael were expelled from the family group when Isaac was weaned (21:9-14). When Isaac was already a young man, God subjected Abraham to the ultimate test of his faith by ordering him to offer his son as a burnt offering (22:1-14). Abraham obeyed by faith believing that God could raise Isaac from the dead (Heb 11:17-19), but at the last moment his hand was stayed by a voice from heaven. This test demonstrated his complete submission to God and his dependence on him. Three years after Sarah’s death (Gen 23:1; cf 17:17), when Isaac was 40 years old (24:1-20; 25:20), Abraham arranged to get a wife for him from among their relatives in the Haran region. The old patriarch feared that marriage with the idolatrous Canaanite women would pervert Isaac’s faith and destroy the divine purpose (cp 24). Rebeca fulfilled her father’s wish. Isaac, who continued to live in the southern lands where he was born (24:62; cf 20:1), would have had a contemplative and withdrawn disposition, and would have been affectionate and forgiving (24:63, 67; 25:28; 27 :1-5, 30 40). With the coming of a drought and consequent famine, he 583 moved his camp some 80 km north to Gerar in the fertile plain south of Gaza (26:1, 6). There God appeared to him and renewed the covenant he had made with Abraham (vs 2-5). While in Gerar he fell out with Abimelech, a Philistine chief, for claiming that Rebekah was his sister and not his wife (vs 6-16). Prosperous and the head of a large family, Isaac had numerous flocks of sheep and cattle (26:13-16; cf 28:6). As a result of competition for the limited amount of water available in the region, Isaac dug 2 wells only to hand them over without question when his right to them was challenged (26:23, 26-33; cf 28:10), and there God He renewed the covenant promise to him again (26:24, 25). Twenty years after their marriage, Rebekah gave birth to twins Esau and Jacob (Gen 25:25, 26; cf v 20). God revealed that Jacob would be the greatest (v 23), but Isaac favored Esau (v 28) and, in his old age, prepared to give him the birthright (27:1-5). Taking advantage of his advanced age and limited senses, Rebekah made plans with Jacob to deceive her father to secure her birthright (vs 6-29). The stratagem was successful, but Jacob, to avoid Esau’s revenge, had to flee to Haran, where he wandered for about 20 years (27:46-28:5). Isaac died at the advanced age of 180, and his 2 sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him at Mamre, near Hebron, in the family grave (35:27-29; 49:30, 31).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
he laughs, short form of yis-jaq-El, God has smiled, he has been propitious. Abraham’s second son with his wife Sarah. I. is the second patriarch, father Esau and Jacob. When Yahweh appeared to Abraham, when he was ninety-nine years old, he told him that he would make a covenant with him, he promised to give him the land of Canaan and that he would make him fruitful, the father of multitudes, and for this reason he changed the name of Abram by that of Abraham. He announced that Sara, his wife, would give him a son, whom he should call I., so the patriarch laughed, since Sara was ninety years old. Abraham had had a son, Ishmael, with Sarah’s Egyptian slave, Hagar, through whom Yahweh also announced a great offspring, which were the nomadic tribes of northern Arabia; however, he told her that the Alliance would be established with the son who would be born to him, Isaac, Gn 17. In Mambré’s theophany, Sara also laughs when Yahweh tells her that she will be a mother at such an advanced age, and the Lord tells her: Is there something difficult for Yahweh?, Gn 18. The laughter of Abraham and Sarah are allusions to the name I., as its meaning was explained at the beginning. Sara gave birth to I., at the time said by God, in Gerar or Beersheba, and her mother said, alluding again to the name of her son: “God has given me something to laugh at; everyone who hears it will laugh with me† . Abraham, then, circumcised his son when he was eight days old, as Yahweh commanded him, as a sign of the Covenant for all his descendants, Gn 21, 1-7. Later, God tested Abraham’s fidelity, asking him to go to the country of Moria and offer his son I as a burnt offering. Abraham prepared everything necessary for the sacrifice, rigged a donkey and left for the place indicated with I. and two waiters. On the third day of the journey, the patriarch spotted the site, left the young men, loaded the wood on his son, and Abraham carried the fire and the knife.
Isaac asked his father for the sacrificial victim since the rest was arranged. Abraham answered: “God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.” Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, tied his son and put it on the altar. When he was about to sacrifice I., the angel of Yahweh stopped him and said: now I know that you fear God, since you have not denied me your son, your only one. The patriarch raised his eyes and saw a ram entangled in the brambles, took it and offered the burnt offering, and called that place “Yahweh provides”. After this show of unwavering faith, Yahweh renewed his promises to him, Gn 22, 1-19. The Fathers see in this episode prefigured the passion of Christ.
When Abraham was very old, he called his oldest servant, his steward, perhaps Eliezer, took an oath and sent him alone, without I., to the fatherland of the patriarch, to Aram Naharayim, in upper Mesopotamia, to the house of relatives. of Abraham in Haran. to find a wife for I., so that she would not be one of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom he lived. The steward found Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean from Paddán Aram, Gn 25, 20, and brought her as a wife for I., who, at the age of forty, took her as his wife, Gn 24. Rebekah was a barren woman, so after twenty years of living with I., he asked Yahweh to grant him a son. Rebekah conceived two sons who collided in her womb, so she consulted Yahweh, who told her: “There are two peoples in your womb, two nations that, coming out of your womb, will be divided. The one will oppress the other; the older shall serve the younger† . Rebekah gave birth, the first to come out was Esau, the second Jacob. The firstborn is the father of the Edomites, and from Jacob descend the Israelites; These two brother towns maintained permanent conflicts. Esau was a hunter and his father’s favourite, while Jacob, a domestic man, was his mother Rebekah’s. Gen 25, 19-27.
I. As a result of the famine that arose in his country, he went to live in Gerar, where Abimelek, king of the Philistines. There Yahweh appeared to him and told him not to go to Egypt, that he should stay in Gerar and renewed the promises made to his father Abraham. In this land I prospered, from where he went to Beersheba, where Yahweh again renewed his promises to him.
Being old and having lost his sight, I. called his firstborn Esau and asked him to hunt something for him and prepare a stew for him, in order to bless him before he died. Rebeca having heard the conversation, prepared a stew, put Esau’s best clothes on Jacob and covered his hairless parts with kid’s skin, since the eldest son was very hairy, and thus Jacob deceived I., he went ahead of him. his brother and obtained the blessing of his father Gn 27, 1-45; In this episode we see the free choice of God, who prefers Jacob, to whom he renews the promises and from whom the people of Israel will descend. I. forbade Jacob to marry a Canaanite woman and sent him to Paddan Aram, where his relatives, to the house of Bethuel, Rebekah’s father, to seek a wife among the daughters of Laban, Rebekah’s brother, Gn 28, 1-2. I. died at the age of one hundred and eighty, in Mambré or Quiryat Arbá, the same Hebron, Gn 35, 27-29, and was buried in the cave of Makpelá, which Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth, Gn 49, 30 .
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Heb., yitshak, Gr. Isaak, one laughs). The only son of Abraham through Sarah, and the second of the three Hebrew patriarchs. He was born in the southern region, probably in Beersheba (Gen 21:14, Gen 21:31), when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 (Gen 17:17; Gen 21:5). He was given the name Isaac because both Abraham and Sarah had laughed incredulously at the idea of having a son at such an advanced age (Gen 17:17-19; Gen 18:9-15; Gen 21:6). His birth must be considered a miracle. The promise was fulfilled 25 years after God promised Abraham and Sarah a son. For this reason, and precisely, Isaac is known as the son of the promise. He was circumcised when he was just eight days old (Gen 21:4). Fearing future jealousy and rivalry between the two boys, when she saw Ishmael mock Isaac, Sarah tried to persuade Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham did not want to do this because he loved the boy, but he did so only when he received an explicit instruction from God, who told him that his seed would be recognized through Isaac, but that he would also make a nation of Ishmael (Gen 21 : 9-13).
God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah (Genesis 22). Isaac’s submission and obedience to his father, without questioning anything, stands out extraordinarily as well as his father’s faith. Tied on the altar and about to die, he was saved when an angel of the Lord intervened and substituted a ram, which was offered in his place.
Sarah died in Hebron when Isaac was 36…