ISAAC, i'zak (HA. from ?eihql.c. to laugh). One of the three Hebrew patriarchs. The story of Isaac is given in Gen. xviii.-xxxv. Ile was the son of Abraham and Sarah, born to them when Abraham was one hundred and Sarah ninety years old. The conneetion of the name with the root 'to laugh' is explained in three dif ferent version:. 1Vhen the birth of Isaac is foretold by the angels, Sarah is reported to have laughed ( Gen. xviii. 12) ; another account says it was .1 brahant who laughed ((fen. xvii. 17-191 : the third says every one who heard .of it would (Gen. xxi. 61. When the child was eight days old he was circumcised (Gen. xxi. 41, and as he grew older he was a good deal with Ish mael. his half-brother. This di-pleased Sarah, and she had Ila7ar and her son driven forth (Gen. xxi. 9 sqq.). The next that we hear of Isaac is in the episode of the offering I Gen. xxii.). In obedience to divine prompting. Abra ham set out with his :on for Mount Mormh (see Em.vr, AND OEBIZIM). and there at tempted to sacrifice the lad as a burnt offering. An angel interposed and a ram was substituted. After the death of his mother Isaac married Rebekah. his kinswoman, brought by Eliezer, the servant of Abraham. by his from Mesopotamia (Gen. xxiv.). Isaac was then forty years of age. After twenty years two sons were born. Esau and Jacob. The sons were different in character, with the result that Isaac loved Esau better, while Rebekah loved Jacob (Gen. xxv. 21-34). When a famine came upon the land of Canaan, Isaac was warned of God not to go down to Egypt, but to go to Abimelech, King of Gerar. Here lie praetieed the same deceit as his father before him, saying that his wife Was really his sister. Ile prospered greatly in the land and excited the of the inhabitants, who twiee took away the wells that he had digged. A third well was left and he called it Beersheba (Gen. xxvi.). In his old age Isaac became blind, and, fearing that he was soon going to die, was anxious to bless his favorite son Esau. By dressing in hairy garments Jacob was able 10 deceive his father and received the blessing intended for his brother. in consequenee of this Jacob had to leave but not before he hail received a second blessing from his father (Gen. xxvii.). Isaac lived one hundred and eighty years. long enough to see his son deceived by his children when they sold their brother .loseph. Ile buried by ,Jacob and Esau in the cave of Mach pelah (Gen. xxxv. 29; xlix. 31).
It is the opinion of many scholars at the present time that Isaac is a tribal name, and the theory is plausible that the full name was Once Yisluzli-El. i.e. El (or god) laughs. The tribal character has, however, been so entirely obscured by the exuberant legendary growth around a supposed personality that it is diffi cult to determine where the home of the tribe lay; it may with some probability be located about Beersheha, which is more specifically asso ciated with 'Isaac, as Ilehron is with Abraham and Bethel with Jacob. The tribe, or its off shoots, became one of the elements that formed the Hebrew confederacy, and the stories of the three patriarchs, Abraham. Isaac. and Jacob, represent merely the gradual coalition of tradi tions existing among the clans which were united in the confederacy known as Rene Isracl or Is raelites.
Scholars who accept the composite character of the present. Book of believe that the Isaac narrative contains: (a) speeimens of He brew folk-lo•e, as the story of Isaac's birth, and the play upon his name, 'the laughter:' (1.) a bit
of religious doctrine in the story of the sacrifice, illustrating at once the proper attitude of the pious Yahweh-worshiper, which is also found in the Pentatenchal code,. against human sacri fiee; (c) traditions of the wanderings of sonic of the Hebrew tribes during the nomadic period of primitive Semitic culture.
In the aceounts of Isaac's birth there is a deliberate attempt to modify tradition so as to make it appear that Isaac is the legitimate and only son of Abraham. The claims of Ishmael (q.v.). who is the older. cannot be altogether set aside, but the distinctively Hebraic point of view is brought out. not only by making Isaac the offspring of Sarah—the true wife of Abraham— lint by the elaborate amount of the promise made to Abraham that he should have a son by Sarah. despite the latter's great age. and by the em phasis laid upon the joy that Isaac's coming occasioned on all sides. The setting aside of Ishmael to make room for Isaac reflects the separation of the Ishmaelite elan or clans from the Hebrews. Ishmael not having formed an element in t lie lebrew confederacy, closeness of the bond bctween the two as pre served by tradition (Well among the Hebrews be •omes the motive for transforming these tradi tions in such a manner as to present Ishmael in as unfavorable light as possible. Bence in the most important incident of the Isaac nar rative, the journey of Abraham and Isaac to the place of sacrifice, Isaac is not only called the beloved but the only son of Abraham, with the evident intent of ignoring Ishmael alto gether. The story of Isaac's sacrifice may lie a genuine Jewish midrash. not based at all upon popular tradition, but deliberately introduced as a fnusho/ or allegory to illustrate Abraham's implicit obedience to Yahweh. Abraham in this story is the type of the true and pious Yahweh worshiper, according to the ideas of exilic writers. The place to which father and son go is Mount Moriah, i.e. the temple mount, and critics are generally agreed that this manner of localization betray, the hands of a Judaite, who desired not only to present the allegory. but also to add to the claims of Jerusalem as the central and only legitimate sanctuary of Yahweh. The main point of the allegory is to confirm time attitude of the Pentateu•hal codes, which oppose human saerifices, but recognize animal offerings as an indispensable feature of the cult.
When we come to the wanderings of Isaac from Rehoboth to Gerar, and from Gerar to Beersheba, and the quarrels over the wells, we are again in the presence of popular traditions regarding the nomadie period, to NvItkli, how ever, a religious turn has been given by the com pilers of the tradition in making Isaac a type of the mild and peace-loving Israelite; and once more the artificial (though also artistic) •har acter of the Isaac narrative is revealed in mak ing Isaac die at Main•e-lIebron ((:en. xxxv. 27), in order to locate his burial-plaee in the cave of Machpelah with Abraham, whereas real home is Beersheba. As for the stories of Isaac's rehli ultISIlip to his two sons, Esau and Jacob, they reflect again the rivalry between Edon' and Israel. ( See JA•on.) Consult, the commentaries on Genesis (see GENESIS, BOON OF), chapters. xviii.-xxxv.