Isaac

Family: Abrahamic family · Role: son of Abraham and Sarah · First appears: Genesis 17

Isaac was promised to Abraham and Sarah, with God declaring, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” Sarah bore him at the appointed time, Abraham named him Isaac, and circumcised him when he was eight days old as God commanded. At Moriah, Abraham took Isaac to be offered as a burnt offering, bound him, and laid him on the altar, but God stopped him from harming the lad.

After Abraham arranged for a wife from his kindred, Isaac married Rebekah and loved her; she became his wife and comforted him after Sarah’s death. Abraham gave Isaac all he had, sent his other sons away from him, and was later buried by Isaac and Ishmael. After Abraham’s death, God blessed Isaac, and Rebekah bore his twin sons, Esau and Jacob; Isaac loved Esau, while Esau and Jacob’s marriages were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.

In Gerar, God commanded Isaac to remain in the land and renewed the promise made to Abraham, blessing Isaac’s harvest with a hundredfold yield. Abimelech ordered him to leave because he had become mightier than the Philistines, but later made an oath and covenant of peace with him; Isaac sent Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phichol away in peace, though he had asked why they came when they hated him and had sent him away. At Beersheba, Isaac built an altar and called on God. Later, he instructed Esau to hunt for venison, but blessed Jacob with dominion and abundance; he gave Esau a lesser blessing, then blessed and sent Jacob to Padanaram, commanding him not to marry a Canaanite woman. Isaac died at Hebron, old and full of days, and Esau and Jacob buried him. Afterward, God’s covenant with Isaac continued to be named with those made to Abraham and Jacob, including the promise of the land.