Isaac

I'SAAC (laughter), the son which Sarah bore to Abraham when he was a hundred years old. He was the second of the Hebrew patriarchs, and lived the longest of the three -to the age of 180. Gen 35:28. The origin of his name, which signifies "laughter" or "mocking," is given in Gen 17:17; Josh 18:12; Jer 21:6. The only event recorded of his earlier years is the most significant of his life for the history of the Church: he appears in the sacrificial scene as the victim. Directed of God, Abraham led his son to the mountain of sacrifice; Isaac was wholly unconscious of the disposition that was to be made of himself, and is represented in the narrative, Gen 22:1-13, as artlessly inquiring about the lamb to be offered, while he himself was to be the offering. The divine interposition intervened just as the gleaming knife was about to do its bloody work in the hands of the despondent father. Josephus says this event occurred when Isaac was 24 years old, but no indication of time is given in the narrative. This occurrence is considered typical of the later sacrifice of the only Son of God on Calvary. The record of Isaac's wooing and marriage is graphic and beautiful. Abraham sent his trusty servant Eliezer with gifts to Padan-aram for this purpose. He there found Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, whom Isaac married at the age of 40. Gen 25:20. The account of their meeting and of the preliminaries of the marriage, Gen 24, gives a most charming picture of the manners of that early day. Isaac seems to have been a prosperous agriculturist, Gen 26:12, and a rich herder, v. Gen 26:14, but was not without his domestic troubles with Jacob and Esau. The promise that was given to Abraham of an indefinite increase of his seed, and of the blessings to flow from it to the world, was repeated to him. Gen 26:4. The N.T. refers to the intended sacrifice of Isaac, Heb 11:17; Jas 2:21, and contains an allegorical allusion to him and Ishmael. Gal 4:28, Gal 4:38. The life of Isaac was a comparatively uneventful one, but in it we have the record of an honest, humble, and pious nomad. He excelled in the domestic traits of character; his disposition was peaceable, Gen 27:22; his married life is assumed to have been peculiarly tranquil and happy, and prominent in his biography stands out his tender regard for his mother. Gen 24:67. Isaac is a type of the Saviour in the peculiar meekness and humility of his disposition. His signal patience and resignation at the intended sacrifice and the humility of his life are typical of the Son of man, who "opened not his mouth."

I'SAAC, twice used as a poetic synonym for Israel — i.e. the ten tribes, Am 7:9, Am 7:16.