[This Journey of Faith series give the Sinaite’s perspective on the major players in the Genesis narratives showing the interaction mostly on the horizontal level. These are insights shared from our group discussions. This also allows for straight reading of scripture without interruption from commentary. Translation is by Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1.]
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Isaac means “he laughs” or “will laugh,” and sure enough, you will be amused when you google the name, whether in Hebrew or its anglicized version.
- Google “Yitschak” and you get everyone else today bearing that name, sampling 5 on the long list:
- Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, a Russian rabbi
- Yitzchak Kaduri, a renowned Mizrahi Haredi rabbi and kabbalist
- Yitzchak Berkovits, a Haredi Jewish rabbi
- Yitzchak Ginsburg, an American-born Israeli rabbi.
- Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, a Chabad Hasidic rabbi in Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine.
- Google “Isaac” and before you hit the biblical patriarch, the menu takes you to other “Isaacs” first such as —
- The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC)
- ISAAC, The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood
- The Isaac Story: Isaac was formed in 2001 as a technical developer of carbon-composite forks and components. Our name – and our inspiration – comes from one of the most transformational figures in modern science: Sir ISAAC Newton.
- ISAAC – Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera. ISAAC
Way before the first Isaac/Yitzhak was even conceived, his own advanced-in-age father and past-childbearing mother were already laughing at the thought, in fact the promise of an heir in their old age; nevertheless it must have made Abraham and Sarah happy, joyful, and laughing all the way to Isaac’s birth. Everyone else who heard must have had a good laugh as well. But who are they laughing at, or what are they laughing about, certainly not Isaac but the centenarian Abraham and the nonagenarian Sarah. In a previous article, we had already noted how IsaacYitzhak was someone to whom life happens instead of one who actively influences events in his life. Compared to Abraham and Jacob, the bible relates fewer incidents in his life.
- He was the longest lived patriarch [Abraham died at 175, Isaac at 180, Jacob at 147].
- He was the only patriarch whose name did not change; name changes often indicate character change or change in destiny.
- He was the only patriarch who never left Canaan.
- He was a “late bloomer,”
- aged 37 when his faith [as sacrificial lamb] was tested;
- married at 40,
- a father at 60,
- age 75 he moved to Beer-lai-roi after Abraham’s death.
His wife Rebekah was barren like Sarah; one thing that did move Isaac was to pray for her. God graciously answered, she conceived twins and birthed Esau and Jacob. We learn from Isaac and Rebecca that it is not wise to show favoritism to children—Isaac toward the firstborn Esau, Rebekah toward second-born Jacob. The rest of his life is better told in Genesis/Bereshith 25-27.
Chapter 25
19 Now these are the begettings of Yitzhak, son of Avraham. Avraham begot Yitzhak. 20 Yitzhak was forty years old when he took Rivka daughter of Betuel the Aramean, from the country of Aram, sister of Lavan the Aramean, for himself as a wife. 21 Yitzhak entreated YHWH on behalf of his wife, for she was barren: and YHWH granted-his-entreaty: Rivka his wife became pregnant. 22 But the children almost crushed one another inside her, so she said: If this be so, why do I exist? And she went to inquire of YHVH.
23 YHVH said to her: Two nations are in your body, two tribes from your belly shall be divided; tribe shall be mightier than tribe, elder shall be servant to younger! 24 When her days were fulfilled for bearing, here: twins were in her body! 25 The first one came out ruddy, like a hairy mantle all over, so they called his name: Esav/Rough-one. 
Image from www.ellenwhite.info
Would it be presumptuous to say that Esau did not really “despise the firstborn-right” even if that is what the text says. Put yourself in Esau’s sandals: you know that simply by being firstborn, you have the right of primogeniture; then here’s your younger brother making a deal with something that is tradition and cultural and tribal practice, no way you would lose your right as firstborn! So he indulges Jacob/Yaakov for now, knowing that right would never be given to the second born, and knowing that he is his father’s favorite! The possibility of losing his birthright is remote. ‘So hey, give me the soup, for now you can have my right’; it’s all verbal anyway and not etch in stone, just a matter of sibling rivalry, all talk. And perhaps this is why even Jacob/Yaakov himself had to resort to deception later to actually get the blessing from Yitzhak since this casual bargain of soup for birthright is not taken seriously by Esau. Chapter 26
1 Now there was a famine in the land, aside from the former famine which there had been in the days of Avraham, so Yitzhak went to Avimelekh, king of the Philistines, to Gerar. 2 And YHVH was seen by him and said: Do not go down to Egypt; continue to dwell in the land that I tell you of, 3 sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will give you blessing— for to you and to your seed I give all these lands and will fulfill the sworn-oath that I swore to Avraham your father 4 I will make your seed many, like the stars of the heavens, and to your seed I will give all these lands; all the nations of the earth shall enjoy blessing through your seed- 5 in consequence of Avraham’s hearkening to my voice and keeping my charge: my commandments, my laws, and my instructions.
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From here on, Isaac/Yitzhak becomes more proactive. The next story is strangely reminiscent of Abraham’s deception of the pharaoh and Abimelech, King of Gerar who, is still the same king deceived but this time by Isaac. Evidently this king didn’t learn his lesson the first time. Perhaps Isaac learned this trick from Abraham; if it worked for father, it will work for son. This made it on the critics’ list of reasons-to-doubt-the-TNK-is-divinely-sourced.
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6 So Yitzhak stayed in Gerar. 7 Now when the men of the place asked about his wife, he said: She is my sister, for he was afraid to say: my wife— (thinking): Otherwise the people of the place will kill me on account of Rivka, for she is beautiful to look at. 8 But it was, when he had been there a long time, that Avimelekh, king of the Philistines, looked out through a window and saw: there was Yitzhak laughing-and-loving with Rivka his wife! 9 Avimelekh had Yitzhak called and said: But here, she must be your wife! Now how could you say: She is my sister? Yitzhak said to him: Indeed, I said to myself: Otherwise I will die on account of her! 10 Avimelekh said: What is this that you have done to us! One of the people might well have lain with your wife, and then you would have brought guilt upon us! 11 Avimelekh commanded the entire people, saying: Whoever touches this man or his wife must be put to death, yes, death! 12 Yitzhak sowed in that land, and reaped in that year a hundred measures; thus did YHVH bless him. 13 The man became great, and went on, went on becoming greater, until he was exceedingly great: 14 he had herds of sheep and herds of oxen and a large retinue-of-servants, and the Philistines envied him. 15 And all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Avraham his father, the Philistines stopped up and filled with earth. 16 Avimelekh said to Yitzhak: Go away from us, for you have become exceedingly more mighty (in number) than we! 17 So Yitzhak went from there, he encamped in the wadi of Gerar and settled there. 18 Yitzhak again dug up the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Avraham his father, the Philistines having stopped them up after Avraham’s death, and he called them by the names, the same names, by which his father had called them. 19 Yitzhak’s servants also dug in the wadi, and found there a well of living water. 20 Now the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Yitzhak, saying: The water is ours! So he called the name of the well: Esek/Bickering, because they had bickered with him. 21 They dug another well, and quarreled also over it, so he called its name: Sitna/Animosity. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, but they did not quarrel over it, so he called its name: Rehovot/Space, and said: Indeed, now YHVH has made space for us, so that we may bear fruit in the land! 23 He went up from there to Be’er-sheva. 24 Now YHVH was seen by him on that night and said: I am the God of Avraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, I will bless you and will make your seed many, for the sake of Avraham my servant. 25 He built a slaughter-site there and called out the name of YHVH. He spread his tent there, and Yitzhak’s servants excavated a well there. 26 Now Avimelekh went to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzat his aide and Pikhol commander of his army. 27 Yitzhak said to them: Why have you come to me? For you hate me and have sent me away from you! 28 They said: We have seen, yes, seen that YHVH has been with you, so we say: Pray let there be an oath-curse between us, between us and you, we want to cut a covenant with you: 29 If ever you should deal badly with us . . . ! Just as we have not harmed you and just as we have only dealt well with you and have sent you away in peace- you are now blessed by YHVH! 30 He made them a drinking-feast, and they ate and drank. 31 Early in the morning they swore (an oath) to one another; then Yitzhak sent them off,and they went from him in peace. 32 Now it was on that same day that Yitzhak’s servants came and told him about the well that they had been digging, they said to him: We have found water!
33 So he called it: Shiv’a/Swearing-seven; therefore the name of the city is Be’er-sheva until this day. 34 When Esav was forty years old, he took to wife Yehudit daughter of B’eri the Hittite and Ba’semat daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And they were a bitterness of spirit to Yitzhak and Rivka.
Chapter 27
1 Now when Yitzhak was old and his eyes had become too dim for seeing, he called Esav, his elder son, and said to him: My son! He said to him: Here I am. 2 He said: Now here, I have grown old, and do not know the day of my death 3 So now, pray pick up your weapons-your hanging-quiver and your bow, go out into the field and hunt me down some hunted-game, 4 and make me a delicacy, such as I love; bring it to me, and I will eat it, that I may give you my own blessing before I die. 5 Now Rivka was listening as Yitzhak spoke to Esav his son, and so when Esav went off into the fields to hunt down hunted-game to bring (to him), 6 Rivka said to Yaakov her son, saying: Here, I was listening as your father spoke to Esav your brother, saying: 7 Bring me some hunted-game and make me a delicacy, I will eat it and give you blessing before YHWH, before my death. 8 So now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I command you: 9 Pray go to the flock and take me two fine goat kids from there, I will make them into a delicacy for your father, such as he loves; 10 you bring it to your father, and he will eat, so that he may give you blessing before his death. 11 Yaakov said to Rivka his mother: Here, Esav my brother is a hairy man, and I am a Very smooth man, 12 perhaps my father will feel me-then I will be like a trickster in his eyes, and I will bring a curse and not a blessing on myself! 13 His mother said to him: Let your curse be on me, my son! Only: listen to my voice and go, take them for me. 14 He went and took and brought them to his mother, and his mother made a delicacy, such as his father loved. 15 Rivka then took the garments of Esav, her elder son, the choicest ones that were with her in the house, 16 and clothed Yaakov, her younger son; and with the skins of the goat kids, she clothed his hands and the smooth-parts of his neck. 17 Then she placed the delicacy and the bread that she had made in the hand of Yaakov her son. 18 He came to his father and said: Father! He said: Here I am. Which one are you, my son? 19 Yaakov said to his father: I am Esav, your firstborn. I have done as you spoke to me: Pray arise, sit and eat from my hunted-game, that you may give me your own blessing. 20 Yitzhak said to his son: How did you find it so hastily, my son? He said: Indeed, YHVH your God made it happen for me. 21 Yitzhak said to Yaakov: Pray come closer, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esav or not. 22 Yaakov moved closer to Yitzhak his father. He felt him and said: The voice is Yaakov’s voice, the hands are Esav’s hands- 23 but he did not recognize him, for his hands were like the hands of Esav his brother,hairy. Now he was about to bless him, 24 when he said: Are you he, my son Esav? He said: I am. 25 So he said: Bring it close to me, and I will eat from the hunted-game of my son, in order that I may give you my own blessing. He put it close to him and he ate, he brought him wine and he drank. 26 Then Yitzhak his father said to him: Pray come close and kiss me, my son. 27 He came close and kissed him. Now he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said: See, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field that YHVH has blessed. 28 So may God give you from the dew of the heavens, from the fat of the earth, (along with) much grain and new-wine! 29 May peoples serve you, may tribes
is like the smell of a field that YHVH has blessed. 28 So may God give you from the dew of the heavens, from the fat of the earth, (along with) much grain and new-wine! 29 May peoples serve you, may tribesbow down to you;
be master to your brothers, may your mother’s sons bow down to you! Those who damn you, damned! Those who bless you, blessed! 30 Now it was, when Yitzhak had finished blessing Yaakov, yes it was—Yaakov had just gone out, out from the presence of Yitzhak his father— that Esav his brother came back from his hunting. 31 He too made a delicacy and brought it to his father. He said to his father: Let my father arise and eat from the hunted-game of his son, that you may give me your own blessing. 32 Yitzhak his father said to him: Which one are you? He said: I am your son, your firstborn, Esav. 33 Yitzhak trembled with very great trembling and said: Who then was he that hunted down hunted-game and brought it to me-I ate it all before you came and I gave him my blessing! Now blessed he must remain! 34 When Esav heard the words of his father, he cried out with a very great and bitter cry, and said to his father: Bless me, me also, father! 35 He said: Your brother came with deceit and took away your blessing. 36 He said: Is that why his name was called Yaakov/Heel-sneak? For he has now sneaked against me twice: My firstborn-right he took, and now he has taken my blessing! And he said: Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me? 37 Yitzhak answered, saying to Esav: Here, I have made him master to you, and all his brothers I have given him as servants, with grain and new-wine I have invested him— so for you, what then can I do, my son? 38 Esav said to his father: Have you only a single blessing, father? Bless me, me also, father! And Esav lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Yitzhak his father answered, saying to him: Behold, from the fat of the earth must be your dwelling-place, from the dew of the heavens above. 40 You will live by your sword, you will serve your brother. But it will be that when you brandish it, you will tear his yoke from your neck.So Yitzhak, duped by his younger son in connivance with his wife, inadvertently fulfills the prophecy. Human machination overturns tradition and culture, and YHWH’s will is still done! But how duped, truly, was Yitzhak? He used logic thinking how fast did Esau carry out his request; his sense of touch and smell supposedly confirmed ‘hairy hunter’ Esau and yet he had to ask not once, but twice if it was really Esau. A commentator said that the prophecy about Yaakov was told to Rebecca/Rivka and not to Yitzhak but family dynamics as they work in reality, Yitzhak favored firstborn Esau, Rebecca favored secondborn Yaakov. Parental favoritism as it did in the story of Joseph, causes problems for the whole family.
Chapter 28
1 So Yitzhak called for Yaakov, he blessed him and commanded him, saying to him: You are not to take a wife from the women of Canaan; 2 arise, go to the country of Aram, to the house of Betuel, your mother’s father, and take yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Lavan, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Shaddai bless you, may he make you bear fruit and make you many, so that you become a host of peoples. 4 And may he give you the blessing of Avraham, to you and to your seed with you, for you to inherit the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Avraham. 5 So Yitzhak sent Yaakov off; he went to the country of Aram, to Lavan son of Betuel the Aramean, the brother of Rivka, the mother of Yaakov and Esav. 6 Now Esav saw that Yitzhak had given Yaakov farewell-blessing and had sent him to the country of Aram, to take himself a wife from there, (and that) when he had given him blessing, he had commanded him, saying: You are not to take a wife from the women of Canaan! 7 And Yaakov had listened to his father and his mother and had gone to the country of Aram. 8 And Esav saw that the women of Canaan were bad in the eyes of Yitzhak his father, 9 so Esav went to Yishmael and took Mahalat daughter of Yishmael son of Avraham, sister of Nevayot, in addition to his wives as a wife.
Rebecca/Rivka seems to make crucial decisions to fulfill the prophecy told to her. Quite strong and assertive, these wives of the Patriarchs of Israel, at least from Sarah to Rebecca, an indication that while it appears from the practice of concubinage and polygamy in the culture of those time, the women have stature unlike in other societies and cultures existing to this day, where women are marginalized if not abused.
To conclude, here’s an observation from an article in Chabad.org, based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe [http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/15573/jewish/Jacob-and-Esau.htm:] “In many respects, the Torah’s account of Isaac’s family reads like a replay of Abraham’s. Many years of childlessness are followed by the birth of two sons–the elder one “wicked” and the younger one “righteous”. Isaac favors the elder son, Esau, much as Abraham is sympathetic toward his elder son, Ishmael, while Rebecca, like Sarah, perseveres in her efforts to ensure that the younger, righteous son is recognized as the true heir of Abraham and the sole progenitor of the “great nation” which G-d promised to establish from his seed.” NSB@S6K
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