Isaac

Isaac is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and Rastafari. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in which he is the son of Abraham and Sarah, the father of Jacob and Esau, and the grandfather of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Isaac's name means "he will laugh", reflecting the laughter, in disbelief, of Abraham and Sarah, when told by God that they would have a child. He is the only patriarch whose name was not changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan. According to the narrative, he died aged 180, the longest-lived of the three patriarchs.

Recent scholarship has discussed the possibility that Isaac could have originally been an ancestor from the Beersheba region who was venerated at a sanctuary.

Etymology

The anglicized name "Isaac" is a transliteration of the Biblical Hebrew: יִצְחָק, romanized: Yiṣḥāq, which literally means "He laughs/will laugh". Ugaritic texts dating from the 13th century BCE refer to the benevolent smile of the Canaanite deity El. Genesis ascribes the laughter to Isaac's parents, Abraham and Sarah, instead. According to the biblical narrative, Abraham fell on his face and laughed when God (Hebrew, Elohim) imparted the news of their son's eventual birth. He laughed because Sarah was past the age of childbearing; both she and Abraham were advanced in age. Later, when Sarah overheard three messengers of the Lord renew the promise, she laughed inwardly for the same reason. Sarah denied laughing when God questioned Abraham about it.