isaac (bible)

According to the biblical Book of Genesis, Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah and father of Jacob; his name means "he will laugh", reflecting when Sarah laughed in disbelief when told that she would have a child. In the Bible, he is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites, the only one whose name was not changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan. According to the narrative, he died when he was 180 years old, the longest-lived of the three.

The biblical narrative of Isaac has influenced various religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The consensus of modern scholarship doubts the existence of figures from Genesis, including Isaac.…more