The Patriarch Isaac - Orthodox-mitropolitan-of-antinoes-panteleimon ...

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inding his son to the altar and drawing his knife to kill him, in the verylast moment an angel of Yahweh prevented Abraham from proceeding.Rather, he was directed to sacrifice a nearby ram instead. This eventserved as a test of Abraham's faith to Yahweh, not as an actual humansacrifice.Family life: When Isaac was 40, Abraham sent Eliezer, his steward, intoMesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac, from his nephew Bethuel's family.Eliezer chose Rebekah for Isaac. After many years of marriage to Isaac,Rebekah had still not given birth to a child and was believed to be barren.Isaac prayed for her and she conceived. Rebekah gave birth to twin boys,Esau and Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when his two sons were born.Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah favored Jacob.Occupation: Around the age of 75, Isaac moved to Beer-lahai-roi afterhis father died. When the land experienced famine, he removed to thePhilistine land of Gerar where his father once lived. This land was stillunder the control of King Abimelech as it was in the days of Abraham.Like his father, Isaac also deceived Abimelech about his wife and alsogot into the well business. He had gone back to all of the wells that hisfather dug and saw that they were all stopped up with earth. ThePhilistines did this after Abraham died. So, Isaac unearthed them andbegan to dig for more wells all the way to Beersheba, where he made apact with Abimelech, just like in the day of his father.Birthright: Isaac grew old and became blind. He called his son Esau anddirected him to procure some venison for him, in order to receive Isaac'sblessing. While Esau was hunting, Jacob deceptively, after listening to hismother's advice misrepresented himself as Esau to his blind father andobtained his father's blessing, making Jacob Isaac's primary heir, andleaving Esau in an inferior position. Isaac sent Jacob into Mesopotamia totake a wife of his own family so, he can start a family of his own. After20 years working for Laban, Jacob returned home, and reconciled withhis twin brother Esau, then he and Esau buried Isaac when Isaac died atthe age of 180.Other references - Isaac in the New Testament: In the New Testament,there are references to Isaac having been "offered up" by his father, andto his blessing his sons. Paul contrasted Isaac, symbolizing Christianliberty, with the rejected older son Ishmael, symbolizing slavery; Hagar isassociated with the Sinai covenant, while Sarah is associated with thecovenant of grace, into which her son Isaac enters. The Epistle of James
chapter 2, verses 21-24 states that the sacrifice of Isaac shows thatjustification (in the Johannine sense) requires both faith and works.In the early Christian church, Abraham's willingness to followGod's command to sacrifice Isaac was used as an example of faith and ofobedience. The Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19 views therelease of Isaac from sacrifice as analogous to the resurrection of Jesus,the idea of the sacrifice of Isaac being a prefigure of the sacrifice of Jesuson the Cross.Testament of Isaac: The Testament of Isaac is a pseudonymous textwhich was most likely composed in Greek in Egypt after 100 CE. It isalso dependent on the Testament of Abraham. In this testament, Godsends the archangel Michael to Isaac in order to inform him of hisimpending death. Isaac accepts God's decree but Jacob resists. Isaac in hisbed-chamber tells Jacob of the inevitability of death. Isaac has a tour ofheaven and hell shortly before his death in which God's compassion torepentant sinners is emphasized. In this testament, Isaac also talks withthe crowds on the subjects of priesthood, asceticism, and the moral life.World views: The early Christian church viewed Abraham's willingnessto follow God's command to sacrifice Isaac as an example of faith andobedience. For Christians, Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son is a"type and shadow" of God's willingness to sacrifice his only son, Jesus.Some academic scholars have described Isaac as "a legendaryfigure", while others view him as "a figure representing tribal history,though as a historical individual" or as "a seminomadic leader".Documentary hypothesis: The name Isaac occurs 32 times in theHebrew Bible. Variations of the formula "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"occur 23 times in the Hebrew Bible. According to the documentaryhypothesis, use of names of God indicates authorship, and form criticsvariously assign passages like Genesis chapter 26, verses 6-11 to theYahwist source, and Genesis chapter 20 verses 1-7, chapter 21, verse 1 tochapter 22, verse 14 and chapter 22, verse 19 to the Elohist source; thissource-critical approach has admitted problems, in that the name"Yahweh" appears in Elohist material. According to the compilationhypothesis, the formulaic use of the word toledoth (generations) indicatesthat Genesis chapter 11, verse 27 to chapter 25, verse 19 is Isaac's recordthrough Abraham's death (with Ishmael's record appended), and Genesischapter 25, verse 19 to chapter 37, verse 2 is Jacob's record throughIsaac's death (with Esau's records appended).
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