ISACCO

ISAAC. — Son of Abraham and Sarah, father of Jacob and Esau. He is the second of the great patriarchs of the Hebrew people. In Holy Scripture he is presented as the son of promise, the heir of messianic blessings. Abraham had already had a son, Ishmael (v.), by Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant (Gen. 16). But the Lord foretold that another would be the heir and the blessed seed, the son whom the free woman, Sarah, would bear him (Gen. 17:16–21; 18:10–14). Indeed, at the appointed time Sarah, though advanced in years, gave birth to a son, who was circumcised on the eighth day and named Isaac (Jisḥāq = “he laughs”), not so much in memory of his mother’s incredulous laughter (Gen. 18:10 ff.) as for the joyful laughter that his birth brought to the family (ibid. 21:1–7).

Abraham was then a hundred years old. Soon, on account of the children, the rivalry between the two mothers, Sarah and Hagar, grew sharper. Ishmael, being older and of a fierce temperament, began to trouble the young Isaac (Gen. 21:9 says only that Ishmael “played” with Isaac: doubtless these were unseemly pranks, cf. Gal. 4:29). Coexistence became difficult, and Abraham, yielding to the insistence of his wife Sarah and at the express command of Yahweh, sent Hagar and her son away (Gen. 21:9–21).

On this episode St. Paul offers a twofold reflection: a) that Israel’s privilege of being the people of God does not come from mere carnal descent from Abraham, but rather from the free promise of grace, to which Abraham’s faith corresponds (cf. Rom. 9:7 ff.); b) that the two sons of Abraham with their mothers symbolize the two Testaments, whose conflicts after the coming of Jesus Christ are evident: the one (the Old Testament), of Mount Sinai, represented by Hagar, mother of slaves, such as the Jews are, excluded from the “promises” as a penalty for their unbelief; the other (the New Testament), symbolized by the free woman Sarah (the Jerusalem above, the Church), mother of free children, who are the believers, heirs of the promises made to Abraham (cf. Gal. 4:22 ff.).

At the age of forty Isaac married Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, of the same lineage as Terah. The marriage negotiations were conducted by the aged servant of Abraham, Eliezer, who brought the bride to Isaac from Haran in Mesopotamia (Gen. 24). After the death of his father, whom Isaac buried in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre (cf. Gen. 25:8 ff.), he received from God a solemn confirmation of the promises made to Abraham, in words almost identical (Gen. 25:11; 26:2–5). Having no children, he prayed to Yahweh, and after twenty years of marriage he had twin sons, Esau (v.) JACOB, MAX (v.), the latter of whom supplanted the firstborn, first managing to obtain the right of the firstborn (Gen. 25:21–34), and then securing the blessing of the firstborn from the old man (Gen. 27). And though Isaac cherished a preference for Esau, once the deed was done he acknowledged the acquired right of Jacob and confirmed the blessing given, granting Esau a lesser, material blessing. At the time of this episode Isaac was 137 years old; having lost his sight, he believed his end was near. In fact, he lived another 43 years.

Like his father before him, Isaac also took refuge in Gerar (modern Tell Gemmeh, southeast of Gaza) in the land of the Philistines during a famine that afflicted the country. There he devoted himself to agriculture, and thanks to the king’s favor and his own industry, he quickly improved his position, so much so as to arouse the envy of the Philistines, who began to harass him over the old issue of the wells. Isaac, a peaceful man averse to strife, left the country and returned to Beersheba, where Yahweh appeared to him once more; shortly afterward King Abimelech himself came to make peace with Isaac and renew the covenant of friendship (Gen. 26). During his stay in Gerar an episode similar to that which befell Abraham is recorded (cf. Gen. 20): Isaac, fearing unpleasant surprises, tried to pass off his wife Rebecca as his sister; but when the truth was discovered, Abimelech assured him full freedom for himself and his wife (Gen. 26:6–11). It is not known whether the Abimelech mentioned here is the same as in the earlier account (Gen. 20), or, as seems more likely, a namesake, the son of Abraham’s friend. The similarity of the accounts has even led some to suppose a possible duplication of the same episode.

Isaac died in Hebron at the age of 180, and was buried by his two sons Esau and Jacob in his father’s tomb, in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre (Gen. 35:27 ff.; cf. 49:31). The most important event in Isaac’s life is the sacrifice of

which, by God’s command to Abraham, was to be offered as a victim; it is more commonly called the “sacrifice of Abraham.” It is one of the most illustrious episodes of the Old Testament (Gen. 22), highly celebrated in Christian liturgy and art. Yahweh, by commanding Abraham to offer his beloved son Isaac as a burnt offering, put his faith and obedience to a severe test (cf. Heb. 11:17–19). The trial was happily overcome, and the Lord rewarded the patriarch by accepting a ram in place of the son, and solemnly confirming the promises already made. Indirectly, too, the practices of human sacrifice, common among the Semites and Canaanites, were reproved. The biblical narrative (Gen. 22) is a hymn to the greatness of Abraham, and even from a literary standpoint is judged “a masterpiece of psychological portrayal” (H. Gunkel, *Genesis*, Göttingen 1901, p. 209).

Nevertheless, according to many “critics,” it is entirely legendary and of late composition (it belongs, according to the Wellhausenian theory, to the Elohist document, etc., 8th or 9th cent. B.C.). It would represent a stance taken by Judaism against the abominable Canaanite rites; moreover, it would demonstrate that in more remote times the sacrifice of the firstborn was practiced even among the Hebrew people (B. Stade, H. Gunkel, E. Renan, A. Loisy, W. F. Paterson, etc.). According to others (E. König, R. Kittel, C. H. Cornill), the narrative simply expresses Abraham’s and his companions’ horror at the sight of human sacrifice as practiced by the Canaanites. These suppositions are arbitrary and in clear contrast with the biblical text, which is of much greater antiquity and whose straightforward simplicity is a guarantee of historicity. They overlook a fundamental fact, which is the key to interpreting the whole narrative: Yahweh’s intention to test the patriarch (tentavit: Gen. 22:1); God did not want the actual immolation of the son, but the inward sacrifice of obedience. Nor can it be demonstrated at all that the practice of human sacrifice existed among the Hebrew people in pre-Mosaic times (cf. E. Mader [V. BIBLICA.], p. 149 ff.).

Christian tradition has always seen in the sacrifice of Isaac a notable type of the sacrifice of Christ: in Abraham one may discern the Eternal Father who does not spare his Only-Begotten (cf. Rom. 8:32) for the salvation of mankind; Isaac, carrying the wood for the sacrifice on his shoulders, in humble acceptance of his condition as victim, is an expressive figure of Christ who ascends Calvary with the cross to be immolated; the ram offered in Isaac’s place represents in some way the vicarious satisfaction of Christ. “Isaac typum Christi passionis est,” says St. Ambrose (PL 14, 446), following Irenaeus (PG 7, 986), Tertullian (PL 2, 662), Cyprian (PL 4, 629).

In Latin liturgy Isaac’s sacrifice is recalled in the precise prayers for the dying, and above all in the Canon of the Mass after the Consecration («...the sacrifice of our father Abraham»); moreover he occupies a place of honour in the liturgy of Holy Saturday and the vigil of Pentecost.

ISAAC IN ART. – In early Christian art, besides the numerous scenes of the sacrifice (v. Abraham), Isaac sometimes appears blessing Jacob and Esau, for example on a sarcophagus now in the Louvre Museum (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, p. 235, pl. 116, 1), or lying on a couch blessing Jacob (Gen 25:28), as in the mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore (Wilpert, Mosaiken, p. 434, pl. 11, 1); this scene was also in the basilica of S. Felice in Nola, as we learn from St Paulinus (Carm. 27, V. 62), and it was likewise in S. Ambrogio in Milan (v. Forcella and E. Seletti, Iscrizioni cristiane di Milano anteriori al IX sec., Codogno 1897, p. 213).

Later the same scene is found again in the Bible of St Paul’s, in the cycle of the basilica of St Peter (Wilpert, Mosaiken, p. 383); in that of St Paul’s, as attested by cod. Barb. lat. 4406 (Venturi, V, p. 1351, fig. 137), in the cathedral of Monreale, etc.

More rarely Isaac is shown when, having grown blind, he calls Esau to him (Gen 27:3), a scene represented in the cycle of the Vatican Basilica (Wilpert, Mosaiken, p. 383). Isaac, with Jacob and Esau, recurs even in the cycle of S. Giovanni ante portam Latinam and in those of Ferentio and Monreale. The scene of the deception and disillusionment of Isaac is in the upper basilica of S. Francesco in Assisi (Venturi, V, p. 139, fig. 113). At Nola in the basilica of S. Felice there was also depicted the episode of the Philistines blocking Isaac’s wells (St Paulinus, Carm. 27, vv. 618-619). Finally Isaac’s death and burial (Gen 35:28-29) are portrayed in the Vienna Genesis (fol. 14, 27) (W. von Hartel and Wickhoff, Die Wiener Genesis, Vienna 1895, fol. 14, 27).

APOCRYPHAL TESTAMENT OF ISAAC. – An apocryphal work judged to belong to the 2nd or 3rd century AD; it has come down to us, together with the apocryphal Testament of Jacob, in Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic versions, as an appendix to the Testament of Abraham (v.).

Together they form a triptych conceived and developed according to the same scheme: the appearance of the archangel Michael, who gathers the members of the family around the patriarch; before dying the patriarch is granted a vision of the secrets of heaven and the places of punishment; then follow moral exhortations. These last, missing in the Testament of Abraham, are developed in the Testament of Isaac. In all three apocrypha there are some touches of Christian colouring, such as a prophecy of the birth of Jesus Christ and references to Mt 5:28, Rom 1:18, Eph 4:26, which however do not prejudice the Jewish origin. The three testaments have been published, in the Coptic text, by I. Guidi (Rendiconti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, 5th ser., 9 [1900], pp. 157-80, 223-64); passages from the Arabic version have been translated into English by W. E. Barnes, in M. R. James, Apocrypha of the Old Testament, London 1920, pp. 131-54 (The Testament of Abraham; Appendix). – Vedi tav. XV.

ISAAC. – First katholikos of Persia, i.e. the supreme hierarch of all the bishops in that empire, d. 410. He was installed in the see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian capital, in 399, thanks to the intervention of St Maruthas (v.), who had previously obtained from Yazdegerd I the cessation of the persecution. Still more solemnly Isaac was confirmed bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and declared «head of the bishops of all the East», i.e. of Persia, at the synod held there in 410.

On this occasion the election was ratified by the emperor himself, who granted full liberty to the Christians. On the other hand Isaac and the Persian bishops accepted the conciliar canons now in force in the Byzantine empire and brought by St Maruthas, among which were alleged Nicene canons.

Isaac was acknowledged as katholikos of the five metropolitan sees corresponding to the five provinces of the Persian empire. Moreover it was always admitted that recourse should be had, for the more important questions, to the «Western» bishops, i.e. to the patriarchate of Antioch.