Isaac

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Caravaggio : The Sacrifice of Isaac
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta : Rebekah at the fountain.
Gioacchino Assereto : Isaac blesses Jacob

Isaac , son of Abraham and father of the twin brothers Esau and Jacob , is one of the patriarchs of the Israelites according to the Torah of the Tanach or the Old Testament of the Bible . As such, he is a central figure in Judaism . His story is told in the chapters ( Gen 21–28  EU ) in Genesis . Accordingly, he lived around the 19th century BC. Chr. However, it is questionable whether it is a historical person. Nothing is known about him extra-biblically.

Surname

The Hebrew name "Isaac" refers exclusively to the patriarch in the Hebrew Bible. It is not previously documented extra-biblically, not even in writing. In the Masoretic text, the name is mainly written יִצְחָק jiṣḥāq (e.g. in Gen 17.19  EU ), more rarely also יִשְׂחָק jiśḥāq (only in Jer 33.26  EU , Am 7.9  EU .16 EU , Ps 105.9  EU ). Finally, in Qumran the spelling יסחק jsḥq is documented (4Q225 Frg. 2 I, 9). The Septuagint always gives the name as Ισαακ Isaak , as does the New Testament (Ἰσαάκ Isaák , e.g. Mt 1,2  EU ), from which the German form of the name comes.

The name is already associated with the root צחק śḥq / שׂחק ṣḥq "to laugh" in various ways within the Bible . In Gen 17.17  EU (belonging to the priestly scriptures ) it is Abraham who laughs in disbelief when God announces to him that his wife Sarah will give birth to a son. In Gen 18.12  EU it is Sarah who laughs when she hears one of the three messengers of God announcing to Abraham that she will have a son within a year. She thought "I'm already old and worn out and should I still experience love?" My Lord is also an old man! ”(Ibid.) Thereupon YHWH asked Abraham why Sarah was laughing and thinking like this, but Sarah then denied out of fear that she had laughed ( Gen 18.15  EU ). After the naming of Isaac by his father Abraham was reported in Gen 21.3  EU , Gen 21.6  EU appears like a comment on the part of his mother: “God made me laugh; everyone who hears about it will laugh at me. ”(ibid.) The laughter is first referred to Sara again, but then also to those who will hear about the miracle of this birth.

Contrary to the biblical interpretation of the name that it is a person who laughs, God must be accepted as the original subject of the name. Since Martin Noth , יִצְחָק jiṣḥāq has been regarded as a short form and is reduced to the full form * יִצְחָקְאֵל jiṣḥāq'el . This has the grammatical pattern past tense form - God's name and means "God laughed / joked" or - with the verb as causative - "God made (someone) laugh".

The situation at the time of the birth of the child usually plays an important role in determining the meaning of personal names. If one understands God as the subject of laughter, it expresses his “gracious and gracious affection”, if the child is accepted as the subject of laughter, it can express “satisfaction with the child's prosperity”, perhaps also after surviving illness.

Biblical tradition

Of all three patriarchs, there is the least biblical record of Isaac. He is the second born son of Abraham, the only one he fathered with his wife Sarah. Isaac was circumcised when he was eight days old . Abraham is put to the test by God by having to sacrifice his son Isaac ( Gen 22  EU ) (Hebrew Akeda , see binding of Isaac ). Abraham obeys and sets off with his son for the land of Moria . There he builds an altar and ties Isaac to it to sacrifice him. An angel of God intervenes at the last moment, explaining the trial to Abraham and confirming eternal blessings for him and his descendants. ( Gen 22: 16-18  EU )

After the death of his wife Sarah, Abraham sends his eldest servant to his home in the Haran region to find a wife for Isaac. Arriving in front of the city, the servant asks God for a sign which woman is destined for Isaac. The woman who will give him and his camels to drink is said to be the chosen one. Before he can finish his request, Rebekah , a granddaughter of Nahor , Abraham's brother, appears and does as requested. She and her parents agree to the marriage, and Rebekah moves back to Canaan with the servant .

Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. Before Abraham dies, he appoints Isaac as the sole heir and sends the sons of his concubines away with gifts. Isaac does in everything as God commands him and thereby attains great wealth. After he had harvested a hundredfold in a year and had become very rich, the Philistines, near whom he lived, sent him away. Rebekah was childless for 20 years, but then, after a prayer from Isaac, had twins: Esau and Jacob . Even before the birth, God speaks to Rebekah that the firstborn son will later serve the younger. Esau, who becomes a hunter, is the darling of Isaac, and Jacob, who becomes a civilized man, is the darling of Rebecca. Isaac becomes blind in old age. Thus, the second-born son Jacob, with the help or instigation of his mother Rebekka, can sneak the blessing that was actually intended for Esau from Isaac (see: Lentil dish ). Jacob then has to flee from Esau's hatred, but about 20 years later the two are reconciled. After Isaac dies at the age of 180, he is buried together by his two sons. ( Gen 35.29  EU )

Isaac in Christianity

In the New Testament , the family tree of Jesus of Nazareth is traced back to Abraham via Isaac and Rebekah. With this, Christianity claims its share in the biblical tradition that passed with Abraham to the patriarchs of Israel. In passages such as Rom 8,32  EU and Joh 3,16  EU , where Jesus is mentioned as the “given son”, a reference to Isaac, who was chosen for the sacrifice, is also seen.

Isaac's Memorial Day on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod calendar is August 16.

Isaac in Islam

Also in the Koran Ishaq (is Arabic إسحاق, DMG Isḥāq ) mentioned. According to the description there, however, Isaac stands behind Ishmael , the firstborn son begotten by Abraham (Arabic Ibrahim ) with Hagar, Sara's maid (Sura 14.39; 2.125–140). The presentation of the Koran does not mention a name in the report of the interruption of Abraham's sacrifice of his son, but speaks of "dhabih". Earlier Islamic scholars disagreed about the identity of dhabih. While some earlier scholars, such as Tabari , thought Isaac was the son to be sacrificed, later Islamic scholars such as Ibn Kathīr argued that this could only have been Ishmael; the latter view is widespread among Muslims today.

literature

Web links

Commons : Isaac  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Jakob Stamm : The name Isaac . In: Ders .: Contributions to Hebrew and ancient oriental naming (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 30). Göttingen 1980, pp. 9-14, 11f.
  2. ↑ Hava Lazarus-Yafeh Some Religious Aspects of Islam: A Collection of Articles Brill Archive 1981 ISBN 978-9-004-06329-7 page 45 (English)
  3. ↑ F. Leemhuis provides an overview of early positions: Ibrahim's sacrifice of his son in the early post-koranic tradition , in: E. Noort, EJC Tigchelaar: The sacrifice of Isaac . Brill, Leiden 2002, pp. 125-139. Comprehensive Reuven Firestone: Abraham's Son as the Intended Sacrifice . Issues in Qur'anic Exegesis, in: Journal of Semitic Studies 34 (1989), 95-131 and esp. Reuven Firestone: Journeys in Holy Lands . The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends in Islamic Exegesis, New York 1990. Rudi Paret summarizes the dating problems of the relevant suras and passages and their results for this question : Art. Ismāʿīl, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam , 2nd A., Vol 4 (1997), 184f.