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Essay / The Life of Isaac and His Family
Isaac, the son of Abraham, was a central figure in the establishment of the Jewish people. He and his father had played a considerable role in the Bible. However, Isaac's life similarly mirrors that of Abraham when compared to that of his father. He did many other things that his father had also done during his life. Isaac was a God-fearing man who loved his family and tried to raise his sons in the wisdom and nature of the Lord. Isaac was born as the promised son of Abraham and Sarah. Her mother Sarah was barren and despite God's promise that she and her husband Abraham would have a child, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay This was done by giving his Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, to Abraham in order to conceive a child. This gave birth to a child, named Ishmael. As a result of their actions, God declared that this child would not be an heir to the blessing or covenant that God made with Abraham. The story of Isaac's birth occurred when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. God made them the promise of a child. When Abraham heard God's promise, he laughed, being such an old man (Genesis 17:17). The same thing happened later when Sarah also heard the promise (Genesis 18:9-15). As a result of this, Isaac was born with a name that meant laughter, as that was his parents' reaction. This can only be understood once we understand it well, otherwise we would not have known what the name Isaac meant. Continuing the story, Sarah, who was Isaac's mother, died when he was only 28 years old (Genesis 23:1). When Abraham's turn neared his death, it was said that he called his elder servant, Eliezer, and made him promise that he would go and find a wife for Isaac in Abraham's ancient homeland of Nahor. Eliezer packed his things and left as he promised. When Eliezer arrived, he prayed to God to show him which woman should be Isaac's wife. God then showed him by a sign that a woman named Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor, was the one who would be Isaac's wife. Eliezer revealed his intention to Rebekah's brother Laban and her mother, Bethuel. They agreed to let her go and asked her if she would accept this arrangement, which she did. When they arrived at Isaac's house, Rebekah and Isaac were married shortly after. Rebekah was barren like Isaac's mother but Isaac prayed for God to intervene and God did. God told Isaac that she would conceive twins, which represented two nations. These boys were born under the names Esau and Jacob. Later there was a famine in the land. Isaac sought food in Gerar, the land of the Philistines, as his father Abraham had done in times past. However, like his father, he also pretended that his wife was his sister, so as not to get killed by someone who wanted her. It was soon revealed and Isaac was then ordered to leave. As Isaac's boys grew up, the youngest son tricked Isaac into giving him his brother's blessing. This led to extreme conflict between the boys and Jacob ran away to return to his mother's homeland. On the other hand, Esau married pagan women against his father's wishes. Like his father Abraham, Isaac's firstborn went off to marry pagan women and the promise continued to his secondborn, Jacob. Years later, Jacob returned to visit his father Isaac in Hebron. The end of Isaac's life occurred when he was 180 years old and was buried by his two sons, Esau and Jacob. To summarize the similarities between Isaac.