If Abraham's enterprising, unsettled life foreshadow- ed the early history of his descendants ; if Jacob was a type of the careful, commercial, unwarlike character of their later days, Isaac may represent the midtlle period, in which they lived apart from nations, and enjoyed possession of the fertile land of promise. (See Kalisch, Gen. ad loc.)
III. The typical view of Isaac is barely referred to in tb.e N. T., but it is drawn out with minute particularity by Philo and those interpreters of Scripture who were inrtuenced by Alexandrian philosophy. Thus in Philo, Isaac (laughter = the most exquisite enjoyment = the soother and cheerer of peace-loving soids) is foreshad- owed in the facts that his father had attained 100 years (the perfect number) when he was born, and that he is specially designated as given to his parents by God. His birth from the mistress of Abraham's household symbolizes happiness proceeding from predominant wis- dom. His attachment to one wife (Kebekah= perse- verance) is contrasted with Abraham's multiplied con- nections, and with Jacob's toil-won wives, as showing the superiority of Isaac's heaven-born, self-sufficing wisdom to the accumulated knowledge of Abraham and the painful experience of Jacob. In the intended sacrifice of Isaac, Philo sees only a sign (laughter = rejoicing is the prerogative of God, and is a fit offering to liim) that God gives back to obedient man as much happiness as is good for him. Clement of Rome (ch. xxxi), with characteristic soberness, merely refers to Isaac as an ex- ample of faith in God. In Tertullian he is a pattern of monogamj', and a type of Christ bearing the cross. But Clement of Alexandria finds an allegorical meaning in the incidents which connect Abimelech with Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. xxvi, 8), as well as iii the offering of Isaac. In this latter view he is followed by Origen, and by Augustine, and by Christian expositors generality. The most minute particulars of that transaction are in- vested with a spiritual meaning by such writers as Ra- banus JMaurus, in Gen. § iii. Abraham is made a type of the first person in the blessed Trinity, Isaac of the second ; the two servants dismissed are the Jewish sects who did not attain to a perception of Christ in his hu- miliation ; the ass bearing the wood is the Jewish na- tion, to whom were committed the oracles of God which they failed to understand ; the three days are the Patri- archal, IMosaic, and Christian dispensations ; the ram is Christ on the cross; the thicket they who placed him there. INIodern English writers hold firmly the typical significance of the transaction, without extending it into such detail (see Pearson, On the Creed, i, 243, 251, edit. 1843 ; Fairbairn's Typolngy, i, 332). A recent writer (A. Jukes, Types of Genesis), who has sliown much ingenu- ity in attaching a spiritual meaning to the characters and incidents in the book of (Jencsis, regards Isaac as representing the spirit of sonship, in a series in which Adam represents human nature, Cain the carnal mind, Abel the spiritual. Noah regeneration, Abraham the spirit of faith, Jacob the spirit of service, Joseph suffer- ing or glorj'. AV'ith this series may be compared the
ISAAC
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ISAAC ARGYRUS
view of Ewald {Gesch. i, 387-400), in whicli the whole patriarchal family is a pretigiirative group, comprising twelve members with seven distinct modes of relation : 1. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are three fathers, respect- ively personifying active power, quiet enjoyment, suc- cess after struggles, distinguished from the rest as Aga- memnon, Achilles, and Ulysses among the heroes of the Iliad, or as the Trojan Anchises, /Eneas, and Ascanius, and mutually related as Romulus, Eemus, and Numa ; 2. Sarah, with Ilagar, as mother and mistress of the house- hold , 3. Isaac as child ; 4. Isaac with Rebekah as the type of wedlock (comp. his .4 Iterthumer, p. 233) ; 6. Leah and Rachel the plurality of coequal wives ; 6. Deborah as nurse (compare Anna and Caieta, yf^n. iv, 654, and A-ii, 1): 7. Eliezer as steward, whose office is compared to that of the messenger of the Olympic deities.
IV. Traditions Jewish legends represent Isaac as an
angel made before the world, and descending to earth in human form (Origen, in Johimn. ii, § 25) ; as one of the three men in whom human sinfulness has no place, as one of the six over whom the angel of death has no power (Eisenmenger, Entd. Jud. i, 343, 864). He is said to have been instructed in divine knowledge by Shem (Jarchi, on Gen. xxv). The ordinance of evening pray- er is ascribed to him (Gen. xxiv. (J:!). as tliat nf morning prayer to Abraham (xix, 27), and iii<;lit in-ax-cr to Ja- cob (xxviii, 11) (Eisenmenger, 7:,';/^ ./'''/. i.l.s:;).
The Arabian traditions included in the Koran repre- sent Isaac as a model of religion, a righteous person in- spired with grace to do good works, observe prayer, and give alms (ch. xxi), endowed with the divine gifts of prophec}-, children, and wealth (ch. xix). The prom- ise of Isaac and the offering of Isaac are also mentioned (ch. xi, 38). Faith in a future resurrection is ascribed to Abraham ; but it is connected, not, as in Heb. xi, 19, with the offering of Isaac, but with a fictitious miracle (chap. ii). Stanley mentions a curious tradition of the reputed jealousy of Isaac's character that prevails among the inhabitants of Hebron respecting the grave of Re- bekah (Jewith Church, i, 496 sq.). (On the notices of Isaac in the Talmud, see Otho's Lex. Talm. p. 133 ; Hava- hmger, lieal-Enci/Uop.f. Bibel u.Talnmd,p.6V2 sq.; for the notices in the Koran, see Hottinger's Hi^f. Orient. p. 25, 52). — Kitto ; Smith ; Fairbairn. See Bouchier, IIi«tor;i of Isaac (Lond. 1864). For older treatises, see Darling, Cijclop. Jyibliorjriqih. col. 190.