Who
The son promised to Abraham and Sarah in their old age (Genesis 21:1–3), the child of the promise rather than of the flesh (Galatians 4:23). Bound on the wood on Mount Moriah and spared by the ram God provided (Genesis 22), he carried the wood up the mountain as Christ carried his cross, which is how the Fathers read him: a figure of the Son offered by the Father (Origen, Homilies on Genesis 8; Augustine, The City of God XVI.32). Hebrews says that, “Figuratively speaking”, Abraham received him back from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). He married Rebekah and was the father of Esau and Jacob.
Key verses
- Genesis 21:3
Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
- Genesis 22:6
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.
- Genesis 25:20
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.
- 1 Chronicles 1:28
The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.
- 1 Chronicles 1:34
Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.
- Matthew 1:2
Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.
- Luke 3:34
the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
- Hebrews 11:17
By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son,
Where the Bible names him
Named 129 times in 27 books.
- ✓ In the deuterocanon, which the verse index does not cover: found in the text and checked by hand.
Verse index: TIPNR, STEPBible.org (Tyndale House), CC BY 4.0.
Family
Discussed by
Comments on the verses that name him (8 of 66).
- Augustine of Hippo on Matthew 1:2Catena Aurea on Matthew
Matthew, by beginning with Christ’s genealogy, shews that he has undertaken to relate Christ’s birth according to the flesh. But Luke, as rather describing Him as a Priest for the atonement of sin, gives Christ’s…
- Ambrose of Milan on Matthew 1:2Catena Aurea on Matthew
For Abraham was the first who deserved the witness of faith; “He believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” It behoved therefore that he should be set forth as the first in the line of descent, who…
- John Chrysostom on Matthew 1:2Catena Aurea on Matthew
Matthew then, desiring to preserve in memory the lineage of the Lord’s humanity through the succession of His parents, begins with Abraham, saying, “Abraham begat Isaac.” Why does he not mention Ismael, his…
- Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:2Catena Aurea on Matthew
Yet he names all the brethren of Judah with him in the lineage. Ismael and Esau had not remained in the worship of the true God; but the brethren of Judah were reckoned in God’s people.
- John Chrysostom on Matthew 1:2 (2)Catena Aurea on Matthew
Or, he names all the twelve Patriarchs that he may lower that pride which is drawn from a line of noble ancestry. For many of these were born of maidservants, and yet were Patriarchs and heads of tribes.
- Glossa Ordinaria on Matthew 1:2 (2)Catena Aurea on Matthew
But Judah is the only one mentioned by name, and that because the Lord was descended from him only. But in each of the Patriarchs we must note not their history only, but the allegorical and moral meaning to be drawn…
- Pseudo-Chrysostom on Matthew 1:2Catena Aurea on Matthew
Isaac is interpreted, ‘laughter,’ but the laughter of the saints is not the foolish convulsion of the lips, but the rational joy of the heart, which was the mystery of Christ. For as he was granted to his parents in…
- Remigius of Auxerre on Matthew 1:2Catena Aurea on Matthew
Jacob is interpreted, ‘supplanter,’ and it is said of Christ, “Thou hast cast down beneath Me them that rose up against Me.” [Ps 18:43]