Editing Isaac (section)

==Academic views==
Some scholars have described Isaac as "a [[legend]]ary figure" or "as a figure representing [[tribe|tribal]] history,” or "as a [[nomad|seminomadic]] leader".<ref name="EoC1-Isaac">{{cite encyclopedia |publisher=[[Eerdmans]] |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Christianity |title=Isaac |page=744 |first1=Erwin |last1=Fahlbusch |first2=Jan Milic |last2=Lochman |first3=Geoffrey William |last3=Bromiley |first4=David B. |last4=Barrett |first5=John |last5=Mbiti |year=2005 |isbn=9780802824165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCY4sAjTGIYC}}</ref> The stories of Isaac, like other patriarchal stories of Genesis, are generally believed to have "their origin in folk memories and oral traditions of the early Hebrew [[Pastoralism|pastoralist]] experience".<ref name="EoCol-Isaac">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Columbia Encyclopedia]] |title=Isaac |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=1935 |pages=3,200 |edition=6th}}</ref> ''The Cambridge Companion to the Bible'' makes the following comment on the biblical stories of the patriarchs:

{{Quote|Yet for all that these stories maintain a distance between their world and that of their time of literary growth and composition, they reflect the political realities of the later periods. Many of the narratives deal with the relationship between the ancestors and peoples who were part of Israel's political world at the time the stories began to be written down (eighth century B.C.E.). Lot is the ancestor of the Transjordanian peoples of Ammon and Moab, and Ishmael personifies the nomadic peoples known to have inhabited north Arabia, although located in the Old Testament in the Negev. Esau personifies Edom (36:1), and Laban represents the Aramean states to Israel's north. A persistent theme is that of difference between the ancestors and the indigenous Canaanites… In fact, the theme of the differences between Judah and Israel, as personified by the ancestors, and the neighboring peoples of the time of the monarchy is pressed effectively into theological service to articulate the choosing by God of Judah and Israel to bring blessing to all peoples.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Bible: Containing the Structure, Growth and ... |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompan00lumbgoog/page/n75 59] |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompan00lumbgoog |first=Joseph Rawson |last=Lumby |author-link=Joseph Rawson Lumby |year=1893 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |editor-first=Bruce |editor-last=Chilton |editor2-first=Howard Clark |editor2-last=Kee |editor3-first=Eric M. |editor3-last=Meyers |editor4-first=John |editor4-last=Rogerson |editor5-first=Amy-Jill |editor5-last=Levine |editor6-first=Anthony J. |editor6-last=Saldarini |isbn=9781139167376 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139167376}}</ref>}}

According to [[Martin Noth]], a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, the narratives of Isaac date back to an older cultural stage than that of the West-Jordanian Jacob.<ref name="EoC1-Isaac"/> At that era, the [[Israelite]] tribes were not yet sedentary. In the course of looking for grazing areas, they had come in contact in southern [[Philistia]] with the inhabitants of the settled countryside.<ref name="EoC1-Isaac"/> It has also been argued that the form of Isaac's name as found in the Hebrew Bible is most frequently attested in the early 2nd millennium BCE rather than in later periods.<ref>{{cite book |title=Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts |last=Hess |first=Richard S. |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4934-1554-0 |pages=187–193 |editor-last=Greer |editor-first=Jonathan S. |chapter=The Ancestral Period |editor-last2=Hilber |editor-first2=John W. |editor-last3=Walton |editor-first3=John H. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwxYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT296}}</ref><ref name="Millard">{{cite journal |title=Patriarchal Names in Context |journal=Tyndale Bulletin |last=Millard |first=Alan |volume=75 |issue=December |pages=155–174 |year=2024 |doi=10.53751/001c.117657 |issn=2752-7042 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In the [[Amorite language]], a [[cognate]] form of his name is attested as ''ia-aṣ-ḫa-qí<sup>?</sup>-im''.<ref name="Millard" /> The biblical historian A. Jopsen believes in the connection between the Isaac traditions and the north, and in support of this theory adduces [[Book of Amos|Amos]] 7:9 ("the high places of Isaac").<ref name="EoC1-Isaac"/>

[[Albrecht Alt]] and Martin Noth hold that, "The figure of Isaac was enhanced when the theme of promise, previously bound to the cults of the 'God the Fathers' was incorporated into the Israelite creed during the southern-Palestinian stage of the growth of the [[Torah|Pentateuch]] tradition."<ref name="EoC1-Isaac"/> According to Martin Noth, at the Southern Palestinian stage of the growth of the Pentateuch tradition, Isaac became established as one of the biblical patriarchs, but his traditions were receded in the favor of Abraham.<ref name="EoC1-Isaac"/>

[[Israel Finkelstein]] and [[Thomas Römer]] have proposed that Isaac might be the ancestor worshipped in [[Beersheba]] and the oldest tradition about him might be an ancestor myth dating back to at least 8th century BCE as shown in Amos 7:9, while proposing that the story about him conflicting with Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Philistines, which is the story that has possibility that Abraham cycle could have vampirized or vice versa, could have been originated and have background in 7th century BCE, and could be made to aim at justifying and legitimizing the claim of Judah over the Judahite territories that are transferred to the Philistine cities by [[Sennacherib]] because of several reasons: it was time when Gerar ([[Tel Haror]]) had the special importance and fortified Assyrian administration center; there was king of [[Ashdod]], Ahimilki, whose name is similar to that of Abimelech; the Kingdom of Judah could have gotten back parts of Judahite territories while Judah was a compliant vassal of Assyria under [[Manasseh of Judah|Manasseh]].<ref name=":FR">{{cite journal |title=Comments on the Historical Background of the Abraham Narrative: Between "Realia" and "Exegetica" |journal=Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel |url=https://www.academia.edu/29972948 |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |issue=1 |volume=3 |pages=3–23 |last2=Römer |first2=Thomas |year=2014 |doi=10.1628/219222714x13994465496820}}</ref> In addition, Finkelstein and Römer proposed that Abraham might be the ancestor worshipped in Hebron, and Jacob might be the ancestor worshipped in Israel, but the earliest tradition of Jacob, the tradition about him and his uncle Laban the Aramean establishing the border between them, might be originated in Gilead.<ref name=":FR" />