Editing Isaac (section)

===Birth===
After God changes Abram and Sarai's names to ''Abraham'' and ''Sarah'', he tells [[Abraham]] that he will bear a second son by [[Sarah]] named Isaac, with whom a new covenant would be established. In response, Abraham began to laugh, as both he and Sarah were well beyond natural child-bearing age.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|17:15–19|HE}}</ref> Some time later, three men who Abraham identifies as messengers of God visit him and Sarah, and Abraham treats them to food and niceties. They repeat the prophecy that Sarah would bear a child, promising Isaac's birth within a year's time, at which point Sarah laughs in disbelief.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|18:10–12|HE}}</ref> God questions why the pair laughed in disbelief at his words, and if it is because they believe such things were not within his power. Now afraid, they futilely deny ever having laughed at God's words.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|18:13–15|HE}}</ref>

Time passes as Isaac is born.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:1–7|HE}}</ref> Isaac was Abraham's second son and firstborn of Sarah who was then Sarai. Sarai had been barren for a long time and sought a way to fulfill God's promise that Abram would be father of many nations, especially since they had grown old, so she offered [[Hagar]] to Abram to be his concubine.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|16:1-3|HE}}</ref>

On the eighth day from his birth, Isaac was [[Religious male circumcision|circumcised]], as was necessary for all males of Abraham's household, in order to be in compliance with the [[Jewish]] covenant.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:1–5|HE}}</ref>

After Isaac had been weaned, Sarah saw [[Ishmael]] playing with or mocking him (the Hebrew term is ambiguous),<ref name="Whedbee1998">{{cite book|author=J. William Whedbee|authorlink=J. William Whedbee|title=The Bible and the Comic Vision|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThA8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA81|date=28 May 1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-49507-3|page=81}}</ref> and urged her husband to cast out Hagar the bondservant and her son, so that Isaac would be Abraham's sole heir. Abraham was hesitant, but at God's order he listened to his wife's request.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|21:8–12|HE}}</ref>