Holy Forefather Isaac.

Isaac was born in answer to God's promise to Abraham and Sarah, who had long been childless. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 91 years old. While Isaac was still young, Abraham was told to sacrifice him on Mount Moriah, the later site of Yahweh's temple in Jerusalem. This event, known as the Binding of Isaac (Akedah in Hebrew), became central to Isaac's spiritual significance and his foreshadowing of Christ.

Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah. After many years of marriage to Isaac, Rebekah had still not given birth to a child and was believed to be barren. Isaac prayed for her and she conceived. For 20 years, Isaac and Rebecca could not have any children, but finally Rebecca became pregnant. The pregnancy was difficult and she asked God what was wrong. It was at this time that God advised her that she would have twins and that the younger would be greater than the older.

Isaac was a man of faith and devotion, following in the spiritual inheritance of his father Abraham. He continued the covenant relationship with God and passed the blessing and promise to his descendants through Jacob, who became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.

In his later years, when Isaac was about 137 years old, he thought he was about to die, prompting him to give a blessing to his sons as the custom was. He planned to bless Esau, but Rebecca prompted Jacob to trick his father. It worked, but inspired such hatred in Esau that he threatened to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died. However, Isaac didn't die. He recovered and lived another 43 years.

According to local tradition, the graves of Isaac and Rebekah, along with the graves of Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Leah, are in the Cave of the Patriarchs.

The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church consider Isaac as a saint along with other biblical patriarchs. Along with those of other patriarchs and the Old Testament Righteous, his feast day is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine rite of the Catholic Church on the Second Sunday before Christmas (December 11–17), under the title the Sunday of the Forefathers. Additionally, on August 21, Orthodox Churches commemorate the Holy Forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Isaac stands as a central figure in the prefigurement of Christ in the Old Testament. His willingness to be sacrificed, his bearing the wood for the sacrifice, and his deliverance by divine intervention all foreshadow the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. As Jesus Christ's earthly line is traced back through Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. The three are often considered together in the hymns of the Church.

The Righteous Isaac was the second of the Old Testament Patriarchs, and the son of Abraham. Isaac in Hebrew means "he will laugh," reflecting the laughter of Abraham and Sarah when they were told that they would have a child at their advanced ages. He is the only patriarch whose name was never changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan.

Isaac was born when Abraham was one hundred years old. His life was marked by the profound test of faith when God tested Abraham to see if he would sacrifice his son. Isaac, carrying the pile of firewood on his back upon which he was to be sacrificed, who humbly questions his father and allows himself to be tied without murmuring, becomes the prefiguration of Christ the Savior. When Abraham was about to complete the sacrifice, God stopped him and placed a ram in Isaac's place saying "for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me".

Isaac married Rebekah, an Aramean woman, and Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when his two sons were born. He and Esau buried their father, Isaac, in Hebron after he died at the age of 180. According to the narrative, he died aged 180, the longest-lived of the three patriarchs.

The early Christian church continued and developed the New Testament theme of Isaac as a type of Christ and the Church being both "the son of the promise" and the "father of the faithful". The sacrifice of Isaac is not only a testimony to Abraham's faith. It is also the original sign that God Himself does what He does not allow the first and foremost of His People to do. No ram is put in the place of God's Son, His only Son Jesus, when He is sacrificed on the cross for the sins of the world.