Exploring Isaac's Story

Isaac ruled over his father's territory in ancient Edom. 

The territory extended between Hebron and Beersheba, both shown on this map.

Alice C. Linsley

Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. (Gen. 26:12-14)

Isaac was a high-ranking prince of ancient Edom. His name is derived from iššakkum, a Sumerian title designating the ruler or prince. He was a man of great wealth.

He was Abraham's proper heir, and he inherited control of Abraham's territory that extended north-south from Hebron to Beersheba. That territory was entirely in the region that the Bible calls "Edom" or "Idumea" in Greek. Edom was under the control of Horite Hebrew ruler-priests listed in Genesis 36. 

Both Hebron (where Sarah lived) and Beersheba (where Keturah lived) were in ancient Edom. Abraham's territory extended between the settlements of his two wives and included mountains and lowlands.

Questioning Isaac's existence

When I was in seminary, my Old Testament professor told the class that he doubted Isaac’s existence because there is so little information about Isaac. He noted that the story of Isaac pretending that Rebecca was his sister parallels the story of Abraham asking Sarah to say that she is his sister. He concluded that Isaac is a literary construction reflecting the author’s love of doublets, two different narrative accounts of the same event.

Duplicative narratives reflect a pattern that is familiar to two different authors. An example is the attempt of Abraham and Isaac to pass off their wives as their sisters. In Abraham's case, Sarah was indeed his half-sister. They had the same father, but different mothers because it was the custom of high-ranking Hebrew ruler-priests to have two wives. It is likely that Issac followed the marriage pattern of his Hebrew ancestors. If so, his first wife was a half-sister, the daughter of Abraham and Keturah. 

Another example of a duplicative pattern involves the birth of twins. There are close parallels between the birth of Esau and Jacob and the later birth of Zerah and Perez. Both stories speak of the birth order of twins and identify the firstborn sons as Esau and Zerah. By rights, Esau was Isaac's proper heir, but as such, he probably was not Rebekah's son. He would be the son of Isaac's half-sister, the bride of his youth. In the Hebrew marriage and ascendancy, the firstborn of cousin brides did not rule over the territories of their fathers. They were sent to serve their maternal grandfathers, which is what happened with Jacob. 

My professor also noted the limited genealogical information about Isaac. However, a closer look reveals that Isaac had at least 7 half-siblings. They include Ishmael (born of Hagar) and Eliezer (born of Mesek). Hagar and Mesek were concubines. Genesis 25:6 makes it clear that Abraham had more than one concubine. The Hebrew literally speaks of Abraham's sons by concubines (Speiser on Genesis, Anchor Bible, p. 197).

Abraham's cousin wife Keturah bore him 6 sons: Joktan/Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Zimran, Shua, and Ishbak/Yishbak. Yishbak means "sent away". He is one of the sons to whom Abraham gave gifts and sent away from Isaac. The sending away of non-ascendant sons is made explicit in Genesis 25:5-6: “But Abraham gave everything he possessed to Isaac. While he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons he had by his concubines, but then sent them away to the country of the east, putting a good distance between them and his son Isaac.”

Ishmael also was a sent-away son. The circumstances of his being sent away vary in the book of Genesis. According to one account, Ishmael and Hagar were sent away ("cast out") because of Sarah's jealousy (Gen. 21:10). According to another account, Abraham's eight sons were given gifts and sent away from Isaac's territory before Abraham died.

While I appreciate my professor’s observations, I disagree with his conclusion. Isaac’s historicity can be verified by his adherence to the kinship pattern of his ancestors. Fictional characters do not have verifiable kinship patterns.

The Bible does not identify Isaac’s first wife. Her presence is suggested through multiple lines of evidence. The text in Genesis 26:7 speaks of Isaac having a sister wife. The half-sister wife clearly was not Rebekah since she was Isaac's patrilineal cousin. Isaac would have married according to the pattern of his Hebrew ancestors which means he had two wives. Isaac was living near Beersheba when Abraham’s servant arrived from Padan-Aram with Rebekah. Beersheba was where Keturah resided and where Isaac's half-sister bride was living.

The twin boys assigned to Rebekah were probably the firstborn sons of Isaac’s two wives. Since Esau was Isaac’s proper heir, he would have been the firstborn son of Isaac and his first wife, his half-sister. Rebekah would be the mother of Jacob, a son sent to serve in his maternal grandfather’s territory. This aligns with the social structure of the early Hebrew, as the son of the cousin bride belonged to the household of his maternal grandfather and would reside there after coming of age. This occurred with Jacob who went to live with his maternal uncle (avuncular residence).

Related reading: Abraham's Sons; Abraham's Two Concubines; Sent-Away Sons; The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of Abraham's People; The Hebrew Hierarchy of Sons; Royal Sons and Their Maternal Uncles; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives

Twins, Sent-Away Sons, and Heirs to the Throne

Irish twins are a Guiness World Record

Alice C. Linsley

Most of the heroes of the Bible are sent-away sons. Cain, Nimrod, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David are examples, and most were men with blood on their hands. Cain killed Abel. Nimrod was a mighty hunter and a kingdom builder who forged his territory through conquest. Abraham killed in combat. Moses took the life of an Egyptian slave driver. David killed Goliath and arranged for the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. The Bible does not sanitize the lives of these men.

Cain was the first ruler and city builder named in Genesis. Abraham, Terah's youngest son, built his territory between Hebron and Beersheba and Engedi and Gerar (the land of Edom). Moses, the youngest son of Amram, did not receive a territory. David, Jesse's youngest son, forged a kingdom in Judah and Galilee. Joseph became a ruler in Egypt. Birth order and the status of the man's mother are factors that must be considered in understanding the pattern of sent-away sons as kingdom builders. The first born son of the ruler's half-sister wife was never sent away. He ascended to the throne of his biological father. The first born son of the ruler's patrilineal cousin/niece bride served as a prime minister in the territory of his maternal grandfather, after whom he was named. Other sons were given gifts and sent away to establish territories of their own (Gen. 25:6).

The theme of twins as progenitors and/or city builders is found widely in ancient cultures. The twins Romulus and Remus are said to be the founders of Rome. According to the Rig Veda, Book X, Yama (a male) and Yami (a female) were the twin offspring of Surya, and the first humans. The Adam and Eve story conveys a similar idea. The man comes from mother earth as the first-born to rule over the earth. The woman comes from the man's rib, as the second born. She will rule in a subordinate role.

In the case of twins in the Bible, the first born of the half-sister bride ascends to the throne of his father and the younger twin serves the older twin or is sent away, as happened with Jacob. It is often the younger twin who receives the blessing over the first born twin. Such is the case with Joseph's sons Manasseh and Ephraim, suggesting that they might have been twins. The pattern is found with Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:1-28) and with Perez and Zerah (Gen. 38). In the case of Isaac's twins, this reversal is explained by family deception. In the case of Judah's twins, the reversal is explained by delayed birth. The first to breach the womb had a scarlet cord tied to his arm, but he was born after his brother. The Bible does not indicate how much later. Sometimes the second twin is born much later. Though this is very rare, it can happen with twins, as in this case of Irish twins born 87 days apart.

Related reading:  Were Cain and Abel Twins?; Kushite Kingdom Builders; The Mighty Men of Old; The Kushite Marriage Pattern Drove Kushite Expansion

Twins in Genesis

Alice C. Linsley


Genesis 25:22-26: The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it be so, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Yahweh.

Yahweh said to her, “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger.”

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.

After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.


A Nigerian reader has this to say: “Yorubas have the highest twinning rates in the world and the second child (named Kehinde) to be delivered is always regarded as the senior while the first (named Taiye or Taiwo) is regarded as second in seniority. Twins and multiple births in general have long been revered by the Yorubas as recorded in the Ifa literary corpus. Ifa literature says a lot about the first becoming last and vice versa.”

Yemi Tom’s explanation about twins and Yoruba custom is very interesting and helpful. Here again we find evidence for an African context behind the Genesis material. I personally don't take issue with the idea that Jacob and Esau were the twin sons of Isaac. That is what the text indicates. That said, it is important to investigate other the possible explanations.


Possibility One:  Heteropaternal superfecundation

The Hebrew word for twins is תְאוֹמִים, te-o-mim. There are two sets of twins in the Bible, both mentioned in Genesis. They are Jacob and Esau (born to Rebecca) and Perez and Zerah (born to Tamar of Timna).  Both Rebecca and Tamar were the daughters of rulers and they grew up around the Horite shrines maintained by the fathers. Their similar status and environment is suggestive of certain practices which were later condemned by the prophets. Rebecca's father's title was Bethuel, which is related to the Hebrew Bethulah, which means a virgin. Tamar's father ruled over a territory in Timna which was a prosperous metal working region dedicated to Hathor, the virgin mother of Hor who was called "son of God."

Tamar means date nut palm and was a symbol of fertility. Honoring this ancestor, Solomon made her hometown in Edom one of his seven fortified cities. Tamar is to Edom what Anath is to Egypt. Both were daughters of ruler-priests and the younger of their sons received seniority. In the case of Perez and Zerah we again find the reversal of seniority that YT mentions as a feature of Yoruba twin lore.

Rebecca's twin sons may be a case of heteropaternal superfecundation, that is half-brothers in the womb. This would mean that Rebecca was impregnated by two different men and would explain the extreme differences in the boys' appearances and temperaments.

There are half a dozen cases of heteropaternal superfecundation in the medical literature, many of which involve twins of different colors. The first case was documented by the American physician John Archer in 1810 and appears in the 1980 edition of the medical textbook Williams Obstetrics. In Archer's report a white woman had relationships with a black man and a white man only a few days apart.  Another similar case from 1982 appears in the most recent edition of Williams Obstetrics. In 1978, Paul Terasaki of the UCLA School of Medicine reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that he and his colleagues had conclusively established a case of superfecundation using a procedure called tissue or HLA (human leukocyte antigen) testing.

IVF conceived fraternal twin half-brothers born to Dutch couple in 1993

Possibility Two:  Intentional Ambiguity

It is possible that the author of Genesis didn't know whether Jacob and Esau were twins or firstborn sons of two different wives. He may be hedging when he speaks of "twins" and "two nations." It is certainly possible that Jacob and Esau were twin sons of Isaac, but the part about "two nations" suggests other possibilities. It is more likely that Isaac had two wives, as his his father, grandfather and great grandfather. Isaac's first wife would have been a half-sister, a daughter of Abraham's second wife Keturah. She would have been living in the region of Beersheba, which is the region to which Abraham's servant brings Rebekah to meet Isaac for the first time. Isaac's second marriage would have been to Rebekah.


Possibility Three:  Twins as a Celestial Pattern

Twins are often half-brothers in ancient literature and mythology.  This being the case, Jacob and Esau might be the firstborn sons of two wives but cast as twins after the celestial twins Castor and Pollux. In the case of these twin stars, we also find that one is weaker than the other. This is true also with the twin stars Sirius A and B.


Possibility Four:  Firstborn Sons by Two Wives

It is likely that Jacob and Esau were Isaac's firstborn sons by two different wives.  It was the custom of the Horite rulers to have two wives living in separate households on a north-south axis. This was the case with the rulers listed in Genesis 4 and 5 and with Abraham's grandfather and father, even Abraham himself. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah to the south in Beersheba. Sarah was Abraham's half-sister and the bride of his youth. Keturah was Abraham's cousin or niece bride and the wife of his later years.

The firstborn sons of the two wives ruled over different peoples.  The firstborn son of the half-sister wife ruled over the territory of his biological father.  So Isaac ruled over Abraham's territory between Hebron and Beersheba.  The firstborn son of the cousin/niece wife ruled over the territory of his maternal grandfather, after whom he was named.  So Lamech the Younger, Methuselah's firstborn son by his cousin wife Naamah, ruled after Lamech the Elder. 

This same pattern is evident with Abraham's cousin/niece wife Keturah who bore Abraham six sons.  The firstborn was Joktan, named after Keturah's father. The Joktanite clans still live in the region of southern Arabia.

Analysis of the marriage and ascendency pattern of Abraham's Horite caste reveals that only the cousin/niece bride named her firstborn son after her father.  This cousin bride's naming prerogative makes it possible to trace Jesus' ancestry back to Genesis 4 and 5.

The diagram below presents the genealogical data for Seir the Horite and his contemporary Esau (Issa) the Elder. This information is found in Genesis 36.

Esau the Younger was Jacob's brother, either a twin or a half-brother. Ths diagram supports the view that he was a half-brother, named by Issac's cousin/niece wife after her father, Esau the Elder. Since Rebecca was Isaac's cousin wife, we assume that Esau was her firstborn son as indicated in the text. Her father is called "Bethuel," probably a priestly title.  Maybe his name was Esau. This would connect the Aramean Horites to the Edomite Horites.

Genesis 25:26 tells us that Isaac was sixty years old when Rebecca gave birth. This is consistent with the Horite marriage pattern where heir apparent take the cousin wife later in life. It also suggests that Issac had another wife, the wife of his youth. She would have been his half-sister and resided in the region of the Negev. This would be in keeping with the pattern of Isaac's Horite forefathers. I see no reason why Isaac would have only one wife when the rulers of Genesis 4 and 5, Abraham, Terah, Nahor and even Amram (Moses' father) had two wives.  We must at least entertain the possibility that Jacob was the firstborn son of Issac's half-sister wife and Esau was the firstborn son of his cousin wife.  If this is true, they did indeed represent two distinct but related peoples.


Related reading:  The Biblical Theme of Two Sons; Edom and the Horites; Isaac's Sons; Sons Who Stayed Home; Twins, Sent-Away Sons, and Heirs to the Throne

Were Cain and Abel Twins?

Alice C. Linsley


Susan Burns, a reader of Just Genesis and a fellow member of Open Anthropology Cooperative, has written an interesting and informative piece on Cain and Abel.  She and I agree that the textual evidence suggests that Cain and Abel were twins. Here is what Susan has written:

Genesis 4: Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, 'I have gotten a man with the help of YHWH'. She again bare his brother Abel. The Hebrew word used for again (yasaph) is an adverb meaning to continue to do a thing. Yasaph implies that Eve gave birth to Cain and continued to do the same thing by giving birth to Abel. In other words, Cain and Abel were twins. The profession of Abel was shepherd and Cain was a farmer and city builder.

The tradition of twins as the progenitors of tribal units or city builders is well documented in ancient cultures. Usually the first born ascends to the throne of his ruler father and the younger is sent away to establish a territory of his own. Most of the heroes of the Bible are sent away sons. Cain, Nimrod, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David are examples, and all but Joseph were responsible for the death of other people. Cain killed Abel. Nimrod was a mighty hunter and a kingdom builder who forged his territory through conquest. Abraham killed in combat. Moses took the life of an Egyptian slave driver, and David killed Goliath and arranged for the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband.

Cain was the first ruler and city builder named in Genesis. Abraham the youngest son of Terah, built his territory between Hebron and Beersheba and Engedi and Gerar. Moses the youngest son of Amram, did not receive a territory. David the youngest son of Jesse, forged a kingdom in Judah and Galilee. Joseph became a ruler in Egypt. Birth order and the status of the man's mother are factors that must be considered in understanding the pattern of sent-away sons as kingdom builders. The firt born son of the ruler's half-sister wife was never sent away. He ascended to the throne of his biological father. The first born son of the ruler's patrilineal cousin/niece bride served as a prime minister in the territory of his maternal grandfather, after whom he was named. Other sons were given gifts and sent away to establish territories of their own (Gen. 25:6).

Coptic twins

The pattern in Bible for twins also involves birth order,but it is the younger twin who receives the blessing over the first born. Such is the case with Rebecca's twins Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:1-28) and with Tamar's twins Perez and Zerah (Gen. 38). In Jacob's case this switch results from deception. In the case of Tamar's twins, the first to breach the womb had a scarlet cord tied to his arm, but then he pulled his arm in and his brother was born first.

There are many variations on the theme of rivalry between twins. Jacob is fearful that Esau will kill him for attempting to steal his birthright. In Egyptian mythology Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) were twins. Romulus killed Remus, and in Celtic legend Gwyn and Gwythurin duel every May.The Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, shared a mortal and an immortal existence. Castor was killed on a cattle raid but Pollux persuaded Zeus to allow the brothers to switch places periodically. In Arabian mythology Pollux and Castor were regarded as twin peacocks.

It may be that Peleg and Joktan were twins, but the following wording does not carry the same suggestion as with Cain and Abel. "To Eber were born two sons: the first was called Peleg, because it was in his time that the earth was divided, and his brother was called Joktan. (Gen. 10:25)


Related reading: Twins, Sent-Away Sons, and Heirs to the Throne; Sent Away Sons; Noah's Sons and Their Descendants; The Marriage and Ascendancy Pattern of Abraham's People; From Cain to Jesus Christ; Cain's Murder of Abel; The Kushite Marriage Pattern Drove Expansion Out of Africa; Cain as Ruler