S9« ISA 
place of a diftriiil, in t'ne department of the Cote d'Or, 
fituated on the Tille : feven miles weft of Gray, and four 
north of Dijon. Lat. 4.7. 30. N. Ion. 5. 9. E. 
I'SAAC, the Hebrew patriarch, was the fon of Abra¬ 
ham and Sarah, and born at Gerar in the country of the 
Phiiiftines, in the year 1S96 B.C. when his father was an 
hundred, and his mother ninety, years of age. His birth 
was predicted to Abraham, as that of the fon who was to 
be the heir of the covenant and promife which God had 
entered into with him, that in his feed all the nations of 
the earth ihould be blefl'ed. This prediction was deli¬ 
vered to Abraham at Mamre, by a heavenly meffenger, 
whom he entertained in his tent; and, when it was heard 
by Sarah, who was liftening at the tent-door, and thought 
herlelf paft child-bearing, the laughed within he'rfelf at 
filch an extraordinary declaration. However, at the time 
appointed, Sarah brought forth her expeCted fon, whom 
Abraham was directed to call Ifaac, which may be ren¬ 
dered “ he has laughed ;” in ailufion, probably, either to 
his mother’s laughter on hearing the prediction, his own 
future profperity, or the happinefs of his parents in ob¬ 
taining an heir to their pofleffions. The attention paid 
to Ifaac proved a fource of jealoufy to Hagar and her fon 
Ifhmael; and Ifaac was fcarcely feven years old, when 
Iffimael’s behaviour towards him was fo contemptuous, 
and probably indicated fuch enmity againft him as the 
fupplanter of his expeCted fortune, that Sarah became 
alarmed for the fafety of he? fon. She therefore deter¬ 
mined to part them for ever, that Ifaac might not be dif- 
turbed by the claims of any rival to his father’s inheri¬ 
tance. With this delign, (lie requefted of her hufband 
that he would fend away the bondwoman and her fon. 
Strongly as Abraham was attached to Sarah, he difcovered 
great reluctance at complying with that requeft, till he 
was inftruCted to yield to it by God, who promifed to 
proteCt: Ifhmael, and to make him the founder of a great 
nation, becaufe he was his fon. When Ifaac was forty 
years old, Abraham fent him to obtain a wife from among 
his own kindred. That wife was Rebecca, the daughter 
of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with whom he lived in a 
date of the greateft connubial felicity. Rebecca, indeed, 
continued barren for nineteen years after their marriage ; 
but at length, in anfwer to Ifaac’s prayers, (lie proved 
with child. When the time of her delivery was ap¬ 
proaching, file felt unufual fenfations, as if occafioned by 
the ftruggling of two children within her womb, which 
gave her much uneafinefs. Having confulted God re- 
fpeCting her condition, fhe was informed that the heads 
of two nations were driving within her, which fhould 
prove different in their difpoiitions and manners, one of 
which fhould be ftronger than the other; and that the 
cider ihould ferve the younger. Soon afterwards Rebecca 
was brought to bed of the twin-brethren Esau and 
Jacob, the former of whom proved the favourite of his 
father, and the latter of his mother, as we have feen in 
their hiftories, vol. vii. and x. Some years after they had 
arrived at manhood, and Jacob had obtained from his 
brother, when overpowered with laffitude and hunger, 
the privileges of his birthright in exchange for a mefs of 
pottage, a famine taking place in Paleftine, where Ifaac 
now refided, he was obliged to remove to fome other 
country, and intended to go into Egypt. God, however, 
was pleafed to direct him to Abimelech king of Gerar, 
where Abraham had formerly met with the moft hof- 
pitable treatment; promifing that he would protect and 
blefs him, in a land which fhould afterwards be a part of 
the inheritance of his defendants. 
When Ifaac arrived at Gerar, he pretended that Re¬ 
becca was his filter, to prevent the danger to himfelf 
which her great beauty might create, were it known that 
he was her hufband. Abimelech, however, difcovered 
the fecret; and, fending for Ifaac, remonftrated with him 
for praftifing a deception which might have encouraged 
tome one or other of his people to commit adultery with 
her, and thereby expof'e the whole nation to the divine 
A C. 
judgments. Ifaac pleaded the apprelienfion which ffe 
entertained concerning his own fafety, as an excufe for 
his conduct; to remove which, Abimelech.gave a ftrift 
charge to his people, that none, of them fhould injure the 
perfon of Rebecca or her hufband, upon pain of death. 
In this place Ifaac profpered in fo wonderful a manner, 
that the Phiiiftines became envious of his great wealth, 
and wiflied for his removal front that neighbourhood. 
To effedtuate this objeft, they rendered his fituation in¬ 
convenient by filling up his wells as fait as his fervants 
dug them, as well as other ill offices ; and at length Abi- 
melech fent him a pofitive order, though couched in civil 
terms, to feek fome other fettlement. Upon this Ifaac 
went to another diftrifl, called the Valley of Gerar, where 
Abraham had formerly pitched his tent, and opened anew 
the wells which his father had dug, but which the Phi¬ 
iiftines after his death had fhut up; he alfo dug other 
wells, to fupply the neceflary water for his increafing 
flocks and herds. To the latter the herdfmen of the Phi¬ 
iiftines laid claim ; and fuch contentions arofe between 
them and the fervants of Ifaac, that he was fubjefted to 
repeated vexatious removals from place to place. Having 
at length arrived at a fpot where he was fuffered to re¬ 
main unmolefted, and meeting with a fufficiency of water, 
he revived the name which his father had given to the 
place, which ever afterwards was called Beerffieba. In 
the mean time Abimelech, fenfible that it was his intereft 
to be upon good terms with a perfon whofe wealth anti 
power had now raifed him into diftinftion, and calling to 
recollection, as we may fuppofe, the league of friendfhip 
which was concluded between his father and Abraham, 
thought it expedient to cultivate a fimilar connection 
with Ifaac. For this purpofe, accompanied by an in¬ 
timate friend, and the chief captain of his troops, he re¬ 
paired to Ifaac at Beerffieba; who could not but exprefs 
fome furprife at their coming, and expoftulated with 
them on the treatment which he had received in their 
country. To this they anfwered, that they were now 
perfectly fatisfied that he enjoyed the fpecial protection 
and bleffing of Providence ; and that they were defirous 
of entering into bonds of friendfhip with him, either by 
forming a new league, or by the revival of that which 
had fubfifted between Abraham and the father of the 
prefent king. Ifaac entertained them that day with 
i'umptuous hofpitality ; and, the league which they defired 
being mutually fworn to on the following morning, they 
departed in peace. Soon afterwards Ifaac’s tranquillity 
was difturbed by Efau’s marrying two wives out of idola¬ 
trous families. His afl'eCtion for his favourite fon, how¬ 
ever, was not long in producing a reconciliation between 
them; and, as Ifaac, who confidered Efau as his heir, was 
apprehenfive from his age and infirmities that he had not 
long to live, he refolved folemnly to beftow upon him his 
prophetic paternal bleffing. In the life of Efau we have 
feen by what ftratagem Rebecca fecured that benediction 
to her fon Jacob. The death of Ifaac, however, was not 
fo near as he imagined, for he lived to furvive Jacob’s fer- 
vitude to Laban, and had the fatisfaCtion to receive him at 
Mamre, when he returned from Padan-Aram with his 
.wives and children, and vaft riches. Ifaac died at the 
age of an hundred and eighty, in the year 1729 B.C. and 
was buried with Abraham and Sarah in the cave of 
Machpelah. Genefis xvii.—xxxv. 
I'SAAC I. furnamed Comnenus, emperor of the Eaft, 
fon of Manuel, was thefirft of the noble family of Comneni 
who arrived at the imperial throne. He, with his brother 
John, was brought up in the camp and court to civil and 
military offices of diftinCtion, and he flood high in the public 
opinion as a general, when the promotion of Michael Stra- 
tioticus to the purple gave general difcontent to the leading 
men. A confpiracy was formed to dethrone Michael; and 
Ifaac Comnenus, who was then in Paphlagonia, was by 
common confent declared the moft worthy fuceefTor. 
Comnenus, inverted with the imperial enfigns, marched to 
Nice, which he furprifedj and, being encountered in its 
neighbourhood 
