Isaac
For details of events in Isaac's early life see Abraham and Isaac.
Isaac - his name in Hebrew is יִצְחָק, yitschaq - was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, but it was twenty years before they had any children, the twins Esau and Jacob being born when Isaac was 60 (Genesis ch. 25, vv. 19-26). The twins were very different in appearance and character: Esau, the elder, was a redhead and hairy, while Jacob was smooth-skinned; and Esau, his father's favourite, became a skilled huntsman, while Jacob, his mother's favourite, became a herdsman (ibid ch. 25, vv. 25-28).
After his father Abraham's death Isaac travelled south and lived in the oasis around the well of Lahai-roi in the Negev desert (ibid ch. 25, v. 11), but after a time, when the area was hit by famine, he moved north to Gerar, where his father had once lived (ibid ch. 20, v. 1), the territory of the Philistine king Abimelech. While in Gerar, like Abraham before him (ibid ch. 20, vv. 2-16), Isaac was afraid that a powerful Philistine, attracted by his wife's beauty, would want to marry her and, knowing that she was already his wife, would try to kill him. He therefore pretended that Rebekah was not his wife but his sister. As in the case of Abraham, the deception was soon discovered, and Isaac was reproached by Abimelech (ibid ch. 26, vv. 6-11). Nonetheless, Isaac continued to live in the area, where he prospered to such an extent that Abimelech began to see him as a threat and asked him to leave his territory. Isaac then moved from place to place, often coming into conflict with other herdsmen over the right to use the local wells, until eventually he was able to negotiate with Abimelech and reach an agreement which allowed them to live in peace with one another (ibid. ch. 26, vv. 12-33).
In his old age Isaac was blind, and Jacob, at his mother Rebekah's suggestion, took advantage of this to trick Isaac into giving him (Jacob) the blessing which should have been given to his elder brother Esau. Believing that he did not have long to live, Isaac asked Esau to hunt down a suitable animal and prepare for him a dish of venison according to his favourite recipe, after which he would give him his blessing as his first-born son. Rebekah, however, learning of this and seeing an opportunity to promote the interests of her own favourite, told Jacob to kill two kids from his herd. She then cooked their flesh according to Isaac's favourite recipe and draped their skins over the back of Jacob's hands and neck. When Jacob went into his father's tent with the dish, Isaac was at first suspicious: Jacob could not disguise his voice, and Isaac was surprised that it had been possible to hunt down a suitable animal in so short a time. However, he was convinced by the apparent hairiness of Jacob's hands that this was Esau, and so after he had eaten he gave Jacob the blessing which he had intended to give to his first-born son. When Esau arrived later with his dish of venison, he learnt that Isaac had been deceived into blessing his younger brother (ibid ch. 27, vv. 1-40)..
Unsurprisingly, Esau hated Jacob for depriving him of his father's blessing, and threatened to kill him, but Rebekah again intervened to help her favourite. She advised Jacob to go and stay with her brother Laban in Haram (in Padan-aram in Mesopotamia) - a plan which she persuaded Isaac to accept by arguing that it would prevent Jacob from marrying a woman from one of the local tribes - unlike Esau, who, much to his parents' displeasure, had already married two Hittite women (ibid ch. 26, vv. 34-35) - and would lead him to choose a wife from among the women in her own family (ibid. ch. 27, v. 41 - ch. 28, v. 7).
In fact Jacob remained 20 years with his uncle Laban in Padan-aram and married two of his daughters, Leah and Rachel - for more see Jacob. On his return he was reconciled with Esau, and shortly afterwards Isaac, who was now 180 years old, died and was buried by both brothers (ibid. ch. 35, vv. 27-29).
