창세기 25:19 카발라: Zohar

R. Hiya once discoursed on the text: Who can express the mighty acts of the Lord, or make all his praise to be heard? (Ps. 106, 2). ‘When God’, he said, ‘resolved to create the world, He used the Torah as the plan both of the whole and the parts. Hence Scripture says: “Then I was by him as a nursling, and I was daily all delight” (Prov. 8, 30), where the word ‘amon (nursling) may also be read ‘oman (architect, designer).

We derive also another lesson from this verse. It is written “And these are the generations of Isaac” (Gen. 25, 19), and a few verses before (Ibid. 12) the text says, “And these are the generations of Ishmael”, and goes on to enumerate twelve princes. Seeing that Isaac had only two sons, we might think that in this respect Ishmael was superior to him. But in truth it is just in allusion to Isaac that Scripture exclaims: “Who can express the mighty acts of the Lord?” the term “mighty acts” being an allusion to Isaac. For Isaac begat Jacob, who in his own self excelled them all, and who further begat twelve tribes, through whom all both above and below were firmly established. Isaac was invested with the sanctity of the supernal world, whereas Ishmael was of the lower world. Hence it says: “Who can express the mighty acts of the Lord, or make the whole of his praise to be heard?” the latter clause alluding to Jacob, as much as to say: “When the sun joins the moon innumerable stars are thereby illumined.”

AND THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC, ABRAHAM’S SON. ‘Why’, asked R. Jose, ‘should Isaac be referred to just here, and here only, as “Abraham’s son”? The reason is that with the death of Abraham Isaac assumed the image of his father, so that anyone looking at him could say “This is surely Abraham”, and thus would be convinced that “Abraham begat Isaac”.’