Isaac is seen most often in "Abraham and Isaac" images taken from Genesis 22:1-14. For these, see our page on Abraham. Also popular in medieval art is the ruse by which Jacob gained the blessing of his father Isaac, discussed in our page on Jacob.
The ruse was devised by Isaac's wife Rebecca, who was chosen for him by Abraham's steward Eliezer. She first meets Eliezer at her family's well, where she offers him water (Genesis 24:1-24). The encoounter is presented in the third picture at right and possibly in a panel in the Dura Europos baptistery.
On the left Rebecca waters Eliezer's camels at the well of Nahor in Aram. On the right, she travels to the Negev to meet Isaac, her husband-to-be. (See the description page for more on this mosaic.)
In the Glossa Ordinaria's comments on this passage Rebecca is taken allegorically as "the Church of the elect," and the water that she gives Eliezer is the faith that the Church places in the preachers God sends to the elect. This may be what is meant in the panel in the Dura-Europos baptistery that pictures a woman in the act of drawing water from a well. Many scholars have assumed she is the Woman at the Well of John 4:4-26, but Kraeling (69) suggests she is Rebecca, noting that other early images of John 4 always include Jesus. Rebecca's well would be particularly appropriate to the Dura panel, which abuts the baptistery itself and sits opposite to an image of Peter reaching out the Jesus as he walks on water.
Prepared in 2019 by Richard Stracke, Emeritus Professor of English, Augusta University.
