Have you ever noticed that the Bible gives an interpretation and explanation of the text within the text?
You probably already know that all biblical names carry a meaning that is more or less significant for the plot.
This meaning is usually not conveyed in the English translation.
The name ISAAC (יִצְחָק, pronounced “yitshak”), for example, what does it mean in Hebrew and how did Abraham and Sarah get to naming their child Isaac?
In Genesis 18 Sarah’s reaction to the promise of the three men that she will have a son is laughter.
Verse 12: ותצחק שרה “and Sarah laughed”
G’d asks: למה … צחקה שרה “Why was Sarah laughing?”
Sarah denies having laughed in Verse 15: לא צחקתי “I didn’t laugh”, but
G’d knows better and states: צחקת “You did laugh!”.
The meaning of the root צחק is “to laugh outright”, “to sport”.
Here, Sarah doesn’t believe the men and their prophecy, but when the promise is fulfilled (Gen. 21), we learn that Abraham calls the newborn son יִצְחָק, probably not because of his wife’s previous skepticism, but because of his own joy expressed in צְחֹק “laughter”.
In Verse 6 we also read about Sarah’s joy and encounter Isaac’s name both as a verb and as a proper noun:
ותאמר שרה
“And Sarah said:”
צְחֹק עשה לי אלהים
“G’d has made laughter for me”
כל השמע יצחק לי
“whoever hears will laugh for me”