The same look – Tol’dot
Abraham & Isaac, by Jan Lievens, c.1637
Rashi and Ibn Ezra explain that the double statement is in order to emphasise that father and son looked alike and no-one had the right to think that anyone else was the father.
The commentators add that the double phrase indicates that Abraham not only bore but reared his son. He gave him lineage and also moral principles. He brought the boy up with beliefs and ethics.
Whoever looked at Isaac knew that he was in the Abraham tradition.
