28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

We haven’t heard about Isaac for a long while. The last words we heard from him were in Genesis 28 when he blessed Jacob to receive the covenant of Abraham and sent him to find a wife. As far as the biblical record is concerned, Isaac’s role seems to have been to carry the covenant from his father Abraham to his son Jacob. He bridged the gap between the two men who were most fundamental in establishing the Israelite nation.

This is also the last we hear of Esau and Jacob being gathered in the same place. We have not heard of any interaction between them since Jacob first returned to Canaan, and we will hear no interaction hereafter, not even when Jacob leaves for Egypt because of the famine.

One would assume that Jacob had occasional interactions with his father and brother after returning to the covenant land, but it is abundantly clear that he does not rely on them anymore. He is his own household, and now that Isaac has passed, he is the patriarch of his own people.