The Binding of Isaac - According to Prof. Eliezer Schweid

The binding of Isaac is considered the most important and problematic trial that faced Abraham, both from the aspect of the difficulty of fulfilling it and from the aspect of its significance for Isaac's future and the future of his descendents forever.

This isn't only evident from the unusual ritual which expresses ultimate sacrifice but also from the place chosen for the binding. – Mt. Moriah, the place where the temple was to be built in the future.

The first issue at hand to be deduced from the literary association in the story is: "What did God command Abraham?"

More correctly stated: "What did Abraham understand from God's commandment?"

Did he begin his journey with the intention of slaughtering his son?

Or did he know, from the outset that this wasn't the intention?

First let's examine the language of the command:

"And it was after these things"

("after these things refers to the sending away of Hagar and Ishmael and the story of the covenant with the king of Gerar. From a literary perspective we have to see in this an instruction of the story teller that the events to come are a continuation of the events which preceded them.)

." …and God tested Abraham. And He said to him, "Abraham!" and he said "Here I am," and He said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and raise him up there as a burnt offering (olah) on one of the mountains I will say to you." Gen 22:1-2

There are three connected instructions here:

1. Taking the destined son because he is destined, deliberately, expressed by the word "taking" (lekicha) and sanctify him for his destiny.

2. Going to the Land of Moriah, to the mountain which pointing to it defines its significance; the significance of the Land of Moriah (which can be translated as the Land of pointing, (Moriah in Hebrew means pointing) or the Land that points the way). One of the mountains I will say to you. In other words the mountain which will be the place of saying the word of God's instruction to Abraham and for the future generations. (The Hebrew word "amar = saying" is contained in the word moriah).

3. Finally the instruction which is the objective of the whole event: "the raising up of Isaac as a burnt offering (Olah) to God.

What therefore is the act of "raising up as a burnt offering (Olah) before the Lord?"

According to the Book of Leviticus (1:1-9) a burnt offering "Olah" is a sacrifice which one raises up on the altar of the Lord for atonement and sanctification, in other words for elevation.

The sacrificer places his hands on the head of the animal to be sacrificed and confesses his sins. Thereby the animal represents a replacement of the sacrificer himself.

Afterwards the animal is placed above the wood, slaughtered and dissected and completely burned for the Lord. By means of the sacrifice the sins of the sacrificer are atoned for and he is sanctified to the Lord.

It's important to note from the perspective of the relationship between man and God the raising up of a burnt offering expresses the standing of the person before God as the judge of all the earth to purify himself and to sanctify himself before God, of his sins.

This is the great rule of the service of the sacrifices in the temple. Later this became the rule of prayer: The judging of man before God for his sins so that he can be purified and sanctified and so gain his life, which is a gift of kindness from the Lord.

In this way man will go in the way of the Lord and keep His laws.

This is the explanation of the significance of the commandment which God gave to Abraham. He was required to take his son, to bring him to the place where the temple was to be built in the future in the Land of Canaan, and to lift him up in a symbolic manner, in other words to sanctify him to be a priest before the Lord.

From Abraham's point of view he was symbolically transferring possession of his son as his father to God. This is a legally worthy act: God gave him his son as a special supernatural gift; therefore it was proper that he would give his son to God so that he would serve him in the land which is the realm of God's temple.

This explanation of the commandment is in line with what God continues to say to Abraham, when he symbolically lifts Isaac onto the wood of the altar and the symbolic taking of the knife (it's like the symbolic waving of the hands of Aaron and his sons over the altar)

"For now I know that you fear God and you did not withhold your son, your only one, from me." Gen 22:12

Concerning the significance of the words "God fearing" we learned in the chapter about Abraham and king Abimelech in Gerar. It doesn't refer to a man who is obedient to God's commandments, as an order, no matter what happens but to a man who fears God as the judge of all the earth, as a judge who sees all the acts of man and the thoughts of his heart and judges them in righteousness, each one according to its just deserts.

The statement: "and you did not withhold your son from me" the total significance of the act was the transference of the possession which the father has in his son, to God who gave him to him in His great kindness.

The question still remains: "Could Abraham have thought that God's command to lift up his only son which he loved as a burned offering before Him meant that he had to slaughter his son on the altar and to kill him?"

If we consider how God tested Abraham afterwards we see that in the same way that the thought never occurred to God it also couldn't have occurred to Abraham.

Let us go back to the story of the expulsions of Hagar and Ishmael, which were portents of the binding of Isaac.

Abraham received two promises before he agreed to obey Sarah and to expel Hagar and Ishmael, which was a bad thing to him. Firstly he was promised that no harm would come to Ishmael, on the contrary that he would grow up and a nation will come out of him. Secondly that his seed will be continued in Isaac.

If God promised that no harm would come to Ishmael and he will live to become the father of a nation from the seed of Abraham, how could Abraham conceivably think that God would ask him to kill his son Isaac on the altar? Can one think that God would break a promise that He himself was surety for?

As a fearer of God, who goes in the ways of God, the ways of righteousness and justice, Abraham would have been bound to disobey such a command. In other words to see it as a test which he would succeed by totally rejecting the commandment, because that is the duty of a God who does righteousness and justice.

A confirmation that Abraham did not go to the test with the thought that he would have to kill his son is the conversation between him and Isaac as they walked on the way:

"And Isaac said to his father Abraham and said: "My father" and he said "here I am my son" and he said "here is the fire and the wood and where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham said: God will arrange the lamb for the offering, my son." Gen 22:7-8

One needs to understand these words in their simple context. Isaac's question arises because he's sure his father isn't going to slaughter him, therefore he's surprised that there isn't a lamb? Abraham answers that God will provide the lamb for the offering. This means that the two of them will see it when they get to the place they're going to. It's difficult to see that Isaac understood his father's words any other way and it's difficult to accept that Abraham deliberately deceived his son.

It's certainly possible to read the words 'a lamb for the offering my son" but in the second meaning: The lamb that God will point out will be instead of you my son, that's why you're carrying the wood for the offering.

In this way the event acquires its totally ritualistic character. It combines three partners in an occasion of an elevated, happy dedication full of inspiration and sanctification. Each one contributes his share; Isaac symbolically carries the wood, Abraham symbolically carries the fire and the knife and God provides the ram as an alternative to the acquisition of Isaac.

"And the two of them went together." Gen 22:8