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1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Abraham, and said unto him, “Abraham;” and he said, “Here am I.”

2 And he said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah; and there lift him up for a dedication[a] upon one of the mountains which I will tell you.”

3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he took the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went to the place which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham looked and could see the place from afar.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and the boy and I will go there; and we will worship, and return again to you.”

6 And Abraham took the wood for the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father,” and he said, “Here am I, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?”

8 And Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son;” so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the LORD called to him out of heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham,” and he said, “Here I am.”

12 And he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy, neither do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering instead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The LORD will provide”[a]: as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven,

16 and said, “By myself have I sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice.”

19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

20 And it came to pass after these things, that Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she has also borne children to your brother Nahor:

21 Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.”

[2] h.לְעֹלָ֔ה (lə·‘ō·lāh,) KJV.“as a burnt offering”; although built upon a verb which means to ascend and to dedicate - in actual practice means “a whole burnt offering.” Such a thing would have seemed impossible to Abraham not just because Issac was his firstborn son, but because of God's word 'one who sheds innocent blood shall have his blood spilled, since the human being was created in the Divine image' (Genesis 8:6), 'his brother's blood is crying out from beneath the ground' (Genesis 3:10) and so forth, not to mention God's covenant 'through Isaac shall be designated your special seed.' (Genesis 21:12). Therefore it appears as if God is contradicting himself. This cannot be, so “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:8). Nevertheless it appears as if Abraham did not really understand the message and was making an assumption upon himself. Issac agreed, whatever their understanding was, and allowed himself to be bound buy an old man (so that he would not resist at the last moment out of fear) (Genesis 22:9).

It is on this basis that Rashi comments on the words “and lift him up” (Genesis 22:2): “[G-d] did not say 'slaughter him', because the Holy One blessed be He did not want Isaac to be slaughtered; He merely said 'lift him up' upon the mountain to make of him a dedication, and once he [Isaac] agreed to be dedicated [in life] (Genesis 22:9), He [G-d] said that he was to be brought down.” (Bereshit Rabbah 56,8) And indeed from then on, the Midrash refers to Isaac as a “pure dedication” - olah temimah.

[3] Christians may say that Issac is a 'type' of, or figure of Jesus. There are several problems with this, least among that Issac was not actually sacrificed. Second to this, there is some doubt as to whether Abraham fully understood God's command to him in taking Issac up onto the mountain. See extended commentary.

[14] Yah·weh yir·’eh; h.[יְהוָ֣ה יִרְאֶ֑ה] “The LORD will provide”

Selected commentary.

h.אחר הדברים האלה AFTER THESE THINGS [or, WORDS] — Some of our Rabbis say (Sanhedrin 89b) that it means after the words of Satan who denounced Abraham saying, “Of all the banquets which Abraham prepared not a single bullock nor a single ram did he bring as a sacrifice to You’. God replied to him, “Does he do anything at all except for his son’s sake? Yet if I were to bid him, ‘Sacrifice him to Me’, he would not refuse’’. Others say that it means “after the words of Ishmael” who boasted to Isaac that he had been circumcised when he was thirteen years old without resisting. Isaac replied to him, “You think to intimidate me by mentioning the loss of one part of the body! If the Holy One, blessed be He, were to tell me, “Sacrifice yourself to Me” I would not refuse” (Sanhedrin 89b).

h.הנני HERE AM I — Such is the answer of the pious: it is an expression of meekness and readiness (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

h.קח נא TAKE NOW — The word נא is used as a request: God said to him, “I beg of you, stand firm for me in this trial, so that people may not say that the previous trials were no real tests” (Sanhedrin 89b).

h.את בנך THY SON — Abraham said to God, “I have two sons”. “He answered him, “Thine only son”. Abraham said, “This one is the only son of his mother and the other is the only son of his mother”. God then said, “the one whom thou lovest”. Abraham replied, “I love both of them”. Whereupon God said “even Isaac”. Why did He not disclose this to him at the very first? So as not to confuse him suddenly lest his mind become distracted and bewildered and in his confused state he would involuntarily consent, when there would have been no merit in his sacrifice, and so that he might more highly value God’s command and that God might reward him for the increasing sacrifice demanded by obedience to each and every expression used here (Genesis Rabbah 55:7).

h.ארץ המוריה THE LAND OF MORIAH — This is Jerusalem, and so we find in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 3:1) “To build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah”. Our Rabbis have explained that it is called Moriah — Instruction — because from it (i.e. from the Temple built on that mountain) instruction הוראה came forth to Israel (Genesis Rabbah 55:7). Onkelos translates it by “the land of the Divine Service”. He takes it as having reference to the offering of incense brought in the Temple on Moriah in which there were myrrh (מור) nard and other spices.

h.והעלהו AND OFFER HIM (literally, bring him up) — He did not say, “Slay him”, because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not desire that he should slay him, but he told him to bring him up to the mountain to prepare him as a burnt offering. So when he had taken him up, God said to him, “Bring him down” (Genesis Rabbah 56:8).

h.אחד ההרים ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS — The Holy One, blessed be He, first makes the righteous expectant and only afterwards discloses fully to them his intention — and all this in order to augment their reward. Similarly we have (Genesis 12:1) “[Go to] the land which I will show thee”, and similarly in the case of Jonah 3:2 “Make unto it the proclamation which I shall bid thee” (Genesis Rabbah 55:7).

h.וישכם AND HE ROSE EARLY — He was alert to fulfil the command (Pesachim 4a)

h.ויחבוש AND HE SADDLED [HIS ASS] — He himself: he did not order one of his servants to do so, for love disregards the rule imposed on one by his exalted position in life. (“Love” here means Love of God as displayed in obedience to His command.) (Genesis Rabbah 55:8)

h.את שני נעריו HIS TWO LADS — Ishmael and Eliezer. For a man of high standing should not travel without two men as attendants (Leviticus Rabbah 26:7) so that if one needs to ease himself and goes aside for this purpose the other will still remain with him (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 8)

h.ויבקע AND HE CLEAVED [THE WOOD] — Its rendering in the Targum וצלח has the same meaning as the verb in (2 Samuel [19]:18) And they rushed into the Jordan”, which signifies cleaving the waters; old French fendre; English to split.

h.ביום השלישי ON THE THIRD DAY — Why did God delay and not show it to him at once? So that people should not say, “He confused and confounded him suddenly and bewildered his mind. If, however, he had had time for consideration, he would not have obeyed” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

h.וירא את המקום AND HE SAW THE PLACE — He saw a cloud lowering over the mountain (Genesis Rabbah 56:1).

h.עד כה YONDER — meaning a short distance: to the place in front of us. The Midrashic explanation (based upon the meaning of כה “thus”) is: I will see where will be (i.e. what will happen to) the promise which God made to me, (Genesis 15:5) “Thus (כה) shall thy seed be” (Genesis Rabbah 56:2).

h.ונשובה AND WE WILL COME BACK — He prophesied that they would both return (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

h.המאכלת — means a knife. It is called מאכלת from אכל to eat, because it devours the meat, — just as you say, (Deuteronomy 32:42 “And my sword shall devour (תאכל) flesh”— or because it makes animal flesh fit for eating (מאכלת) (by killing the animal; because while the animal is living its flesh is unfit for eating). Another explanation: זאת נקראת This knife is called מאכלת (and the term is never used of an ordinary knife) because Israel still eats of the reward given for it (Genesis Rabbah 56:3).

h.וילכו שניהם יחדיו AND THEY WENT BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER — Abraham who was aware that he was going to slay his son walked along with the same willingness and joy as Isaac who had no idea of the matter.

h.יראה לו השה — this means as much as: He will look out for and choose a lamb for Himself, and if there will be no lamb for a burnt offering, then, בני MY SON will be the offering. Although Isaac then understood that he was travelling on to be slain, yet.

h.וילכו שניהם יחדיו THEY WENT BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER — with the same ready heart (Genesis Rabbah 56:4).

h.ויעקד AND HE BOUND his hands and feet behind him. Hands and feet tied together is what is meant by עקידה “binding”. It is associated in meaning with עקודים in (Genesis 30:35) “[she-goats] that were streaked” — whose ankles were streaked white so that the place where they are bound could be plainly seen.

h.אברהם אברהם ABRAHAM, ABRAHAM — The repetition of his name is an expression of affection (Genesis Rabbah 56:7).

h.אל תשלח LAY NOT THINE HAND [UPON THE LAD] to slay him. Then he (Abraham) said to God, “If this be so, I have come here for nothing; let me at least inflict a wound on him and draw some blood from him”. God replied, “Neither do thou anything (מאומה) to him” — inflict no blemish (מום) on him (Genesis Rabbah 56:7).

h.כי עתה ידעתי FOR NOW I KNOW — R. Aba said: Abraham said to God, “I will lay my complaint before you. Yesterday (on an earlier occasion) you told me, (Genesis 21:12) “In Isaac shall seed be called to thee”, and then again you said, (Genesis 21:2) “Take now thy son”. Now you tell me, “Lay not thy hand upon the lad”! The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, in the words of Psalms 99:35, “My covenant will I not profane, nor alter that which is gone out of My lips”. When I told you, “Take thy son”, I was not altering that which went out from My lips, namely, My promise that you would have descendants through Isaac. I did not tell you “Slay him” but bring him up to the mountain. You have brought him up — take him down again” (Genesis Rabbah 56:8).

h.כי עתה ידעתי FOR NOW I KNOW — From now I have a reply to give to Satan and to the nations who wonder at the love I bear you: I have an opening of the mouth (i.e. I have an excuse, a reason to give them) now that they see that you are a God-fearing man (Genesis Rabbah 56:7).

h.והנה איל BEHOLD, A RAM — It was predestined for that purpose from the six days of Creation (Avot 5:5; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23).

h.אחר AFTER the angel had said to him “Lay not thy hand upon the lad” he saw it being caught in the thicket. And that is what we mean when we translate it in the Targum by “And Abraham lifted up his eyes after these (i.e. after these words)”. Other versions of Rashi have: according to the Midrashic explanation, after means after all the words of the angel and the Shechinah, and after all the arguments of Abraham.

h.בסבך IN A THICKET — a tree.

h.בקרניו BY ITS HORNS — because it was running towards Abraham, but Satan caused it to be caught and entangled among the trees (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 31).

h.תחת בנו IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON — Since it is written, “He offered it up for a burnt offering”, surely nothing is missing in the text; what then is the force of “in the stead of his son”? At every sacrificial act he performed on it he prayed saying, “May it be Thy will that this act may be regarded as having been done to my son — as though my son is being slain; as though his blood is being sprinkled; as though his skin were being flayed; as though he is being burnt and is being reduced to ashes” (Genesis Rabbah 56:9).

h.'ה יראה Its real meaning is as the Targum renders it: The Lord will choose and select for Himself this place to make His Shechinah reside in it and for sacrifices to be offered there.

h.אשר יאמר היום AS IT IS SAID TO THIS DAY — In the generations to come people will say of it,” On this mountain the Holy One, blessed be He, shows Himself to His people.”

h.היום THIS DAY — the future days, with the same meaning as עד היום הזה “even until this day” wherever it occurs in the entire Scriptures: that all future generations who read this passage will refer the phrase “even unto this day” to the day in which they live. The Midrashic explanation is: May God see this Binding of Isaac every year to forgive Israel and to save them from punishment, so that it may be said “in this day” — in all future generations — “there are seen in the mountain of the Lord” the ashes of Isaac heaped up as it were and serving as a means of atonement (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23).

h.ברך אברכך I WILL SURELY BLESS THEE — The double use of the term “bless” is intended to signify a blessing for the father and a blessing for the son (Genesis Rabbah 56:11).

h.והרבה ארבה AND I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY — once for the father, and once for the son (Genesis Rabbah 56:11).

h.וישב אברהם בבאר שבע AND ABRAHAM DWELT AT BEER-SHEBA — This does not mean really dwelling there but merely staying there on his way home, because he was, as a matter of fact, living at Hebron. Twelve years before the Binding of Isaac he had left Beer-Sheba and had gone to Hebron, as it is said, (21:34) ‘‘And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days”, i.e. exceeding in number the earlier days when he had resided at Hebron — altogether 26 years, as we have explained above (21:34).

h.אחרי הדברים האלה AFTER THESE THINGS [IT WAS TOLD ABRAHAM] etc. — When he returned from Mount Moriah Abraham was pondering and he said, “If my son had really been slain, he would have died without children! I must marry him to one of the daughters of Aner or Eshcol or Mamre”. The Holy One, blessed be He, therefore had the announcement made to him that Rebecca, the one fit to be his (Isaac’s) consort, had been born. This is what is meant by “after these things or words” — namely, “after the words” that expressed the thoughts aroused by the Binding of Isaac (Genesis Rabbah 57:3).

h.גם היא SHE ALSO — She also had a number of families equal in all respects to those which Abraham was to have — namely, twelve, and just as in the case of Abraham, of the twelve tribes born of Jacob) eight were the children of the principal wives and four those of the hand-maids, so here, also, eight were sons of the principal wife and four were sons of the concubine (Genesis Rabbah 57:3).

h.ובתואל ילד את רבקה AND BETHUEL BEGAT REBECCA — The entire genealogical record is given only for the sake of this verse (i. e. to lead up to this verse).