Gavton Project

There are some Sages who say [that this event occurred] “After the words of Satan” who said accusingly [to God], “From all the feasts that Avraham prepared, he did not offer as sacrifice to You a single bull or ram.” He [God] responded to him, “He does everything for the sake of his son. Yet, if I were to say to him, ‘Sacrifice him to Me,’ he would not refuse.” There are those [other Sages] who say “After the words of Yishmael” who would boast to Yitzhak that he was circumcised when he was thirteen and did not resist. Yitzhak responded to him: “You try to intimidate me with one limb. If God would tell me, ‘Sacrifice yourself to Me,’ I would not refuse.”

This is the response of the pious— an expression of humility and readiness.

נסה את אברהם, to demonstrate that Avraham’s love for G’d as well as his fear of G’d was not merely potential but actual, much as G’d goodness is not merely potential but actual. The purpose of man’s existence is to emulate the virtues of G’d, and by means of this “test” Avraham had an opportunity to demonstrate this. When G’d created man He had set Himself the objective of “let us make man in Our image etc.,” i.e. as much like Divine beings as is it possible for a creature to be . (Genesis 1,26)

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, after what happened to Avraham with Avimelech and as a result of his pact he had resided among the Philistines for many years, so that he had decided to migrate to Beer Sheva. At that point he received the instruction from G’d concerning his only son (by Sarah). It is very difficult to explain the matter of G’d’ “testing” someone, seeing that G’d knows in advance what the result of such a test is going to be. What then is the point of such a test? If the point was to demonstrate to the world at large that Avraham successfully passed such a test, how could this be accomplished in a setting where only Avraham and Yitzchok were present? He had even left the lads who had accompanied him behind so that there were no witnesses whatsoever to his carrying out a command which he had not even told Yitzchok about until the last possible moment! Even if Avraham had told someone what had transpired on the mountain, who would have believed him? The truth is that the purpose of the trial was to demonstrate to the world Avraham’s love for G’d. It was not meant to demonstrate anything to the generation during which Avraham lived, but to prove this to subsequent generations of people who believed in the Torah which was handed down to us by Moses at the command of G’d Himself. All that is written in the Torah [including such stories as that of Bileam and Balak, none of which had been witnessed by any Jew alive at that time, Ed.] is meant to teach the extent to which we are expected to demonstrate our love for G’d if and when the occasion arises. We know that Avraham loved Yitzchok more than he loved himself, seeing that he was already old and did not expect anymore out of life. If Yitzchok were to die at that time before he had married and raised a family, he would not have enjoyed any true satisfaction in his life on earth. This thought must have been very upsetting for his father Avraham. If he was nonetheless prepared to carry out G’d’s command without hesitation this was indeed a feat that all his descendants would marvel at. The fact that Avraham, who had prayed to G’d for sinners to be given a reprieve, did not even pray to G’d to spare the life of Yitzchok until he had at least married and started to raise a family, is meant to be an inspiration to all of us. Moreover, G’d Himself had provided Avraham with arguments which would have entitled him to at least defer sacrificing Yitzchok since he had told him that he, Avraham, would be known in history through Yitzchok. How could such a promise be fulfilled if Yitzchok were to die now? This story became the powerful message which Yitzchok transmitted to his son Yaakov, and which Yaakov transmitted to his sons. After the Torah was committed to writing the story became famous throughout the world, some people believing it, others not. Nowadays, after primitive paganism has ceased to exist in most of civilised society, most of mankind believes the story recorded in the Bible without hesitation. If large sections of mankind express some doubts about what is written in the Torah this concerns only whether everything written in the Torah as fact needs to be understood as historical, literal truth, or if many stories are to be understood as allegorical, but conveying the same ethical and moral messages. Similarly, these doubters believe that many of the practical commandments in the Torah were not meant to be fulfilled literally, but were examples demonstrating G’d’s attitude to certain problems confronting man. The very fact that the majority of mankind does believe that Avraham did what the Torah writes he did, is proof that Avraham had lived the kind of life which inspired man to believe that one can love G’d more than anything else in the universe.

והאלוקים נסה את אברהם, G’d now subjected Avraham to a painful test, something which was bound to cause him grief. Whenever the root נסה occurs, such as in Job 4,2 or Exodus 17,7 or Psalms 26,2 the connotation is an unpleasant one for the one being subjected to it. In this instance, G’d, so to speak, indicated to Avraham that he had been foolish to think that he could guarantee’s Yitzchok’s and his descendants well being into the future, as he might have to terminate his life before he even had produced any offspring who would be called upon to honour his father’s deal with Avimelech. We find that the ark of the covenant spent seven months in Philistine captivity as a result of Avraham having made such an unauthorised pact with Avimelech (Samuel I 6,1). The seven months corresponded to the seven sheep Avraham had gratuitously given to Avimelech. G’d swore that as a result the Philistines would fight seven wars against the Israelites in which they would be victorious. These wars occurred during the time of Shimshon, Chofni, Pinchos, Sha-ul, and the three sons of Sha-ul who were killed. Another approach: as a result of Avraham’s high-handed act seven altars (public altars equivalent of temples) were destroyed by the enemies of the Jewish people after they entered the Holy Land Land, They were: Moses’ Tabernacle, Gilgal, Nov, Shiloh, Givon and the two Temples in Jesrusalem. (copied from Midrash Shemuel by the editor of Rash’bam) According to still another version G’d’s ark would repose in the land of the Philistines for 7 months.

ה' נסה, the words mean קונטריה, “G’d rebuked Avraham.”

Na is an expression of a request. He [God] said to him, “I plead with you, withstand this test so that no one can say that the first [tests] were not real.”

He [Avraham] responded, “I have two sons.” He [God] said to him, “Your only one.” He responded, “This one is an only son to his mother and the other is an only son to his mother.” He [God] said to him, “Who you love.” “I love them both,” he [Avraham] answered. Then, He said, “Yitzhak!” Why didn’t God reveal this from the beginning? So as not to confuse him suddenly, and he become bewildered and deranged. And, also, so that he value the mitzvah and he would get the reward for each and every expression.

[This refers to] Jerusalem. As in II Chronicles 3:1, “To build the House of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.” Our rabbis explained [that it is called this] because from there instruction (lit. “Torah”) goes forth to Israel. Onkelos’ translation is based on the incense service which contains myrrh, nard, and other spices.

המוריה, same as האמוריה, “the land of the Emorite.” It happens frequently that the letter א is missing, just as in our verse. One such example is found in Exodus 10,21 וימש חשך, where the word וימש should really have been ויאמש חשך, “causing darkness.” Another example of the letter א being missing is found in Isaiah 13,20, where instead of לא יהל we would have expected לא יאהל, “he will pitch his tent.”