The near-sacrifice of Isaac, in Genesis 22, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to present his son Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. To many readers the tale is one of the most challenging, complex, mystifying, and perhaps ethically troublesome episodes in the entire Bible. The story is referred to as the Akedah or Akedat Yitschak (עקידת יצחק) in Hebrew -- "the binding of Isaac". Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum Hebrew Bible refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian canons. ... Abraham (אַבְרָהָם Father/Leader of many, Standard Hebrew Avraham, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAḇrāhām; Arabic ابراهيم IbrāhÄ«m) is the patriarch of Judaism, recognized by Christianity, and a very important prophet in Islam. ... An angel prevents Abraham from sacrificing Isaac in this illumation from a 14th century Icelandic manuscript. ... Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning to make sacred, from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by 6 million people mainly in Israel, parts of the Palestinian territories, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ...

Abraham agrees to God's command without argument, even though God gives him no reason for the sacrifice (called an Olah in Hebrew -- for the significance of sacrifices, especially in Biblical times, see the korbanot). The text of the story says that God wishes to test Abraham, which indicates that He does not intend for Abraham to actually sacrifice his son. Indeed, the story ends with an angel stopping Abraham at the last minute, at which point Abraham discovers a ram caught in some nearby bushes that he can present as an offering instead of Isaac. Korban (קרבן) (plural: Korbanot קרבנות) in Judaism, is commonly called a religious sacrifice or an offering in English, but is known as a Korban in Hebrew because its Hebrew root K [a] R [o] V (קרב) (or K [o] R [a] V) means to [come] Close (or Draw Near) [to... Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries), which probably descends from the wild moufflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ...

Abraham Sacrificing Isaac by Laurent de LaHire, 1650

Laurent de LaHire: Abraham Sacrificing Isaac 1650 The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Laurent de LaHire: Abraham Sacrificing Isaac 1650 The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ...

Jewish responses

The majority view of Jewish Biblical commentators is that God was testing Abraham to see if he would actually kill his own son, as a test of his loyalty. However, a number of Jewish Biblical commentators from the medieval era, and many in the modern era do not agree with this notion. They read the text in another way.

The early rabbinic midrash Genesis Rabbah quotes God as saying "I never considered telling Abraham to slaughter Isaac (using the Hebrew root letters for "slaughter", not "sacrifice"). Rabbi Yona Ibn Janach (Spain, 11th century) wrote that God only demanded a symbolic sacrifice. Rabbi Yosef Ibn Caspi (Spain, early 14th century) wrote that Abraham's "imagination" led him astray, making him believe that he had been commanded to sacrifice his son. Ibn Caspi writes "How could God command such a revolting thing?" But according to Rabbi J. H. Hertz (Chief Rabbi of the British Empire), child sacrifice was actually "rife among the Semitic peoples," and suggests that "in that age, it was astounding that Abraham's God should have interposed to prevent the sacrifice, not that He should have asked for it." Hertz interprets the Akedah as demonstrating to the Jews that human sacrifice is abbhorent. "Unlike the cruel heathen deities, it was the spiritual surrender alone that God required." Midrash (pl. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that countrys Jewish community. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps The British Empire was one of the worlds first global powers, a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with the global maritime empires of Portugal and Spain in the... Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate or force supernatural beings in order to achieve a desired result. ... Semitic is an adjective referring to the peoples who have traditionally spoken Semitic languages or to things pertaining to them. ...

Other rabbinic scholars also note that Abraham was willing to do everything to spare his son, even if it meant going against the divine command: While it was God who ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son, it was an angel, a lesser being in the celestial hierarchy, that commanded him to stop. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

In some later Jewish writings, most notably those of the Hassidic masters, the theology of a "Divine test" is rejected, and the sacrifice of Isaac is interpreted as a "punishment" for Abraham's earlier "mistreatment" of Ishmael, his elder son, who he expelled from his household at the request of his wife, Sarah. According to this view, Abraham failed to show compassion for his son, so God punished him by ostensibly failing to show compassion for Abraham's son. Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... This article refers to the Ishmael of the Abrahamic religions. ... Sarah (שָׂרָה Princess, Standard Hebrew Sara, Tiberian Hebrew Śārāh, Arabic: سارة) is a biblical matriarch and the wife of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. ...

In The Last Trial, Shalom Spiegel argues that these commentators were interpreting the Biblical story as an implicit rebuke against Christianity's claim that God would sacrifice His own son.

Christian responses

This story is mentioned in the New Testament Book of Hebrews among many acts of faith recorded in the Old Testament: The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ... The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbreviated Heb. ... The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ...

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Hebrews 11:17-19, NKJV)

The majority of Christian Biblical commentators hold this episode to be an archetype of the way that God works; this event is seen as foreshadowing God's plan to have his own son, Jesus, die on the cross as a substitute for us, much like the ram God provided for Abraham. // Jesus, or Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ, is Christianitys central figure, both as Messiah and as God incarnate. ...

Muslim responses

Traditionally, Muslims believe that it was Ishmael rather than Isaac whom Abraham was told to sacrifice. In support of this, Muslims note that the text of Genesis as it stands, despite specifying Isaac, appears to state that Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son ("Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac," Genesis 22:2) to God. Since Isaac was Abraham's second son, there was no time at which he would have been Abraham's only son, so they take this to imply that the original text must have named Ishmael rather than Isaac as the intended sacrifice. The Qur'an itself does not specify which son he nearly sacrificed (Quran 37:99-111). A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an adherent of Islam. ... This article refers to the Ishmael of the Abrahamic religions. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al Karīm or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ...

The entire episode of the sacrifice is regarded as a trial that Abraham had to face from God. It is celebrated by Muslims on the day of Eid ul-Adha. Eid ul-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى) is second in the series of Eid festivals that Muslims celebrate. ...

Modern-day interpretations

It also figures prominently in the writings of many major modern theologians, such as Søren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling and Shalom Spiegel in The Last Trial. Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (IPA: ) (May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, has achieved general recognition as the first existentialist philosopher, though some new research shows this may be a more difficult connection than previously thought. ... Fear and Trembling (original Danish title: Frygt og Bæven) is a philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silencio. ...

In Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, the literary critic Erich Auerbach considers the Hebrew narrative of the Binding of Isaac, along with Homer's description of Odysseus's scar, as the two paradigmatic models for the representation of reality in literature. Auerbach contrasts Homer's attention to detail and foregrounding of the spatial, historical, as well as personal contexts for events to the Bible's sparse account, in which virtually all context is kept in the background or left outside of the narrative. As Auerbach observes, this narrative strategy virtually compels readers to add their own interpretations to the text. Erich Auerbach (1892-1957) was a German philologist, comparative scholar, historian, and critic of literature. ... Since the late 1800s, the word paradigm (IPA: ) has referred to a thought pattern in any scientific discipline or other epistemological context. ... Reality in everyday usage means everything that exists. ... Open Directory Project: Literature World Literature Electronic Text Archives Magazines and E-zines Online Writing Writers Resources Libraries, Digital Cataloguing, Metadata Distance Learning Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Classicism in Literature The Universal Library, by Carnegie Mellon University Project Gutenberg Online Library Abacci - Project Gutenberg texts matched with Amazon...

Some have argued that the story should be read in the context of ancient Near Eastern culture. In the time and era in which Abraham lived, he was surrounded by cultures where the sacrifice of animals to gods was the normal way of showing devotion and loyalty. Abraham lived among some cultures that sacrificed human beings to their gods - sometimes even their own children. The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing the Levant (modern Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Anatolia (modern Turkey), Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria), and the Iranian Plateau (Iran). ...

One understanding of the text is that God inspired Abraham in this episode in order to teach him a lesson, in order to stop human sacrifices from happening.

Readers note that Abraham was put by God into a dilemma with no clear solution.

• If Abraham had said "No God, I cannot comply! Even for You I could never do such a thing", then Abraham would be shown as disobedient to God, which is normally a bad thing. However, he also would have been shown to be a moral person; in this possibility, he could realize that if he couldn't sacrifice his own child, then no one else should do so.
• If Abraham had said "I don't want to, but I trust you and will do so" then Abraham would be shown as being obedient to God, which is normally a good thing. In this case (which occurs in the text), God prevents Abraham from following the initial order. The reader may ask why God has done this, perhaps God in effect says "Ah-Ha! You assumed that this was what I wanted. But I now give you a revelation: This is not the way to serve me. Human sacrifice is not allowed".

Whatever the original intent (which may never be totally elucidated) of the text, the episode has quite an effect on Abraham and Isaac; it is clear to them both that human sacrifice is not acceptable.

Many readers have noted Abraham's prophetic "Freudian slip": He says "I and the boy will go there, bow down, and we will return to you". Many classical rabbinic commentators hold that Abraham knew that Isaac wouldn't die, although, since he was addressing his servants, it is possible he was trying to mislead them (or Isaac) about what he intended to do. The Freudian slip is named after Sigmund Freud, who described the phenomena he called faulty action (Fehlleistung or parapraxis) in his 1901 book The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. ...

The New Testament book of Hebrews says Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead after he had been sacrificed.

Views of modern Biblical scholars

The near-sacrifice in art

• The Sacrifice of Abraham: 1401 bronze relief by Ghiberti. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1418 sculpture by Donatello. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1512-1514 frescoe by Raphael. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: painting by Domenichino. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Abraham: 1520-1525 painting by Sarto. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1526-1532 sculpture by Berruguete. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1590 painting by Empoli. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1596 painting by Ligozzi.Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1607 painting by Cigoli. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1601-1602 painting by Caravaggio. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1625 painting by Riminaldi. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Abraham: 1634 painting by Rembrandt. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1726-1729 frescoe by Tiepolo. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1960-1965 painting by Chagall. Photo

Lorenzo Ghiberti on Gates of Paradise, Baptisterio, Florence self portrait Lorenzo Ghiberti (Florence, 1378 - Florence, December 1, 1455) was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking. ... Statue of Donatello at the Uffizi Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi) (1386 - December 13, 1466) was a famous Florentine artist and sculptor of the Early Renaissance. ... This page is about the artist. ... Domenico Zampieri (or Domenichino) (October 21, 1581 - April 15, 1641), Italian painter, born at Bologna, was the son of a shoemaker. ... Andrea del Sarto (Andrea dAgnolo di Francesco di Luca di Paolo del Migliore, Gualfonda, Florence, 1487 - Florence, 1531). ... Empoli is a town in Tuscany, Italy, about 30 km southwest of Florence. ... Lodovico Cigoli Lodovico Cardi called Cigoli (1559, Villa Castelvecchi di Cigoli - 1613, Rome)) is an Italian painter, architect and poet, born at Cigoli in Tuscany. ... Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (September 28, 1573 – July 18, 1610), named after his hometown Caravaggio near Milan, was an Italian Baroque painter, whose large religious works portrayed saints and other biblical figures as ordinary people. ... Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) is generally considered one of the greatest painters in European art history (together with Pieter Paul Rubens), and the most important United Provinces (Netherlands) painter of the seventeenth century. ... The Death of Hyacinth Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (March 5, 1696 - March 27, 1770) was a Venetian painter. ... Marc Chagall as photographed in 1941 by Carl Van Vechten Marc Chagall (July 7, 1887 - March 28, 1985) was a Belarusian painter of Jewish origin. ...

The near-sacrifice in literature

• The Parable of the Old Man and the Young: Poem by Wilfred Owen used the near-sacrifice, altered to a successful slaughter, as an allusive metaphor for World War I. Text of poem
• Hyperion: first novel in the science-fiction series Hyperion Cantos written by Dan Simmons in which one of the characters, Sol Weintraub, ponders the near-sacrifice in relation to his own problem of being told by a voice to take his daughter Rachel to the planet Hyperion and offer her to the Time Tombs.

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young is a poem by Wilfred Owen which compares the ascent of Abraham to Mount Moriah and his near-sacrifice of Isaac there with the start of The Great War. ... Wilfred Owen - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... In rhetoric, an allusion is the implicit referencing of a related object or circumstance, which has occurred or existed in an external context. ... In language, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope where a comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects. ... the world war was a time of cheese ... Hyperion Hyperion (book) redirects here. ... Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948 in Peoria, Illinois) is an author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel Hyperion and its sequel The Fall of Hyperion. ...

The near-sacrifice in music

• Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, for alto, tenor, and piano, Op. 51: 1952 song/opera by Benjamin Britten. Text adapted from the medieval Chester Mystery Plays. One voice sings the role of Abraham, the other Isaac. The two voices sing homophonically to create a third voice for God. Lyrics
• Highway 61 Revisited: 1965 song by Bob Dylan with lyrics that reference the near-sacrifice. Highway 61 was a killer highway near Bob Dylan's home. Bob Dylan's father was named Abraham. Lyrics
• Story of Isaac: 1969 song by Leonard Cohen. Lyrics
• Isaac and Abraham: 1992 song by Joan Baez. Lyrics
• The Cave: 1994 opera by Steve Reich. Contains the song The Binding of Isaac in the third act.

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) was a British composer, conductor and pianist. ... Mystery plays are one of the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. ... Homophony is music in which the top line has a dominant melody, and all the voices accompany it with chords in the same rhythm. ... Highway 61 Revisited was the sixth album released by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... Portrait photograph of Bob Dylan taken by Daniel Kramer Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman May 24, 1941) is a highly influential American songwriter, musician, and poet. ... Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen, CC was born September 21, 1934 in Montreal, Quebec and grew up in Westmount on Montreal island. ... Joan Baezs 1975 bestseller Diamonds & Rust. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Steve Reich (born October 3, 1936; last name pronounced []) is an American composer. ...

The near-sacrifice in film

• The Rapture: 1991 movie directed by Michael Tonklin with a key scene that references the near-sacrifice. Internet Movie Database
• Abraham: 1994 TV-movie directed by Joseph Sargent. Internet Movie Database
• Frailty: 2001 movie directed by Bill Paxton. Internet Movie Database
• The Believer: 2001 movie directed by Henry Bean. Internet Movie Database

Frailty (2001) is a movie directed by Bill Paxton and starring Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. ... Bill Paxton (born May 17, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas) is a notable American actor. ...

See also

• Isaac
• Hebrew Bible
• Theodicy
• Free will
• Iphigeneia
• Filicide
• Child sacrifice

An angel prevents Abraham from sacrificing Isaac in this illumation from a 14th century Icelandic manuscript. ... 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum Hebrew Bible refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian canons. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Free will is the philosophical doctrine that holds that our choices are ultimately up to ourselves. ... The sacrifice of Iphigenia by the Illioupersis Painter Iphigeneia (gr. ... Filicide is the act of a parent killing his or her own son or daughter. ... Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate or force supernatural beings in order to achieve a desired result. ...

External links

• Symposium on the Sacrifice of Isaac in the Three Monotheistic Religions
• The Sacrifice of Isaac in Medieval English Drama

Sources

Modern Biblical scholars

• The Real Test of the Akedah: Blind Obedience versus Moral Choice, Judaism, Vol.. 42, No.1, 1993
• R. Jensen, "The Binding of Sacrifice of Isaac, How Jews and Christians See Differently", Buble Review, Vol.IX, No. 5, 1993, p.45
• W. G. Plaut, The Torah: A Modern Commentary, UAHC Press, 1974, p.210
• Aviezer Ravitzky of Hebrew University , Abraham: Father of the Believers, (Hebrew),
• Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, Jewish Publication Society, 1989