Binding of Isaac: Encyclopedia - Binding of Isaac

Binding of Isaac

The Binding of Isaac, in Genesis 22, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac 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) and as the Dhabih in Arabic.

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, after Isaac is bound to an altar, an angel stops Abraham at the last minute, at which point Abraham discovers a ram caught in some nearby bushes. Abraham then sacrifices the ram in Isaac's stead.

According to Josephus, Isaac is twenty-five years old at the time of the sacrifice, while the Talmudic sages teach that Isaac is thirty-seven. In either case, Isaac is a fully grown man, strong enough to prevent the elderly Abraham (who is 125 or 137 years old) from tying him up had he wanted to resist.

Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses

The majority of Jewish Biblical commentators argue 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 abhorrent. "Unlike the cruel heathen deities, it was the spiritual surrender alone that God required."

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.

In some later Jewish writings, most notably those of the Hasidic 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.

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.

Binding of Isaac - Christian responses

This story is mentioned in the New Testament Book of Hebrews among many acts of faith recorded in the Old Testament:

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.

Binding of Isaac - 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).

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.

Binding of Isaac - 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.

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.

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.

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

Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art

• The Binding of Isaac: 6th Century B.C.E. mosaic floor panel at Beit Alpha by Marianos and Hanina. Photo
• 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
• Abraham Sacrificing Isaac: 1650 painting by de LaHire. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1726-1729 frescoe by Tiepolo. Photo
• The Sacrifice of Isaac: 1960-1965 painting by Chagall. Photo

Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in literature

• The Brome: Abraham and Isaac: 14th Century English passion play (Gassner, 1963)
• 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
• Without Feathers: 1975 book by Woody Allen containing an essay (The Scrolls) that humorously re-tells the near-sacrifice story. Excerpt embedded in speech
• Hyperion: first novel (1989) 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.

Binding of Isaac - 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.

Binding of Isaac - 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

See also

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

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Binding of Isaac", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki