Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art

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 fo ...

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• Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art
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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, ...

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Binding of Isaac, Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses, Binding of Isaac - Christian responses, Binding of Isaac - Muslim responses, Binding of Isaac - Modern-day interpretations, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in literature, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in music, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in film

Read more here: » Binding of Isaac: Encyclopedia II - Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses

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 ...

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Binding of Isaac, Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses, Binding of Isaac - Christian responses, Binding of Isaac - Muslim responses, Binding of Isaac - Modern-day interpretations, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in literature, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in music, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in film

Read more here: » Binding of Isaac: Encyclopedia II - Binding of Isaac - Modern-day interpretations

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

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Binding of Isaac, Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses, Binding of Isaac - Christian responses, Binding of Isaac - Muslim responses, Binding of Isaac - Modern-day interpretations, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in literature, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in music, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in film

Read more here: » Binding of Isaac: Encyclopedia II - Binding of Isaac - Christian 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 spec ...

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Binding of Isaac, Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses, Binding of Isaac - Christian responses, Binding of Isaac - Muslim responses, Binding of Isaac - Modern-day interpretations, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in literature, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in music, Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in film

Read more here: » Binding of Isaac: Encyclopedia II - Binding of Isaac - Muslim responses