The Binding of Isaac (), or simply "The Binding" (), is a story from chapter 22 of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. In the Biblical narrative, God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the mountain called Jehovah-jireh in the region of Moriah. As Abraham begins to comply, having bound Isaac to an altar, he is stopped by the Angel of the Lord; a ram appears and is slaughtered in Isaac's stead, as God commends Abraham's pious obedience to offer his son as a human sacrifice.
Especially in art, the episode is often called the Sacrifice of Isaac, although in the end Isaac was not sacrificed."Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac", an example in Missouri Various scholars suggest that the original story of Abraham and Isaac may have been of a completed human sacrifice, later altered by redactors to substitute a ram for Isaac, and some traditions, including certain Jewish and Christian interpretations, maintain that Isaac actually was sacrificed.See Binding of Isaac#Child sacrifice below In addition to being addressed by modern scholarship, this biblical episode has been the focus of a great deal of commentary in traditional sources of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Biblical narrative: Genesis 22
The account of events in Genesis 22 has been described as "one of the most brilliantly told narratives in the book [of Genesis]".Whybray, R. N., 4. Genesis, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary, page 53, archived on 2 November 2017
According to the narrative, God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. After Isaac is bound to an altar, a messenger from God stops Abraham before he can complete the sacrifice, saying, "now I know you fear God". Abraham looks up and sees a ram and sacrifices it instead of Isaac. The passage states that the event occurred at "the mount of the " in "the land of Moriah". Abraham then named the place 'Jehovah-jireh' (). 2 Chronicles 3:1 refers to "mount Moriah" as the site of Solomon's Temple, while Psalm 24:3, Isaiah 2:3 and 30:29, and Zechariah 8:3 use the term "the mount of the " to refer to the site of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the location believed to be the Temple Mount. In the Samaritan Pentateuch version of Genesis 22:14, the phrase is taken to mean "in the mountain the Lord was seen"—the mountain being Mount Gerizim.
Jewish views
Interpretation In The Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides argues that the story of the binding of Isaac contains two "great notions". First, Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac demonstrates the limit of humanity's capability to both love and fear God. Second, because Abraham acted on a prophetic vision of what God had asked him to do, the story exemplifies how prophetic revelation has the same truth value as philosophical argument and thus carries equal certainty, notwithstanding its coming in a dream or vision.Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed, Vol. 2, Book III, Ch. 24. English translation by Shlomo Pines. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.
In The Binding of Isaac, Religious Murders & Kabbalah, Lippman Bodoff argues that Abraham never intended to actually sacrifice his son, and that he had faith that God had no intention that he do so. Rabbi Ari Kahn elaborates this view on the Orthodox Union, which represents Modern Orthodox Jewish congregations in the United States, website as follows:
In Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative, Yael Feldman argues that the story of Isaac's binding, in both its biblical and post-biblical versions (the New Testament included), has had a great impact on the ethos of altruist heroism and self-sacrifice in modern Hebrew national culture. As her study demonstrates, over the last century, the "Binding of Isaac" has morphed into the "Sacrifice of Isaac," connoting both the glory and agony of heroic death on the battlefield. In Legends of the Jews, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg argues that the binding of Isaac is a way for God to test Isaac's claim to Ishmael, and to silence Satan's protest about Abraham, who had not brought up any offering to God after Isaac was born. It was also to show proof to the world that Abraham is a true God-fearing man who is ready to fulfill any of God's commands, even to sacrifice his own son:
Jacob Howland has pointed out that "Ginzberg's work must be used with caution, because his project fabricating a unified narrative from multiple sources inevitably makes the tradition of rabbinic commentary seem more univocal than it actually is." Ginzberg's work does not encompass the way in which midrash on 'Akedah mirrored the different needs of diverse Jewish communities. Isaac was resurrected after the slaughter in the version of medieval Ashkenaz. Spiegel has interpreted this as designed to recast the biblical figures in the context of the Crusades.
The Book of Genesis does not tell the age of Isaac at the time. Some Talmudic sages teach that Isaac was an adult aged 37, likely based on the next biblical story, which is of Sarah's death at 127 years, being 90 when Isaac was born. Rabbinic tradition closely links this timeline to her death, teaching that the sudden news of the event caused her passing out of either grief or intense joy, a topic explored further under the Judaism section of Sarah's page.Jon D. Levenson, Lecture October 13, 2016: "Genesis 22: The Binding of Isaac and the Crucifixion of Jesus" , starting at about 1:05:10 Isaac's reaction to the binding is unstated in the biblical narrative. Some commentators have argued that he was traumatized and angry, often citing the fact that he and Abraham are never seen to speak to each other again; however, Jon D. Levenson notes that the biblical text never depicts them speaking before the binding, either.
In the Genesis Apocryphon discovered in the Qumrannic Caves Scrolls (Dead Sea Scrolls) in 1946, Hebrew tribal patriarch Lamech, son of Methuselah converses with Abraham who also speaks in first and third person narratives.
Use in worship The narrative of the sacrifice and binding of Isaac is traditionally read in synagogue on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
The practice of the Kabbalists, observed in some communities but not all, is to recite this chapter every day immediately after Birkot hashachar.
Christian views
In the New Testament, the binding of Isaac is mentioned in the Epistle to the Hebrews's celebration of the many acts of faith recorded in the Old Testament: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called', 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)
Abraham's faith in God is such that he felt God would be able to resurrect the slain Isaac so his prophecy (Genesis 21:12) might be fulfilled. Early Christian preaching sometimes accepted Jewish interpretations of the binding of Isaac without elaborating. For example, Hippolytus of Rome says in his Commentary on the Song of Songs, "The blessed Isaac became desirous of the anointing and he wished to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world" (On the Song 2:15).
Other Christians from the period saw Isaac as a type of the "Word of God" who prefigured Christ.Origen, Homilies on Genesis 12 This interpretation can be supported by symbolism and context such as Abraham sacrificing his son on the third day of the journey (Genesis 22:4), or Abraham taking the wood and putting it on his son Isaac's shoulder (Genesis 22:6). Another thing to note is how God reemphasizes Isaac being Abraham's one and only son whom he loves (Genesis 22:2, 12, 16). As further support to the view of early Christians that the binding of Isaac foretells the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when the two went up there, Isaac asked Abraham "where is the lamb for the burnt offering" to which Abraham responded "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." (Genesis 22:7–8). However, it was a ram (not a lamb) that was ultimately sacrificed in Isaac's place, and the ram was caught in a thicket (Genesis 22:13). In the New Testament, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29). Thus, the binding is compared to the Crucifixion and the last-minute stay of sacrifice is a type of the Resurrection. Søren Kierkegaard describes Abraham's actions as arising from the zenith of faith leading to a "teleological suspension of the ethical".
Francis Schaeffer argues:
Muslim views
The version in the Quran differs from that in Genesis in two aspects: the identity of the sacrificed son and the son's reaction towards the requested sacrifice. In Islamic sources, when Abraham tells his son about the vision, his son agreed to be sacrificed for the fulfillment of God's command, and no binding to the altar occurred. The Quran states that when Abraham asked for a righteous son, God granted him a son possessing forbearance.Quran 37:100-101 The son mentioned here is traditionally understood to be Ishmael. When the son was able to walk and work with him, Abraham saw a vision about sacrificing him. When he told his son about it, his son agreed to fulfill the command of God in the vision. When they both had submitted their will to God and were ready for the sacrifice, God told Abraham he had fulfilled the vision, and provided him with a ram to sacrifice instead. God promised to reward Abraham.Quran 37:105 Further verses state God also granted Abraham the righteous son Isaac and promised more rewards.Quran 37:112–113
Among early Muslim scholars, there was a dispute over the identity of the son. One side of the argument believed it was Isaac rather than Ishmael (notably ibn Qutaybah and al-Tabari) interpreting the verse "God's perfecting his mercy on Abraham and Isaac" as referring to his making Abraham his closest one, and to his rescuing Isaac. The other side held that the promise to Sarah was of a son, Isaac, and a grandson, Jacob (Quran 11:71–74) excluded the possibility of a premature death of Isaac. Regardless, most Muslims believe that it is actually Ishmael rather than Isaac despite the dispute.Encyclopaedia of Islam, Ishaq.
The submission of Abraham and his son is celebrated and commemorated by Muslims on the days of Eid al-Adha. During the festival, those who can afford and the ones in the pilgrimage sacrifice a ram, cow, sheep or a camel. Part of the sacrifice meat is eaten by the household and the remainder is distributed to the neighbors and the needy. The festival marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Modern research The binding also figures prominently in the writings of several of the more important modern theologians, such as Søren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling and Shalom Spiegel in The Last Trial. Jewish communities regularly review this literature, for instance the 2009 mock trial held by more than 600 members of the University Synagogue of Orange County, California. Derrida also looks at the story of the sacrifice as well as Kierkegaard's reading in The Gift of Death.
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.
Redactors and narrative purpose