162 .:. MELCHIZEDEK

when he [Me1chizedek] put Abraham's blessing before God's own,God resolved to have the priesthood descend from Abraham instead. . . And thus it says, "The Lord has sworn and will not change hismind, 'You are a priest forever, after the order of Me1chizedek' [Ps.110:4]." [''After the order;' cal dibriiti, should be interpreted as] "be­cause of the words ['al dibburo] of Me1chizedek." Likewise it says "andhe was a priest to God Most High"-he was a priest, but not hisdescendants. - b. Nedarim 32b

According to this interpretation, the words in Psalm 110, "You are a priestforever, after the order of Me1chizedek;' were not spoken to Me1chizedek butto his replacement, who was to found the priestly dynasty in Israel. Mel­chizedek himself had proven to be an unsuitable priest: if the Bible says, "hewas a priest," it means to imply by this "he alone": his descendants would notinherit the job from him.

In short: Melchizedek provided bread and wine to Abraham and all of histroops. He was king ofJerusalem and perhaps its founder; his name meant"king of righteousness" (or ''justice''). He served there as a priest, perhaps adivinely appointed high priest. Indeed, some interpreters concluded thatMelchizedek was in reality an angel or semidivine being. Early Christiansfurther saw in him aforeshadowing ofJesus-a priest by divine appointmentrather than through priestly pedigree, whose gift ofbread and wine foreshad­owed the Eucharist and whose uncircumcised state demonstrated that cir­cumcision was not necessary. Another tradition, however, held that "Mel­chizedek" was simply an honorific title for Noah's son Shem, who hadinherited the priesthood from him; the priesthood was taken away from himbecause ofhis defective blessing.

9The Trials of Abraham

(GENESIS 15-22)

Isaac offered as a sacrifice (hands unbound).

The Trials of Abraham(GENESIS 15-22)

God appeared to Abraham in Canaan, once again promising him the landfor his offspring in a solemn agreement. He also revealed to Abraham that hisdescendants would be slaves in Egypt; afterfour hundredyears they would befreed and return to Canaan. But Sarah, Abraham's wife, had been childlessfor many years; where would his descendants come from? At Sarah's urging,Abraham took her maidservant Hagar as a concubine and she soon bore hima son, Ishmael.

Some years later, God told Abraham that he and his descendants had to becircumcised as part ofGod's covenant. Abraham acted at once: he and his sonIshmael and all the males of his household were circumcised the same day.Afterward, three angels in human form appeared to Abraham with goodnews: Sarah would at last bear Abraham a son ofher own. And so it was. Indue time she gave birth to Isaac, though she and Abraham were quiteadvanced in age.

When Sarah later saw Ishmael mocking her little son, she told Abraham tobanish Ishmael and Hagar, and he reluctantly complied. Isaac was now theonly son in Abraham's household. But then Abraham received a horrifyingcommandmentfrom God: Take your beloved Isaac and offer him up to Me asa sacrifice. Once again, Abraham unhesitatingly obeyed. However, as he wasabout to kill his son upon the altar, an angel calted out to him to stop.Abraham offered up a ram, miraculously caught by the horns in a thicket, inplace ofhis son.

Go D'S COM MAN D MEN T to Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice ispresented in the Bible as a test. The episode begins, "After these things

God tested Abraham" (Gen. 22:1), and after it is over, the angel who tellsAbraham to stop says, "Now I know that you fear God, since you have notwithheld your son, your only son, from me:' The test has been passed.

But surveying the whole of Abraham's life as it is narrated in Genesis,ancient readers could not help thinking that the incident with Isaac was notthe first time that Abraham had been tested. In fact, his whole life seemed tobe one long series of divinely instituted challenges. From the very start, when

165

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God had first told Abraham to leave his homeland, it was to go "to the landthat I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). Why did not God say "to the land ofCanaan"? This order sounded as if it was deliberately worded to test Abra­ham's faith, as if God were saying, "Follow me! I will not even tell you where,we are going."l

And then there was all the rest. As we have seen, no sooner had Abrahamarrived in Canaan than he found himself in the midst of a famine and wasforced to go down to Egypt. Once in Egypt, Abraham's wife, Sarah, had beentaken from him by Pharaoh. Were these the "blessings" promised to Abraham?More difficulties followed: Abraham's nephew Lot was captured, drawingAbraham into a war in order to secure his safe return. Then there was thematter of Sarah's barrenness itself, and the troubles that ensued when Hagar,Sarah's maidservant, gave birth to Abraham's son Ishmael. And so on and soforth. In the eyes of many interpreters, Abraham's life seemed to be full oftests, and noticing the precise wording of the sentence that begins the incidentof the offering of Isaac, "After these things God tested Abraham" (Gen. 22:1),

some interpreters concluded that the unspecified "these things" referred to allAbraham's previous trials and tribulations-that, no less than the command­ment to sacrifice his own son, the previous incidents in Abraham's life werealso tests.

In line with this view, it struck interpreters as significant that, in a prayeruttered centuries after Abraham's death, the biblical hero Ezra had summedup Abraham's life in these words:

You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him out ofUr ofthe Chaldeans and changed his name to Abraham, and You found hisheart to be faithful to You and made a covenant with him to give tohis descendants the land of the Canaanite. - Neh. 9:7-8

The highlighted words seem to refer to God's testing of Abraham-for whatdid God's finding Abraham's heart to be faithful mean but that, after havingcaused him to be sorely tried, He had become convinced of the man's loyaltyand steadfastness? But if so, then it was perhaps significant that God's cove­nant with Abraham in Genesis 15 seems, according to Ezra's prayer, to havecome about after Abraham was tested and found faithful. That could only

1. In fact, these words ofGod in Gen. 12:1 even sounded strikingly similar to His words at the start

of the story of the sacrifice of Isaac: in the latter incident God likewise did not reveal the name of the

place, but instead told Abraham to offer up his son "as a burnt offering on one of the mountains ofwhich I shall tell you" (Gen. 22:2). The two incidents thus seemed verbally linked, and if the latter was

specifically called a "test" in Gen. 22:1, then the former had perhaps likewise been a test, althoughScrip!ure did not say so explicitly.

THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM .:. 167

suggest to later interpreters that God had begun testing Abraham even beforethe covenant of Genesis 15. Here was a further indication in the Bible that theearlier trials in Abraham's life had indeed been divinely sent tests.

Abraham the Tested

And so, for ancient interpreters, Abraham's "image" was primarily that of"Abraham the Tested;' the one who had been tried repeatedly by God:

In spite of everything, let us give thanks to the Lord our God, who isputting us to the test as he did our forefathers. Remember what Hedid with Abraham, and how he tested Isaac ... For He has not testedus with fire, as He did them, to search their hearts, nor has He takenrevenge upon us; but the Lord scourges those who draw near to Him,in order to admonish them. - Jth. 8:25-27

Abraham was the father of a multitude of nations, his glory wasuntarnished.

He kept the comillandments of the Most High, and entered into acovenant with Him.

He established His covenant in his flesh, and when tested he wasfound faithful.

Therefore He established by oath to bless nations by his offspring,To cause them to inherit from sea to sea, and from river to the

ends of the earth.2

Remember the deeds of the fathers, which they did in their genera­tions; and receive great honor and an everlasting name. Was notAbraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him asrighteousness?3 -1 Mace. 2:51-52

[Even before the offering of Isaac] the Lord knew that Abraham wasfaithful in every affliction which he had told him, for he had testedhim with regard to [leaving his] country, and with famine [in Ca­naan], and had tested him with the wealth of kings, and had tested

2. The phrase "was found faithful" seems to deliberately echo Neh. 9:8, cited above.

3. Again, "was found faithful" echoes Neh. 9:8. The phrase "and it was reckoned to him as

righteousness" comes from Gen.1s:6 and pertains to a part of the Abraham narrative entirely separate

from the offering of Isaac. Thus perhaps here too is an early indication that Abraham's "tested" status

had spread out from the one explicit test with Isaac to include other incidents of Abraham's life.

168 .:. THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM

him again through his wife when she was taken forcibly, and withcircumcision; and He had tested him through Ishmael and Hagar, hismaid-servant, when he sent them away. And in everything in which Hehad tested him, he was found faithful; he himself did not grow impa­tient, yet he was not slow to act; for he was faithful and one who lovedthe Lord. 4

_ Jubilees 17:17-18

The list in Jubilees above mentions seven tests specifically, but elsewhere it isasserted that Abraham underwent no fewer than ten such trials:

And she [Sarah] died in Hebron. When Abraham went to mourn overher and bury her, we [angels] tested him to see if his spirit was patientand if he was not rash with the words of his mouth; and he was foundto be patient in this and was not disturbed ... This was the tenth testby which Abraham was tested, and he was found faithful, patient inspirit. - Jubilees 19:2-3, 8

Abraham our father (may he rest in peace) was tested ten times and hepassed them alL This is an indication of how great was Abraham'sdevotion. - m. Abot 5:3

Abraham's many tests soon became a commonplace:

Among other things-it would take too much time to list them all­Abraham was tested through [the incident of] the offering up of hisbeloved son Isaac. - Augustine, City ofGod 16.32

Abraham Saw a Dire Future

One incident that might at first seem to have little to do with ''Abraham theTested" is the covenant that God made with Abraham in Genesis 15. Throughthis solemn agreement God officially granted the land of Canaan to Abrahamand his descendants. Here, surely, was a positive note in Abraham's story.

Yet along with this grant of land came a solemn warning:

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and 10, a dreadand great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram:"Know that your descendants will dwell in a land that is not theirs andwill be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years.But I will mete out justice to the nation for whom they slave, and

4· Here as well, the word "faithful"-appearing no fewer than three times in two sentences-isintended to echo Neh. 9:8. "One who loved the Lord" reflects Isa. 41:8.

THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM .:. 169

afterward they will come out with great wealth. As for you yourself,you shall die in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And theyshall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of theAmorites is not yet complete:' - Gen. 15:12-16

These words of God hardly foretold a happy future-slavery, oppression, fourhundred years ... No wonder "dread and great darkness" fell on Abraham!And so this covenant (sometimes called the "covenant between the pieces"because it was solemnized between the pieces of sacrificial animals, Gen. 15:10,17) also turned out to be a trying event, another difficulty confronted byAbraham.

Considering this passage as a whole, however, interpreters came to afurther conclusion: what was particularly trying about this incident was thefact that God had actually shown Abraham far more than the period of slaveryin Egypt to be endured by his descendants. To begin with, if God had shownAbraham four hundred years of future history, it seemed logical to interpret­ers that He would have shown him the rest as well, including the punishmentto be meted out to the later "nation[s] which they serve." Such a notion couldonly be supported by the text's mention of the "dread and great darknessfalling" on Abraham (Gen. 15:12)-for certainly such dread ought not to havebeen caused merely by the sight of his descendants' sojourn in, and exodusfrom, Egypt. Interpreters therefore came to view this incident as a fullyprophetic apocalypse in which Abraham was afforded a view of all of humanhistory, of heaven and hell, and other things normally hidden from the sightof mere mortals.

''As the sun was setting, an ecstasy fell upon AbrClham .. :' [SeptuagintGen. 15:12]. This is what is felt by those who are [prophetically] in­spired and suddenly possessed by God ... For indeed, the prophet,even when he seems to be speaking, in reality is silent, and his organsof speech, mouth, and tongue are wholly in the employ of Another, toshow forth what He wishes. - Philo, Who Is Heir 258,266

Then a voice came to me saying twice to me: ''Abraham, Abraham:'And I said, "Here I am." And He said, "Behold, it is 1. Fear not, for I ambefore the universe and the mighty, the God who created at the first,before the light of the universe. I am a defense for you and your helper[Gen. 15:1]. Go get Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she­goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon, and make me apure sacrifice. And in this sacrifice I will place the ages. I will announceto you guarded things and you will see great things which you have

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not seen, because you desired to search for Me, and I called you onewho loves me [Isa. 41:8]." -Apocalypse ofAbraham 9:1-6

And when they [the inhabitants of the earth] were committing iniq­uity before You, You chose for Yourself one among them whose namewas Abraham. You loved him and to him alone did You reveal the endof the times, secretly, by night, and with him You made an everlastingcovenant, and promised him that You would never forsake his descen­dants. - 4 Ezra 3=13-15

Simeon b. Abba said in the name of R. Yol).anan: [God] showed him[Abraham] four things: Hell, the foreign kingdoms [that would domi­nate Israel], the giving of the Torah, and the future temple. He said tohim: so long as your descendants busy themselves with the latter two,they will be saved from the former two. - Genesis Rabba 44:21

He [God] showed him [Abraham] that his offspring would sin, andthat they would be saved by the prayers of their righteous ones.

- Ephraem, Commentary on Genesis 12.3

This prophetic revelation no doubt unnerved Abraham; however, despite thedire future awaiting his offspring, he never wavered in his faithfulness to God.

As we have seen, interpreters saw subsequent events of Abraham's life­Sarah's infertility; the banishing ofIshmael and his mother, Hagar; Abraham'scircumcision; and so forth-as additional tests. In these as well, Abrahamshowed himself to be God's faithful and obedient servant. Yet certainly thegreatest of the tests to which Abraham would be subjected was yet to come:God's commandment that Abraham offer up his beloved Isaac on a sacrificialaltar. That he was willing to give up the son for whom he had so long waitedand hoped was indeed a testimony to Abraham's faith in God.

But even this inspiring narrative raised questions for early interpreters.Why, to begin with, should God want to test Abraham? Certainly not in orderto find out whether Abraham was worthy. For, as we have just seen, Abrahamhad already proven himself worthy many times in the past. Why yet anothertest now, and this one (lest there be any doubt about its purpose) specificallydesignated as a test (''And it came to pass after these things that God testedAbraham;' Gen. 22:1)? Moreover, why in general should God need to testpeople? Does not an all-knowing God know in advance who is worthy andwho is not, indeed, who will pass and who ·will fail? What good was served byputting Abraham through an ordeal whose results were known to God inadvance?

·THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM ~- 171

Challenged by Angels

In seeking the answer to these questions, interpreters looked to other parts ofthe Bible, in particular, to the book of Job, another biblical figure whom Godhad tested. In his case, however, the test was initiated not by God but by Satan,who in effect challenged God's high opinion of Job: "Do some harm to him,indeed, afflict all that he has, and then see if he does not curse You to Your

face" (Job 1:11).To ancient interpreters it seemed plausible that, with regard to Abraham

as well, God may have received a challenge from Satan or some other angel(s).The opening sentence of the episode, ''After these things God tested Abra­ham;' seemed to offer interpreters confirmation for this theory. For in He­brew, the word for "things" can also mean "words." If this sentence is under­stood as meaning ''After these words . .." could not Scripture be hinting thatcertain words had been spoken to God (by Satan or the other angels) and thatafter them, and as a result of them, "God tested Abraham"?

There were words in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithfulin everything that He told him, [that] the Lord loved him, and in everydifficulty he was faithful. Then the [Satan-like] angel Mastema cameand said before God, "Behold, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and hedelights in him above all else. Tell him to offer him as a sacrifice on thealtar. Then You will see if he will carry out this command, and You willknow if he is faithful in everything through which You test him:' Nowthe Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in every affliction which hehad told him, for he had tested him with regard to [leaving his]country, and with famine ... And in everything in which He hadtested him, he was found faithful; he himself did not grow impatient,yet he was not slow to act; for he was faithful and one who loved theLord. - Jubilees 17=15-18

And He gave him [Abraham] a son in his extreme old age and broughthim forth from a sterile womb. But all the angels were jealous of himand the heavenly hosts hated him. And it came to pass that, since theyhated him, God said to him [Abraham] "Kill the fruit of your wombfor Me and bring him before Me as a sacrifice offered by you to Me."

- Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 32:1-2

''And it came to pass, after these things [words] .. :' After what words?Said R. Yohanan in the name of R. Yosi ben Zimra: After the wordsspoken by Satan. For the text earlier relates, "and the boy grew up and

17 2 .:. THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM .:.' 173

[For the words] "now I know ..." [in Gen. 22:12, read instead] "now Ihave made known" to everyone that you are one who loves me, and so"you have not withheld your son" [Gen. 22:12]. - Genesis Rabba 56:7

Abraham was tested through [the incident of] the offering up of hisbeloved son Isaac to prove his pious obedience and so make it knownto the world, not to God ... It says "Now I know" for "Now I havemade known"-for certainly God was not ignorant [of this] pre­viously. - Augustine, City ofGod 16.32

Thus, God's great test of Abraham took place in response to a challenge andwas carried out in order to prove Abraham's virtues not to God, but toothers-Satan, the other angels, or the world at large.

But there was another troubling question arising out ofthe story, and itconcerned the role of Isaac. Isaac is spoken of in reverential terms in the Bible:indeed, God is more than once called the "God of Abraham, ofIsaac, and ofJacob," and along with these other two, Isaac is specifically referred to as God's"servant" (Exod. 32:13). And yet, while the virtues of Abraham and Jacob arerecounted in detail in the Bible, relatively little is said about Isaac. Apart fromthis glimpse of him as the near-victim of God's command to Abraham, themain incidents of Isaac's life reported in the Bible are his encounter withAbimelech in Genesis 26 and his blessing of Jacob instead of Esau in Genesis27. Neither of these incidents involves any conspicuous display of Isaac'svirtues.

And so, interpreters anxious to discover what was praiseworthy in Isaac'slife were naturally drawn back to the story of his being bound on the altar andprepared for sacrifice by his father. It certainly seemed that his willingness tobe sacrificed was no less heroic or praiseworthy than Abraham's willingness tocarry out God's commandment to sacrifice him. Was this not Isaac's great andheroic act-the fact that, on that fateful day, he offered himselfwillingly to thesacrificial knife?

The trouble is, that is not what the Bible says. There is no indication in thebiblical narrative that Isaac willingly consented to anything-he seems ratherto be an unknowing victim, virtually a prop. On the way to the place of thesacrifice there is an exchange between father and son that proves that Isaac hasno idea of what is about to happen:

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaachis son; and he took in his hand the fire and knife, and the two of themwalked together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father;' andhe said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Here is the fire and the

was weaned, and Abraham made a great banquet on the day that Isaacwas weaned" (Gen. 21:8). At that time Satan said to God: "Master ofthe Universe! You have blessed this old man at the age of one hundred .years with offspring. Yet amidst all [the bounty of] this banquet thathe prepared, was there not one pigeon or fowl for him to sacrificebefore You?" He replied: "All that he did he did only for the sake of hisson. Still, were I to say to him, 'Sacrifice your son before Me; he wouldsacrifice him at once." Hence it says thereafter, ''And [after thesewords] God tested Abraham." - b. Sanhedrin 89b

According to this tradition, then, God was well aware of Abraham's faithful­ness long before this test and knew in advance that Abraham would pass it. IfHe went ahead with it anyway, it was to prove Satan wrong.

God Made It Known

But in interpreting in this way, these writers seemed to contradict what theBible itself says explicitly later on. For in the biblical account, after Abrahamhas demonstrated his willingness to offer up his beloved Isaac, God says tohim: "Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,your only son, from me" (Gen. 22:12). "Now I know" seems to imply "I did notknow before." How then could the author of Jubilees and other interpretersmaintain that God did know all along?

The answer lies in yet another ambiguity in the Hebrew. For the sameconsonants that spell the Hebrew word "I know" (yd'ty) can also be read insuch a way as to mean "I have made known" or "I have notified." This isapparently how some interpreters chose to understand the text:

[God tells Abraham:] ''All the nations of the earth will be blessedthrough your descendants because of the fact that you have obeyed mycommand. I have made known to everyone that you are faithful to Mein everything that I have told you. Go in peace."s - Jubilees 18:16

[God says:] "For now I have made it known so that you may be seenby those who do not know you, and I have shut the mouth of those[angels] who are forever speaking against you.

- Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 32 :4

5· The same "I have made known" also appears earlier, where Jubilees restates Gen. 22:12 as "Fornow I have made known [or "shown"] that you fear the Lord." (This is so at least in the Latin version

of the text. The Ethiopic version has "Now I know;' but this probably represents a "correction" of the

translated Jubilees text by some later copyist who wanted it to conform exactly to the words in theBible as they were, by then, commonly translated).

For now I have made known ... - Peshitta (some versions) Gen. 22:12

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wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham said,"God will provide Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son:'And the two of them walked together. - Gen. 22:6-8

Isaac's question about the sacrificial lamb makes it clear that, at this point, hehimself does not know who the real intended victim is. If so, then Isaac wastruly no more than an unwilling participant caught up in events beyond hiscontrol. The same conclusion is reinforced by another detail in the narrative:at the moment of the sacrifice, the Bible reports that Abraham "bound his sonIsaac and laid him upon the altar" (Gen. 22:9). If Isaac were a willing partici­pant, what need was there to tie him up? And this understanding of Isaac's rolecould only be reinforced by what the angel says to Abraham at the end of thestory (Gen. 22:16-18): it is because you, Abraham, "have done this and notwithheld your son, your only son" that God will bless you. There is nomention of anything Isaac did because, apparently, he did nothing worthmentioning. What virtue can be imputed to Isaac in this whole affair?

Isaac Was a Willing Victim

Unless ... Given the necessity of finding something praiseworthy concerningIsaac in the story, an interpreter might still come up with an indication, nomatter how slight, that Isaac had consented to be sacrificed. And slight indica­tion there was. After all, the text makes no mention of Isaac resisting or tryingto flee. It simply says: "When they came to the place of which God had toldhim, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and boundIsaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood" (Gen. 22:9). Is not thissilence eloquent? After all, Abraham is an old man-well over a hundred, hisage at Isaac's birth (Gen. 21:5). We do not know how old Isaac is, but he iscertainly old enough to ask the question that he asks about the sacrificial lamb,and old enough to carry the wood and the fire. Conceivably, then, such a boyor young man could not have been tied up by his aged father ifhe himself hadstruggled or attempted to flee. Thus, if Abraham was indeed able to go aheadas planned and offer Isaac as a sacrifice, could it have been in any way otherthan with Isaac's active cooperation?

A number of sources go out of their way to suggest that Isaac was indeeda willing participant. Such a view is implied in a passage seen earlier:

Remember what he [God] did with Abraham, and how he tested Isaac... For He has not tested us with fire, as He did them, to search theirhearts. - Jth. 8:26-27

THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM .:.' 175

If Isaac was tested by God, it certainly must have been in this incident, for it isthe only testlike episode in his whole life. And if it was a test, was it not (as thispassage suggests) also specifically a test of faith, a determination of Isaac'swillingness to give up his very life should God demand it? So other interpret­ers as well suggested that Isaac in the episode was the prototype of a religious

martyr:

Eleazar, though being consumed by fire, remained unmoved in hisreason ... and by reason like that of Isaac, he rendered the many­headed rack ineffective. - 4 Mace. 7:12- 14

Remember ... the father by whose hand Isaac would have submittedto being slain for the sake of religion. - 4 Mace. 13:12 (also 16:20)

And as he [Abraham] was setting out, he said to his son, "Behold now,my son, I am offering you as a burnt offering and I am returning youinto the hands of Him who gave you to me." But the son said to thefather, "Hear me, father. If [ordinarily] a lamb of the flocks is acceptedas a sacrifice to the Lord with a sweet savor, and if such flocks havebeen set aside for slaughter [in order to atone] for human iniquity,while man, on the contrary, has been designated to inherit thisworld-why should you be saying to me now, 'Come and inheriteternal life and time without measure'? Why if not that I was indeedborn in this world in order to be offered as a sacrifice to Him who mademe? Indeed, this [sacrifice] will be [the mark of] my blessedness overother men-for no such thing will ever be [again]-and in me thegenerations will be proclaimed and through 111e nations will under­stand how God made a human soul worthy for sacrifice:'

- Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 32 :2-3

[Abraham tells Isaac that he is to sacrifice himself:] Isaac, however,since he was descended from such a father, could be no less noble ofspirit [than Abraham], and received these words with delight. He saidthat he never would have been worthy of being born in the first placewere he not now to carry out the decision of God and his father andsubmit himself to the will of both. - Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 1:232

Why was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he actedrighteously and truthfully through faith? Isaac, knowing full well whatwas to happen, was willingly led forth to be sacrificed.

-1 Clement 31:2-4

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Together in Mind

Beyond such an argument based on common sense and the age of the partici­pants, there was another detail in the biblical text itself that might haveindicated that Isaac was a willing participant. For at no time does the biblicalaccount actually say when Abraham informed Isaac that he was to be sac­rificed; as the moment approached, Abraham-apparently in silence-simply"built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, andlaid him on the altar upon the wood" (Gen. 22:9). But certainly at some pointhe must have told Isaac what was going to happen. And, on closer inspection,the biblical passage cited above seems to contain a clue as to when Isaac wastold:

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaachis son; and he took in his hand the fire and knife, and the two ofthemwalked together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father;' andhe said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Here is the fire and thewood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham said,"God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."And the two of them walked together_ - Gen. 22:6-8

That the phrase "and the two of them walked together" is repeated justtwo verses after it was first uttered must have struck interpreters as suspicious:why should the Bible repeat itself? And such suspicion could only be rein­forced by the particular placement of the repeated phrase. It comes right afterAbraham has told Isaac that God Himself will provide the sacrifice; we knowthat Abraham secretly means by this Isaac himself. But could it not be thatIsaac at that moment also understood that this was what Abraham meant?Then "and the two of them walked together" could mean something like: bothof them went along with the plan, both knew exactly what they were about todo.

Going at the same pace-no less with regard to their thinking thanwith their bodies-down the straight path whose end is holiness, theycame to the designated place.6

- Philo, Abraham 172

[Abraham says to Isaac:] The Lord will provide a lamb for himself forthe burnt offering, my son-and if not, you will be the lamb for the

6. Philo's "at the same pace" seems immediately predicated on the Septuagint translation of the

Hebrew ya~daw, which it understands as "at the same time" (hama). Cf. his Migration ofAbraham166.

THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM -:- 177

burnt offering. And the two of them walked together with firm inten­tion. - Targum Neophyti and Fragment Targum (Paris Ms.) Gen. 22:8

And the two of them walked together-the one to slaughter, the otherto be slaughtered. - Genesis Rabba 56:4

Offering Foreshadowed Crucifixion

Of all the Hebrew Bible's narratives that were read typologically-that is, asprefiguring the events of the New Testament-perhaps none was so evocativeas the story of Abraham's offering up of Isaac, which was understood byChristians from early times as a foreshadowing of the crucifixion:

If God is for us, then who is against us? He who did not spare His ownson but gave him up for us all, will He not also give us all things alongwith himt - Rom. 8:31-32

[Jesus was the fulfillment of] that which was foreshadowed in Isaac,who was offered upon the altar. - Letter ofBarnabas 7:3

Since indeed Abraham, having followed, in keeping with his faith, thecommandment of God's word, did with a ready mind give up his onlybegotten and beloved son,s for a sacrifice unto God, that God againmight be well pleased to offer unto Abraham's whole seed His onlybegotten and dearly beloved son to be a sacrifice for our redemption.

-Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 4:5, 4

Soon enough, other correspondences between the two narratives wereexplored: ~

And on this account Isaac carried the wood on which he was to beoffered up to the place of sacrifice, just as the Lord Himself carried Hisown cross.

Finally, since Isaac himself was not killed-for his father had beenforbidden to kill him-who was that ram which was offered instead,and by whose foreshadowing blood the sacrifice was accomplished?For when Abraham had caught sight of him, he was caught by the

7. Here the phrase "did not spare" seems to be a deliberate evocation of the same phrase in Gen.

22:12 and 16.8. "Only begotten" and "beloved" seem to correspond to Gen 22:1, "Take now your son, your

only one, whom you love." In the Septuagint, the Hebrew ye~ideka, "only one;' is understood as

yedideka, "beloved." See also John 3:16.

178 .:. THE TRIALS OF ABRAHAM

horns in a thicket. Who then did he represent but Jesus, who, beforeHe was offered up, had been crowned with thorns?

- Augustine, City ofGod 16, 32

In short: Abraham's life was marked by many divinely instigated tests (ten inall). Abraham trusted in God and passed each one. Even God's covenantwithAbraham in Genesis 15 was a test, since Abraham was given a frighteningview ofall offuture history and other secret things. God initiated Abraham'sgreatest test, the offering up ofIsaac, in order to demonstrate Abraham's faithto Satan or others who doubted Abraham. In this test, Isaac was a knowingand willing participant, for he, no less than his father, put his trust in God.Christian interpreters saw in this episode aforeshadowing ofthe crucifixion.

10Lot and Lot's Wife

(GENESIS 18-19)

Lot and his two daughters: they meant well.(Note pillarized wife and destroyed city in background.)

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

LONDON, ENGLAND· 1997

THE

THE BELKNAP PRESS OF

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

James L. Kugel

BIBLEAS IT WAS

ALDBS1225.2.K841997

Kugel, James L.The Bible as It was

Once again, to R.

Copyright © 1997 by James 1. KugelAll rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Librmy ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kugel, James 1.

The Bible as it was / James 1. Kugel.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-674-06940-4 (alk. paper)1. Bible. a.T. Pentateuch-Criticism, interpretation, etc.­

History. 1. Title.

BS1225.2.K 84 1997222'.106'09-dc21 97-3299