D'Var Torah Judy E. Gross, October 29, 1993

The Akidah, the binding of Isaac, Genesis, Chapter 22, is one of the most analyzed stories in the Torah. I will not explain it because I do not understand it. In fact, every time I read it, I understand it less.

The Torah says that God put Abraham to the test. But what exactly was the test? Could Abraham have passed it without agreeing to sacrifice Isaac? Why would God ask for a human sacrifice? Abraham's intentions for Isaac were clear when they set off. They took the knife, the fire, and even the wood. Why did Isaac go along? Why didn't Sarah protect Isaac as she had at other times? Why did an angel stop the sacrifice rather than God who had ordered it? Was God ashamed of Himself -- or maybe God was ashamed of Abraham? Why did Isaac not return with Abraham? What did Sarah say when Abraham returned without Isaac? One tradition is that Sarah died because she believed that Isaac had been sacrificed. However, after the Akidah, Abraham stayed in Beersheba and Sarah died in Hebron. I think that she left Abraham because he agreed to sacrifice Isaac.

New questions keep arising. But this question underlies the whole story: Vvlhy would Abraham agree to the sacrifice? If such a sacrifice were asked of me, I would never believe that God was truly making the request; I cannot believe in that kind of god.

So why might Abraham agree to sacrifice Isaac? Possibilities include:

-Maybe because Abraham had listened to God frequently, he knew God's voice, he knew that God had given the command, and once God told him to do something, he would do it unquestioningly. This is the most conventional explanation - that Abraham was exhibiting faith, and it relies on the theory that the surrounding peoples sacrificed humans, so Abraham would not have thought it incredible that God would want him to sacrifice Isaac. This does not explain why he didn't even argue with God, as he had about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

-Maybe Abraham meant it when he told Isaac that God would supply the sheep for the sacrifice; he may not have believed that God would permit him actually to kill Isaac. He had, after all, sent Ishmael out to what should have been certain death but God had assured him that Ishmael would live and father a great nation. Maybe he believed that Isaac, too, would survive an apparently fatal encounter. However, Abraham is not really exhibiting much faith if he complied only because he did not believe that God would force him to go through with the sacrifice.

-Maybe Isaac had Down's Syndrome or was otherwise retarded. Abraham may have thought Isaac would be unable to fulfill his role in creating a great nation and that God wanted him killed because of his disability . I believe that there is evidence of Isaac's incapacity, including that he was born to a very old mother and throughout his life, he seemed unable to make decisions or to take much care of himself. A servant picked Isaac's wife for him. Rebecca, his wife, took his mother's place caring for him. Rebecca, like Sarah before her, was the one to select which of Isaac's sons (Esau or Jacob) would carry on the nation. When Sarah responded to Ishmael's playing by demanding exile for Ishmael and his mother, perhaps she was not acting in a jealous rage; perhaps she believed that Isaac would not be able to survive around his able half -brother. But again, Abraham is not exhibiting faith if after God told him that the nation would continue through Isaac, he didn't think Isaac could continue it.

-Finally, maybe Abraham just did not like Isaac. Isaac was his second son, and the Torah has many examples of a father favoring an older son while God favors a later son. Or Abraham could have remained upset over Ishmael's treatment. Or mavbe Abraham did not want to share Sarah with the son who she said brought her laughter.

Even if we accept that Abraham would make the sacrifice if God demanded it, we don't know why Abraham didn't argue with God about it. Abraham did argue with God that God should not, as a matter of justice, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were any good people in them -- and God agreed. God only destroyed the cities after removing the only good people, Lot's family (Lot, Abrajam's nephew, merely was a resident alien and was not even from Sodom). Why did Abraham fail to ask if the God of justice would not do justice to Isaac (or to Sarah, for that matter)?

The question of Abraham's silence becomes even more unanswerable in light of the entire Torah portion of which the binding of Isaac is a part. In fact, in this one portion, there are four stories of humans offered as sacrifices. First, after Abraham argued with God about the fate of Sodom, the two angels that had accompanied God went to Sodom. There Lot takes them into his hqme. When the entire population of Sodom demands that the angels be turned over to them, Lot offers two sacrifices - one of his children (his two virgin daughters), but even more importantly, of himself. He, after all, goes outside his door into the crowd and argues with the crowd that they should not hurt his guests who are newcomers, innocent of any wrongs against the town. The angels reject Lot's attempted sacrifice; they pull him back into the house and blind the townspeople.

The next sacrifice is Abraham's offer of Sarah to Abimelech, king of Gerar. When Abraham arrives at Gerar, he says that Sarah is his sister and gives her to Abimelech. Abraham's motives were not good; he hoped to save himself and apparently to acquire wealth. Unlike a version of the story told in a previous chapter, God warns Abimelech that Sarah is married and that Abimelech will die unless he returns her to Abraham unharmed. Abimelech then argues with God that God should not punish Abimelech or his people, explaining that he is innocent because Abraham lied to him. Abimelech also took Abraham to task for bringing guilt upon him. God prevented Abraharn's sacrifice of Sarah.

The third sacrifice is Abraham's banishing Ishmael and his mother Hagar. Ishmael was innocent of wrongdoing, and even Hagar's earlier insolence to Sarah was not the cause of Hagar's second exile. Sarah insists on the expulsion to protect Isaac's inheritance; she in fact, wants to sacrifice Ishmael only because he is able-bodied. When Abraham complains to God, God tells Abraham that Ishmael will live and father a great nation. Hagar cries over Ishmael's impending death, and God then creates a stream to give water to Ishmael, preventing him becoming a sacrifice.

Then there is the fourth sacrifice, the Akidah. God apparently asks for the sacrifice, although He rejected the previous human sacrifices. In the other three sacrifices, someone in each case argued, complained, or cried to prevent the sacrifice. In this one, there is only silence - three days of silence during Abraham and Isaac's walk to the place to make the sacrifice.

There is a further unfathomable aspect to these four sacrifices: all involve or are followed by the most horrible crimes that can be committed by one family member against another. Lot's offer of his daughters for rape is followed by his committing incest with them. Abraham offers his wife for rape and adultery. Abraham banishes one innocent son and attempts to kill his other son. These crimes, we must remember, are committed by the same people who have exhibited incredible personal bravery: Lot standing up to the people of Sodom and Abraham begging God not to destroy Sodom.

The question remains: why would Abraham offer his son? We know Abraham was ready to do what God wanted, but maybe he was wrong about exactly what God did want. What was God's test of Abraham? Maybe the test was whether Abraham would answer when God called. I believe that Abraham showed himself worthy because whenever God called, he answered "Hinani", "Here I am" . He had faith and was ready to act, but he also was willing to face God to question and to be judged by God. When the angel stopped Abraham from killing Isaac, saying that Abraham had obeyed God's command and had not withheld his son, the angel could have been referring to God's previous command to Abraham to circumcise Isaac. This may be wishful thinking or wishful reading, but I hope that God had not demanded Isaac's death. I hope that God would have loved Abraham more if Abraham had argued for Isaac's life. And I hope that if God tests me, I will not unquestioningly obey, but will apply the principles of justice and right to that test. I believe that is what God wants. Amen.