God Tests Abraham

In Jewish tradition, the Torah has 70—that is, many—facets. Its interpretations are inexhaustible. I would like to suggest a new interpretation of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22), a story that has received as much “interpretation” as any in the Hebrew Bible.

The story of the Akedah has already been recounted in the preceding article by Robin Jensen. Briefly, God commands Abraham to slaughter his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. As Abraham is about to sacrifice the boy on the altar, an angel calls out to him to stop “because now I see that you are a God-fearing person and you would not withhold your son… from me” (Genesis 22:12).

In the traditional understanding of this story, God never intended Abraham to slaughter Isaac, because it was wrong—as we know from the beginning of the story, which 054speaks of God “testing” Abraham, and from the end of the story, when Abraham is told to desist. Abraham, on the other hand, out of fear of God, was willing to violate God’s moral law in faithfulness to God’s command. Abraham passed the test.