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Lesson #9

“Isaac on the Altar”  

(22: 1 –  23: 20)

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1. Prelude to Property : Abraham makes his openingmove in acquiring property in the land of Canaanwhen he relocates to the Canaanite royal city ofGerar where he uses the old ploy “say you are mysister” with king Abimelech.

2. Delivering on Progeny : Sarah gives birth to Isaacwhen she is 90 years old and Abraham is 100!

3. Delivering on Property : Abraham negotiates theproperty rights to a well he has dug and he formsan alliance with Abimelech.

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Isaac plays a key role in God’s plan of redemption.

But in Genesis 22, God says to Abraham: “Take your

son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to

the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burntoffering.”  

This is a stunning demand: what are

we to make of it?

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“One should renounce any attempt to discover one

basic idea as the meaning of the whole. There are

many levels of meaning.” 

Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, trans. by J. H. Marks and J.

Bowden. London: SCM Press, 1972.

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“In the story of Isaac, it is not only God’s intervention

at the beginning and the end, but even the factual

and psychological elements which come between,

that are mysterious, merely touched upon, fraught

with background; and therefore they require subtle

investigation and interpretation, they demand them”[my emphasis]. 

Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: the Representation of Reality in

Western Thought . Princeton: Princeton University Press,

2003.

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“Take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love,

Isaac . . . and offer him up as a burnt offering.”

(Genesis 22: 2).

Robert Alter observes in his translation, The Five Books

of Moses: “The Hebrew syntactic chain *of verse 2+ is

exquisitely forged to carry a dramatic burden . . ..” 

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Rabbinic Midrash

“‘ Your son.’ He said to Him, ‘I have two sons.’ He said

to him , ‘ Your only one.” He said, ‘This one is an only

one to his mother and this one is an only one to hismother.’ He said to him , ‘ Whom you love.’ He said to

Him, ‘I love both of them.’  He said to him, ‘ Isaac .’”  

Rashi (greatest of the Medieval Rabbis)

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.Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

Bulls bound and prepared for sacrificial slaughter.

Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt .

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 Carvaggio. Sacrifice of Isaac, c. 1603, oil on canvas.

Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

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 1. Abraham offers his “only son” as a sacrifice; God offers

his “only son” as a sacrifice. 

2. Isaac is to be sacrificed in the region of Moriah; Christ issacrificed in the region of Moriah (2 Chronicles 3: 1).

3. Isaac carries the wood of the fire for his own sacrifice;Christ carries the wood of the cross for his ownsacrifice.

4. Abraham is told, “God will provide the lamb” for thesacrificial offering; God provides Christ, the “lamb ofGod,” for the sacrificial offering. 

5. Isaac is about 33 years old when Abraham offers him asa sacrifice; Christ is about 33 years old when God offershim as a sacrifice.

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“Abraham, deeming that nothing would justify

disobedience to God . . . Concealed from his wife

God’s commandment and his own resolve concerning

the immolation of the child; nay revealing it not even

to any of his household, lest haply he should have

been hindered from doing God’s service . . ..”  

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library

Series, trans. by H. St. J. Thackeray. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1978.

But what about Sarah?

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1. Through subtle negotiating with Abimelech in 21:

22-34, Abraham acquired a well in Beer-sheba,

his first property in the promised land.

2. After Sarah’s death, Abraham acquires additional

property in Hebron: the entire field belonging to

Ephron, son of Zohar.

A shrewd real estate deal

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Copyright © 2013 by William C. Creasy

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