Genesis of Justice: Genesis 22 - Abraham commits attempted murder

THE GENESIS OF JUSTICE by Alan Dershowitz

The Genesis of Justice 6.
Abraham [Avraham] Commits Attempted Murder - and Is Praised Schocken Bible Translation

Genesis 22:

after these events: Others use “Some time afterward.” Here I am: A term frequently used to convey readiness, usually in relation to a superior’s command or address.
The Great Test (22): This story is certainly one of the masterpieces of biblical literature. In a famous article by Erich Auerbach it is remarked how biblical style as exemplified here, in contradistinction to that of Homer and other epic bards, eschews physical and psychological details in favor of one central preoccupation: a man’s decision in relation to God. The result of this style is a terrible intensity, a story which is so stark as to be almost unbearable.

Chap. 22 is a tale of God’s seeming retraction of his promise (of “seed”) to Avraham. The fact that other issues may be involved here (i.e., Israel’s rejection of local and widely practiced ideas of child sacrifice) may be quite beside the point. Coming just one chapter after the birth of the long-awaited son, the story completely turns around the tension of the whole cycle and creates a new, frightening tension of its own. The real horror of the story lies in this threatened contradiction to what has gone before.
Most noticeable in the narrative is Avraham’s silence, his mute acceptance of, and acting on, God’s command. We are told of no sleepless night, nor does he ever say a word to God. Instead he is described with a series of verbs: starting-early, saddling, taking, splitting, arising, going (v.3; similarly in vv.6 and 9–10). Avraham the bargainer, so willing to enter into negotiations with relations (Chap. 13), allies (Chap. 14), local princes (Chap. 20), and even God himself (Chap. 18), here falls completely silent.
The chapter serves an important structural function in the Avraham cycle, framing it in conjunction with Chap. 12. The triplet in v.2 (“Pray take your son,/ your only-one,/ whom you love”) recalls “from your land/ from your kindred/ from your father’s house” in 12:1; “go-you-forth” and “the land that I will tell you of” (v.2; the latter, three times in the story) similarly point back to Avraham’s call (12:1, “Go-you-forth…to the land that I will let you see”). There he had been asked to give up the past (his father); here, the future (his son). Between the two events lies Avraham’s active life as man of God, ancestor, and intercessor. After this God will never speak with him again.
In many ways this story is the midpoint of Genesis. It brings the central theme of continuity and discontinuity to a head in the strongest possible way. After Moriyya, we can breathe easier, knowing that God will come to the rescue of his chosen ones in the direst of circumstances. At the same time we are left to ponder the difficulties of being a chosen one, subject to such an incredible test.
The story is also the paradigmatic narrative of the entire book. The Patriarch passes the test, and we know that the fulfillment of the divine promise is assured. Yet there is an ominous note: love, which occurs here by name for the first time, leads almost to heartbreak. So it will be for the rest of Genesis.

1 Now after these events it was
that God tested Avraham
and said to him:
Avraham!
He said:
Here I am.

Yitzhak: The name is left until the end of the phrase, to heighten tension. Similarly, see 27:32. Moriyya: Trad. English “Moriah.” The mountain here is later identified with the site of Solomon’s Temple.

2 He said:
Pray take your son,
your only-one,
whom you love,
Yitzhak,
and go-you-forth to the land of Moriyya/Seeing,
and offer him up there as an offering-up
upon one of the mountains
that I will tell you of.
3 Avraham started-early in the morning,
he saddled his donkey,
he took his two serving-lads with him and Yitzhak his son,
he split wood for the offering-up
and arose and went to the place that God had told him of.
4 On the third day Avraham lifted up his eyes
and saw the place from afar.

bow down: Worship.

5 Avraham said to his lads:
You stay here with the donkey,
and I and the lad wish to go yonder,
we wish to bow down and then return to you.

Thus the two of them went together: [...and again in v.8...] Between these two statements is Avraham’s successful deflection of Yitzhak’s question, and perhaps the hint of a happy ending.

6 Avraham took the wood for the offering-up,
he placed them upon Yitzhak his son,
in his hand he took the fire and the knife.
Thus the two of them went together.

fire: I.e., a torch or brand.

7 Yitzhak said to Avraham his father, he said:
Father!
He said:
Here I am, my son.
He said:
Here are the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for the offering-up?

see-for-himself: Or “select.” See the name of the mountain in verse 14, “YHWH Sees.” offering-up,/ my son: One might read it with a dash instead of a comma, to preserve what may be an ironic answer.

8 Avraham said:
God will see-for-himself to the lamb for the offering-up,
my son.
Thus the two of them went together.
9 They came to the place that God had told him of;
there Avraham built the slaughter-site
and arranged the wood
and bound Yitzhak his son
and placed him on the slaughter-site atop the wood.

slay: A verb used to describe animal sacrifice; the throat is slit.

10 And Avraham stretched out his hand,
he took the knife to slay his son.
11 But YHWH’s messenger called to him from heaven
and said:
Avraham! Avraham!
He said:
Here I am.
12 He said:
Do not stretch out your hand against the lad,
do not do anything to him!
For now I know
that you are in awe of God—
you have not withheld your son, your only-one, from me.

The Schochen Bible
The Genesis of Justice