Human sacrifice, as horrible as it is, has a certain logic to it. There are times when an ultimate price is needed to be paid to the divine in order to obtain great salvation, and for any parent, that ultimate price would be their own child. Even among the scholars who hold that the Carthaginians engaged in child sacrifice, it is understood that other types of sacrificial offerings were more common, and that a child, when offered, was limited to especially important requests for divine favor. The idea of a child sacrifice as a potent emergency measure to avoid existential danger also arises in mythology. One famous example in Greek mythology is the offering of Princess Andromeda by her parents Cepheus and Cassiopea to a sea monster sent by Poseidon as punishment for their hubris. Another famous example from Japan is the story of “Yamata no Orochi”, in which a family is forced to sacrifice a daughter every year to appease a giant eight-headed snake and keep their village safe. (For historical accounts of human sacrifice in Japan, especially in the context of gaining divine protection for large building projects, see this Wikipedia article on “hitobashira”).
The binding of Isaac, by contrast, fails to fit the normative “logic” of human sacrifice. G-d’s command to offer Isaac as a sacrifice is neither tied to salvation nor a respite from punishment. In fact, the notion of salvation is conspicuously absent from the divine command. G-d had previously promised great reward to Abraham — that Isaac, his son through Sarah his lifelong love, will become a great nation with a land to call its own. All of the preceding conversations between G-d and Abraham included ever-more-detailed promises of national legacy for Abraham (see my list, available as a source sheet in Sefaria.org.il). This pattern has one exception: the prophetic exchange in which the command for Isaac’s sacrifice was given is the only encounter with G-d in which Abraham is not promised reward. Given the constancy with which G-d promised reward in previous encounters, the absence of any mention of reward this time around should have been almost as shocking as the command itself.
In addition, the act itself that G-d appears to command, sacrificing Isaac, amounts to a total negation of G-d’s previous promises. For Abraham, G-d is effectively commanding him to destroy his life’s work and destroy all hope of leaving a legacy worthy of his efforts. By killing Isaac, Abraham will lose his one remaining heir, as G-d had revealed that his servant Eliezer and Ishmael the concubine’s son are not to be his inheritors. He will also be destroying his “miracle child” born in his and Sarah’s old age, which was arguably the most concrete embodiment of divine favor bestowed upon the couple. Note that at this point, Abraham still had neither nation nor land, and Isaac was the only aspect of G-d’s promises that has been fulfilled thus far. What salvation can G-d possibly offer in exchange for Isaac? Conversely, what threat can G-d conceivably present to Avraham to induce his obedience at this point?
Abraham eventually receives divine reassurance that Isaac will live and the earlier promises still stand, but only after the ordeal is over. For the three days between the time the command to sacrifice Isaac is given and the time the angel tells Abraham to cease and desist from killing Isaac, when Abraham would have needed divine reassurance most, he is left completely in the dark about the status of G-d’s earlier promises.
Given what was at stake, I was struck with a question: What did Abraham think was happening to him when G-d came down to him and commanded him to sacrifice Isaac? I don’t think he would have viewed G-d’s command as a request to demonstrate his loyalty to G-d by providing a sacrificial offering of inestimable value in order to receive or maintain divine favor. I believe that Abraham’s first impression would have been, instead, that G-d was severing ties and wiping the slate clean. Due to some misstep on Abraham’s (or perhaps Isaac’s) part, his services were no longer desired. G-d was now in the process of “firing” him and instructing him on the procedures for termination. The earlier promises, including Isaac, now stood voided, and the miracle child was to be returned to its Source by the hands of the scorned servant. Given the stakes, many in the place of Abraham would have likely preferred a threat of divine punishment because such a threat would have implied a continuation of the relationship.
We know from how this ordeal ends, as well as the plain reading of the beginning of this episode (וַיְהִ֗י אַחַר֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה וְהָ֣אֱ-לֹהִ֔ים נִסָּ֖ה אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֑ם), that this episode was a test for Abraham and not a pink slip from the sky. However, I believe G-d appearing to sever ties with Abraham and revoking His promises sheds light on the nature of the test as well as Abraham’s actions during the test.
First of all, it explains the apparent contradiction between Abraham’s apparent acquiescence to the command to sacrifice Isaac and Abraham’s very frank discussion with G-d regarding the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the earlier episode, Abraham openly challenged the justice of total destruction of those cities, declaring “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”. However, that confrontation took place at what must have appeared to Abraham as a peak in his relationship ship with G-d. After all, he had just earlier that same day received G-d’s promise for the second time that his dearly beloved Sarah will give birth to a son through which G-d’s promise of land and nation will be fulfilled. By contrast, in the night vision, G-d commands Abraham (in what appears to be no uncertain terms) to commit ritual disembowelment of his entire project and nullification of everything that was previously promised to him. In addition, Isaac was no ordinary child. His birth was self-evidently the result of G-d’s miraculous intervention, who brought him into the world for the purpose of fulfilling His promises to Abraham. If that same G-d now wanted Isaac back because His earlier promises now stand rescinded, what can Abraham say in protest?
Secondly, if Abraham understood G-d command to be a firing and severing of ties as described above, his acquiescence of undertaking the task of sacrificing his son may not have been motivated by a hope that G-d would renew and reiterate His covenant with him, or a hope that Isaac will somehow miraculously be saved despite being killed as a sacrificial offering. As far as Abraham was concerned, that ship has already sailed, and Isaac, who was from even before his birth G-d’s miracle and divine vehicle for the fulfillment of G-d’s promises, will be returned to Him. If so, Abraham was, for the first time since G-d called out to him in Aram saying “Lech Lecha” (“go for yourself”), in a position to serve G-d without any expectation of even a distant reward coloring his motivations. He was, for the first time, given the terrible opportunity to fulfill a divine command with perfect purity of spirit and total self-abnegation.
– Kenichi Hartman
*For the list of Abraham’s communications with G-d in Genesis, go to my source sheet available at Sefaria.org.il.
Akedat Yitzhak Takes 