This reading of the
Akedah is, I believe, exceptionally impressive, both profound and moving.
This includes non-rabbinic sources, such as Josephus and Pseudo-Philo, who make a comparison between the fate of Jephthah's daughter and the
Akedah.
22:2) is connected directly with the Hebrew word for myrrh--mor.(25) In addition, according to one of the legends surrounding the '
akedah, even before the knife touched Isaac's throat, blood spurted forth.
The message of the end of the
Akedah is quite plainly that God does not want even his God-fearing adherents to go so far as to murder in God's name or even at God's command.
(60.) Shalom Spiegel, The Last Trial: On the Legends and Lore of the Command to Abraham to Offer Isaac as a Sacrifice: The
Akedah, translated with introduction and new preface by Judah Goldin (Woodstock: lewish Lights Publishing, 1993), 63-65, 77.
In the Jewish tradition, the story is called the
Akedah or Binding, an appellation that identifies the fact of relationship that stands at the center of the story.
edu, Friday, December 19, 2014 8:50 AM), midrash in both the strict and loose sense can resolve such apparent contradictions, as indeed it does at the beginning of Genesis chapter 24 by explaining Isaacs age (never textually specified as such) at the time of the
akedah (his binding) relative to Sarah's at the time of her death.
In the
Akedah, the binding of Isaac, as Abraham is about to sacrifice his bound son, the text reads: "And the angel of the Lord called out to him, saying: Abraham!
Isaac's initiation into the patriarchy as a participant in building its legacy takes place at the
akedah. He is portrayed as a full partner with Abraham in his own submission to God's request for sacrifice.
The trials of the patriarchs, and especially the binding of Isaac (
Akedah) are selected to illuminate how the sages confronted pressing challenges of their age and foreordained salvific history to their descendants if the latter like the former lived within the merits of the 'Avot (Patriarchs), sanctified by everyday acts of holiness and hope, characterized by observance, obedience, and optimism.