Yitzchak's Role in the Akeidah/2

Yitzchak's Role in the Akeidah

Exegetical Approaches

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Willing Participant

Yitzchak willingly went to be sacrificed.

Sources:JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1:13:2-4About Josephus, Pseudo-Philo32:2-4About Pseudo-Philo, Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti)Bereshit 22:8-10Shemot 12:42About Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti), Bavli SanhedrinSanhedrin 89bAbout the Bavli, Bereshit Rabbah55:456:456:8About Bereshit Rabbah, TanchumaVayera 23About the Tanchuma, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer31About Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Lekach TovBereshit 22:1Bereshit 22:6-8About R. Toviah b. Eliezer, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 22:8About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RadakBereshit 22:8-9Bereshit 22:19About R. David Kimchi, R. S.R. HirschBereshit 22:3, 7-9About R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Hoil MosheBereshit 22:5About R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi

How old was Yitzchak at the akeidah? All of these sources assume that Yitzchak was old enough to fully comprehend what was going on, with many of them assuming that he was full grown adult. Thus, Josephus asserts that Yitzchak was 25, while Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti) and Bereshit Rabbah place him at 37.¹

Did he know what was to happen?

Yitzchak's question: "וְאַיֵּה הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה"

"אֱלֹהִים יִרְאֶה לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה בְּנִי"

"וְנָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם"

"וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם יַחְדָּו"

Why was it necessary to bind Yitzchak?

"וַיָּשׇׁב אַבְרָהָם אֶל נְעָרָיו"

"וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם"

Motivations

Unwilling, Unaware Victim

Sources:Ibn EzraBereshit First Commentary 22:6-8Bereshit First Commentary 22:19About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Avraham b. HaRambamBereshit 22:1Bereshit 22:8About R. Avraham Maimonides, Abarbanel, Shadal

Ambivalent

¹ See also Seder Olam Rabbah1About Seder Olam Rabbah. This age is reached by assuming that the juxtaposition of the story of the Akeidah and Sarah's death means that the two occurred one right after the other.  As Sarah died at the age of 127 and Yitzchak was born when she was 90, this suggests that he was 37 at the Akeidah.