Yitzchak's Role in the Akeidah/2

Yitzchak's Role in the Akeidah

Exegetical Approaches

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Overview

Commentators divide in how they view the role played by Yitzchak in the story of the Akeidah.  The majority of sources assume that he was old enough to fully comprehend the trial and that he recognized that he was to be the sacrifice.  He, nonetheless, went willingly to fulfill Hashem's command, making him a full partner in the passing of the test. Ibn Ezra, in contrast, suggests that Yitzchak was a young teen during the episode, unaware of what was to transpire.  Avraham actively deceived him so that he would not recognize that it was he who was to be offered until it was too late to resist. Yitzchak, then, was a passive victim rather than an active participant in the test.

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), R. Levi in Bavli SanhedrinSanhedrin 89bAbout the Bavli, Bereshit Rabbah55:456:8About 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. BachyaBereshit 22:5-7About R. Bachya b. Asher, R. S.R. HirschBereshit 22:3, 7-9About R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, R. D"Z HoffmannBereshit 22 IntroductionBereshit 22:1, 6-8About R. David Zvi Hoffmann, 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 and capable of resisting his father, had he so desired.  In fact, most assume that he was a fully grown adult,¹ with R. D"Z Hoffmann suggesting that Yitzchak was about 20, Josephus asserting that he was 25² and Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti) placing him at 37.³

Did he know what was to happen? These sources assume that Yitzchak was aware of what was to transpire, but differ regarding at what point and via whom he was told:

• En route – Tanchuma suggests that when Yitzchak noticed the absence of the sheep en route, he suspected the truth⁴ and Avraham confirmed his suspicions.⁵
• Prior to test – R. Levi in Bavli Sanhedrin, Bereshit Rabbah, and Lekach Tov go further, claiming that Yitzchak was not only cognizant that he was to be the offering, but that it was he who initiated the trial to begin with!⁶

"אַיֵּה הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה" and the double "וַיֹּאמֶר" – Many of these sources read in Yitzchak's question, "where is the sheep", evidence of his suspicions that he himself was meant to be the sacrifice. The double appearance of the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" to introduce Yitzchak's words might be the text's way of signifying Yitzchak's hesitancy and fear of expressing his concerns aloud.

"אֱלֹהִים יִרְאֶה לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה בְּנִי" – Lekach Tov, R"Y Bekhor Shor, and Radak⁷ suggest that it was with these words that Avraham hinted to his son that he was to be the offering, saying in effect, "Hashem will show us the sheep, [who is to be you], my son.⁸  Even though Avraham's words were ambiguous, Yitzchak understood the truth.

"וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם יַחְדָּו" – These sources point to this otherwise seemingly gratuitous phrase⁹ as proof that Yitzchak went willingly, of one mind and one heart with his father. Even after learning that he was to be the offering, Yitzchak continued to walk together with Avraham, one to sacrifice and one to be sacrificed.

"וְנָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם" – This approach might explain this apparent deception in several ways:

• According to RalbagBereshit Beur HaParashah 22:5About R. Levi b. Gershom, Avraham's words were meant to deceive the youths who had accompanied him, but not Yitzchak himself.
• R. Hoffmann, in contrast, suggests that Avraham was simply not yet ready to reveal the truth to Yitzchak and hoped to disclose it slowly.  When he said "נָשׁוּבָה", he was not actively lying as he assumed that he would be bringing Yitzchak's body back for burial.¹⁰
• Alternatively, Avraham was simply expressing his hope that they would both indeed be returning.¹¹

Why was it necessary to bind Yitzchak? According to many of these sources,¹² it was Yitzchak himself who asked to be bound,¹³ lest he move, cause a blemish, and nullify the sacrifice.  The binding came not out of fear that Yitzchak would protest, but from a desire that the offering be kosher.

"וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם" – Abarbanel Bereshit 22:3About R. Yitzchak Abarbanelquestions why the chapter presents the trial as a test only for Avraham if Yitzchak himself was a knowing and willing participant.  Was it not even more of a test of faith for Yitzchak, who was being asked to offer up his own life?  Moreover, if Yitzchak  was ready to sacrifice himself, why isn't he praised and rewarded?

• R. Bachya and R. Hoffmann explain that being forced to offer one's child as a sacrifice is even harder than self-sacrifice, and so Avraham's test was indeed greater than that of Yitzchak.
• Abarbanel further notes that though, in the moment, Yitzchak was asked to do the harder task, his distress was to be short-lived. Avraham, in contrast was to have to live with the consequences of his decision and the pain of his loss for the rest of his life.¹⁴

"וַיָּשׇׁב אַבְרָהָם אֶל נְעָרָיו" – These sources explain Yitzchak's absence in a number of ways:

• Sent to learn – Bereshit Rabbah suggests that Yitzchak was sent to learn Torah with Shem for three years.  After such a lofty experience, Yitzchak could not simply return to mundane life, but was sent to continue his spiritual growth.
• Sent to Gan Eden – Ibn KaspiBereshit 22:19About R. Yosef ibn Kaspi brings an opinion that, as a reward for his willingness to be slaughtered, Hashem brought Yitzchak to Gan Eden for three years, while Minchat YehudaBereshit 25:27About R. Yehuda b. Elazar claims that he was brought there to be healed from the ordeal. [Cf. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer who goes so far as to suggest that when Avraham touched the knife to his neck, Yitzchak's soul departed and he needed to be revived!]¹⁵
• Present – Alternatively, Radak claims that Yitzchak really was present and is simply not mentioned since he was secondary to Avraham. According to this, the words "וַיֵּלְכוּ יַחְדָּו" refer to father and son who continued to be of one mind and heart after together successfully passing Hashem's test.¹⁶

Polemical and historical motivations – This reading of Yitzchak might be motivated not only by  a desire to portray Yitzchak as Avraham's equal in faith, but also by both polemical concerns and historical issues:

• As Christians read our story as a prefiguring of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross,¹⁷ there might have been a desire to portray Yitzchak as just as willing to sacrifice himself.¹⁸
• Jews living during the Crusades, who were often forced to martyr their children to sanctify Hashem's name, might have searched for a model and found one in Yitzchak.¹⁹

Unaware Victim

Yitzchak was not an active partner during the trial, but an unknowing victim.

Sources:Ibn EzraBereshit First Commentary 22:6-8Bereshit First Commentary 22:19About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, Rambam as brought by R. Avraham b. HaRambamBereshit 22:1Bereshit 22:8About R. Avraham Maimonides, AbarbanelBereshit 22:3About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, ShadalBereshit 22:7-8About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto

"וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם" – This statement is one of the key motivations for this approach. The fact that Yitzchak is not mentioned as being the object of the trial (and, moreover, is never rewarded or praised for his role) suggests that he was not an active participant in the test and did not on his own offer himself as a sacrifice.

How old was Yitzchak at the Akeidah?

• Ibn Ezra presents Yitzchak as a youth during the episode, aged about 13.  He was old enough to aid his father in carrying the supplies and to converse with him, but not yet considered an independent individual. He was still under the influence of his father and capable of being restrained by him were it to be necessary.²⁰
• Ibn Ezra also brings (but rejects) a possibility that Yitzchak was little more than a toddler at the time.²¹  If the opening words of the story "וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה" serve to link it to the previous chapter and the birth of Yitzchak described there, Yitzchak really could be but a young child. If so, Yitzchak was not mature or knowledgeable enough to either fully protest or fully agree to the trial.

Did he know what was to happen? According to these sources, Yitzchak was unaware that he was the offering until the very last minute.

"וְנָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם" – Ibn Ezra asserts that Avraham was intentionally deceptive, lest Yitzchak understand that he was to be offered and run away.

Yitzchak carrying the fire-wood – Abarbanel suggests that Avraham had given Yitzchak the firewood to carry, and likely tied it on him, so that the heavy burden would make it difficult for Yitzchak to flee.

"אַיֵּה הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה" – Yitzchak's question need not betray any suspicions on his part and can be read as  simple curiosity.²²

"אֱלֹהִים יִרְאֶה לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה בְּנִי" – Ibn Ezra views these words of Avraham, too, as a means to keep the truth from Yitzchak.  Fearing that if he told Yitzchak that he was to be the offering,Yitzchak would run, Avraham instead only told him that Hashem would supply the sheep.²³

"וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם יַחְדָּו" – Shadal claims that the repetition of these words  need not come to teach that Yitzchak was aware of the plan and nonetheless willingly accompanied his father.  Rather, the repetition is simply a literary device employed when a narrative has gone on a tangent and then wants to resume where it left off.²⁴

Why was it necessary to bind Yitzchak? This approach might suggest that this, too, was intended to prevent Yitzchak from resisting.²⁵ Abarbanel posits that Avraham led Yitzchak to believe that they were role-playing, with him being placed and bound to the altar like an Olah as a sign of utter subservience to Hashem.  Thus, even when bound, Yitzchak harbored no suspicions and it was only when Avraham lifted the knife that he realized the truth.²⁶

"וַיָּשׇׁב אַבְרָהָם אֶל נְעָרָיו" – According to these sources, Yitzchak's absence from this verse should not be taken to mean that Yitzchak's unwilling ordeal caused a rift between him and his father and that Avraham therefore returned alone:

• Ibn Ezra suggests that Yitzchak did in fact accompany his father back and his presence is simply assumed by the text. He is not mentioned only because, being still but a boy, he is considered his father's property and is secondary to him.
• Abarbanel, in contrast, suggests that Yitzchak really was absent, but only because he had been sent ahead to allay any fears Sarah might have had.

One, however, could posit that the still young Yitzchak was distraught over the event and could not immediately return with a father who had been willing to slaughter him, even if this was at the behest of Hashem.

¹ Yitzchak is referred to as a "נער" in verse 5, a term which is generally understood to describe a youth.  However, the word has been applied both to infants (Moshe in the ark) and to adults (Yehoshua, servant of Moshe) as well, suggesting that it can refer to a man of any age.

² Cf. Jubilees who presents Yitzchak as 23.

³ See also Seder Olam Rabbah1About Seder Olam Rabbah and many in its wake. 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, Yitzchak would be 37 at the Akeidah.

⁴ R. Hirsch suggests, instead, that it was the seriousness and silence of Avraham throughout the three day journey which aroused his suspicions.

⁵ See also Lekach Tov, R"Y Bekhor Shor, Radak, and R. D"Z Hoffmann who all agree that Yitzchak and Avraham's conversation in verses 7-8 marked the turning point when Yitzchak realized the true plan, but claim that Avraham never explicitly confirmed Yitzchak's suspicions.  He only hinted to what was to come, but Yitzchak grasped the truth.

⁶ They present Yishmael as gloating to Yitzchak of his superior righteousness, for he was circumcised when thirteen and capable of protesting, while Yitzchak, being just 8 days old, had no choice in the matter. Yitzchak responds that had Hashem asked, he would be willing to sacrifice not just one limb but his entire body.

⁷ Cf. R. Hirsch and R. D"Z Hoffmann who present Avraham as even less explicit, but who still assert that Yitzchak understood from his response what was to be.

⁸ The commentators might be picking up on the fact that the word "בְּנִי" does not come at the beginning of Avraham's speech, as one would expect if Avraham was just saying "בְּנִי" as a way of addressing Yitzchak.  The word's placement at the end of the sentence is what enables them to suggest that Avraham paused after the words "אֱלֹהִים יִרְאֶה לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעֹלָה", thereby hinting that Hashem will show that the sheep is actually "בְּנִי", Yitzchak.
This reading of the phrase recalls the similar Midrashic reading of Yaakov's reply to Yitzchak when asked his identity in the story of the taking of the blessing.  The verse has Yaakov answer, "אָנֹכִי עֵשָׂו בְּכֹרֶךָ" which the Midrash reads as "אָנֹכִי (יעקב) - עֵשָׂו (הוא) בְּכֹרֶךָ", similarly inserting a pause in the speech to change the meaning. [See Bereshit Rabbah 65:18 and Tanchuma (Buber) Toledot ]

⁹ Verse 6 had already pointed out that the two were walking together, so there would seem to be no reason to repeat the point here, just two verses later.

¹⁰ See also the opinion brought by Ibn Ezra and R. Bachya.

¹¹ Cf. Rashi who claims that his words were prophetic.

¹² See Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti), Bereshit Rabbah, Tanchuma, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, and Radak.

¹³ Bereshit Rabbah, in fact, brings the binding as proof that Yitzchak was compliant, for if not, how would his father have managed to bind a grown man against his will?

¹⁴ As this still does not explain why Yitzchak was not nonetheless rewarded for his show of faith and obedience, Abarbanel concludes that Yitzchak must not have been an active participant. [See the discussion below.]

¹⁵ The Midrash, however, presents this revival as occurring instantaneously so this would not account for Yitzchak's absence.

¹⁶ The threefold mention of the pair "going together" suggests that Yitzchak was a willing partner throughout; both before and after the trial, Avraham and Yitzchak "go together," equal in their steadfast faith in and obedience to God.

¹⁷ See, for example, Augustine's City of God 16:32.

¹⁸ In light of this, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer's presentation of Yitzchak as dying and coming back to life is particularly noteworthy..

¹⁹ See J. Woolf, "Akedat Yitzchak: On the Perception of Historical Experience in Judaism", who discusses the influence of the Akeidah story on those living in later periods of history when persecution and martyrdom of children was prevalent. These individuals felt that they were not only imitating Avraham and Yitzchak, but even going beyond them (as, unfortunately, in their cases Hashem did not step in to halt the slaughter.) 
See also Shulamit Elitzur, עקידת יצחק - בבכי או בשמחה", עט הדעת א' (תשנ"ז): 15-36", who points out that liturgical poems focusing on the Akeidah in Spain and Germany differ vastly in their portrayal of YItzchak.  In the former, Yitzchak is usually portrayed as crying and pleading, while in the latter he goes to meet his fate with happiness.  She posits that Jews living in Germany needed to create such a model of a joyful Yitzchak to answer for the martyrdom they were forced to actually carry through. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer's depiction of a Yitzchak who actually dies (and then comes back to life) would likely have spoken deeply to them.

²⁰ The Rambam similarly rejects the possibility that Yitzchak was already 37,claiming that if so, the text should have highlighted his righteousness and obedience much more than Avraham's.

²¹ He claims that at such a young age Yitzchak would not have been able to carry the fire-wood.

²² It is also possible, however, that despite Avraham's attempts to conceal the truth, Yitzchak still wondered.  See Bereshit Rabbah 56:4 who has the Satan question Yitzchak, airing Yitzchak's hidden fears.  It claims that the double "father" in the verse, "וַיֹּאמֶר יִצְחָק אֶל אַבְרָהָם אָבִיו וַיֹּאמֶר אָבִי" was Yitzchak's plea to Avraham act as a father and show him mercy.  The Midrash has Yitzchak in the end comply and go willingly with his father, but one could instead suggest that he was suspicious and unhappy until the very end.

²³ Shadal asserts that Yitzchak was satisfied with this answer, assuming that Hashem would miraculously aid them in finding an animal, and if not, that they would simply not offer any.  If Yitzchak is indeed younger during the episode, he likely simply trusted his father.

²⁴ The device is known as a "חזרמ מקשרת" or "resumptive repetition".  [Another example might be Shemot 6:29-30 which basically repeat verses 11-12 there.  As the chapter had paused the narrative with a parenthetical genealogy list, it resumes where it had left off beforehand with almost verbatim language.]

²⁵ One might go further and suggest that the binding indicates that Yitzchak had indeed been protesting or struggling and it was therefore necessary to restrain him.

²⁶ At this point, being bound, he could no longer escape and could only pray to Hashem for mercy.