The troubling story that appears in the first reading this Sunday is traditionally called the “Binding of Isaac.” Having received his long-hoped-for son, Abraham now receives instructions from God to offer the boy as a whole-burnt offering. At the very last minute God intervenes, but not before its becomes clear to Isaac—and the horrified reader—that Abraham is ready to go through with the ritual. Although Isaac goes free and Abraham is rewarded for his fidelity, no one feels good about the incident. Rabbinic tradition connects Sarah's death, related in the next chapter, to her shock at the event, and other ancient nonbiblical traditions claim that Isaac spoke forever after with a stutter.
Even the best biblical scholars today struggle to explain this narrative's original meaning. It may have had something to do with the prohibition of child-sacrifice in ancient Israel, although legislation in Exodus and Deuteronomy was probably more effective in that regard. It may have been a parable about Abraham's passionate fidelity to God; but if so, it made ancient commentators question the goodness of a God who would demand such a thing. Given certain features of its grammar, a few scholars have even wondered if this account was originally a scribal training exercise and never meant to be sacred Scripture. The “Binding of Isaac” raises more questions than it answers.
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