Re: The sacrifice of Isaac

gershon dubin (gershon.dubin@juno.com)
Thu, 7 Nov 1996 22:59:35 PST

In reply to:
>Why is it that no one seems to take Abraham at his word? First he
>tells
>his servants that he and Isaac will return. Then he tells Isaac that
>Hashem will provide the ram. Why not take him literally?

Our interpretation of these statements is colored by our
hindsight. In fact, you could take G-D at his word: he only asked
that Avraham bring Yitzchok "up on the mountain" but not sacrifice him.
The midrash relates that G-D himself explained this meaning to Avraham
after the Akeida.

Gershon