Timeline

Retelling the Akedah

The Akedah, or the binding of Isaac, in Genesis 22 often provokes discomfort due to its depiction of God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son, raising unsettling questions about divine morality or foreknowledge. In response, later interpretations frequently either remove God as the direct source of the test or fill in narrative gaps to resolve its theological tensions. Some shift the instigation to Satan or an angel, distancing God from the appearance of giving an arbitrary test; others explicitly insert divine foreknowledge or inner dialogue to reassure readers that God is not capricious or ignorant, but remains just and omniscient throughout the ordeal.

Timeline

Genesis 22:2 / LXX Genesis 22:2
1. 750–400 BCE
  
  Genesis 22:2
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  1 Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied. 2 God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.” 3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.
2. 300–201 BCE
  
  LXX Genesis 22:2
  
  Septuagint
  
  1 And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, Abraham, Abraham; and he said, Look! I am here. 2 And he said, Take your son, the beloved one, whom you have loved, Isaac, and go into the high land, and offer him there for a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of. 3 And Abraham rose up in the morning and saddled his donkey, and he took with him two servants, and Isaac his son, and having split wood for a whole burnt offering, he arose and departed, and came to the place of which God spoke to him,
Genesis 22:1 / Jubilees 17:16 / Sanhedrin 89b
1. 750–400 BCE
  
  Genesis 22:1
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  1 Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied. 2 God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.” 3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.
2. 170–125 BCE
  
  Jubilees 17:16
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
  
  15 And in the seventh week, in the first year of it, [2003] in the first month in this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in all that He told him, and that he loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful. 16 And the prince Mastema came and said before God, 'Look, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights in him above all things else; tell him to offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and You will see if he will do this command, and You will know if he is faithful in everything in which You test him. 17 And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tested him through his country and with famine, and had tested him with the wealth of kings, and had tested him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with circumcision; and had tested him through Ishmael and Hagar, his female servant, when he sent them away.
3. 450–550 CE
  
  Sanhedrin 89b
  
  Rabbinic
  
  § Apropos the binding of Isaac, the Gemara elaborates: It is written: “And it came to pass after these matters [hadevarim] that God tried Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). The Gemara asks: After what matters? How does the binding of Isaac relate to the preceding events? Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Zimra: This means after the statement [devarav] of Satan, as it is written: “And the child grew, and was weaned, and Abraham prepared a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned” (Genesis 21:8). Satan said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, this old man, you favored him with a product of the womb, i.e., a child, at one hundred years of age. From the entire feast that he prepared, did he not have even one dove or one pigeon to sacrifice before You as a thanks-offering? God said to Satan: Did Abraham prepare the feast for any reason but for his son? If I say to him: Sacrifice your son before Me, he would immediately slaughter him. Immediately, after these matters, the verse states: “And God tried Abraham.”
Genesis 22:1 / Jubilees 17:16 / Genesis Rabbah 55:4
1. 750–400 BCE
  
  Genesis 22:1
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  1 Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied. 2 God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.” 3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.
2. 170–125 BCE
  
  Jubilees 17:16
  
  Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
  
  15 And in the seventh week, in the first year of it, [2003] in the first month in this jubilee, on the twelfth of this month, there were voices in heaven regarding Abraham, that he was faithful in all that He told him, and that he loved the Lord, and that in every affliction he was faithful. 16 And the prince Mastema came and said before God, 'Look, Abraham loves Isaac his son, and he delights in him above all things else; tell him to offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and You will see if he will do this command, and You will know if he is faithful in everything in which You test him. 17 And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tested him through his country and with famine, and had tested him with the wealth of kings, and had tested him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him), and with circumcision; and had tested him through Ishmael and Hagar, his female servant, when he sent them away.
3. 500 CE
  
  Genesis Rabbah 55:4
  
  Rabbinic
  
  a bull nor a ram.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘[I do not require your gifts. I know that] even if I would make a condition with you requiring that you sacrifice your son you would not refuse.’ According to the opinion of Rabbi Elazar, who said: [When, instead of] “God,” [it is written] “and God” – it refers to Him and His court, the ministering angels had said: ‘This Abraham rejoiced and caused everyone else to rejoice, but he did not set aside anything for the Holy One blessed be He, neither a bull nor a ram.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to them: ‘[I do not require his gifts. I know that] even if I would make a condition with him requiring that he sacrifice his son, he would not refuse.’ [Another interpretation,] Isaac and Ishmael were arguing with one another. This one [Yishmael] was saying: ‘I am more beloved [to God] than you are, as I was circumcised at the age of thirteen years.’ And the other one [Isaac] was saying: ‘I am more beloved [to God] than you are, as I was circumcised at eight days.’ Ishmael said to him: ‘I am more beloved because I had the