Genesis Rabbah 56:7
Aggadah"And the angel of Ad-nai called to him out of heaven, and said: Abraham, Abraham" (Gen. 22:11). Rabbi Hiya taught: This is an expression of love, this is an expression of urging. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: He spoke to him and to future generations, there is no generation which does not contain people like Avraham, and there is no generation which does not contain people like Yaakov, Moshe, and Shmuel. And he said: "Do not lay your hand etc." (Gen. 22:12) Where was the knife? Three tears had fallen from the angels of service and the knife dissolved. Avraham said: ‘I will strangle him,’ He said: ‘Do not lay your hand upon the lad.’ [Avraham] said ‘I will take a drop of blood from him’ - He said to him: ‘Neither do anything [me'uma] to him’ [meaning] inflict no blemish [muma] upon him. "Because now I know" [meaning] I have made it known to all that you love Me, "and you have not withheld, etc". And do not say that all ills that do not affect one’s own body are not ills, rather I ascribe merit to you as though I had told to you to sacrifice yourself and you did not refuse.
Augustine City of God 11.32
On the City of God Against the PagansAmong other things, of which it would take too long time to mention the whole, Abraham was tempted about the offering up of his well-beloved son Isaac, to prove his pious obedience, and so make it known to the world, not to God. Now every temptation is not blame-worthy; it may even be praise-worthy, because it furnishes probation. And, for the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation;
Notes and References
"... The classic paradigm examined by the Rabbinic tradition to illustrate the paradox ... is the Akedat Yitzak (Genesis 22) where the question of Hashem’s yediah ('foreknowledge') and human will / choice is raised. The key is, “atah (now) yadati (I know) ki atah yirei hashem (that you fear Hashem).” Genesis Rabbah 56:7 comments, “Did He (Hashem) then not know beforehand? Surely it is written, I am G-d ... declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46:9)? ... Read not YADATI ('I know') but YIDATI ('I have made known'): Now all mortals will know how far the fear of heaven reaches, that man may sacrifice his only son.” Thus, the Midrash tolerates no lacunae or absence in Hashem’s knowledge but sees the Akedah, as does the later Degel Yehudah, as a means to educate the world of Avraham’s faith and betuchon, raised as the Ramban says 'from potentiality to actuality'. Rav Saadia Gaon also resolves this paradox in the choice of the verb tense he makes in his Arabic translation of the Tanakh. Rav Saadia translates YADATI to ARRAFTU ALNAS which means in Arabic, 'I have made known to mankind'. Rabbis Yosef Albo and Gersonides however disagree with Rav Saadia’s argument of strong providence and assert that Hashem knew precisely how Avraham would respond, because both philosophers hold that in order to be a moral agent who is responsible and accountable we have to act “as if” we have free will ..."
Levy, David B. The Theology, Halakhah, Politics, and Esotericism of the DSS Essene Sect Compared with Normative Rabbinic Practices and that of the Second Temple Sadducees (pp. 1-64) Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Convention of the Association of Jewish Libraries, 2008