Stepping Back: What About Isaac?

every jewish new year [rosh hashonah] there is the built-in controversy of the torah reading of the binding of isaac or akedah. this portion serves rabbis and other commentators well with sermons as to whether abraham right or wrong to follow god’s directive to sacrifice his child isaac? they get to ask “what should be made of abraham’s test of faith and obedience?” after hearing many viewpoints on this topic, i am inclined to ask “what about isaac?”

abraham’s ascent to mt. moriah for the sacrifice was not alone. his obedient and respectful son isaac was there all the way. despite this, much discussion over this portion has isaac almost as an inanimate object. he was, however, there and experienced the event both a mentally and emotionally.

for many years, i envisioned the story with myself standing behind abraham. i see him over his son with the blade in his hand and his arm raised ready to bring it down for the death blow. more recently, stepping back, i find myself laying down with isaac on the makeshift altar and seeing the abraham’s face and the knife up high ready to plunge down.

with this second perspective, one takes the time to explore isaac’s experience; was it fear? horror? a feeling of parental betrayal? a sense of life’s cruelty? a moment of faith? or, was it an experience of divine intervention? as far as personal relationships with the divine being, one can certainly say that the god of isaac was quite different than the god of abraham.

extending out from the akedah, i take isaac to the moment his younger son jacob steals his older brother esau’s birthright and blessing. while isaac is blind, one can read into the text that he knew that there was a plot to deceive him. animal skins to simulate esau’s hairy arms? the absurdity of this should give all readers a clue. isaac knew. isaac, at that moment, arguably was testing god and his faith in god. did god really want jacob to be his successor? was isaac waiting for the divine intervention that once saved his life on mt. moriah? isaac was steeped with another moment of fear, betrayal, sense of cruelty and perhaps divine intervention. no angel came and intervened. isaac, however, had faith in that moment that jacob was chosen by god to be his successor.

arguably, jacob, whose name changed to israel, pays homage to this notion when he is blessing joseph’s sons. jacob, also of poor vision, gives the initial blessing to joseph’s youngest son. he did so even though joseph had arranged the children to be in order. it is said in genesis 48 “and joseph took them both, ephraim at his right, from israel’s [jacob] left, and manasseh at his left, from israel’s right, and he brought [them] near to him. but israel stretched out his right hand and placed [it] on ephraim’s head, although he was the younger, and his left hand [he placed] on manasseh’s head. he guided his hands deliberately, for manasseh was the firstborn.” in this moment, jacob arguably acknowledges that his father, isaac, certainly knew that he was giving the blessing to him. this suggests that isaac’s act, at that moment, was his act of faith. he trusted that his god believed that it was jacob who had the great potential to continue the legacy.

in sum, stepping back, one can see that both abraham and isaac’s faith were both tested from that moment on mt. moriah. isaac’s test, however, did not end on that eventful day.