When God Demands the Unthinkable: The Real Purpose of the Binding of Isaac

A father awakens before dawn, saddles his donkey, and begins a three-day journey to sacrifice his beloved son. The wood is arranged. The fire is prepared. The knife is raised. At the last moment, an angel calls out, “Abraham! Abraham!” and the son is spared.

The Akeidat Yitzchak, or Binding of Isaac, is the most haunting episode in all of Scripture. Philosophers, theologians, and ordinary believers have wrestled with this text for millennia. Søren Kierkegaard devoted an entire book, Fear and Trembling, to the burning question of how Abraham could be willing to do such a thing. How could this paragon of kindness, this advocate who pleaded for the wicked people of Sodom, be so ready to sacrifice his own son?

But I think an equally compelling question can be directed at God Himself. Why would God command Abraham to bind his son as a sacrifice—something so cruel and painful? We know that God abhors child sacrifice and explicitly forbids it elsewhere in the Bible. So why put Abraham and Isaac through something so hellish?

The standard English translation of the Hebrew word nissa is “tested.” According to this translation, God believed it necessary to test Abraham’s loyalty by commanding him to do something completely against his nature. And this is certainly a true and correct interpretation of God’s purpose for the Binding of Isaac. But there is another understanding of the word nissa that helps us understand this story in an entirely different light.

To answer our first question – why God did this to Abraham – we must ask another question: Why was Abraham chosen in the first place? Why does he, among all people, receive such magnificent promises from God? Surely there were other righteous people in the world!

The Sages teach: “It is written: ‘You have given those who fear You a banner [nes] to wave [lehitnoses], because of truth, Selah’ (Psalms 60:6) – God tested Abraham with test after test in order to hold him up as a banner [nes] in the eyes of the world, and in order to exalt them in the eyes of the world, like an ensign [nes] on a ship. Why to such an extent? So that God’s attribute of justice would be proven true in the world.”

The Sages continue: “If a person says to you: ‘He [God] makes wealthy whom He wishes to make wealthy, He makes poor whom He wishes, and He crowns as king whom He wishes, [all arbitrarily]; when He wished, He crowned Abraham king, when He wished, He made him wealthy,’ you can respond and say to him: ‘Are you able to do what Abraham our patriarch did?’ And when he says: ‘What did he do?’ You tell him: ‘”Abraham was one hundred years old when [his son Isaac] was born to him” (Genesis 21:5), and after all that suffering, it was said to him: “Take now your son, your only one,” yet he did not hesitate.’ That is, ‘You have given those who fear You a banner to wave'” (Genesis Rabba 55:1).

God needed to reveal Abraham’s true identity to all peoples, to prove to the nations of the world that his selection was not arbitrary, but that God had good reasons to select Abraham as the father of the chosen people. This revelation came through the Binding of Isaac – a trial that served as a “nes,” a “banner” to the entire world.

The banner waving at the top of a ship’s mast announces to all observers what kind of vessel approaches. Similarly, the Binding of Isaac proves conclusively why Abraham was chosen by God. Abraham demonstrated his willingness to overcome the most fundamental parental instinct and his entire personality of kindness to fulfill God’s will. It was irrefutably proved to the nations why Abraham deserved to be chosen.

But the Binding does more than justify Abraham’s selection. It also demonstrates why Isaac, not Ishmael, was chosen to continue Abraham’s mission.

The Sages describe the struggle between Ishmael and Isaac: “Ishmael said to Isaac: ‘I am more beloved than you, as I was circumcised at age thirteen years, but you were circumcised when you were little, when it was impossible to protest.’ Isaac said to him: ‘Everything that you gave over to the Holy One, blessed be He, amounted to three drops of blood. I, though, am thirty-seven years old now, and if He were to ask me to be slaughtered, I would not refuse.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: ‘The hour has come.’ After this, ‘God tested Abraham'” (Genesis Rabba 55:4).

According to the Sages, Ishmael claimed the birthright based on his conscious decision to undergo the painful circumcision procedure at the late age of thirteen. His argument certainly carries weight. But Isaac’s willingness to sacrifice his entire life for God is greater than Ishmael’s sacrifice. He willingly offers his entire being to God.

In our own generation, the people of Israel are experiencing a modern “Binding of Isaac.” We are attacked by enemies on every front and condemned by nations across the globe. And so, just as we asked why God put Abraham through the painful trial of the Binding, we must also ask today: Why is God making the people of Israel endure such tribulation?

Today’s Arabs—the descendants of Ishmael—claim the birthright to the land of Israel, echoing their ancestor’s ancient claim against Isaac. With fierce determination, they insist the land belongs to them rather than the Jewish people. “We will fight forever for this land,” they declare, backing these words with relentless attacks and a willingness to sacrifice much in their campaign to take what rightfully belongs to Isaac’s descendants.

Therefore, the people of Israel must prove to Ishmael and the entire world that they, Isaac’s descendants, are the true heirs to the land. How is this done? Through sacrifice. The brave and holy soldiers of the IDF willingly give their lives to protect the land and their people. Fathers leave their children for months of military service. Wives raise families alone while their husbands serve in the reserves. Children grow up without seeing their fathers for long stretches. This collective sacrifice shows that Israel is worthy of its chosenness. Through our willingness to sacrifice for our land and our covenant, we demonstrate to the world the justice of our claim.

Yes, Ishmael also sacrifices. But their sacrifice is intertwined with cruelty, with rape and murder. In contrast, Isaac’s sacrifice is pure and holy. He was willing to give up everything for God.

May the nations of the world soon open their eyes and see that the people of Israel are worthy of their land. And may we soon witness an end to all our suffering, and the building of the Temple on Mount Moriah—the very place where Abraham and Isaac proved, for all generations, that this land belongs to them and their descendants.