as a sacrifice at the command of God. The story, which is the literary masterpiece of the Elohistic collection, is told with exquisite simplicity; every sentence vibrates with restrained emotion, which shows how fully the author realises the tragic horror of the situation.
Source.—The original narrative consists of vv.1-14. 19. In spite of (
Hebrew characters)
in 11. 14, this belongs to E: cf. [Hebrew **], 1. 3. 8. 9. 12; (Hebrew characters)5]; the revelation
by night, 1ff.; the Angel calling from heaven, 11.—On 15-18 see below.
Comp. Di. Ho. Gu.
1-8. Abraham's willing preparation for the sacrifice.—1.
God tempted Abraham] i.e., tested him, to "know
what was in his heart" (Dt. 82),—an anthropomorphic representation:
cf. Ex. 164 2020, Dt. 816 134 338 etc. This
sentence governs the narrative and prepares the reader for
a good ending.—2. thy son—thine only one—whom thou lovest—Isaac]
emphasising the greatness of the sacrifice, as if to
say that God knows right well how much He asks.—the land of Mōriyyāh ((Hebrew characters))] All attempts to explain the name and
identify the place have been futile.
The prevalent Jewish and Christian tradition puts the scene on the
Temple mount at Jerusalem ((Hebrew characters), 2 Ch. 31; τὸ Μώριον ὄρος, Jos. Ant.
i. 224, cf. 226). But (a) the attestation of the name is so late and unreliable
that it is a question whether the Chronicler's use of it rests on a
traditional interpretation of this passage, or whether it was introduced
here on the strength of his notice. (b) Even if (Hebrew characters) were a genuine
ancient name for the Temple hill, it is not credible that it was extended
to the land in which it was, and still less that the hill itself should be
described as 'one of the mountains' in the region named after it.
There is reason to suspect that the name of a land may have been modified
(either in accordance with a fanciful etymology [v.14], or on the
authority of 2 Ch. 31) in order that the chief sanctuary of later times
1. (Hebrew characters) 151.—(Hebrew characters)] The reluctance of grammarians to
admit that this can be the main sent., and apod. after time determination,
is intelligible (De. Di. Gu.), the order being that of the circumst.
cl.; but it ifs difficult, without sophistical distinctions, to take it any
other way. As cir. cl. it could only mean 'when God had tempted A.,'
which is nonsense; and to speak of it as a Verumständung of the fol.
(Hebrew characters) (De.) is to deceive oneself with a word. The right explanation in
Dri. T. § 78 (3).—(Hebrew characters)] repeated in GV; cf. 11.—2. (Hebrew characters)] The word was
no doubt popularly connected with [root] (Hebrew characters) as used in 14 (cf. [E] (Hebrew characters), Aq.
(Greek characters), Σ. (Greek characters), V visionis), though a real derivation from
that [root] is impossible. G τὴν ὑψηλὴν (cf. 126). S has [Syrian: **], TOJ
