Introduction
The story of the sacrifice of Isaac seems troubling until it dawns upon us that Abraham risked his son’s life precisely because he knew Isaac was never in danger. The heartwarming tale stands as a rebuke to human sacrifice and to all evil done in God’s name, as a blessing upon the sacrifices of the Temple, and as a prophecy of Christ, the ‘lamb of God’.
AND it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham,* and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah;* and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.*
* On God tempting Abraham, see The Lord’s Prayer and especially the note on the line ‘And lead us not into temptation’.
* The location of ‘the land of Moriah’ is hotly debated. In 2 Chronicles 3:1, ‘mount Moriah’ is equated with the Temple mount in Jerusalem. Some scholars are uncomfortable with this, since Jerusalem was already inhabited in Abraham’s day and not a lonely hill. On the other hand, the passage does not actually say the place was deserted; and as Abraham’s act may be seen both as a defiance towards child sacrifice and also as a blessing for animal sacrifice, it was perhaps right that he undertook it in the sight of the heathen and on the place where Solomon would raise his Temple centuries later. The Samaritans, however, maintain that the hill was Mount Gerizim some thirty miles to the north near Shechem (modern-day Nablus). See also The Parable of the Good Samaritan.
* Abraham implies here that he has every intention of returning with Isaac: his confidence that God would provide a ram, a real and actual ram, was never shaken because he knew that his God was not a God pleased by human sacrifices. In Jeremiah 19:5, God says censoriously of Israel, “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind.” In the the Talmud Taanit 4a:10 “neither came it into my mind” is interpreted plainly as God speaking of the sacrifice of Isaac: the substitution was intended all along. The death of Isaac never crossed the minds of God or of Abraham; whether it crossed Isaac’s we are not told.
Précis
According to the Book of Genesis, God told Abraham to go to a certain mountain and there offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Without hesitation, Abraham loaded wood for a burnt offering on the boy’s shoulders, and set off with two servants and a donkey. When they reached the mountain, Abraham and Isaac went up alone. (58 / 60 words)
According to the Book of Genesis, God told Abraham to go to a certain mountain and there offer his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Without hesitation, Abraham loaded wood for a burnt offering on the boy’s shoulders, and set off with two servants and a donkey. When they reached the mountain, Abraham and Isaac went up alone.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, despite, if, just, may, not, ought, unless.
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