Setting: Genesis 22:1-24
And He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, of which I will tell you."
I had not anticipated this request from Adonai, and it grieved me very deeply.
I rose up early in the morning, as I had done when I sent Hagar and Ishmael out of the camp, for I am quickest to do that which is most disagreeable to me, lest I should tarry and prolong my agony.
I saddled my donkey, and took Kadeem and Otiartes with me, and Isaac my son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told me.
On the third day I lifted up my eyes, and saw the place afar off. Once God told me to lift up my eyes and to look north and south and east and west, and to know that all this land would belong to my offspring. Then my eyes rested calmly on the land, but now as I lifted up my eyes, I felt that they were large, like those of a frightened animal, for I was bewildered, and I did not know what I was doing.
I said to the young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over and worship, and come again to you."
I took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon the shoulders of Isaac my son, and my mind flashed to that moment when I took provisions for the desert and laid them upon the shoulders of Hagar.
I took the fire in my hand, and the knife; and we went, both of us together.
Isaac said to me, "My father!" and I said to him, "Here am I, my son." And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
I suffered greatly in my soul, but I maintained be outward composure.
"My son," I said, "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering," and I did not know what these words really meant, or whether they should be taken literally or figuratively, or whether Isaac was the lamb. But I knew I that El Elyon is great.
We went on, both of us together.
We came to the place of which God had told me, and I built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac, my son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
I stretched forth my hand, and took the knife to slay my son.
Abraham sacrifices Isaac
At the last moment, the angel of Adonai called to me out of heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And I said, "Here I am!"
And he said, "do not lay not your hand upon the boy, neither do anything to him, for now I know that you fear Elohim, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me."
I lifted up his eyes, and looked in all directions, searching for God's lamb, and behold, behind me there was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. I went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of my son, and tears streamed down my face, for the gods of the nations require the blood of our children, but Adonai provides a sacrifice in their stead.
The ram on the mountains of Moriah
I called the name of that place Adonai Yireh, as it is said to this day, "In the mountain of Adonai it shall be provided."
And the angel of Adonai called unto me out of heaven a second time, saying "By myself have I sworn, says Adonai, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son:
In blessing I will bless you,
And in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven,
And as the sand which is upon the sea shore,
And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because you have obeyed my voice."
So I returned to the young men, and we rose up and went together to Beersheba, and I continued to dwell at Beersheba.
And the angel of Adonai called unto me out of heaven a second time, saying "By myself have I sworn, says Adonai, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son:
In blessing I will bless you,
And in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven,
And as the sand which is upon the sea shore,
And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because you have obeyed my voice."
So I returned to the young men, and we rose up and went together to Beersheba, and I continued to dwell at Beersheba.
I had many, many days of joy after that. But I was never quite the same as I was before Moriah.
--
--
After these things, it was told me that Milcah had also born children for my brother Nahor: Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah bore to my brother Nahor.
And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bore him also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bore him also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.