"And he said take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you." Gen. 22:2)
When God issues this call to Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Abraham rises early the next morning, loads his donkey, calls his servants, and begins on his journey to fulfill this command without so much as a word of protest. Abraham is silent even though God had just promised him in Genesis 21:12 that "through Isaac shall your seed be called."
Our amazement at Abraham’s silence is even greater knowing that he does stand up to God when he wants to. Before the destruction of Sodom and Gemorrah Abraham shows his potential to argue with God. Now, however, Abraham is silent. If he was so willing to defend the Sodomites from death, could he not have done the same for his beloved son?
Ibn Kaspi takes the approach that in the world in which Abraham lived, the pagan world demonstrated allegiance to the idol Moloch by ritually sacrificing children to it. In such a world where children are routinely sacrificed to divinities, Abraham knew that he too might be commanded to do the same. When God subsequently cancels the command to sacrifice Isaac, the Torah is making a statement that child sacrifice is unacceptable to Jews.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin has offered a very different explanation for why Abraham remained silent in the face of God’s command. Rabbi Riskin suggests that Abraham does not argue with God because he understands that in a certain sense he has brought this test upon himself. Abraham was a great example of a person who worshipped God out of love. He left the comfort of his homeland, birthplace, and family to be with God just as a lover follows their beloved around. Abraham establishes alters in almost every place to God. He never ceases to talk about God and God’s ethical teachings as he persuades others to follow God’s will.
Yet, all of this changes when Abraham and Sarah settle in the land of Gerar where Avimelach is king. There, afraid that Sarah’s beauty will endanger his life, Abraham tells Sarah to say that she is his sister. When Abraham is asked why he lied about Sarah’s identity, he explains, "surely the fear of God is not in this place" (Gen 20:11). However, the last words that appear just before the Akeda tell us that Abraham continued to live in that land for many days. Rabbi Riskin sees in this contradiction the seeds of the test that Abraham endures. Hadn’t Abraham just said that the fear of God is not in this place? So, God has to test him to determine if he is still worthy of becoming the father of the Jewish people.
As the events of the Akeda reach their climax and Abraham lifts the knife to slaughter his son, the words of the angel ring out. "Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God ..." (Genesis 212:12). With this call, Rabbi Riskin says that the circle has been completed. Abraham proves that he still fears God, despite his residence in Gerar. The entire incident is a testing of Abraham’s fear of God, not necessarily his love of God.
Fear of God, Yirat Shamayim and Ahavat Adonai, love of God, are two fundamental attitudes that people take towards God. One emanates from a sense of distance and one out of a sense of closeness. Abraham’s obedience of God’s earlier call of lech lecha, to leave his homeland comes out of a love of God, whereas his response to the Akeda expresses his fear of God. Abraham ability to combine both of these traits makes him the unique individual worthy to be the father of Israel and the Jewish people.