Material courtesy of Jay Treat's Spring 98 Course.
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/002/treat99/
Midrash is a lens through which Rabbinic Jews read and experience scripture. When a traditional Jew reads a biblical story, he or she likely sees a story very different from the story that someone from another tradition sees.
Midrashic explanation is usually triggered by what might be experienced as a "rough spot" in the text. The rough spot could be a gap, or an unusual wording, or a passage that seems strange or to contradict another part of scripture. There are several of these triggers in the Aqedah story.
Each one of the excerpts below tries to answer a specific question put to the text.
1. Why the Test?
First of all, the text presents the premise of the story very abruptly, "After these things God tested Abraham." To a modern reader, it appears that no explanation is given for the test: it occurs almost arbitrarily. The midrashic interpreter however has a clue in the words, "After these things." After what things? Remember, nothing is meaningless. Every word is important.The midrashim on the Aqedah offer several ways to understand "After these things." A midrash in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 89b) shows one way.
What is meant by "after"? R. Johanan said on the authority of R. Jose b. Zimra: After the words of Satan, as it is written [in Genesis 21:8], "And the child [Isaac] grew, and was weaned: [and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.]"Midrash Rabbah (the great midrash) is one of the big collections of midrash. Midrash Rabbah on Genesis offers a similar explanation based on two other cues in the text. First, the word ahar, "after" sounds like hirhur, "misgiving." And so it reads,Thereupon Satan said to the Almighty: "Sovereign of the Universe! To this old man You graciously gave the fruit of the womb at the age of a hundred, yet of all that banquet which he prepared, he did not have one turtle-dove or pigeon to sacrifice before You! Has he done anything but in honor of his son? He replied, "Yet if I were to say to him, 'Sacrifice your son before Me,' he would do so without hesitation." Immediately, "God tested Abraham."
"After these things." Misgivings were experienced on that occasion. Who then had misgivings? Abraham, saying to himself, "I have rejoiced and made all others rejoice [at the banquet for Isaac's weaning], yet I did not set aside a single bullock or ram for the Holy One, blessed be He." Said God to him, "I know that even if you were commanded to offer your only son to Me, you would not refuse."Plays on words are frequently used by midrashic interpretation. Remember, nothing is meaningless.This interpretation is followed immediately by another interpretation that notices an apparently superfluous conjunction in the text. It is not usually translated, but remember, nothing is superfluous!
R. Leazar maintained that the employment of the wording "and God" where "God" would suffice indicates "God and His court." According to him, it was the ministering angels who spoke this way, "This Abraham rejoiced and made all others rejoice, yet did not set aside for God a single bullock or ram." Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to them, "Even if we tell him to offer his own son, he will not refuse."This is followed immediately by an interpretation like the one we read in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan.Isaac and Ishmael were engaged in a controversy. Ishmael said to him, "I am more beloved than you, since I was circumcised at the age of thirteen, but you were circumcised as a baby and could not refuse." Isaac retorted, "All that you gave to the Holy One, blessed be He, was three drops of blood. But behold, I am now 37 years old, yet if God desired of me that I be slaughtered, I would not refuse." The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "This is the moment!"The calculation of 37 years is based on the biblical information that Sarah was 90 years old at Isaac's birth and she died at 127. The rabbis understood her death to have been caused by a report of the Aqedah. Therefore, Isaac was 37 at the time of the Aqedah.Other explanations follow, for example, that God tested (nissah) Abraham in order to exalt him like a ship's banner (nes). All in all, the midrashic tradition provides a good number of reasons that God tested Abraham: because Isaac asked for it, because angels were disrectful of Abraham, because Abraham appeared to have forgotten God, because God wanted to exalt Abraham.
2. Abraham's only son?
The wording about the "only son" in Genesis 22:2 triggers some midrash in Midrash Rabbah and elsewhere, because Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. That seems to be a problem, but one that can be worked out with midrashic imagination."And He said, 'Take, I pray, your son, etc.'" Said He to him, "Take, I pray you -- I beg you -- your son..." Abraham asked, "Which son?" "Your only son...," replied He. "But each is the only son of his mother." "Whom you love..." "Is there a limit to the affections?" "Even Isaac," said He.And why did He not reveal it to him without delay? In order to make him [Isaac] even more beloved in his eyes and to reward him for every word spoken.
3. The ram
The ram is a substitute sacrifice, and becomes an important symbol. The shofar (ram's horn) is an important symbol of God's forgiveness and of God's plan to redeem His people. There are several cues for the ram's horn in the story, but here is one."And Abraham lifed up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram" (Genesis 22:13). What does "after" mean? Said R. Judan, "After all that happened, Israel still falls into the clutches of sin and become the victims of persecution; yet eventually they will be redeemed by the ram's horn, as it says, 'And the Lord God will blow the horn'" (Zechariah 9:14).Isaac's sacrifice was made on behalf of all future Israelites. In the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah, 16a), we read,R. Hanina b. R. Isaac said, "Throughout the year Israel is in sin's clutches and led astry by their troubles, but on New Year they take the shofar and blow on it, and eventually they will be redeemed by the ram's horn...."
Why do we blow the ram's horn [in the high holidays]? The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Sound before me a ram's horn so that I may remember on your behalf the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, and account it to you as if you had bound yourselves before me.Because of the Aqedah, Isaac has the right to be an intercessor for Israel. According to a midrash of the Song of Songs, "Isaac goes and sits at the entrance of Gehinnom [hell] to deliver his descendants from the punishment of Gehinnom."4. Abraham returns alone
Why does Genesis 22:19 say Abraham returned but does not mention Isaac? This is an obvious trigger.One ancient answer is given in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan:
And the angels from on high took Isaac and brought him to the school of Shem the great, and he was there for three years.Isaac went to do what any good Jewish boy should do -- study Torah! Midrash Rabbah gives "another interpretation":R. Jose b. R. Hanina said, He sent him home at night for fear of the evil eye.Sending Isaac away secretly protected him from people who would be jealous of admiration he might have received.Satan (or Mastema or Samael) plays an important role in the midrashic interpretation of the Aqedah. He impugns Abraham's loyalty to God. He attempts to sway both Abraham and Isaac from their course. And, finally, when he can do nothing else, he tells Sarah the truth: that Abraham took Isaac away to sacrifice him. When Abraham returns alone, Sarah sees that Isaac is not with him, and she dies from the shock.
5. The tradition that Isaac died
One of the interesting strands of tradition about the Aqedah is the notion that Isaac actually died and was sacrificed. In this version, the usual understanding is that Isaac was then raised from the dead and praised God for raising him.