The Binding of Isaac, also called "The Binding" in Hebrew, is a story from chapter 22 of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. In the story, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain named Jehovah-jireh in the area of Moriah. Abraham begins to follow God's command by tying Isaac to an altar, but he is stopped by the Angel of the Lord. A ram appears and is sacrificed instead of Isaac, as God praises Abraham for showing devotion by being willing to offer his son as a human sacrifice.
This story is sometimes referred to as the "Sacrifice of Isaac," even though Isaac was not actually sacrificed. Some scholars believe the original version of the story may have described a completed human sacrifice, which was later changed to include a ram instead. Certain Jewish and Christian traditions suggest Isaac was sacrificed. This event has been widely discussed in religious writings from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Biblical narrative
According to the Hebrew Bible, God tells Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. After Isaac is tied to an altar, a messenger from God stops Abraham before he can finish the sacrifice. The messenger says, "Now I know you fear God." Abraham looks up and sees a ram. He sacrifices the ram instead of Isaac. The text says the event happened at "the mount of the LORD" in "the land of Moriah." Abraham then named the place "Jehovah-jireh," which means "God will provide." 2 Chronicles 3:1 mentions "mount Moriah" as the location of Solomon's Temple. Other Bible passages, such as Psalm 24:3, Isaiah 2:3, Isaiah 30:29, and Zechariah 8:3, refer to "the mount of the LORD" as the site of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which is believed to be the Temple Mount. In the Samaritan Pentateuch version of Genesis 22:14, the phrase YHWH yireh is understood to mean "in the mountain the Lord was seen," with the mountain being Mount Gerizim.
Jewish views
In The Binding of Isaac, Religious Murders & Kabbalah, Lippman Bodoff explains that Abraham did not plan to actually sacrifice his son. He believed God did not want him to do this. Rabbi Ari Kahn, writing on the Orthodox Union website, which supports Modern Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States, agrees with this idea.
In The Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides says the story of Abraham and Isaac teaches two important lessons. First, it shows how humans can both love and fear God. Second, it shows that visions from God are as true as logical arguments, even if they come in dreams.
In Glory and Agony: Isaac's Sacrifice and National Narrative, Yael Feldman explains that the story of Isaac’s binding has influenced ideas about bravery and self-sacrifice in modern Jewish culture. She notes that over time, the story has changed to focus on the pain and honor of dying for a cause. In Legends of the Jews, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg says the story was meant to test Isaac’s claim to be God’s chosen son and to silence Satan’s doubts about Abraham. It also showed that Abraham was willing to obey God completely, even if it meant sacrificing his son.
Jacob Howland warns that Ginzberg’s work should be used carefully, as it combines many sources into one story, making it seem more consistent than it actually is. In some medieval stories, Isaac was brought back to life after the sacrifice. Spiegel suggests this change happened to connect the story to events like the Crusades.
The Bible does not say how old Isaac was when the sacrifice happened. Some Jewish teachers believed he was 37, based on the age of his mother, Sarah, when she died. The Bible does not describe Isaac’s feelings during the event. Some people think he was hurt or angry, but Jon D. Levenson points out that the Bible does not show Abraham and Isaac speaking to each other before or after the event.
In the Genesis Apocryphon, found in the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946, a character named Lamech, the son of Methuselah, talks to Abraham. Abraham speaks in both first and third person.
The story of Isaac’s sacrifice is read in Jewish synagogues on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Some Jewish communities follow a tradition from the Kabbalists to read this story every day after morning prayers.
Christian views
The story of Abraham and Isaac is mentioned in the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, which lists many examples of faith from the Old Testament. It says, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called,' concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." (Hebrews 11:17–19, NKJV).
Abraham believed God could bring Isaac back to life after his death so that God’s promise (Genesis 21:12) would be fulfilled. Early Christian teachings sometimes included Jewish interpretations of the story without explaining them in detail. For example, Hippolytus of Rome wrote in his Commentary on the Song of Songs, "The blessed Isaac became desirous of the anointing and he wished to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world" (On the Song 2:15).
Some early Christians saw Isaac as a symbol of the "Word of God," who foreshadowed Jesus. This idea is supported by details in the story, such as Abraham sacrificing Isaac on the third day of their journey (Genesis 22:4) or Abraham placing the wood on Isaac’s shoulders (Genesis 22:6). Another detail is God emphasizing that Isaac was Abraham’s only son, whom he loved (Genesis 22:2, 12, 16).
When Abraham and Isaac traveled to the place of sacrifice, Isaac asked, "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." (Genesis 22:7–8). However, a ram (not a lamb) was eventually sacrificed instead of Isaac, and the ram was caught in a thorny bush (Genesis 22:13). In the New Testament, John the Baptist called Jesus "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29). This connection suggests the story of Isaac’s binding is similar to Jesus’ crucifixion, and the last-minute replacement of Isaac with the ram is like the resurrection.
Søren Kierkegaard described Abraham’s actions as coming from the highest level of faith, which he called a "teleological suspension of the ethical."
Francis Schaeffer wrote:
— Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who is There, 1990.
Muslim views
The story in the Quran is different from the one in Genesis in two ways: the identity of the son who was to be sacrificed and how the son responded to the request. In Islamic writings, when Abraham told his son about the vision from God, the son agreed to be sacrificed to follow God’s command. There was no mention of tying the son to an altar. The Quran says that when Abraham asked for a righteous son, God gave him a son who showed kindness. This son is usually believed to be Ishmael. After Ishmael could walk and work with Abraham, Abraham had a vision in which he was told to sacrifice his son. When he shared this with his son, the son agreed to follow God’s command. After both Abraham and his son were ready to obey God, God told Abraham that he had completed the vision and provided a ram instead of the son to sacrifice. God promised to reward Abraham. Later parts of the Quran mention that God also gave Abraham a righteous son named Isaac and promised more blessings.
Early Muslim scholars disagreed about which son was involved in the story. Some, like ibn Qutaybah and al-Tabari, believed the son was Isaac, not Ishmael. They interpreted the Quranic verse "God's perfecting his mercy on Abraham and Isaac" as meaning God made Abraham his closest follower and saved Isaac. Others argued that God’s promise to Sarah, which included a son named Isaac and a grandson named Jacob (Quran 11:71–74), meant Isaac could not have died early. However, most Muslims today believe the son was Ishmael, even though the debate continues.
The willingness of Abraham and his son to obey God is celebrated by Muslims during Eid al-Adha. During this festival, people who can afford it and those participating in the Hajj pilgrimage sacrifice a ram, cow, sheep, or camel. Some of the meat is eaten by the family, and the rest is shared with neighbors and those in need. The festival marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Modern research
The binding of Isaac is an important topic in the writings of several modern theologians, including Søren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling and Shalom Spiegel in The Last Trial. Jewish communities often study these texts, such as the 2009 mock trial organized by over 600 members of the University Synagogue of Orange County, California. Derrida also examines the story of the sacrifice and Kierkegaard’s interpretation in The Gift of Death.
In Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, literary critic Erich Auerbach compares the Hebrew story of the binding of Isaac with Homer’s description of Odysseus’s scar. Auerbach argues that Homer’s writing includes many details and focuses on the setting, history, and personal context of events, while the Bible’s account is brief and provides little background. This style encourages readers to add their own interpretations to the story.
Modern biblical scholars who use the documentary hypothesis believe the binding of Isaac comes from the Elohist source, as it uses the term Elohim and follows patterns common to that source. According to this view, the second appearance of an angel praising Abraham and blessing his descendants was added later by the Jahwist source. This is supported by the language and style of those verses, as well as the use of the name Yahweh for God.
More recent studies challenge the idea that the Elohist and Jahwist sources are completely separate. Coats argues that Abraham’s obedience to God’s command logically requires praise and blessings, which only appear in the second angelic speech. This suggests the later addition of that speech may have influenced the original account. Some scholars believe the first angelic appearance, where the Angel of Yahweh stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, also shows signs of later editing. The style and use of the name Yahweh in these verses resemble the second speech. In the original Elohist version, Abraham may have sacrificed Isaac on his own without being stopped by an angel.
By adding the first angelic appearance, a later editor shifted responsibility for stopping the test from Abraham to the angel. This change made the second angelic speech, in which Abraham is praised for his obedience, necessary. This analysis connects the binding of Isaac to the story of Sodom in Genesis 18, where Abraham questions God about destroying a city without distinguishing the righteous from the wicked. According to this view, Abraham’s question and conversation with God may represent a form of rebellion, leading to his eventual disobedience in refusing to sacrifice Isaac.
Francesca Stavrakopoulou suggested the story might reflect a tradition in which Abraham did sacrifice Isaac. R. E. Friedman proposed that the original Elohist account may have included Isaac’s sacrifice, but later editors changed it to avoid the idea of human sacrifice. Terence Fretheim noted the text does not clearly oppose child sacrifice. Wojciech Kosior pointed out that a genealogy in Genesis 22:20–24 might hint at a version where Isaac was sacrificed, as there is no reason to list Abraham’s brother’s descendants otherwise.
Some interpretations challenge the idea that a ram was sacrificed instead of Isaac. For example, Martin S. Bergmann cited Aggadah rabbis who claimed Isaac was bound on the altar, reduced to ashes, and his remains were scattered on Mount Moriah. Margaret Barker suggested Genesis 22:19, which mentions Abraham returning to Bersheeba without Isaac, might imply Isaac was sacrificed. She also noted wall paintings in the ancient Dura-Europos synagogue show Isaac being sacrificed, followed by his soul ascending to heaven. Jon D. Levenson and theologians Christian Rose and Hans-Friedrich Weiß argued that the grammatical tense used in the text suggests Abraham did follow through with the sacrifice.
Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, stated the story’s climax—God stopping Abraham from sacrificing Isaac—highlights God’s rejection of child sacrifice. Irving Greenberg said the story symbolizes the prohibition against human sacrifices, which were common globally at the time.
Some scholars suggest Genesis 22 includes elements of a rite of passage, such as mock sacrifice, common in early societies to mark the transition from youth to adulthood.
Music
The story of Isaac has inspired many musical works. These include Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Sacrificium Abrahae (H.402), an oratorio for soloists, chorus, and instruments from 1680–81; Benjamin Britten's Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, later included in War Requiem; Igor Stravinsky's Abraham and Isaac; Leonard Cohen's song "Story of Isaac" from the 1969 album Songs from a Room; and "You Want It Darker" from the 2016 album You Want It Darker. Other works include Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," the title track from his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited; Sufjan Stevens' "Abraham" from the 2004 album Seven Swans; Gilad Hochman's Akedah for Solo Viola (2006); Anaïs Mitchell's "Dyin Day" from the 2012 album Young Man in America; and "Birnam Wood" from the 2015 album Pale Horses by mewithoutyou.
Wilfred Owen's poem The Parable of the Old Man and the Young, set to music by Benjamin Britten in War Requiem, ends with these lines: "But the old man would not so, but slew his son, And half the seed of Europe, one by one."
Comparative
The myth at the Heraion of Samos tells the story of Hera. According to local beliefs, the goddess was born under a lygos tree (Vitex agnus-castus, the "chaste-tree"). During the annual Samian festival called the Toneia, the "binding," the statue of Hera was ceremonially tied with lygos branches before being carried to the sea for cleansing. The tree remained a symbol of Samos, appearing on the region's coins during Roman times. Pausanias noted that the tree still stood in the sanctuary.