Finding Messiah in the Akedah
Detail of mosaic floor depicting the binding of Isaac
Rosh Hashanah 5787
Rabbi Ben Weisman, Beth Messiah Congregation, Germantown, Maryland
The Akedah, the narrative of the binding of Isaac found in Genesis 22, forms one of the major themes of the traditional Rosh Hashanah liturgy, and the full chapter is read on the second day of the holiday. The well-known, if unsettling, account follows Abraham as he attempts to obey a divine call to slaughter and burn his son on the altar. At the last moment, the angel of the Lord intervenes, and a ram is sacrificed in place of Isaac. The terse narrative begs for a midrash to fill in the gaps. In midrash, the Jewish sages find in each narrative gap or redundant word an opportunity to teach us something by imagining what might be going on behind the scenes.
Near the beginning of the chapter, Abraham and Isaac travel for three days before leaving two servants behind as they continue onward (Genesis 22:5). However, after the (attempted) sacrifice, the text only mentions Abraham returning to the servants (Genesis 22:19). Observing this detail, Midrash Hagadol offers two explanations:
“And Abraham returned to the youths.” And where was Isaac? R. Eleazar ben Pedat said even though Isaac did not die, the text regards it as if he died and his ashes were sprinkled over the altar.
Another interpretation: “And Abraham returned…” And where was Isaac? The Holy One brought him into the Garden of Eden and he dwelt there three years.[1]
The first interpretation tells us that Isaac did not die, but the Torah is giving us a hint that it should be counted as if Isaac’s ashes were sprinkled on the altar. In the second interpretation it seems that Isaac in fact dies and is transported to heaven where he remains for three years before being resurrected. These two interpretations are emblematic of ancient death and resurrection undercurrents in the Jewish interpretation of the Akedah. The Book of Hebrews reflects these interpretive undercurrents when it comments that Abraham “considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and, figuratively speaking, he did receive [Isaac] back” (Hebrews 11:19).
Earlier in Genesis, we find that Sarah is around 90 years old when Isaac was born.[2] Directly after the Akedah, the Torah tells us that Sarah dies at 127 (from the shock of learning what Abraham has done, as some midrashim have it).[3] Therefore, Isaac is traditionally thought to be 37 years old as he undergoes his trial at Moriah.[4] We might have assumed that this is a story of a young boy being overpowered by his father, but, in this reading, Isaac is an adult. While he has the ability to resist his father, he “cast himself before his father like a sacrificed lamb.”[5] In fact, in one midrashic account, Isaac asks his father to tie him tightly so that he does not flinch.[6]
What is the significance of Isaac willingly offering himself up to be killed? Vayikra Rabbah tells us that “the deeds of Isaac would be . . . sufficient to suspend the [punishment of] the world. . . . He was one who experienced suffering. . . [and] God sees the ashes of Isaac as though they are piled atop the altar.”[7] Isaac’s suffering and death are counted as a merit for his descendants, and indeed for the whole world. The midrash tells us that when God deliberates regarding our sins, Isaac pleads in our defense based on the merit of his suffering like an innocent lamb. God sees Isaac’s ashes and is reminded, as it were, to be merciful. Another midrash takes this imagery even further while commenting on the blood of the paschal lamb smeared on the doorposts of the people of Israel in Egypt; the Mechilta explains that when God sees the blood and passes over, it is actually “the blood of the binding of Isaac” that God sees.[8]
For those who have eyes to see it, Messiah is boldly shining forth from every text! On the journey to his own sacrifice, when Isaac inquires regarding the animal to be sacrificed, Abraham tells him that God will provide a lamb (Genesis 22:7–8) but, in fact, a ram is sacrificed (Genesis 22:13). We can see Yeshua as the lamb that fulfills Abraham’s prophetic words which were only partially fulfilled on the day of the Akedah. When God “sees the blood,” in the fullest sense it is “precious blood like that of a lamb without defect or spot, the blood of Messiah” that is in view (1 Peter 1:19).
The broader Akedah narrative foreshadows the Messiah: an only, beloved son who is offered up by his father, carries the wood for his own sacrifice, and is received back to life after a three-day journey. On a deeper level, it is Messiah’s suffering and death that “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It is in his merit that we can be counted as righteous and be written “in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 13:8).
Not only do we remember the atoning suffering of the past, but we are assured of future redemption. There is a midrash that tells us that the shofar made from the left horn of the ram that was sacrificed in Isaac’s stead was blown at Mount Sinai, while the right horn is being preserved for the great shofar that announces the Messianic era.[9] This is in harmony with what was written to the Thessalonians: “[Messiah] shall come down from heaven . . . with the blast of God’s shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Not only was Messiah raised from the dead, but he heralds new life for humanity and all of creation!
This Rosh Hashanah, as we hear the sound of the shofar, let us remember the one who offered himself on our behalf and look with hope toward the blast of the great shofar that will signal the renewal of all things.
L’Shanah tovah!
[1] Midrash Hagadol Bereshit 22:19
[2] When Isaac is promised, we find in Genesis 17:17 that Sarah is 90 years old and Abraham is 100 years old. Later in Genesis 21:5, it is reported that Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is born, and therefore it can be inferred that Sarah is about 90 years old.
[3] Vayikra Rabbah 20:2; Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32:8; Rashi on Genesis 23:2
[4] Bereishit Rabbah 55:4; Bereishit Rabbah 56:8; Shemot Rabbah 1:1; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23:3; Rashi on Genesis 25:20
[5] Vayikra Rabbah 2:10; Rabbi Elie Kaunfer comments on this text that “the parallels to Christianity are striking, however this is clearly a natively Jewish approach.” https://www.hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/rosh-hashanah-and-ultimate-purpose-life. Rabbi Kaunfer’s article is the source several quotations and ideas found in this essay.
[6] Bereishit Rabbah 56:8; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23:4
[7] Vayikra Rabbah 36:5; cf. Sifra, Bechukotai, 8:6-7, Rashi on Leviticus 26:42:2
[8] Mechilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 7:23
[9] Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 31:13