Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea

What made Avraham want to Sacrifice Yitzchak on the Altar with so much zeal

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edu:
The obvious question is that usually, human sacrifice is very much forbidden by the Torah, for several obvious reasons, so why didn't this disturb Avraham enough, at least to try to beg G-d for mercy as he tried to beg G-d to save Sodom or at least the righteous of Sodom. Not only that, Avraham even goes with zeal to Mount Moriah to attempt to sacrifice his son [in light of G-d's command]. And he only stopped, when an angel from G-d directly told him not to harm Yitzchak in any way, because now I know that you are G-d fearing.
Another, question is that G-d had previously stated to Avraham, that through Yitzchak will be the continuation of the seed of Avraham, spreading the religious beliefs of Avraham in the world. Why then didn't Avraham, demand that G-d keep his bargain. Another question that one can raise is why did Avraham, when he was ascending Mount Moriah with Yitzchak tell the others that were with him, that he and Yitzchak would go alone and that both of them would return, to them after they served G-d on the mountain. In other words, if Avraham was intending to sacrifice Yitzchak, why say we will both return?
I intend to offer at least 2 possible answers, G-d willing and Bli Neder. But before posting them, I would like to hear what you might have to offer as a solution to these questions.

Yaakov Mendel:

My simple (simplistic ?) answer to your first question is that Avraham understood at once that G-d did not actually intend for Isaac to die. It would have been chillul hashem for Avraham to assume that G-d really intended Isaac to die since God had promised Avraham offspring through Isaac and it is forbidden to think that G-d might not honour His word.
Next, the reason why Avraham told the others that he AND his son would return was that Avraham was not sure that the others had enough faith in G-d to understand G-d's true intentions.

Avraham's faith, intelligence and self-control were truly impressive in that situation.

muman613:
I would suggest that Abraham wanted to fulfill Hashems wishes regardless of his human understanding. Abrahams Emmunah was so strong that he knew that no matter what happened Hashem would ensure that it would turn out for the best in the end. This is the secret of true Faith/Belief/Trust in Hashem. This is one of the pillars of Emmunah that Hashem will resurrect the dead. The same Hashem which is capable of creating life from nothing is capable of returning that life if he so chooses.

Abraham also had a self-sacrificing nature to him. He wanted to fix the world and would do whatever Hashem told him to do in order to accomplish this goal...


I will add more to this response after Shabbat has concluded...

Shabbat Shalom!

edu:
I think Muman613 was starting to hint at one of the 2 answers that I had for the list of questions that I posted.
But first an introduction.
In the haftora, of Parshat Vayera, (where the story of the binding of Yitzchak appears), we read the story of the prophet Elisha, who decrees that an old woman who was his host, would have a son.
She indeed has a son, but later the son becomes sick and dies.
The old woman demands that Elisha fix the situation because, she considered her blessing of having a son, as not a true blessing under the circumstances.
Elisha the prophet does certain actions to the body of the son and prays to G-d and G-d brings the son back to life.
With this in mind, this is one possibility to explain Avraham. Namely, that he was so sure that G-d would bring Yitzchak back to life after the sacrifice, he was willing to completely disregard all the temporary suffering that would take place before that point, because that he had perfect faith that G-d would make everything work out for the best. Avraham also sensed that there would be tremendous educational value in going ahead with the sacrifice with zeal, so he didn't even request that G-d change the test.

edu:
A second possible explanation for the actions of Avraham is based on the following.

Jews have a commandment of Kiddush Hashem which in extreme situations even demands that Jews give up their lives for the sake of Hashem.

One of the more usual situations of Kiddush Hashem is explained by the Chafetz Chaim in Sefer Hamitzvot Hakatzar, mitzvah 5 and I will translate.

It is a positive precept to sanctify the name of G-d among the masses.
For it is stated and I will be sanctified among the children of Israel ( Vayikra/Leviticus 22:32). And this we have to do by giving over our lives to be put to death, and with all our might, in order to publicize the faith of the name of the Blessed {G-d} that if they seek to force us to remove us from our faith, that we should not consent and not listen and one should give himself over to die for this {end of quote}.

The Halacha gives limitations under what situations one must give up his life, and under what situations one does not give up his life in order to publicize the faith of the name of the Blessed {G-d} and there are certain gray areas, where one has the option of giving up his life for the mitzvah, but one can also avoid giving up his life, for example, by hiding yourself until the danger has past.
Since it is not necessary for me to go into too much detail for now when one must give up his life and when not, so I won't do it.
Two very well known examples of Kiddush Hashem  (sanctification of G-d's name) that I wish to bring up for now are the stories of Mattityahu and Rabbi Akiva.
Mattityahu started the rebellion against the Greeks, who had made decrees against Judaism, despite the huge physical risks to himself, his family, and his fellow Jews.

It is well known, that Mattityahu started the revolt against Greek rule, by killing the Hellenist Jew Collaborator who was about to sacrifice to an idol on an altar and then he killed the local Greek forces. It is less known, that most of his children, the Macabees, although being highly successful fighters, were eventually killed by the Greeks and it took 20 years of warfare and suffering even after the miracle of Chanuka for Judea to regain complete Independence from the Greek empire.
Mattityahu was fully aware of these risks that he took for the sake of Kiddush Hashem, to save Judaism and the Jewish people, yet he nevertheless went ahead with his actions, because, the Torah has revealed to us that there are some ideals that are more precious than life itself.
The second example of Kiddush Hashem that I wish to bring up is the story of Rabbi Akiva. The Romans had made a ban on teaching Torah and he publicly defied them and taught Torah despite the danger.
He was eventually taken by the Romans for execution by slow torture.
Tractate Brachot page 61a, goes into detail about how Rabbi Akiva met his death (translation based primarily on Soncino)..
When R. Akiva was taken out for execution, it was the hour for the recital of the Shema’, and while they combed his flesh with iron combs, he was accepting upon himself the kingship of heaven.
His disciples said to him: Our teacher, even to this point? He said to them: All my days I have been troubled by this verse, ‘with all thy soul’, [which I interpret,] ‘even if He takes thy soul’. I said, "When shall I have the opportunity of fulfilling this?"  Now that I have the opportunity shall I not fulfill it? He prolonged the word Echad {Hebrew for the word, one} until he expired while saying it.
A Bath Kol went forth and proclaimed: Happy art thou, Akiva, that thy soul has departed with the word Echad!

With this in all mind, it is possible that Avraham thought that Yitzchak's mission in life is to teach his other descendants, both present and future about what extent of sacrifice one should make for the religion of Hashem, when needed.
In other words, Avraham knew that the followers of Hashem, would at times be put to the most severe tests of faith, in which the only way out, would be to have someone make the type of sacrifices that Mattityahu and Rabbi Akiva made. He thought that Hashem wanted him to be the role model for such heroes, that sanctify the name of G-d to the highest decree.
According to this, it was Avraham's Love for Defending the Kingdom of Hashem in this world above all other ideals that made his go with zeal, to try to sacrifice Yitzchak on the altar.

I have not yet answered, according to this viewpoint, the other questions that I raised concerning the binding of Yitzchak. But I will leave over these questions for another time, G-d willing.

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