The Binding of Isaac is known in Hebrew as Akedat Yitzchak or simply as the Akedah (binding). It is the story of how Elohim tested Abraham to bind his son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. It is a passage that is traditionally recited on Rosh Hashanah.
Genesis 22:2 - He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.
It is imperative to say that the Jewish world has wrestled with the binding of Isaac for years. They could not fathom how a Loving God that we call ’Abba’ (father) could ask a loving father to sacrifice his son. But this was the test Elohim gavethe patriarch Abraham, which he passed. Jewish tradition holds that Abraham offered up Isaac who was later resurrected and a ram given in his place. This could be what is implied by the writer of the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 11:17 - By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
The Akedah of Isaac was a test to Abraham, but not only that, it was also a revelation and a mystery. At the end of the test Elohim sealed the covenant with Abraham. In this Abrahamic covenant, each party had to be willing to do what the other party is willing to do. If God is asking Abraham to do something, then He must also do the same thing.Therefore, according to this covenant, because Abraham was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice, God was also required to willingly offer His son as a sacrifice.
In the story of Isaac, we see the father bringing his son to the land of the sacrifice on a donkey (Gen. 22:3). In the story of Messiah, he rides a donkey into the place of the sacrifice, Jerusalem on Nisan 10, the day of the selection of the lambs before Passover(Zech. 9:9, Mark 11:7-10).
Abraham lays the wood of the sacrifice on Isaac (Gen. 22:6). Indirectly Elohim places the cross made of wood on Yahshua and laid our iniquity on him (Isaiah 53:10-11). Both Isaac and Yahshua carried the wood of the sacrifice up the mountain of Moriah except that Messiah was carrying wood for his own sacrifice (John 19:17).Abraham lays his son upon the wood and binds him on it and so Messiah is laid upon the wood of the cross and he is bound onto it.
We read Abraham lifting up the knife ready to slay his son but the angel of the LORD calls him to stop and after that he lifts up his eyes and sees a ram which he sacrifices in his son’s place (Gen 22:10-13). Two thousand years later, God lifts up the judgement upon His son, but this time the sacrifice is not stopped. Messiah is killed on the wood ofhis sacrifice.
Unlike Abraham, Elohim, the Father actually sacrificed his only begotten son at Moriah to make salvation available to all who believe (John 3:16), just like Abraham confessed to Isaac, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb’ (Gen 22:8).
As Messianic believers, we understand that the binding of Isaac as a foreshadow of the final sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Seh Ha Elohim), Yahshua Messiah who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Both Isaac and Messiah were born miraculously, they were the only begotten sons of their fathers and presumably resurrected on the third day (Gen 22:5, Hosea 6:1-2). Isaac was a type and foreshadow of Messiah. This interpretation of the Bible follows a Jewish maxim, ‘The deeds of the fathers are signs for the children.”
The first occurrence of the word love (Ahavah) in the Bible occurs in this account. It describes the love that Abraham had for his son. Hence, the firstinstance of love in the scriptures is about a father who loved his son so much but is willing to give him up for His God, so too the gospel is about a father who loves his son but is willing to give him up for all men. That is the greatest love.This is echoedin the most famous verse of the gospels (John 3:16). The Hebrew word Ahavah (????)isderived the root wordAhav???))which is made of thesethree Hebrew letters:Aleph(?), Hei (?) and Bet(?). Aleph (?)has a numerical value of one, Hei (?)means to give and Bet(?) has a numerical value of 2.Ahavah therefore means, when one gives two. Therefore, from the Hebrew we can learn that true love is giving.
This true love is evidenced by these two fathers who were willing to give their sons for a greater cause. By truly loving, Elohim gave us His son, and by that he changed the world. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
Our creator truly fulfilled the mission of every Jew,which is oftikkunolam (repairing the world). We should emulate our heavenly Father by giving, because that is true love. True love repairs this fallen world.This the ultimate message that the world needs to hear:
John 3:16 –For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
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