READINGHEBREW

Abraham’s Ultimate

Test

IN THIS LECTURE:

1. Reading from the Torah

2. Reading from the Siddur

3. Reading from the Dead Sea Scrolls

אליו - (pronoun and

preposition) הוא (pronoun) he, inflected and combined with אל

(preposition) to, unto, towards together become "to him“

הנני - (pronoun and

demonstrative particle) הנה

(particle) here or behold and אני

(pronoun) I am together become "I am here“

מקום - (noun) place, space,

area, location.

יום - (noun) day, with definite

article today, now, presently.

את - (particle) - direct definite

object marker - no translation, sometimes simply “the”

בנה - (verb) to build, construct,

make, fashion.

שלח - (verb) to send, to let go.

יד - (noun) hand.

עין (noun) eye, look, spring,

fountain.

Words of the WeekLook for these words while reading…

Reading the Torah

God blessed Abraham in all things. Now he even had the long-awaited son of promise. It was clear that the Lord’s hand was in Abraham’s life.

But the most difficult test was yet to come. Will Abraham withhold his precious son from the Lord if God asks this of him?

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה והאלהים נסה

אמר את אמר אליו־אברהם וי ׃הנניאברהם וי

Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” (Gen. 22:1) When God called Abraham’s name, he responded – “Here I am.” Like Noah, he was God’s servant, ever-ready to do his Master’s will.

השלישי וישא יוםב

־עיניו וירא אתאברהם

ק׃את־המקום מרח

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. (Gen. 22:4)

The journey to the mountain of God’s choosing ריה המ (hamoriah)“Mt. Moriah” took three days. The third day must have been the most difficult for Abraham. Abraham actually saw the very place where he needed to kill his son Isaac from afar. A father is supposed to slaughter his son just as he would an animal sacrifice, and offer him to God?

According to tradition, about a thousand years later, at this very location, King David bought the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and built an altar to the Lord so that a “plague may be held back from the people” (2 Sam. 24:18-21).

After David’s death, his son King Solomon built a glorious temple on the same site. We read in 2 Chronicles 3:1: “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah…”

אמר אברהם אלהיםוי

לה בני יראה־לו השה לע

וילכו שניהם יחדו׃

And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together. (Gen. 22:8)

Ancient Hebrew divides up the dialogue with a simple phrase -אמר וי (vayomer)“and he said” without specifying who is talking.

ך אתשם אברהם ויבן ־המזבח ויער

ד את תו את־העצים ויעק ־יצחק בנו וישם א

על־המזבח ממעל לעצים׃

Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (Gen. 22:9)

אברהם וישלח

ויקח ידו־את

־המאכלת את

ט ־בנו׃ אתלשח

And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. (Gen. 22:10)

The word used for the “knife” which Abraham lifted up is מאכלת (maachelet). This

is a very specific word that describes a knife used only for the slaughter and is connected to Hebrew word for “food” כל א (ochel).

This type of knife is not used for food preparation but is meant only to end the life of an animal. Hebrew is a root language, so we can see how words which are not related to each other in other languages like “knife for slaughter” and “food”, are connected to each other in Hebrew. In the language of worship, the sacrifice is just that - food offered to God for his “consumption.”

מלאך יהוה אליוויקרא

אמר אברהם מן־השמים וי

אמר ׃הנניאברהם וי

Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am!” (Gen. 22:11)

אמר אל־ ידך אל־הנער ואל־תעש לו תשלחוי

א מאומה כי עתה ידעתי כי־ירא אלהים אתה ול

־יחידך ממני׃את־בנך אתחשכת

And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” (Gen. 22:12)

וירא והנה־איל אחר עיניו־אתוישא אברהם

אברהם ויקח נאחז בסבך בקרניו וילך

לה תחת בנו׃את ־האיל ויעלהו לע

When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. (Gen. 22:13)

ויקרא אברהם שם־המקום

ההוא יהוה יראה אשר יאמר

יהוה יראה׃בהרהיום

And Abraham named that site Adonai-Yireh, hence the present saying, “On the mount of the LORD there is vision.” (Gen. 22:14)

Reading the Siddur

אותה ובנה, ותשכון בתוכה כאשר דברת

דוד עבדך וכסא, בנין עולםבימינובקרוב

מהרה לתוכה תכין

…and may your presence dwell as you promised. Build it now, in our days and forever. And reestablish the throne of David your servant (from Amidah(

Reading theDead Sea

Scrolls

תי לבשר ני יהוה עלי יען משח יהוה א רוח אד

ש שלחניענוים לנשברי־לבלחב

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted… (Is 61:1a)

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