When Abraham was told to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to G-d, this was contrary to everything Abraham was and stood for, contrary to everything he knew and believed about G-d, and contrary to what G-d Himself had said to him. A fundamental principle of the Jewish faith is that G-d communicates to man in this manner. Prophecy, however, is the ultimate divine communication-a revelation that completely transcends the equivocality and subjectivity of its human perceiver, so that its truth is absolute, incontestable and immutable. There are many levels and degrees of human communion with the divine, from the scientistвЂ™s contemplation of G-dвЂ™s creation, to the Torah sage whose interpretation and exposition of Torah is guided and molded by divine inspiration ( ruach hakodesh). The second truth established by the akeidahВ is the principle of prophecy.

For what greater love is there than the love of a parent for his child? What greater fear is there than a parentвЂ™s fear for the life of his child? В With the akeidah, Abraham set his commitment to G-d above these most basic truths of human nature, establishing it as the all-surpassing consideration in the life of man. Maimonides В explains that the akeidahВ (the вЂњbinding вЂќ) served to establish two key axioms of the Jewish faith: a) the extent of manвЂ™s capacity to love, fear and serve G-d b) the principle of вЂњprophecyвЂќ-the fact that G-d communicates His will to man.Д«y binding Isaac upon the altar, Abraham demonstrated that man is capable of a love and awe of G-d that surpasses his every other feeling or commitment.

No sooner had Abraham arranged the firewood on the altar, taken the knife and stretched out his hand to slaughter his son, than вЂњan angel of G-d called out to him from the heavensвЂ¦ вЂLay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him for now I know that you fear G-d, as you have not withheld your only child from MeвЂ¦ Thus I shall bless you, and multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is at the shore of the seaвЂ¦вЂ™ вЂќ G-d was testing Abraham, establishing the depth of the commitment upon which the nation of Israel would be founded. вЂњTake your son, your only son whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and raise him as an offering atop the mountain which I will tell you.вЂќ

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