Seeing The Ram
The miracle of the ram caught in the bushes was
that, in the final moment, Avraham was able to perceive it as an alternative to
sacrificing his son.
Overview
Continuing the story of Abraham and Sarah, our Torah
portion this week opens with Abraham sitting in his tent, recovering from his
circumcision, and being visited by three mysterious men, apparently messengers
from God, who visit and tell Abraham and Sarah that Sarah will indeed bear a
son. She doesn't believe it, and laughs.
God decides to warn Abraham that Sodom and Gommorah, two sinful cities, will be destroyed. Abraham argues with God for the sake of the righteous ones in those cities, but there aren't enough good people to save them. A crowd in Sodom tries to force Lot to turn over his guests; he escapes the destruction with his two daughters, who sleep with their father when they think the whole world is destroyed.
Abraham and Sarah travel to Gerar and Sarah enters the house of the king there. Sarah does have a son, Isaac, and she expels Hagar and Ishmael when she thinks they threaten Isaac, but God saves them and makes them a promise that Ishmael too will be a great nation. Finally, Abraham hears the call from God to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice; at the last minute, Abraham's hand is stopped by an angel, and a ram is offered instead.
In Focus
And Abraham raised his eyes and saw--behold, a ram!--afterwards, caught in the bushes by its thorns; so Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up instead of his son.
(Genesis 22:13)
Pshat
The story of the binding and (almost) sacrifice of Isaac is complex and troubling; one possible reading that the Torah seems to support is that God was testing Abraham's faith, and when he passed by showing his willingness to sacrifice even his son for God, God gave him an alternative, the ram.
Drash
Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Ancestors), a section of the Mishnah (rabbinic compilation of legal material) devoted to advice for ethical and reverent living, quotes a list of special, miraculous things that were created on the last day of Creation- i.e., things that can't be explained in any normal or rational or scientific manner except that somehow God created these things as exceptions to the rules of nature and history. (Pirkei Avot 5:8). On this list of specially created things was "the ram for Abraham our father."
God decides to warn Abraham that Sodom and Gommorah, two sinful cities, will be destroyed. Abraham argues with God for the sake of the righteous ones in those cities, but there aren't enough good people to save them. A crowd in Sodom tries to force Lot to turn over his guests; he escapes the destruction with his two daughters, who sleep with their father when they think the whole world is destroyed.
Abraham and Sarah travel to Gerar and Sarah enters the house of the king there. Sarah does have a son, Isaac, and she expels Hagar and Ishmael when she thinks they threaten Isaac, but God saves them and makes them a promise that Ishmael too will be a great nation. Finally, Abraham hears the call from God to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice; at the last minute, Abraham's hand is stopped by an angel, and a ram is offered instead.
In Focus
And Abraham raised his eyes and saw--behold, a ram!--afterwards, caught in the bushes by its thorns; so Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up instead of his son.
(Genesis 22:13)
Pshat
The story of the binding and (almost) sacrifice of Isaac is complex and troubling; one possible reading that the Torah seems to support is that God was testing Abraham's faith, and when he passed by showing his willingness to sacrifice even his son for God, God gave him an alternative, the ram.
Drash
Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Ancestors), a section of the Mishnah (rabbinic compilation of legal material) devoted to advice for ethical and reverent living, quotes a list of special, miraculous things that were created on the last day of Creation- i.e., things that can't be explained in any normal or rational or scientific manner except that somehow God created these things as exceptions to the rules of nature and history. (Pirkei Avot 5:8). On this list of specially created things was "the ram for Abraham our father."
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