Genesis 22

¹And it came to pass after these things, that God tested Abraham, and He said to him, ‘Abraham,’ and he said, ‘Here I am.’

²And He said, ‘Please take your son, your only one, whom you love, yea, Isaac, and go away to the land of Moriah and bring him up there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which I will tell you.’

³And Abraham arose early in the morning, and he saddled his donkey, and he took his two young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for a burnt offering, and he arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

⁴On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

⁵And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder, and we will prostrate ourselves and return to you.’

⁶And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and he placed [it] upon his son Isaac, and he took into his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went together.

⁷And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and he said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’

⁸And Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And they both went together.

⁹And they came to the place of which God had spoken to him, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar upon the wood.

¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife, to slaughter his son.

¹¹And an angel of God called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’

¹²And he said, ‘Do not stretch forth your hand to the lad, nor do the slightest thing to him, for now I know that you are a God fearing man, and you did not withhold your son, your only one, from Me.’

¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw, and lo! there was a ram, [and] after [that] it was caught in a tree by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴And Abraham named that place, The Lord will see, as it is said to this day: On the mountain, the Lord will be seen.

¹⁵And an angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven.

¹⁶And he said, ‘By Myself have I sworn, says the Lord, that because you have done this thing and you did not withhold your son, your only one,

¹⁷That I will surely bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your descendants will inherit the cities of their enemies.

¹⁸And through your children shall be blessed all the nations of the world, because you hearkened to My voice.’

¹⁹And Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer sheba; and Abraham remained in Beer sheba.

²⁰And it came to pass after these matters, that it was told to Abraham saying: ‘Behold Milcah, she also bore sons to Nahor your brother.

²¹Uz, his first born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram.

²²And Kesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

²³And Bethuel begot Rebecca.’ These eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

²⁴And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, had also given birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.
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Where did Abraham live at the time of the Binding?

Scripture Genesis 21 final verse is crystal clear that Abraham dwelled in Philistines. ‘³⁴And Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines for many days’. The previous verses in Genesis 21 indicate the ‘Philistines’ could be Gerar where Abimelech was king or near-by Beer sheba where they formed a covenant:  ‘³¹Therefore, he named that place Beer sheba, for there they both swore. ³²And they formed a covenant in Beer-sheba, and Abimelech and Phicol his general arose, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³And he planted an eishel in Beer-Sheba, and he called there in the name of the Lord, the God of the world.’Genesis 22:19 is clear that after the Mount Moriah incident with Isaac incident he ‘went’ to Beer sheba ‘¹⁹And Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer sheba; and Abraham remained in Beer sheba.’ Rabbinic comment suggests Abraham may have already returned [from the Philistines] to Hebron before he journeyed with Isaac to Mount Moriah. In the next chapter however chapter verse 1 ‘ ²And Sarah died in Kiriath arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her.’ And here the Rabbinic comment states Abraham visited her from beer sheba implying that is the city from whence he came. [www.chabad.org: in Kiriath-arba: lit. the city of the four. So named because of the four giants who were there: Ahiman, Sheshai, Talmai, and their father (Gen. Rabbah from Num. 13:23). Another explanation: Because of the four couples that were buried there, man and wife: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer , ch. 20)…and Abraham came: from Beer-sheba…to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her: The account of Sarah’s demise was juxtaposed to the binding of Isaac because as a result of the news of the ‘binding,’ that her son was prepared for slaughter and was almost slaughtered, her soul flew out of her, and she died. — from Gen. Rabbah 58:5]. What we do know unequivocally from scripture is the journey from his home to the Land of Moriah was a 3 day journey’^. We also know even on the third day he was still a ways off must also consider it wasn’t until the 3^rd day that he could see Mount Moriah ‘from afar’ meaning he still had a good ways to go even on the third day ‘⁴On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.’ We also know from other biblical citations a reasonable amount of travel in a day would be about 24 miles. The table below presents - using google maps and present-day walking paths- a matrix that covers the major scholarly positions on Abraham’s point of origin of Hebron or Gerar / Be’er Sheva, and the two primary Mount Moriah locations of Jerusalem (Jewish position) or Mount Gerizim (Samaritan). Such analysis seems to support a Gerar/ Be’er Sheva → Jerusalem path. Note that distances from Gerar and Beer sheba and very similar thus either is possible as Abraham’s ‘Philistine’ home based on this analysis. The Hebron → Jerusalem path seems less likely as even a slow pace – which is unlikely given his ‘haste’ (he got up early to leave)- of 29 miles. The Mount Gerizim pathways using as origin Hebron seems possible but would be a VERY slow pace at a total of only 46 miles. The Philistines (Beer sheba /Gerar) → mount Gerizim on the other hand seems too aggressive being 99 miles to cover in 3 days. In Genesis 25 when Isaac returns to King Abimelech of Gerar during famine scripture states clearly Isaac stayed in Gerar [and did not call it the ‘Philistines’]. So if Abraham had also stayed in Gerar wouldn’t scripture also call it Gerar and not ‘Philistines’? Genesis 25 ‘⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.’ Genesis 21: ‘ ³⁴And Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines for many days.’ In Chapter 25 interestling the Philistines are mentioned many times then verse 17 states ‘Isaac went away from there [philistines] back to Gerar implying scripture does not intend us to equate Gerar with Philistines.  ¹⁴And he had possessions of sheep and possessions of cattle and much production, and the Philistines envied him.¹⁵And all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with earth.¹⁶And Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us, for you have become much stronger than we.’¹⁷And Isaac went away from there, and he encamped in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there.

Note: Beer sheba not ‘really’ philistines as chapter 25 Isaac deliberately moves away from Abimelech until ‘he is no longer bothered by the philistines’ and founds his own town beer sheba. Gerar however is clearly philistines and what is meant by philistines.

 

The ‘Binding of Isaac’ Travel Distances for the 3 Day Journey

¹The bible records a party of three people and two mules who traveled from Bethlehem to Gibeah, a distance of about 10 miles, in an afternoon. Porter notes that a mule can travel about 3 miles per hour, covering 24 miles in an eight-hour day.

²Nahal Gerar used for ‘Gerar’. Gerar lied north west of beer sheva thus distances north to Mount Moriah (55 miles) and Mount Gerizim (97 miles) are similar as beer sheva.

³Muslim Kaaba (mecca Saudi Arabia) as potential Moriah over 700 KM away and not feasible

⁴On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar

What was the Age of Isaac at The Binding?

How old was Isaac at the binding? He was described twice once by Abraham and once by God as a ‘lad’; ⁵And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder.’ Yet after the Binding incident he is referred to as a man? ‘¹⁹And Abraham returned to his young men’  We also know he was old enough to carry the wood .’ ⁶And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and he placed [it] upon his son Isaac. He was also old enough to gleam the situation by asking ‘ ⁷Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ The Jewish historian Josephus gives his age as 25, while rabbinic tradition says he was 37 [based on next chapter where Sarah dies and calculations therefrom 127-90].  Because Isaac's life parallels the life of Christ to such an extent, other commentators suggest that he was 33 years old at this time. If Rabbinic interpretation is correct that he was living in Hebron at time of calling for binding Isaac [Per https://www.chabad.org/ midrash: ‘This does not mean permanently dwelling, for he was living in Hebron. Twelve years prior to the binding of Isaac, he left Beer-sheba and went to Hebron, as it is said (above 21:34): ‘And Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines for many days,’ [meaning] more numerous than the first [years] in Hebron, which were twenty-six years, as we explained above. — [from Seder Olam ch. 1].’ This interpretation would make Abram 138 years old at the time of the binding and Isaac age 38.  [Abraham was 75 when he left Haran went to Hebron and stayed 25 years, arrived in Philistines stayed 26 years= age 126 at which point he returned to Hebron to stay. If the arrival in Hebron took place ‘12 years prior to the binding’ then Abraham would be 126+12= 138 years old and Isaac was thus 38 years old]. If Abraham instead still lived [and departed from] the Philistine at the time of the binding- see above Table- Isaac could be any age up to age 26 (Abraham was 126 years old when he returned to Hebron).