Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 22:5/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ב:ה׳
אי"א איך אמר אברהם ונשובה, ואחרים ענו כי היה בדעתו להביא עצמותיו, ואברהם דחם בדברים כדי שלא יסורו עד שובו, ושלא ירגיש יצחק ויברח, ורז"ל אמרו שהיה יצחק כאשר נעקד בן שלשים ושבע שנים, ואם דברי קבלה נקבל ומדרך סברא אין זה נכון, שהיה ראוי שתהיה צדקת יצחק גלויה, ויהיה שכרו כפול משכר אביו שמסר עצמו ברצונו לשחיטה, ואין בכתוב מאומה על יצחק ואחרים אמרו שהי' בן חמש שנים, גם זה לא יתכן, בעבור שנשא עצי העולה והקרוב אל הדעת שהיה קרוב לי"ג שנים והכריחו אביו ועקדו שלא ברצונו, והעד שאביו הסתיר הסוד ממנו, ואמר "אלהים יראה לו השה" כי אילו אמר לו אתה העולה יתכן שיברח:
1Some ask, how could Abraham say, and (we will) come back to you (v. 5)?17 Others answer them by saying that Abraham intended to return with Isaac’s bones, and he disguised his intentions so that his young men would wait for him till he returned and Isaac would not know what was about to happen and flee.18 Our sages, of blessed memory, say that Isaac was thirty-seven years old at the time of his binding.19 56:11. If this be a tradition, we will accept it. However, from a strictly logical point of view it is unacceptable. If Isaac was an adult at this time, then his piety should have been revealed in Scripture and his reward should be double that of his father for willingly having submitted himself to be sacrificed. Yet Scripture says nothing concerning Isaac’s great self-sacrifice. Others say that Isaac was five years old at the time of his binding. This, too, is unacceptable, since Isaac carried the wood for the sacrificial pyre.20 It thus appears logical to assume that Isaac was close to thirteen years old and that Abraham overpowered him and bound him against his will. Proof of this can be seen from the fact that Abraham hid his intention from Isaac and told him, God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son (v. 8). Abraham knew that if he said, “You are to be the burnt-offering,” Isaac would quite possibly have fled.