Or HaChaim on Genesis 22:2/אור החיים על בראשית כ״ב:ב׳

1 קח נא את בנך. "Please take your son, etc." G'd meant for Abraham to proceed immediately and not to ask for time before carrying out the command, such as happened with the daughter of Yiftach (Judges 11,37) who had asked to be given two months before becoming her father's sacrifice to G'd.

2Tanchuma 22 on our verse describes Abraham as spending the whole night asking Sarah to permit him to take Isaac with him to teach him Torah.

3Our verse also contains a hint that seeing that Isaac had not previously been tested, Abraham should broach the matter to him in a manner that would secure Isaac's willingness. Abraham should convince Isaac that by agreeing to serve as an offering to G'd he would achieve great moral stature.

4את בנך את יחידך, "your son, your only one, the one you love, Isaac." Here the Torah alludes to three levels of love that G'd demands of each Jew, i.e. to love G'd with all his heart, all his soul, and all his financial resources (Deut. 6,5). The word בנך alludes to the heart; nothing is closer to a man's heart than the love for his children. Concerning love with one's soul, the Torah mentions יחידך; when a person has no children he is alone and considered as dead. Love with one's soul is therefore love with the only thing one has left to love with. The words אשר אהבת refer to one's possessions; G'd meant that Abraham loved Isaac more than all his other possessions. G'd's test consisted of Abraham demonstrating that though he loved Isaac from all these perspectives he was yet willing to give him up to G'd in the form of a total offering.