Age of Isaac When Abraham Offered Him as a Sacrifice?

score:7

Accepted answer

The top-rated answer to How old was Isaac when he was offered up by Abraham? - Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange gives the range 20 to 40 years old.

Other answers suggest more specific ages:

  • 37 — Jewish tradition says that his mother died upon hearing of what was about to happen.
  • 33 — Christian typology matches Jesus's age when he was sacrificed.

There is also the tradition that Isaac allowed, or even requested, his binding because he thought that his own faith wasn't as strong as his father's.

What is clear is that Isaac was old enough to be physically stronger than his father (he carried the wood while Abraham carried a much lighter load), and that Isaac was therefore a willing participant:

Genesis 22:6 — NLT
So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together,

Upvote:0

We know only that Isaac was old enough to ask an intelligent question (Genesis ch22 v7).

The cultural expectation of obedience to fathers is sufficient to explain his non-resistance.

Upvote:3

It may seem surprising to learn that the rabbinical consensus on this, although there is certainly more than one opinion about it, tends toward the idea that Isaac was 37. This is computed on the presumption that Sarah, who is not heard from again after this event, must have died at the thought of losing her beloved son.

According to the Rabbis, the 'aḳedah not only coincided with, but was the cause of, the death of Sarah, who was informed of Abraham's intention while he and Isaac were on the way to Mount Moriah. Therefore Isaac must then have been thirty-seven years old (Seder 'Olam Rabbah, ed. Ratner, p. 6; Pirḳe R. El. xxxi.; Tanna debe Eliyahu R. xxvii.).

Another ancient Jewish opinion is offered by Josephus, who stated:

Now Isaac was twenty-five years old. And as he was building the altar, he asked his father what he was about to offer, since there was no animal there for an oblation. (Ant. 1.13.2).

Among Christian commentators opinions tend to agree that Isaac was not a little boy.

Adam Clarke said: “[I]t is more probable that he was now about thirty-three” (1:140, emp. in orig.). Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown asserted that Isaac was “then upwards of twenty years of age” (n.d., p. 29). J. Curtis Manor described him as “a youth of sufficient strength and agility to carry a load of firewood up a mountainside” (1994, p. 103). Keil and Delitzsch affirmed that “this son had grown into a young man” (1976, 1:248). Morris added: “[T]he meaning in Isaac’s case should also be ‘young man’ ” (1976, p. 373).

Objections to this relatively mature age based on the word נַעַר (lad/youth) may be overcome by the fact that Isaac was still single, and Hebrew tradition in ancient times did not consider that full manhood was reached until marriage.

Despite the typical depiction in Christian art, in which Isaac is usually depicted as a boy, Jewish and Christian commentators alike recognize the likelihood that he was actually what we, in the modern world, would call a full-grown but not yet married man.

Upvote:4

The Hebrew used in Genesis 22:5 is וְהַנַּ֔עַר we-han-naar ('and the lad'), נַעַר naar being a "youth, lad, boy or 'retainer'", see Strong 5288 according to many references and also to Stack Exchange Mi Yodeya.

More post

Search Posts

Related post