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The Akeidah has, for nearly 4,000 years, epitomized the understanding of what it means to serve God no matter how difficult the circumstances.
God Tested Abraham
And it came to pass after these things, that God tested Abraham, and He said to him, “Abraham,” and he said, “Here I am.” (Gen. 22:1)
Abraham would not gain his status as the “Father of a Multitude of Nations” by default. Rather, Abraham proved his greatness by passing a series of tests:
"Our forefather Abraham was tested with ten trials, and he withstood them all – to show the degree of our forefather Abraham’s love for God" (Avot 5:4).
The Midrash expounds on the reason God tested Abraham and explains that for those who believe that God’s treatment of mankind is arbitrary, one can respond with a consideration of Abraham’s deeds, “Can you do what our forefather Abraham did? Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born to him, and after all this anguish of longing for a son he was told by God, 'Please take your son, your only one' (v. 2) – yet he did not hold back from fulfilling God’s command” (Bereshit Rabbah 55:1).
While it is true that Abraham encountered many tests beyond the ten trials deduced from Torah and rabbinic interpretation, the Akeidah is the only one Torah explicitly classifies as a test. The Akeidah constitutes God’s final test of Abraham with good reason. In considering the verse, “HaShem examines the righteous one, but He despises the wicked and the lover of injustice” (Psalm 11:5), the Sages explain that God does not exhaust testing on the wicked, for their failure is a foregone conclusion. Rather, God tests the righteous in order to ascertain the strength and degree of their righteousness (Bereshit Rabbah 55:2). Upon Abraham’s final test, there was no more need to gauge his merit. In fact, Abraham’s example would be the barometer by which all subsequent acts of faith would be considered. As our teacher and Rabbi said: “If you were Abraham’s children then you would do what Abraham did” (John 8:39).
To the point of Chazal’s anatomy of Divine testing, the B’rit Chadasha is in perfect agreement: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the victor’s crown, the life God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).”
