Joseph A. Fitzmyer, «The sacrifice of Isaac in Qumran literature», Vol. 83 (2002) 211-229

Gen 22,1-19 the account of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, is discussed first in its Hebrew and Old Greek form; then as it was developed in the Book of Jubilees 17,15–18,16, and especially in the form of Pseudo-Jubilees, as it is preserved in 4Q225 2 i and ii (4QPs-Jub^a 2 i 7-14, 2 ii 1-14), in order to ascertain how much of the development of the account can be traced to pre-Christian Palestinian Jewish tradition prior to the New Testament. Finally, building on such evidence, the article traces the development in other texts of the first Christian century and in the later targumic and rabbinic tradition about the Aqedah.

[M) hmx#mh r# hsny hz lwkb]w db)y w#k( Myrmw)w Myxm#  7
[)rqyw Myhwl)l Mhrb]) Nm)n )cmy )l M)w #xk )cmy 8
[ yk yt(dy ht]( rm)yw ynnh rm)yw Mhrb) Mhrb) 9
[t) dylwyw wyx ymy lk qx]#y t) hwhy l) Krbyw bh) hyhy )l 10
[lwk wyhyw (vacat) y#yl# r]wd ywl t) dylwh bwq(yw bwq(y 11
[ y]wlw bwq(yw qx#yw Mhrb) ymy 12
[ #dqh yk)lm Mhyl]( rws)   hm+#m r#w 13
[ hm+#mh r#] l) l(ylb (m#yw hm+[#]mh r# 14

1· [his ey]es, [and there was a] fire; and he pu[t the wood on his son Isaac, and they went together.]
2· Isaac said to Abraham, [his father, ‘Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb]
3· for the burnt offering?’ Abraham said to [his son Isaac, ‘God himself will provide the lamb’.]
4· Isaac said to his father, ‘B[ind me fast ]
5· Holy angels were standing, weeping over the [altar ]
6· his sons from the earth. The angels of Mas[temah ]
7· rejoicing and saying, ‘Now he will perish’. And [in all this the Prince Mastemah was testing whether]
8 ·he would be found feeble, or whether A[braham] would be found unfaithful [to God. He cried out,]
9 ·‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Yes?’ So He said, ‘N[ow I know that ]
10·he will not be loving’. The Lord God blessed Is[aac all the days of his life. He became the father of]
11·Jacob¹¹, and Jacob became the father of Levi, [a third] gene[ration¹². (vacat) All]
12·the days of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Lev[i were ]
13·The prince Mastemah bound on ac[count of them. Holy angels were
14·The prince Ma[s]temah, and Belial listened to [the prince Mastemah (?)¹³ ]

        Unfortunately, the text is fragmentary just at the points where one finds the different distinctive elements, e.g. the reaction of the angels of heaven to Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. In any case, six points may be singled out as significant:

        (1) In 2 i 9-10, ‘The Prince Mastemah came to God and lodged a complaint against Abraham about Isaac’. Here we find an angelic figure living up to his name, since hm+#m is a feminine abstract noun