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-Juba 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.
writings40. To this purpose we must turn to the later development of the tradition.
IV. Later Developments of the Understanding
of the Sacrifice of Isaac
The question of the meritorious value of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, although it is not expressed in the pre-Christian Qumran text, is clearly mentioned in the Palestinian targums. I shall cite only the Fragmentary Targum P, which has preserved a few important verses of Gen 2241:
8
And Abraham said: ‘From the Lord a lamb will be prepared for a burnt offering, my son; and if not, then you are the lamb’; and the two of them walked together wholeheartedly, Abraham to slay, and Isaac to be slain.10
Abraham extended his hand and took the knife to slay Isaac his son. Isaac spoke up, saying to Abraham his father: ‘Father, bind my hands well, that I may not struggle in the hour of my distress and confuse you, and your offering would be found blemished and we would be pitched into the pit of destruction in the world to come’. Abraham’s eyes were gazing at the eyes of Isaac, but the eyes of Isaac were gazing at the angels of the heights. Isaac saw them, but Abraham did not see them. At that moment a voice came forth from heaven and said, ‘Come, look at two unique righteous men who are in the world, one who is slaying and one who is being slain; he that slays has no compassion, and he that is being slain extends his neck’.11
The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, saying, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ Abraham answered in the language of the Holy Temple, saying, ‘Here I am!’ 14 Abraham worshiped and prayed there in the name of the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You are the Lord God, Who sees but is invisible; everything is manifest and known before You: that there was no division [i.e. hesitation] at the moment that You said: ‘Offer up your son Isaac in My presence’. Immediately I arose early in the morning and I did what You commanded and kept Your decree. Now, I beg mercy from You, Lord God, that when the children of Isaac my son enter an hour of oppression, that You will remember for their sake the binding of Isaac their father, and release and forgive