Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Torah

AND G-D TRIED ABRAHAM. The matter of “trial,”, III, 24. in my opinion, is as follows: Since a man’s deeds are at his absolute free command, to perform them or not to perform them at his will, on the part of one who is tried it is called “a trial.” But on the part of the One, blessed be He, who tries the person, it is a command that the one being tested should bring forth the matter from the potential into actuality so that he may be rewarded for a good deed, not for a good thought alone. Know further that G-d trieth the righteous, for knowing that the righteous will do His will, He desires to make him even more upright, and so He commands him to undertake a test, but He does not try the wicked, who would not obey. Thus all trials in the Torah are for the good of the one who is being tried.

TAKE NOW THY SON, THINE ONLY SON. Since Isaac was the son of the mistress and he alone was to be the one to carry his name, He called him Abraham’s only son. The description was for the purpose of magnifying the command, thus saying: “Take now thy only son, the beloved one, Isaac, and bring him up before Me as a burnt-offering.” MORIAH. Rashi comments: “This is Jerusalem, and we find it in the book of Chronicles: To build the house of the Eternal at Jerusalem on mount Moriah. Our Rabbis have explained that it is called Moriah (instruction) because from the Temple built there on that mountain, instruction came forth to Israel.), the seat of the Great Sanhedrin, which was the highest court in Israel, was located in the Court of the Temple. See Deuteronomy 17:8-11. Onkelos translated it as “the land of Worship.” This he derived on the basis of reference to the burning of incense, which contained mor: the mountain on which mor (myrrh), as part of the incense, was to be burnt. Thus according to Rashi’s understanding of Onkelos. Ramban will later differ with this interpretation in the meaning of Onkelos. (myrrh) and other spices, [as part of the Divine Service].” Now if so, [i.e., if this be the explanation of the name Moriah], the meaning of the verse will then be, “Go into the land which will be called Moriah.” Or it may be that it was always called so on account of the future. In Bereshith Rabbah, the Sages have said thus: “The Rabbis say, Go into the land of Moriah means into the land where incense will be offered on the altar of G-d, even as it is said, I will get me to the mountain ‘hamor’ (of myrrh).” But the opinion of Onkelos, who said “the land of worship,” does not appear to be based on the myrrh in the incense, as Rashi said, for the word “service” does not refer to one of the species used in one of the Divine Services. Besides, why did not Onkelos say, “to the land of the incense of spices?” Instead, Onkelos’ intent is to say, “in the land in which they will worhip G-d.” Onkelos thus matched that which the Sages interpreted in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, where they said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Abraham the altar with a finger. He said to him, ‘This is the altar on which the first man sacrificed. This is the altar on which Cain and Abel sacrificed. This is the altar on which Noah and his sons sacrificed.’ For it is said, And Abraham built ‘hamizbei’ach’ (the altar) there, mizbei’ach (an altar) is not written here, rather, hamizbei’ach (the altar). This is the altar on which the predecessors have sacrificed.” Thus far [is the interpretation of Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer]. And the name Moriah the Rabbis derived from the word mora (fear), for there the people feared G-d and worshipped Him. The correct interpretation, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, is that the name Moriah is like the expression, To the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense, for on that mountain [Moriah] are found myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon, even as the Rabbis have said: “Cinnamon grew in the Land of Israel, and goats and deers ate of it.” Or it may be that it was so called in praise of the Land of Israel. Now here Scripture calls the name of the land, the land of Moriah, and there [in the book of Chronicles, mentioned above], it appears that only the Temple mount was called mount Moriah. Perhaps, the city was called by the name of that mountain which it contains, [and the name “land of Moriah” means] the land which contains the Moriah, but it was the mountain alone that was called Moriah. Now Abraham knew the land but did not know the mountain. Hence G-d told him to go to the land of Moriah, and He will there show him one of the mountains which is called by that name. He commanded him to offer up his son in that place for that is the mountain which G-d hath desired for His abode, and He wanted the merit of the Akeidah (the Binding of Isaac) to be in the sacrifices forever, as Abraham said, The Eternal seeth. Moreover, for His righteousness’ sake, He increased the scope of the trial and wanted Abraham to do it after walking three days. Had Abraham been commanded to do so suddenly at his place, his deed would have been performed in haste and confusion, but since it was done after walking for days it was thus performed with reflection of mind and counsel. And so did the Rabbis say in Bereshith Rabbah: “Rabbi Akiba said, ‘G-d surely tried [Abraham with a clear-cut situation] so that people should not say that He confounded him and confused him and he did not know what to do.’”

AND HE CLEAVED THE WOOD FOR THE BURNT-OFFERING. This illustrates Abraham’s zeal in performing a commandment for he thought that perhaps there would be no wood in that place, and so he carried it for three days. It may be that Abraham disqualified for use as an offering any wood in which a worm is found, as is the law of the Torah, and so he took from his house sound wood for the burnt-offering. Hence it says, And he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering.

AND HE SAW THE PLACE AFAR OFF. He saw a cloud attached to the mountain, and through this was fulfilled the Divine assurance, which I will tell thee of. It is possible, in line with the simple meaning of Scripture, that the verse, And he saw the place afar off, means that he saw the land of Moriah for he knew that entire land [although he did not know the specific mountain].

AND THEY CAME TO THE PLACE WHICH G-D TOLD HIM OF — now, from a distance as he was acquainted with that whole land, and when he came near the mountain, G-d told him, “This is the place which I had designated to you.” All this is in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, as Ramban mentioned above. “This is mount Moriah,” for He told him, “Behold, this is the mountain of which I told you.”

FOR NOW I KNOW THAT THOU ART A G-D FEARING MAN. At the beginning Abraham’s fear of G-d was latent; it had not become actualized through such a great deed. But now it was known in actuality, and his merit was perfect, and his reward would be complete from the Eternal, the G-d of Israel. The doctrine of this chapter which teaches that G-d is the One who tries Abraham and commands him about the binding of Isaac, and it is the angel of G-d who restrains and promises him, will be explained in the verse, The angel who hath redeemed me.

BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS THING. In the beginning He promised him that he would increase his descendants as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth, but now He gave him the additional assurance that because thou hast done this great deed, He swore by His Great Name [that He would increase his descendants as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore], and that his seed will possess the gate of its enemies. Thus Abraham was assured that no sin whatever would cause the destruction of his descendants, nor would they fall into the hand of their enemies and not rise again. Thus this constitutes a perfect Divine assurance of the redemption which is destined to come to us.

BEHOLD, MILCAH, SHE ALSO HATH BORN CHILDREN. Since Milcah was the daughter of his brother Haran, this was a tiding to Abraham that his older brother Nahor, Verse 28. had been visited with many children from the daughter of his dead brother Haran., Verse 27). Since Nahor was older than Haran, Ramban refers to him as “the older” brother. Now from the text of Scripture it would appear that Abraham had no knowledge of any of them except on that day. If they were visited with children in their younger days, it would be impossible for them not to have been heard until this time for the distance between Mesopotamia and the land of Canaan is not great. Now when Abraham left Haran he was seventy-five years old,, 12:4. and Nahor was also elderly and his wife too was not young. Indeed, we must say, G-d performed a miracle for them in that they were visited with children in their old age. This is the sense of the verse, Milcah, she also. In the words of our Rabbis, it is said that Milcah was visited with children as was her sister Sarah.)

AND BETHUEL BEGOT REBEKAH. The verse does not mention Laban, even though he was older than Rebekah, for its intent is only to mention the eight children which Milcah bore to Nahor. However, Rebekah is mentioned since the entire chapter is written to make known her genealogy. Kemuel the father of Aram. Aram is mentioned only in order to make known the identity of Kemuel as Aram was a more important man than his father. Perhaps, also, there was another Kemuel in their generation. Hence [Scripture identifies Kemuel by saying that] he was the father of Aram.

AND HIS CONCUBINE, WHOSE NAME WAS REUMAH. Scripture tells the entire tiding which they related to Abraham concerning his brother’s children. It is possible that this was written in order to make known the entire genealogy of Nahor, to establish that all of them were worthy to marry the children of Abraham, and it was with reference to all of them that Abraham said to Eliezer: But thou shalt go unto my father’s house and to my family. Chayei Sarah