how old was isaac when god asked abraham to sacrifice him?

Answer 1

Probably about 8. He was old enough to understand sacrifices, old enough to do work around the home and land and old enough to understand about the ram in the bushes. However, he was not old enough to make a sacrifice by himself. All this points to a boy under the age of 10, but older than 6-7.

Answer 2

It is taught in Midrash Rabba on Bereishis that Isaac was 40 years old at the time of the. Considering his father was well over 100 at the time, it would have been easy for him to overpower Abraham and stop the act. It was more his test that Abraham's- not only of obedience to his father, but on his willingness to absorb his father's lessons and believe his word about God- without that faith and the ability to pass it on to the next generation, everything would have been lost.

Thus, while Abraham had ten tests, Isaac had only the one- the Akeidah- in that one powerful moment he answered aby questions anyone could ever have had about his belief in God and willingness to carry on the task of building a nation dedicated to God which had been entrusted to Abraham.

Answer 3

It is said to be about 17 or 18 though I don't see an exact verse the story of Isaac is found in Genesis 18-28 with the sacrifice taking place in chapter 22

Answer 4

I read the chapter in which God speaks to Abraham about the sacrifice as it says in scripture in Genesis 22:2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." It does not specify how old he is but he was at an age where he knew what was going on and could talk as it says in the bible 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" It also says in biblestudy.org "Little is told of Isaac's youth, but we know he grew and was weaned (Genesis 21:8), but at what age is uncertain. The Jewish writers Jarchi and Ben Melech say Isaac was weaned at two years; Gedaliah says three; Jerom says some Hebrews believe he was five; Philo makes him seven; and Bishop Usher places the weaning at ten or twelve years of age. If we take the average of all opinions we can assume Isaac would have been about six years old'. Hope this answers your question.

Answer 5

Not sure that his age is really important. Hopefully he wasn't old enough to understand and thus be subject to the immense emotional trauma that Abraham was being subject to. If my dad had tried to sacrifice me, I'm not sure that I would ever have forgiven him; and I certainly would not accept any god that requested that!

Answer 6

Scripture makes no claim as to his age....but there is a great article on-line that indicates, based on linguistics and other data, that he was older than we might have originally thought:

http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2319

The findings would indicate that he was more of a young man than a young boy.

Answer 7

There is evidence that Isaac was about 40, but I don't know the evidence right off the top of my head.

Answer 8

I don't think anyone knows for sure, but I have heard Bible commentators say a teenager, estimates from 13-17.

Answer 9

i think he was 8 or 9.
What a story.

and as for the reverends response, He wasnt actualy going to make abraham ever do it. He just wanted to see how loyal he was.

Answer 10

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