DEBATING THE IDENTITY OF ABRAHAM'S INTENDED SACRIFICIAL OFFERING AND THE

EXCLUSIVE CLAIM OF JEWS TO THE PROMISED LAND

Muhammad Ali Farah

1
21 June 2021
Length: 5 pages
Quran 3: 93-95. […] Say [O Mohammed to the Jews], "Bring the Torah, and read it, if you are
truthful." 94. Whoever forges lies about Allah after that—these are grossly unjust. 95. Say, "Allah has
spoken the truth, so follow the religion of Abraham the Monotheist; he was not a Pagan."
Quran 3:78. And among them [the Jews and Christians] are those who twist the Scripture with their
tongues, that you may think it is from the Scripture when it is not from the Scripture. And they say,
"It is from Allah," when it is not from Allah. They tell lies and attribute them to Allah knowingly.

Mainstream Jewish interpretations and that of Zionist Christian churches regard Isaac not only as
being the son God commands Abraham to sacrifice in Genesis 22 but also the person with whom
God established his covenant in Genesis 17 of the Torah, including the popular narrative of the
Promised Land on which the state of Israel was founded in the Palestinian lands. Not only are
these interpretations used to justify the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the
continual eviction of Palestinians, but they are central to the grand Israeli policy on the Gaza
Strip, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the entirety of the Palestinian territory. Not to mention
the Torah is why we have eternal Israel-Palestine conflict. None of the above is the reason I am
writing this article, however.

The Quran tells us that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom, Ishmael was indeed the person God
commanded Abraham to sacrifice and that the Jews intentionally distorted the Torah. Only one
of the conflicting sets of specific truth-claims can be correct—either the Torah or the Quran is
right regarding this issue, but not both can be correct. This article examines the biblical story of
Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac, and Ishmael. It seriously questions the validity of the Jewish claim
that Isaac and not Ishmael was the intended sacrificial offering and the one with whom God
established his covenant. I will do so based solely on the evidence in the Genesis Book – I will
not use the Quran to support my arguments.

Most importantly, I will do so without the ideological bias consistently found in other treatises on
this subject. That is right. I recently joined a Jewish-run Facebook Group, "Exposing the lies found
in the New Testament," which at the time had fewer than 2,000 predominantly Jewish and
Christian members. In a raft of articles posted daily by Jewish rabbis and scholars, including the
one annexed to this document, Ishmael and Ishmaelites are referred to as idol worshipers and
as examples to be avoided. Muslims don't have such an ideological bias. We do not prefer Ishmael
to Isaac or Muhammad to Isaac or any prophet to another. Simply put, Muslims are prohibited
from showing favoritism toward any of God's prophets and revelations:

Quran 2:136. Say, "We believe in Allah; and in what was revealed to us; and in what was revealed
to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses
and Jesus; and in what was given to the prophets—from their Lord. We make no distinction between
any of them, and to Him [Allah], we surrender."
EVALUATING THE CLAIM

I have summarized my review of the biblical narrative as follows:

At 75 years of age, he, his barren wife, and his nephew were in present-day Turkey (back then
2
Harran) when God informed the man not only that a great nation will be made of him, but those
who bless him will be blessed as well and then told him to go to Canaan wherein after they had
arrived and he rambled through it God promised to him that his offspring would own the land,
even though some folks were already there (Genesis 12:1-7). That was Abram; with him were
his barren but beautiful wife Sarai and his nephew Lot.

A devastating drought forced Abram to flee to Egypt with his smoking wife, where the two have
agreed that from the moment they set foot in Egypt, she will be playing his sister so that Pharoah
will receive him well because of her rather than kill him for her sake (Genesis 12:10-13). It
worked. Immediately, she was in Pharaoh's bedroom, and Abram was a rich man – Pharaoh gave
him servants, donkeys, cattle, sheep, and camel of both sexes (Genesis 12:14-16). Probably
Pharaoh liked Sarai's lovemaking and, as a way of saying thank you to her supposed brother,
gave Abram everything. I don't buy it, but if that were true, one could not help but argue that
Sarai was definitely a whore. It is indeed tempting to say that.

Unfair for Pharaoh and his household, Sarai brought about a severe disease that led Pharaoh to
probe Abram for the truth; the latter admitted that Sarai was indeed his wife, and disgusted
Pharaoh expelled Abram, Sarai, and everything they had from Egypt (Genesis 12:17-20).

Now 86 years old and probably still being embarrassed by what they did in Egypt ten years ago,
Abram cried out to the Lord against his childlessness and the daunting possibility that a slave,
Eliezer of Damascus, will inherit his estate (Genesis 15:2-3). The Lord reassured him, "This man
[Eliezer of Damascus] will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be
your heir" (Genesis 15:4).

Suddenly, Sarai (the whore) has a solution for Abram's distress. She offered Abram to take her
Egyptian slave Hagar as "wife" (Genesis 16:3), hoping that Sarai can "obtain children by her"
(Genesis 16:2); Abram took Hagar as "wife" and she conceived a baby (Genesis 16:4). Why not
impregnate; the man had unprotected sex with fertile Hagar.

Knowing that (unlike Sarai) she could produce children and by being already pregnant, Hagar
became arrogant. She began to despise Sarai (Genesis 16:4). Sarai could not take her bullshit,
so she kicked her ass out. She had no choice but to run away. While in the desert, she
encountered an angel, who advised her to go back to Sarai and informed her that her descendants
would multiply so much that they will be too numerous to count; that she will give birth to a son;
that his name will be Ishmael, and that he will be a badass of a man (Genesis 16:8-12).

Hagar went back to Sarai, gave birth to a baby son, and the son was named Ishmael (Ishmael
means "the Lord has listened/heard," according to the Hebrew Bible). But what was it that which
God has listened? My Jewish and Christian friends and their modified Bible say "Hagar" – Genesis
16:11 "for the Lord has listened to your misery."
But because Abram names the son "Ishmael" (Genesis 16:15), I argue that, in addition to hearing
Hagar, God has listened to Abram's earlier plea for a child in Genesis 15:2 per His promise in
Genesis 15:4-6. He asked God for a son (Genesis 15:2); God promised him a son who is of
Abram's flesh and blood (Genesis 15:4), and now he has one who is his own flesh and blood,
"Ishmael." For the next 14 years, Ishmael will be Abram's only son.
3
As his only son for the next 14 years, Abraham would love Ishmael so much. During this time,
which is Isaac's birth prior, God and Abraham will enter into a Covenant. In Genesis 17, God
renames Abram "Abraham," Sarai "Sarah," and commands Abraham to introduce circumcision as
a sign of the covenant God is making with Abraham. Note that Abraham and Ishmael were
circumcised on the same day (Genesis 17:26).

In Genesis 22:2, God said to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love [—Isaac—
?] and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will
show you."

God's command to Abraham is unambiguous: "[…] your son, your only son" (Genesis 22: 2, 12,
16, …) which reminds us that, as a test for piety, Abraham was asked to slay his only son, his
then-only heir, the one thing that was not just most dear to him but greater in his heart than the
whole world combined as well. Remove the word "only" from Genesis 22, and the entire story
about the sacrificial offering doesn't make sense. It is not difficult to see why this is so if one
reads Genesis as connected text rather than isolated chapters, especially if one connects Genesis
22 to Genesis 15:2-4, Genesis 16:2, Genesis 16:4, etcetera.

Think about this. With Abraham asked to slay his only son, the possibility of him making a great
nation is out of sight, the daunting prospect of Eliezer of Damascus inheriting his estate is all too
real, and all his childless worries are back. On the contrary, none of that would be true if Isaac
was the intended sacrificial offering. Imagine yourself lost in the middle of the Sahara desert, and
help is seven days away. Although two water bottles are all you have to survive, you are asked
to empty one immediately and ration the other until help arrives. Imagine yourself in the same
scenario except when you have only one water bottle, and you are asked to empty it immediately.
Do you see what I mean?

Simply put, Abraham was commanded to slay his only son, not one of his sons. Consider the
wording of the Lord's command. "[…] your son, your only son" (Genesis 22:2); "[…] your son,
your only son" (Genesis 22:12); "[…] your son, your only son" (Genesis 22:16). For 14 years,
Ishmael was Abraham's only son, Isaac was never Abraham's only son. The expression "your only
son" precludes any possibility of Isaac being the intended sacrificial offering.

When Abraham bounded his son and placed him on the altar on the top of the firewood and took
the knife to slay him as commanded, an angel intervened by calling out to him from heaven,
"Abraham! Abraham!" "Don't lay a hand on the boy; do not do anything to him," sparing the son
(Genesis 22: 9-12). Abraham must have heaved a sigh of relief when he heard those words.

Following this, God glorified Abraham's attempt to slay "his only son" as being a testimony to
Abraham's obedience and fear of God. "Now I know that you fear God because you have not
withheld from me your son, your only son," said the Lord God (Genesis 22:12). In Genesis 22:13,
God redeemed him with a ramp, and Abraham sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
The angel comes back to Abraham with even better news, where the Lord swears by himself that
because Abraham did not withhold "his son, his only son," He will indeed bless him and multiply
his descendants so much that they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on
the seashore and they will take possession of their enemies' cities, plus through them, all nations
4
on earth will be blessed all because of Abraham's obedience (Genesis 22:15-18). In all these
commandments, the key and common phrase is, "your only son," defeating all fraudulent claims
made in Genesis 17 and elsewhere in the Torah.

IN SUMMATION

Abraham took Hagar as "wife" and legitimately sired Ishmael, his firstborn and only son of
fourteen years. All these identities are relevant: that his name was Ishmael, that he was
Abraham's firstborn, and that he was Abraham's only son for 14 years.

The significance of the son's name cannot be ignored, especially coupled with the fact that
Abraham (then-Abram) gave him this name as told in Genesis 16:15. The Hebrew Bible teaches
us that Ishmael means "the Lord has listened/heard." God must definitely have listened to and
answered some prayers. My Judeo-Christian opponents argue God listened to Hagar, quoting
Genesis 16:11: "for the Lord has listened to your misery," on which I agree. But because Abram
names the son "Ishmael" (Genesis 16:15), in addition to hearing Hagar, God has also listened to
Abram's earlier plea for a child in Genesis 15:2 per His promise in Genesis 15:4-6. As I noted
earlier, Abraham asked God for a son (Genesis 15:2); God promised him a son who is of Abram's
flesh and blood (Genesis 15:4), and now he has one who is his own flesh and blood, "Ishmael."

Secondly, that Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn son and was born at such a time when Abraham
was desperate to have heirs is enough to challenge the prevailing wisdom of Judeo-Christians
that sidelines Ishmael and excludes him from Abraham's inheritance but also God's covenant with
Abraham. Besides the deep affection Abraham will have for Ishmael, elsewhere in the Torah, the
marginalization of the firstborn is outlawed, and a double portion of his father's inheritance is
given; refer to Deuteronomy 21:15-17. Equally important, the promises given to Abraham,
including the promised land, were made one year Isaac's birth prior and were given to all his
offspring if you believe in Genesis 17. This covenant was signified through the rite of circumcision,
regarding which 13 years old Ishmael and 99 years old Abraham went through on the same day;
see Genesis 17.

Finally, and most importantly, the criterion "your only son" in the Lord's command can only be
Ishmael. If Jews believe two (Ishmael and Isaac) are equal to one (Isaac), they should also
accept the trinity—that three parts (the father, the son, and the holy ghost) are equal to one.
Being Abraham's only son for 14 years, only Ishmael qualifies to be the person referred to in the
Lord's command, "your son, your only son."

In conclusion, Ishmael, rather than Isaac, is the individual God commands Abraham to sacrifice
in Genesis 22 and elsewhere in the Torah. If anything, Genesis 17: 19, 21, and Genesis 22:2,
which establish Isaac as being the basis of God's covenant with Abraham, as the sacrificial offering
in Genesis 22, as Abraham's only heir, and as the preferred patriarch of Israel, are insertion and
utter fabrication by the writers of the Torah material.
In light of the above, I have a few questions for the Jewish readers of this text:
1. Who inserted "Isaac" in Genesis 22:2, despite knowing that, unlike Ishmael, Isaac was
never Abraham's only son?

2. Who elevated Isaac over Ishmael? Who fabricated and distorted the Torah and who
5
excluded him from the Lord's covenant in Genesis 17?

3. In the Seven Laws of Noah, God prohibits sexual immorality and commands respecting
the institution of marriage; how does this reconcile with the claim that Abraham rented
Pharaoh his wife (Genesis 12:14-16)?

4. If the story in Genesis 12:14-16 is an accurate account of Sarai's and Abram's life in Egypt,
doesn't that make Isaac a son of whore, and Abraham a pimp prophet and violator of
Noahide Laws? As a Muslim, I don't believe that our blessed Abraham, the founder of
monotheistic faith, and God's only friend, would do anything like that, do you? But then,
if Genesis 12:14-16 is not an accurate account of what happened in Egypt, how can the
Torah be both sacred and full of lies?

5. Whose descendants are as numerous today as the stars just as God promised, Isaac's or
Ishmael's? And who has held the promised land throughout history, Ishmaelites or the
Jews? Ishmaelites and not the Jews are as numerous as the stars as God said they would
be! Besides, in the Old Testament Commentary, Carl Friedrich Keil notes that Ishmael's
descendants have held much of the promised land through time, again precluding Isaac
as the only receiver of God's covenant. Hence now that you know that the Torah-based
claims to the promised land cannot stand scrutiny, how do you justify the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian lands?

6. I don't mind that you questioned the validity of the Quran. Isn't it amazing that the Quran
says, "Do they not ponder the Quran? Had it been from any other than God, they would
have found in it full of contradictions" Quran 4:82? Why can we not judge the present-
day Torah by the same standards?

Quran 5:12-13. Allah received a pledge from the Children of Israel, and We raised among them
twelve chiefs. Allah said, "I am with you; if you perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and believe
in My messengers and support them, and lend Allah a loan of righteousness; I will remit your
sins, and admit you into Gardens beneath which rivers flow. But whoever among you disbelieves
afterward has strayed from the right way." 13. Because of their breaking their pledge, We cursed
them and made their hearts hard. They twist the words out of their context, and they disregarded
some of what they were passed on. You will always witness deceit from them, except for a few
of them. But pardon them, and overlook. Allah loves the doers of good.
"I Say the Gers (Noahides)" by Michelle Barlev
6
WHO IS THIS RENEWED COVENANT (THAT WILL BE INSCRIBED INTO A NEW ON THE HEART) GOING TO BE WITH IN
THE END OF DAYS? I SAY THE GERS (NOAHIDES)

Ger tsadik (convert/Jews) and the Jews. Christianity claims all that beleive in Jesus and what happends to the Jews? We beleive
God hates abominations and therefore chose the Jews , the converts, and the noahides.....while christianity thinks the ultimate sin
according to God is not loving the son with all your heart and with all your might! Everything god ever hated in the Torah they
have skipped over and now this new God stepped in and he is the only way to God even if you have made abominations according
to the Torah which God calls his wisdom. Just like Esau the caveman can kill but as soon as he hears of Jesus and believes he is
forgivin and now he can become a reightious man. Does God not count all the bad one does? All the good this guy did made up
for it? You see...Jews get judged based on good vs evil and that's also what happeneds in the Torah ... everything is related to good
vs evil and we need to learn from it.... We need to hear it and we need to listen! christianity claims Esau in a way and Islam claims
Ishmael...(which in hebrew it's God will listen)

They too don't listen and do many abominations for God until today. What else would you call a suicide bomber? All those that
strapped him down and got him ready for the job are also murderers they too are to blame. They think because they SACRIFICED
themselves in the name of God they are going to have a smashing party with virgins! What's the purpose of giving you virgins?
Where do people come up with such stuff? To think God would have made Abraham a murderer for all to see?? What about the
virgin birth... doesn't need a father does it? A forced labor? A type of rape? You shall carry my baby in your stomach I am your
God!

And for Islam everything is from the father so the mother is invalid....God picked Sarai to be the mother of nations and we will get
to that. Both claim to be part of the covenant....both claim to be seeds of Abraham so therefore with all the abominations they
commit they are descendants of Abraham. so let's examine; genesis 17 Abrahams wife Sarai's name was changed to Sarah, for she
would be a mother of nations... her husband, Abram at the time, changed his name to Abraham, for he would be a father of many
nations... from here I learned that God changed their names and told them that together from both of your descendants will be the
chosen people, which means whatever babies that come out of Abraham and Sarah are to lead the way...a light onto the nations.

Were there any other wives of Abraham that God changed their name? God selected this group of descendants. Just because
Abraham had other seeds does not mean they are part of this group/this covenant. The rest are classified as idol-worshipping
nations. God sent Ishmael and his mother away and they didn't learn Torah from Abraham anymore.

This is where the Torah relationship ended in a way. This is where Ishmael does not follow his father's way anymore ...he moved
and out of him came a nation full of people that did not follow the Torah or the commandments. They too somehow managed to
create a new book that God himself did not give.

Agar never gave up her ways.....God saw Hagar's suffering and promised that although this was not the ((child promised)) to
Abram, he would nevertheless make Ishmael's descendants into a great nation( also). in fact they are as numerous as the stars! As
God said your descendants shall be ...

We Jews trace back our Cohen's using a DNA test... the DNA of the Kohanim that traces back 106 generations. We are able to
trace the bloodline of a kohen and the ones that come of Ishmael have the same marker.... So as God said;

and they shall have the Priesthood as a statute forever, and you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons." [Exodus 29:9]

"... it shall be for them an appointment to an everlasting Priesthood throughout their generations." [Exodus 40:15]

"And it shall be to him and to his descendants after him a covenant of everlasting Priesthood.". [Numbers 25:13]

Aaron, the original High Priest and founder of the Kohen lineage. Further genetic studies have found that the CMH-the Cohen
Modal Haplotype-a haplotype of the MED (J) haplogroup-is not exclusive to Kohanim, and not unique to Jews.

It is also found in significant percentages among other Middle Eastern populations, and to a lesser extent, among southern
Mediterranean groups. A haplotype is a group of distinct DNA markers -- neutral nucleotide mutations, which when found together
indicate a lineage. These particular markers were discovered on the Y-Chromosome, which is passed from father to son, without
change establishing a paternal lineage pattern.!! Abraham was only seven generations removed from Aaron, a matter of a few
hundred years. Genetic signatures change slightly only over many generations. So therefore it is very reasonable to assume that
the CMH, the most common haplotype among Jewish males, is therefore also the genetic signature of the Patriarch Abraham. This
explains why we also find the CMH in high numbers among Arabs and other Middle Easterners today!. These peoples claim to be
the progeny of Abraham through his son Ishmael, who would also have to be carrying Abraham's male genetic signature. These
7
markers are also found among some southern Mediterranean and European peoples. there are other populations that share the
"Abrahamic Genetic Signature" as their primary Y-markers. These include Lebanese, Syrians, Druze, Iraqi Kurds, some southern
and central Italians, and Hungarians and some Armenians. These may be descendants of Abraham through his grandson Esau,
brother of Jacob, some of whose progeny, founded the early roots of the empire of Rome. As Isaac's son and Abraham's grandson,
Esau would also have had these same Y-chromosome lineage markers!! And again we see the same issue.... Jacob or esau? God
chose jacob and christianity is esau... And truly you nations are as numerous as the stars along with the Jews!!! Whatever god
days is always true...

The descendants of Abraham are big in numbers but it is only a selected few amongst the nations that are chosen. The rest are
Ishmael in a way that they well listen in the end of days and the rest are like Esau hunters seeking to destroy Jewish souls. The
ones that are considered bad are not the ones that are going to get rewarded in the end. One must chose jacob or esau or Ishmael
and Itschak.... One must fight off the evil inclination as Abraham our father did. To chose to go down the right path and throw out
that evil inclination of idolatry in order to receive this gift. I truly understand when nations say we are the seed of Abraham I do!
But that doesn't mean the covenant belongs to you. You have drifted away and became powerful nations as God said you would.
It's upto you to chose God! It's upto you to cross over to the other side as Abraham did... To know with all your heart and soul that
only 1 God is deserving of full attention and full service .....to know that messiah is going to do the same! You must live your God
with all your heart! All your mind! Never to think of anyone else but him and with all your soul that years for only him because he
created you and your soul is the spark that will always connect you to him....your soul automatically seeks him but it's upto you to
cross over!!!! Messiah will be from the good....not from Ishmael not from rome not from any idol worshipping nation. He will be
devoted to the God of israel percent! Just read Ezekeil and see for yourself.....

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their
shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God. And My servant David prince among them; I the Lord have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:23-24)
The Lord (Y-H-V-H) alone will be worshiped as God, while the Messiah, as the servant of God, lives with the people. God and the
Messiah are not and cannot be equals, for it is God alone who gives the Messiah power to rule in that capacity as His appointed
servant. Messiah will guide us messiah will teach just as moses did. Messiah will never ever say I am the way to God as Jesus did!!
We couldn't be around God and live so moses spoke on the account of God as messiah will too! We are not going to worship the
messiah in any way shape or form. He is going to lead us as a king would of his nation and give full glory to God. Abraham always
thought about the nature of the world, its origins and what power was behind it all. he married his niece Yiskah (also known as
Sarai, and later, Sarah). As you can see the relation here.

This was the time of the tower of babel. According to the Midrash He took it upon himself to repeatedly rebuke those involved. The
Midrash then tells how God and the seventy angels cast lots to see which angel would be charged with which language and nation.
When God's lot was Abraham, He proclaimed, "Portions have fallen to Me in pleasant places; even the lot pleases Me....This is the
earliest instance in Abraham's life in which he is described as being "chosen" by God. Abraham's return to his father's house, how
he destroys his father's idols, and is arrested for heresy. Holding steadfast to his faith even in the face of death, he is thrown into
a fiery furnace, but God performs a miracle and he survives.

Everything Abraham does was against idolatry. Only now do we finally meet Abraham in the Torah, when God commands him:
"Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you. After many
further trials and tribulations that are recounted in the Torah, God forms a covenant with Abraham and proclaims: "To your seed
I have given this land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the Euphrates River ..When Abraham is 99, God commands him
to circumcise himself and his offspring, saying:

You shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall
observe between Me and you and your seed after you: that every male among you be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh
of your foreskin, and it shall be as the sign of a covenant between Me and you.

God made a covenant between Himself and Abraham in that manner. Abraham was chosen by God, just as the entire Jewish nation
was chosen at Mount Sinai, making him the first Jew. At Sinai the Jews were chosen by God, but they also assumed the obligation
to observe the Torah's 613 commandments. Non-Jews are obligated to keep only the seven Noahide laws. If Abraham was indeed
Jewish, he would need to do more than fulfill all the commandments of the Torah. He would have to be bound and obligated to
fulfill them. And it seems this was not the case. seem logical, that Abraham initially did have the halachic status of a non-Jewish
Noahide, but that once he entered the covenant with G-d and was given the commandment to circumcise himself, he was considered
a full-fledged Jew. Our forefathers not only learned the Torah but kept its laws, even though it had not been given, they were never
commanded to do so. Their fulfillment of these commandments was a personal and voluntary sign of their devotion to God. They
were not obligated in the way their descendants would be after Sinai.

When we refer to Abraham as the first Jew or convert, that is a true statement: When he was told to "go from your land," he became
8
distinguished by that mission from all others of his time. When we look back in time, we see here the first idea of a Jew. But it does
not mean that he was Jewish in the sense that we are today, in the sense of a binding obligation. Rather, he had the technical status
of a Noahide, just like any other person of the time (albeit one who was given additional unique commandments such as
circumcision, in which he was indeed obligated). It was not until his descendants stood at Mount Sinai and God proclaimed, "You
shall be to Me a treasure out of all peoples . . . and you shall be to Me a kingdom of princes and a holy nation that we became the
Jewish people. There is a distinction between voluntary and obligatory observance of the Torah.. a Noahide is obligated to keep
the Seven Noahide Laws, but not the 613 Torah laws. If there were to be any conflict between keeping the future Torah laws and
the Noahide laws, the obligation to keep the Noahide laws would supersede the Torah laws which they were not yet obligated to
do.

What is so special about the covenant at Mount Sinai that only then did we become the Jewish people, something not yet achieved
in Abraham's time? Wasn't Abraham himself chosen by God? Didn't Abraham himself learn the Torah, keep its commandments,
and make a covenant with God? So what is the difference? What is choosing all about? It is only when we are faced with two
seemingly identical objects, and we nevertheless choose one over the other, that we can say that we have truly chosen. Do I chose
salt or sugar to add into my coffee this morning? "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you
throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be to you for a God and to your seed after you....in a sense, God did
not choose Abraham. It was his inherent superiority, and the fact that he was ready to give everything up for the sake of God, that
compelled God to choose him. It was not until the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai that God truly chose the Jewish nation. before
Mount Sinai, God's choosing Abraham and his descendants was based on what can be termed a "reasoned choice." At Mount Sinai
it was a supra-rational, "true" choice!!!

The Mishnah states: "Any love that is dependent upon a specific consideration—when that consideration vanishes, the love ceases.
If it is not dependent upon a specific consideration, it will never cease. We were chosen to become "a light upon the nations" not
due to any unique qualities. On the contrary, Jewishness is based on God choosing us despite our un-uniqueness. Why did God test
Abraham? Why does He test us? Why does an all-knowing God need to test anybody? Shouldn't He know what is in our hearts
without testing us? When getting tested people tend to say this is not what I bargained for it's beyond who I am.

You pass a test with rock solid faith and blind perseverance.

Tests are closely related to miracles. In fact, in Hebrew they are the same; A miracle is when God breaks out of his standard
pattern of natural law and demonstrates unlimited powers. A test is when God invites you to do the same. That is why people who
pass tests cause miracles to happen ....God is mirroring them. The ultimate test is that which takes a person beyond the ultimate
barrier: The barrier between creation and Creator...this is the test amongst all nations. As a young man, he had chosen certain
death in a fiery furnace over worship of the evil demagogue, King Nimrod, and was miraculously saved. he had never questioned
God's justice, he never said maybe there is another god deserving maybe I am wrong maybe there are different gods or sons of
God to be saved from the furnace... the Akedah ("Binding" of Isaac) didn't fit that profile. The Akedah flew in the face of everything
Abraham ever stood for: that God is good and kind, that He keeps His promises and has a destiny for His world. All this is out the
window when God says, "Abraham! Remember that son I promised you, for which you waited for so long? The one about whom

I promised he is destined to carry on all that you began so that it will continue until eternity? Remember how I told you to listen to
Sarah against your own judgment and send Ishmael away so that this other son could flourish? The son who you have fostered
with your wisdom and trained for his destiny these many years? Take him to the land of Moriah and raise him up for a burnt
offering on one of the mountains I will show you there." Turn around and destroy everything you have built until this day so that
there will never be a chance to rebuild. Because, at the scene of Abraham's most heroic stand, there was not a soul to witness. No
armies, no throngs of disciples, no impressionable bystanders, not even the two young attendants he had taken with him ... he had
told them to stay behind at the foot of the mountain. The most dramatic moment of Abraham's career was performed in chilling
solitude. For three days, Abraham walked until he found that place. He kept quiet, he did not reveal his goal, neither was he swayed
from walking towards it. Even once issac had realized his fate in this journey, even then his determination did not falter. Even Issac
willingly went because he believed in God. Willingly!! Itschak did not run away he kept marching on!

When Abraham built an altar of stones, his hands did not falter. As he set the wood, as he bound his son and ((lifted him upon the
altar,)) he did not slip, he did not cry. Only when he needed the knife, only then his hand refused, "And he sent forth his hand and
grasped the knife." His hand knew what his mind did not — that this was not the Divine Will, that ((Isaac was only to be raised as
an offering, )) but not to be slaughtered. But Abraham's mind did not yet know, and so he "set forth his hand," against its will, by
force. there was no sacrifice of Isaac.(( "I told you to offer him up," God said, ))"((and you did.)) You can now say another test
passed.

Now take him down." But the gateway was opened. It became possible for other human beings to transcend the limitations of the
ego and become a clear channel for the Divine Will in our world. Christianity's messiah got murdered in public without God telling
him he needs to do so...without a place god chose!! Hence the akeida! For whatever reason he ended up there wasn't because God
9
asked of it. Many can claim their father sent them and I'm sure many have down in history.

and SACRIFICED a human being

For God to accept. I read alot about the sacrifices and there was a part in the Torah where God was very unsatisfied with the
offerings because they didn't do it from their hearts they gave him offerings of old animals or ill animals that were about to die
anyways as if he undeserving of the best? Yes the Torah tells you about the good and evil in different stages of the Jews.. they
thought hey let's sacrifice billy over there because he is about to die anyways! Let's imagine something....king David is here right
now and we need to bring a sacrifice on his behalf...we as human beings wouldn't want him to think any less of us or a king might
get offended and who knows the outcome! I mean just look at history ...they are kings. Are you going to bring him an animal thats
sick and barely moving or the cream of the crop? So yes there were plenty of sacrifices but not all were accepted by God. People
just skip over this fact. People are very content with sitting in front of a fake fireplace pretending the flame is there. claiming he is
son of God.... Doing the very thing God never instructed to do in the first place. "I told you to offer him up," now take him down!

Many pages of our history are drenched in the blood of martyrs led to the slaughter on an altar in God's name. Not only rabbis
and saintly leaders, but mainly common, simple Jews. Neither did they die in order to attain eternal reward. all the world
disappeared from before them; there was only the one truth of their bond to the One God and all else was meaningless. This is the
strength of Abraham and Isaac within us. For they opened the channel by which this power comes down to us to this day. This
power not only to die, but to live as Jews. This power to remain Jews despite every adversity God could throw at us.

For this is the greatest miracle: that in this day and age there remain any Jews at all, that we still have each other, our Torah and
our heritage. It is a power your ego... Now non-Jews consider this... The flood took us out because of our evil ways and so God
established a covenant with Noah and all of his descendants.... A COVENANT for all the Ishmael's and esau's out there that want
to honor God and walk in his way because they chose to as we chose to.... Or do you want to chose Jesus instead? Want to be like
Esau or like jacob? Want to be like Ishmael or laugh at the end like Itschak? Do you really want to be like Abraham??

You have to chose as Abrahami did. You want to be part of the Jewish covenant? Chose to take on what's needed in order to join
that nation. You want to chose to be like Abraham was before becoming a jew that God couldn't get enough of? Obey the noahide
covenant. They both don't have a place for idolatry. The world destroyed because of such evil and God chose noah to continue on
and Noah chose God only. Abraham did the same .. learn from the Torah and step out from your father's house!