The Angel and Abraham

Also known as: The Angel and the Binding of Isaac, The Angel of the Lord and Abraham, The Akedah, The Sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham on Mount Moriah

The angelic intervention at the Binding of Isaac (Genesis 22, the Akedah). When Abraham, obedient to God’s command, raises the knife to offer his son Isaac upon Mount Moriah, the Angel of the Lord calls from heaven — “Abraham, Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the lad” — halting the sacrifice, providing a ram in Isaac’s place, and renewing the covenant promise. The Church reads Isaac bearing the wood as a type of Christ, the ram as His sacrifice, and Moriah as a foreshadowing of Golgotha; the figure is again the Angel of the Lord, understood either as a created messenger or, by some Fathers, as the pre-incarnate Word.