פרשת וירא - שלמות האדם במידותיו

“Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.”

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.

In the verse "Now I know that you fear Hashem" (Bereishis 22:12), the word "now" signifies that although everything is revealed to Hashem, the fear Avraham had was previously in potential and not yet actualized. The act of performing a mitzvah out of fear of Hashem transforms that potential into reality. It is through the action itself that the fear of Hashem is fully realized and completed. Therefore, Avraham's fear of Hashem became complete only after the Akeida. By performing the mitzvah with fear, he truly became "fearful of Hashem." This aligns with the Midrash Matos (Bamidbar Rabbah 22:1) which states that those termed "fearful of Hashem" have their fear intrinsically connected to their physical being.

The root of Hasiduth is fear of the Lord. If a man desires some matter of enjoyment and turns aside from his passion only because of fear of God and not because he fears retributions in the world to come, nor because of the enjoyment of this world and the world to come, but he rather fears that he will not be perfect in the love of the Creator, may His name be blessed, as it is written, “Thou shalt be wholehearted with the Lord thy God” (Deut. 18:13); this person is called a God-fearing man. The great and singular restraint is forsaking foods, for saturation with foods brings evil imaginations. How so? If there be before him a meal of fish or meat or of other dainties let him not resist from eating at all but for the fear of God let him not fill his stomach to the full reach of his appetite. It is the same with respect to one to whom a meritorious deed presents itself and it is difficult for him to do it, and (nevertheless) he does not desist from acting. And so we find with Abraham, “for now I know that thou art a God-fearing man” (Gen. 22:12).

The account of Abraham our father binding his son, includes two great ideas or principles of our faith. First, it shows us the extent and limit of the fear of God. Abraham is commanded to perform a certain act, which is not equalled by any surrender of property or by any sacrifice of life, for it surpasses everything that can be done, and belongs to the class of actions which are believed to be contrary to human feelings. He had been without child, and had been longing for a child; he had great riches, and was expecting that a nation should spring from his seed. After all hope of a son had already been given up, a son was born unto him. How great must have been his delight in the child! how intensely must he have loved him! And yet because he feared God, and loved to do what God commanded, he thought little of that beloved child, and set aside all his hopes concerning him, and consented to kill him after a journey of three days. If the act by which he showed his readiness to kill his son had taken place immediately when he received the commandment, it might have been the result of confusion and not of consideration. But the fact that he performed it three days after he had received the commandment, proves the presence of thought, proper consideration, and careful examination of what is due to the Divine command and what is in accordance with the love and fear of God. There is no necessity to look for the presence of any other idea or of anything that might have affected his emotions. For Abraham did not hasten to kill Isaac out of fear that God might slay him or make him poor, but solely because it is man’s duty to love and to fear God, even without hope of reward or fear of punishment. We have repeatedly explained this. The angel, therefore, says to him, “For now I know,” etc. (ibid. ver. 12), that is, from this action, for which you deserve to be truly called a God-fearing man, all people shall learn how far we must go in the fear of God.

And, likewise, the root of Bet Hillel’s soul compounds the left also. For, as known of the mode and attributes of the kodesh ha’elyon, there is no cleavage and division there, Heaven forfend, and all the traits compound each other. Thus, they are united one with the other, as known to the students of Kabbalah. Thus it is written of Abraham, who is the attribute of chesed and love: “Now I know that you are fearful of G–d”—for he had donned the attribute of gevurah “and bound Isaac his son…and took the knife….”

That you fear God: This statement is wonderous! And was it not already known, even to everyone, that Avraham feared God in the most expansive way possible? And just the opposite - there was no great proof from this deed alone that Avraham always feared God, since it was in His hands to kill [him] even without Avraham's sacrifice! As behold, if a king of flesh and blood decrees upon a man to slaughter his son, it is impossible to resist it. For he knows that it is in the hands of the king to kill both of them, the father and the son. Rather the matter of the test is in two things: The first is that if a king commanded a simple person that has no acquaintance or business with the king to slaughter his son, it is obvious that he has nothing to do besides to go and fulfill the word of the king. But if [the king] says to his friend who is frequently with him to do this wonderous thing, it is obvious that he would not restrain himself from asking the king why and how; and maybe he would change his mind. So too was it possible with Avraham. As he was the friend of the Holy One, blessed be He, and he found the courage to request much concerning Sodom. But behold, when a decree like this about his son, who was like his own soul, came before him, he did not say a thing and went and did [it] without any question or hesitation. And this is as if he were not a particular friend, but rather with the fear of God like any person. So he did not say anything about that which related to himself. And this is a wonderous novelty, and see what I wrote on the book of Deuteronomy 4:10 (Haamek Davar on Deuteronomy 4:10).