This week’s parashah ends with the epic and troubling story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac. But first comes a story about Hagar and Ishmael being sent away, which contains a striking number of parallels to the Akeidah. Ishmael’s near-death moment in the desert prefigures that of Isaac on the mountain.
In both, God asks for a severing of the relationship with a son. In both, Abraham wakes early in the morning to fulfil his task. Both cause Abraham pain (let alone that of both mothers and sons).
Both involve a near-death experience. Both take place in a “no man’s land” away from home — the desert and the mountain. In both, an angel intervenes at the last minute to save the child. And both end with blessings for the future.
Reading the stories side by side, we cannot fail but be struck by the many parallels. It even leads Rabbi Michael Hattin, of Jerusalem’s Pardes Institute, to name the first story Akedat Yishmael, “the binding of Ishmael”.
