How old was Isaac when Abraham almost sacrificed him?

Answer

To test Abraham’s faith, God once commanded him to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac. The Bible doesn’t specify how old Isaac was when he and his father made their trip to Moriah for the sacrifice. Because of Scripture’s silence on the matter, we must conclude that knowing Isaac’s age does not affect our understanding of the passage or our grasp of the lesson that God wants us to learn. However, to help satisfy curiosity, we can gather some clues about Isaac’s age from the text.

One clue is Genesis 22:7, where Isaac notices wood and fire but, seeing no animal, asks Abraham about it. This implies that Isaac is at least old enough to know the proper sacrificial process and perceptive enough to ask his father about it. This doesn’t provide us with precise information about his age, though, as it’s possible that even a young child might have noticed this.

Some boundaries are suggested by the chronology of Sarah’s life. Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 years old «Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? », (Genesis 17:17). Sarah sent Ishmael away (sometime before the incident at Moriah) after Isaac was “weaned” (Genesis 21:8-10). Generally, weaning took place somewhere between the ages of 2 and 5. Sarah died (sometime after the incident at Moriah) at the age of 127. This means Isaac was older than 4 or 5 and younger than 36 or 37 when he was offered as a sacrifice. The phrases a long time in Genesis 21:34 and some time later in Genesis 22:1 suggest that a substantial amount of time elapsed between Isaac’s birth and the trip to Moriah. Therefore, Isaac was certainly not an older man when he was to be offered as a sacrifice.

Sacrifice, but he was not a toddler.

Another clue about Isaac’s age is found in Genesis 22:2, where Abraham is instructed to travel to Moriah, a journey of three or four days. The distance to be covered implies that Isaac was old enough to take care of himself and assist his over-100-year-old father on such a journey.

The term “boy” or “lad” used to describe Isaac “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”, (Genesis 22:5,12) “And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”, (Genesis 22:5,12) is translated from a versatile Hebrew term that does not specifically mean a young boy. Instead, it encompasses various meanings—from a baby (e.g., Exodus 2:6; 2 Samuel 12:16) to a young man (e.g., Absalom in 2 Samuel 14:21; 2 Samuel 18:5). It can even refer to a “steward” or “servant” “And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.”, (e.g., 2 Samuel 16:1) as well as a “junior officer” “And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answer

Ed, Thou. », (1 Kings 20:14,15, 17, 19). In Genesis 22:5, the attendants who accompanied Abraham and Isaac are referred to as “young men” «And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. », (Genesis 22:3,5, 19, ESV). The term translated as “young men” is the same term used for Isaac in verses 5 and 12.

Arguably the most telling indication of Isaac’s age is found in Genesis 22:6. While ascending the mountain, Isaac is the one carrying the substantial load of wood. Sufficient wood for a burnt offering would have been quite heavy. This detail indicates that Isaac was not a young child at the time of the intended sacrifice; he was at least a robust teenager. Isaac’s age also introduces an intriguing aspect to the narrative. If he had the strength to transport the wood up the mountain, then he likely had the ability to resist being sacrificed and defend himself against Abraham if he had chosen to. The fact that Isaac consented to being bound and positioned on the altar (verse 9) demonstrates his continued trust in his father.

Various scholars have offered insights into the age of Isaac at the time of the intended sacrifice: 18 to 20 years old according to Leupold, 1:625; 25 years old as suggested by Josephus, 1:13:2; approximately 33 years old according to Adam Clarke, 1:140; and over 20 years old (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, p. 29).

Considering all the evidence, it can be reasonably concluded that Isaac was a young man—rather than a young boy—when Abraham endeavored to sacrifice him on Mt. Moriah.