Yeshua Revealed In The Akedah

In Judiac Tradition, the story of the sacrifice of Abraham's beloved son Isaac is called the Akedah ( עקדה ) - "Binding". This dramatic event conveys the supreme level of faith and obediance that Abraham had to G*d. There are so many Messianic refences and enormous parellels to Yeshua in this short story, it truly is astounding. I will do my best to highlight many of these as best I can, but I'm sure that there are probably plenty more that I have yet to discover.

Miraculous Birth and Divinely Named

Both Isaac and Yeshua had a miraculous birth and were both named by G*d before birth:

"God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him." - Genesis 17:19

"But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:20-21

Of course, Jesus is the English word for His Original Hebew Name ( ישוע ) Yeshua, which is the Only Hebrew word for Salvation. This was prophesied by Isaiah:

"Therefore Adonai himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." - Isaiah 7:14

לכן יתן אדני הוא לכם אות הנה העלמה הרה וילדת בן וקראת שמו עמנו אל׃

The Hebrew Word for "Sign" used in this verse is Ot, pronouced as Oat ( אות ) and it is very telling on its own. The three letters here are Aleph, Vav and Tav:

Alpeh ( א ) - G*d

Vav ( ו ) - Nail

Tav ( ת ) - Cross

It's all about the details, Isaiah did not say that His Name would be Immanuel, but that "They Should Call His Name Immanuel" - Immanuel. Immanuel given here is not a name but is two words combined ( עמנו אל ) - meaning "God With Us" - which is exactly what we call Yeshua as He is The Word Made Flesh, Who Dwelt Among Us. As I have written before in a previous post:

"By manifesting Himself as a human being, G*d humbled Himself in Heaven. As The Word Made Flesh walked this earth and dwelt among us, He humbled Himself unto death, thus conquering sin and death. How perplexing it is to think that humility is the key to overcoming darkness, which is the supernal secret and the hidden wisdom of HaShem. His Humility is Our Salvation."

"Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." - 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

Another thing about this verse from Isaiah is the term translated as "Virgin" - technically, the Hebrew Word here HaAlmah ( העלמה ) means "The Young Girl" or "The Maiden" - which to me isn't a valid arguement as according to The Torah, we should assume that any maiden spoke of in scripture is a virgin. This word is ( העלמה ) is used seven times in all of The Tenakh, which is yet another indication of the spiritual perfection and purity of this Almah. As I've displayed time after time, numbers are extremely important to HaShem and we should pay close attention to them always. It is said that one out of five verses in The Holy Bible contains a number on average, so that's 20% of The Word that most people tend to skip over.

Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) backs this idea up for us as well. In the verse below, we see that there are three clasifications of women given here; queens, concubines and maidens. We know that both queens and concubines are sleeping with the king, but not the maidens...if there were, they would be concubines as well. This is another one of the seven occurences of this word Almah, used here in its plural form Alamot ( ועלמות ).

"There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens (virgins) without number." - Song of Solomon 6:8

ששים המה מלכות ושמנים פילגשים ועלמות אין מספר

First Mention of LOVE

The first time the word "Love" is used in The Bible is in this particular section of scripture. The first time any word is used in scripture, we must pay close attention - so let's take a closer look at it.

"He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” - Genesis 22:2

The Hebrew Word for the Verb LOVE is "Ahev" ( אהב ). The first letter of "Av" ( אב ) "Father" is Aleph ( א ) - the first letter of "Ben" ( בן ) or "Son" is Bet ( ב ) and the Hei ( ה ) in the middle of ( אהב ) means "To Reveal". The Father To Reveal The Son is LOVE...never could more truth ever have been revealed. Instantly I think of one of the most famous and profound verses in the entire Bible:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

The next question here is why does G*d tell Abraham to take "your only son Isaac, whom you love"? We know that Isaac was a Abraham's second born son, Ishmael was his firstborn. Ishmael was not his promised son as he was born from Hagar (the slave woman) out the flesh, but Isaac was miraculously born out spirit. Paul breaks this down for us so beautifully in his letter to The Galatians and teaches how we, as believers in Yeshua, are taken out of bondage and are spiritually born as children of "The Free Woman", which is New (Spiritual) Jerusalem.

"Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says?

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.

These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren woman,

who bears no children;

break forth and cry aloud,

you who have never travailed;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband.”

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.

But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. - Galatians 4:21-31

The Third Day

“On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.” - Genesis 22:4

"Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” - John 2:19

An obvious thing that should jump out immediately here is that this all happened on The Third Day, scripture makes that very clear. I assume that anyone reading this post is familiar with the resurrection on The Third Day. The Third Day has always pointed to ressurection, as on Day Three of Creation, G*d gathered "the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.", which can be undestood that dry land rose (or resurected) from this. Not to mention this was the day that the tree bore their firstfruits. Paul relates this fact to us in a way that we can understand that this resurrection is a promise that all believers can count on.

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. - 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." - Matthew 16:21

The text makes it apparent that Abraham had complete faith that somehow Isaac would be returning back down that mountain alongside of him:

"Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the lad will go over there and worship and come again to you.” - Genesis 22:5

We are told in Hebrews that Abraham had faith that Isaac would have been resurrected:

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,

of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back." - Hebrews 11:17-19

Abraham Rejoiced That He Would See My Day

“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” - John 8:56

From the above verse, it seems as if Yeshua is revealing something much deeper than what meets the eye, as if something more was revealed to Abraham.

"Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.''- Genesis 22:8

ויאמר אברהם אלהים יראה־לו השה לעלה בני וילכו שניהם יחדו

There is a key word used here that has not been translated as well as I think that it should have been, so we need to examine this phrase YirEh Lo - ( יראה־לו ) - translated above as "will provide for himself ".

YirEh Lo - ( יראה־לו )

YirEh ( יראה )

Root word - RaAh ( ראה ) - to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider (Strong’s H7200)

Lo ( לו )

To Himself

Knowing this, in this particular context, I believe that a more accurate translation would be:

“GOD WILL SEE (PERCEIVE / CONSIDER) HIMSELF THE LAMB”

"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" - John 1:29

This small little detail is extremely important to understand. Just a few verses after this, we are told that Abraham litterally named this place "The LORD Will Provide" - HaShem Yireh ( יהוה ׀ יראה ) - Numeric Value = 242 ( 22 x 11 ), which is the same as "And His Nails" ( ובריחיו )

"So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” - Genesis 22:14

ויקרא אברהם שם־המקום ההוא יהוה ׀ יראה אשר יאמר היום בהר יהוה יראה׃

I checked out the Numeric Value of the phrase Behar HaShem Yireh ( בהר יהוה יראה ) “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” It has a Numeric Value of 479, which is the 92nd Prime Number.

M'Ben - FROM SON ( מבן )

Numeric Value = 92

V'Elohim - AND ELOHIM ( ואלהים )

Numeric Value = 92

Chasidach - YOUR GRACE ( חסדך )

Numeric Value = 92

L'Beni - TO MY SON ( לבני )

Numeric Value = 92

WILL WASH ( יכבס )

Numeric Value = 92

AND COVER ( וכסו )

Numeric Value = 92

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God." - James 2:21-23

Carrying The Wood to The Sacrifice

Growing up hearing this story, I always assumed that Isaac was a child. The fact is that scripture never calls him a child (Yeled) but calls him a NaAr ( נער ) which is translated best as “lad” or “young man”. According to The Midrash, Isaac was 37 years old. It seems that age was deduced by The Rabbi's by subtracting the ages of Sarah given in scripture of 90 years and then by her death at 127. I have read several Rabbinic Writings about this and they don't always agree about the age. I personally believe that Isaac was most likley about 33, the exact the age of Yeshua when He was sacrificed. Understand that this is my threoy, which others share as well, but I cannot be sure so I'm not teaching this by no means. The point is that he wasn't a small child. Just as Isaac carried the wood to his own sacrifice for a burnt offering, Yeshua carried the wooden cross to his own sacrifice, as given to us in John’s Gospel.

“So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.” - Genesis 22:6

“Abraham laid the wood on Isaac” - from this passage, we can see that Isaac carried the wood to up to Mount Moriah. Though scripture doesn’t explicitly tell us this, it can be easily deduced, as we are told that Abraham took the fire in his hand and a knife. So, he had a burning torch in one hand and a knife in the other; two hands, two items.

“and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.” - John 19:17

Not to get too sidetracked here, but this leads us to another mystery. Why do we read about Yeshua carrying His Own Cross to Golgotha only in John’s account? Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us of “a man from Cyrene, named Simon” who was forced to carry Yeshua’s Cross. Anytime that we run across something that seems to be a contradiction in scripture, we must dig in deeper to understand why this seems to be the case. Always KNOW that there are no contradictions in scripture. The Word of G*d is Perfect and True in Every Way.

Keep in mind that this was during The Pesach (Passover) Holiday, so many people definitely traveling to Jerusalem. The simple answer is that Yeshua carried His Own Cross from inside the city, just outside the gates as Simon, the man from Cyrene, was entering the gates. At this point Simon from Cyrene was ordered to carry Yeshua’s Cross from there to Golgotha. John tells us specifically, Yeshua went out carrying His Own Cross while Mark tells us that Simon from Cyrene was on his way in from the country. So John is talking about Yeshua going out of the city gates and Mark is talking about Simon coming in through the gates. We know that Golgotha outside of the city walls. So technically, they both carried The Cross.

“and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.” - John 19:17

“And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.” - Mark 15:21

I Have Sworn Upon Myself

This one is so obvious to me, HaShem is literally swearing on His Own Name - there is nothing higher.

And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,

and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” - Genesis 22:15-18

"and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son," - Genesis 22:16

ויאמר בי נשבעתי נאם־יהוה כי יען אשר עשית את־הדבר הזה ולא חשכת את־בנך את־יחידך

The Total Numeric Value of this verse is 4979, which is 383 x 13.

383 is the Numeric Value of "Sēmeion" ( σημεῖον ) - "A SIGN" and 13 is Numeric Value of The Noun Form of "LOVE" ( אהבה ) "Ahavah". From what has been revealed earlier about Ot ( אות ) and the first mention of LOVE, indeed this seems Divinely Appropriate.

If we look at the Numeric Value of "Your Only Son" ( את־בנך את־יחידך ) from this particular verse, we get 926 - which is the same as the following:

ἐμπαίξουσιν - Empaixousin

They Will Mock (Mark 10:34)

Numeric Value = 926

πρόσευξαι -Proseuxai

Pray (Matthew 6:6)

Numeric Value = 926

Ἱεροσόλυμα - Hierosoluma

Jerusalem (Strong's 2414)

Numeric Value = 926

*It looks like there are a couple different ways that The Greek spelling renders this word Ἱεροσόλυμα as Jerusalem, but this particular spelling occurs 63 times in The New Testament - 63 can be expressed a (3 x 7 x 3).

373 is the Numeric Value of THE WORD - Logos - ( Λόγος )

...as you can see, all of this comes around full circle. I don't set out to prove anything with these Numbers, but I just break them down and follow where The Ruach HaQodesh takes me and it's always amazing!

There is much more to this one and at some point, I may end up following this post up with a second part. I didn't even go into the parallels that can be drawn from the ram caught in the thicket to the crown of thorns...please feel free to comment below with any additional discoveries. G*d's Word is Infinite, so much so, it can difficult to take it all in sometimes.

חסד ושלום עליכם והרבה אהבה וברכות

Grace and Peace Be Upon You and Much Love and Blessings!