פּירוש אויף בראשית 22:1

אחר הדברים האלה AFTER THESE THINGS [or, WORDS] —Some of our Rabbis say (Sanhedrin 89b) that it means after the words of Satan who denounced Abraham saying, “Of all the banquets which Abraham prepared not a single bullock nor a single ram did he bring as a sacrifice to You ’. God replied to him, “Does he do anything at all except for his son’s sake? Yet if I were to bid him, “Sacrifice him to Me’’, he would not refuse’’. Others say that it means “after the words of Ishmael” who boasted to Isaac that he had been circumcised when he was thirteen years old without resisting. Isaac replied to him, “You think to intimidate me by mentioning the loss of one part of the body! If the Holy One, blessed be He, were to tell me, “Sacrifice yourself to Me” I would not refuse” (Sanhedrin 89b).

After these events: In which Avraham was made a minister and leader, and the kings made a pact with him.

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, “it was after these events;” according to Rashi, the “events” refer to the banquet arranged on the occasion of Yitzchok’s being weaned; Satan accused Avraham of not having offered a single sacrifice to G-d on that occasion. G-d replied that he would have been willing to offer even his own son as such an offering if asked. and that year [when Avraham came back from the land of Plishtim and sat in Chevron] was 12 years before the Akeda of Yitzchok. A different interpretation of the words: הדברים האלה, “these words;” Yishmael had boasted to Yitzchok that he had voluntarily undergone circumcision at an age when it was most painful, to which Yitzchok had replied that he, Yishmael, had endured pain only on one organ, whereas he, Yitzchok, would be prepared to undergo such pain on his whole body, i.e. he would even give his life for G-d. The reason why Rashi chose the first interpretation is that the word אחר normally refers to an event that had immediately preceded the subject raised, whereas here the call for the binding of Yitzchok would then have occurred many years earlier. According to a statement by Rav Hunna in Bereshit Rabbah 44,6, the word for “after” that the Torah should have used should then have been “אחרי.”A third interpretation of the words: ויהי אחר הדברים האלה is that they refer to the treaty concluded between Avraham and Avimelech, when Avraham had voluntarily postponed the fulfillment of G-d’s promise to him without having first obtained G-d’s permission to do so. [It is a historical fact that sovereignty over the land of the Philistines was achieved by the Israelites only about 100 years prior to the destruction of the first Temple, (under King Yoshiyahu), over 800 years after Joshua conquered the rest of the Holy Land. This was part of the punishment for the Israelites not having carried out G-d’s command not to allow a single soul of the then residents to remain alive (if they did not emigrate). (Deuteronomy 20,16). [In other words, although Avraham was the first to cause of the fulfillment of G-d’s promise to be delayed, he was not the last Israelite to do so. Ed.] Another interpretation, one which places the emphasis on the words נסה את אברהם, “He tested Avraham.”Avraham was not tested in order for G-d to convince Himself of his willingness to offer up his beloved son, seeing that such matters are known to Him, Who is omniscient; he was tested by the attribute of Justice which had dared question the degree of loyalty he could summon when so tested. Passing this test successfully would convince the people around him of the absolute obedience to any command G-d would issue to him. There was no way the nations of the world could challenge his faith thereafter.