The framing of this climactic scene strongly echoes the opening scene of Abraham’s story. God again commands Abraham to leave his home and lekh-lecha, betake yourself, go forth. The place he is headed toward, again, is unnamed, only “the place that I will show you.” God again presents Abraham with a string of synonyms loaded upon the object he must lose (home, his son). Both of these bookend experiences are cast as difficult journeys toward unknown destinations containing religious tests—Abraham’s twin pilgrimages. This similarity reinforces the sense that Abraham’s life consists of one long pilgrimage. Finally, at the conclusion of the Akedah, God returns to the promise God made in Genesis 12:2-3. Abraham’s own story is nearly done, but his impact on history will be profound.

The idea of the pilgrimage offers some help in understanding this most challenging of religious narratives. For Abraham, life is a journey whose path is determined by his unfolding relationship with God. Not God alone, not Abraham alone, not other people alone set the path; the journey is shaped in the space between, through their interactions. Throughout his pilgrimage to date, God has been Abraham’s trusted guide and companion. God and this man have revealed their inner plans and thoughts to one another; they can respectfully disagree. During the Akedah, God pushes their relationship to the limit, but because that relationship has been strong and founded on trust throughout his whole life, because he has walked with God all this long way so far, Abraham will not abandon God even now. Without this history, Abraham’s silent obedience would appear the act of a pious madman.

The notion of a pilgrimage may give us some insight into God’s actions in the Akedah as well. In Abraham, God discovers the extent to which God can trust a person. Until Abraham, human history has presented God with a string of disappointments. Adam and Eve cannot be trusted to carry out God’s first command; in Noah’s time, God determines that the “devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth” (8:21). God chooses Abraham because in him God senses the opportunity for a new beginning to God’s relationship with human beings: at last, here is someone worthy of God’s trust. The story of Abraham thus also represents the story of God’s pilgrimage, a journey in which God changes God’s own view of people and develops a sense of trust in them. Abraham restores God’s faith in humanity—in fact, in the whole project that starts with Creation. Abraham’s saga can thus be seen as having two protagonists, Abraham and God. The Akedah is the final stage in the restoration of trust between God and people. Will Abraham remain faithful to that relationship even when his reason, his emotions, his closest personal ties tell him not to? By passing the test, Abraham creates a model for a relationship based on trust that has been nourished by God and people throughout the generations.