Is there an Iconographic Pattern of the Binding of Isaac?

Abstract

Many scholars presume that the Canaanite population sacrificed their children and that it were the Israelites who got rid of this deplorable custom. In comparisons between Israel and its neighbors, this anti-Canaanite prejudice is rarely questioned. We present primary sources for the first time (seals, stelae, temple reliefs), which demonstrate for both the Syro-Canaanite as well as for the Egyptian culture, that the redemption of enemies and child sacrifices was an option; not merely as a marginal phenomenon, but as a central motif in the cultic symbolic system. The comparison between pre-monotheistic and monotheistic images of the redemption of a human sacrifice provides evidence of a surprising continuity in the image constellation. Furthermore, we can demonstrate how Gen 22 contains relics of the Canaanite, premonotheistic redemption conception.

Key Words: Abraham, Isaac, Binding of Isaac, Child-sacrifice, Canaanite religion