The entry into a special covenant with God did not cause Avraham to dissociate himself from his contemporaries. To the contrary, a special relationship with the Almighty imposes even greater demands regarding proper care and concern for His creatures.
Among the many intriguing aspects of the story of akeidat Yitzchak is the narrative’s concluding verse. The drama, suspense and emotion that accompany this entire episode abruptly give way to a very plain, unexciting ending. After God describes the eternal blessings promised to Avraham’s descendants as a result of his boundless devotion, we read, “Avraham returned to his young men, and they arose and traveled together to Be’er Sheva, and Avraham resided in Be’er Sheva” (22:199). Curiously, the Torah chose to describe Avraham’s return to his ne’arim – the young men who had accompanied him and Yitzchak to the area near Mount Moriah – and to report that they traveled together from Moriah back home to Be’er Sheva (though according to Rashi, Avraham was not actually living in Be’er Sheva at the time). The obvious question arises as to the significance of this information. Why is this mentioned at all? Avraham’s ne’arim, whom he had instructed to wait for him and Yitzchak near the mountain, do not appear to play any especially important role in this episode. Why did the Torah conclude this narrative with Avraham and Yitzchak’s reunion with the ne’arim and their journey back to Be’er Sheva?
Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, in a very eloquent and insightful passage in his commentary, explains why this conclusion is so significant and constitutes a vital part of the “nisayon” (test) of the akeida:
Exceedingly characteristic and significant for the whole spirit of the frame of mind – which was to begin with Abraham and Isaac, does it now say here – after they had achieved the great, yea, the greatest loftiest height that a human being can reach – they returned to their attendants, and all of them – Abraham, Isaac and the men – went together, yachdav, to Beer Sheba. In all other circles of humanity, after such a soaring into the proximity of God, after such elevation above everything earthly, an Abraham and an Isaac would have been so full of “I,” “myself,” or of the “Divine,” that they would have been lost for ordinary earthly life, and for “ordinary” human beings. Elsewhere such “standing near to God” – even if only presumed or imaginary – begets such pride that one proudly looks down on other people as “common mortals,” and avoids contact with them. Totally different from that is the spirit that should be inherited from the example of Abraham and Isaac. Just after they had achieved the very loftiest deed that could be made on earth, they return to the attendants they had left at the foot of Moriah, and go yachdav with them, feel themselves no whit higher than anybody else. To the true son of Abraham everybody is equally respected in their vocation, he finds no difference between himself and the lowest hewer of wood or servant. The higher he stands spiritually, intellectually or morally, the less superior does he feel, the less is he conscious of his own greatness… Abraham and Isaac, returned from the summit of Moriah as if they had done nothing special at all – “Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba.”
We often assume that when a person reaches a higher stature of piety or scholarship, he finds it difficult or is unwilling to relate to, bond with, or concern himself with the common folk. The Torah therefore concludes the story of the test of akeidat Yitzchak by informing us of the very ordinary fact that Avraham and Yitzchak reunited with the attendants and they all traveled home together just as they had traveled to Moriah. The experience of the akeida did not cause Avraham and Yitzchak to feel disconnected from ordinary people like their attendants. They understood that part of being great is the ability to deal and associate with those who aren’t, without condescension or supremacy.
In truth, this might likely be one of the messages conveyed by the opening section of Parashat Vayera, as well – the story of Avraham’s three visitors. This incident follows on the heels of Avraham’s circumcision, which bound him and his descendants to an exclusive and eternal covenant with God. And yet, soon after this extraordinary act, Avraham implores three strangers to come and partake of a lavish meal. The entry into a special covenant with God did not cause Avraham to dissociate himself from his contemporaries. To the contrary, a special relationship with the Almighty imposes even greater demands regarding proper care and concern for His creatures. Spiritual achievements should thus lead one to a greater level of association with commoners, not less. And so even after the akeida, Avraham and Yitzchak travel “together” with their attendants, without any sense of remoteness, superiority, or condescension.