“What shall I ask?” inquired the Almighty.
“Ask of him now his son, and he will refuse him to Thy face.”
“I will do so, and thou shalt be confounded,” answered the Holy One.
The self-same night God appeared to Abraham, and addressed him gently so as not to alarm him, and He said to him, “Abraham!”
The patriarch in deep humility answered, “Here am I, Lord; what willest Thou of Thy servant?”
The Lord answered, “I have come to ask of thee something. I have saved thee in all dangers; I delivered thee out of the furnace of Babylon; I rescued thee from the army of Nimrod; I brought thee into this land, and gave thee men-servants and maid-servants and cattle and sheep and horses, and I have given thee a son in thine old age, and victory over all thine enemies, and new temptations await thee, for I must prove thee, and see if thou art grateful in thy heart, and that thy righteousness may be manifest unto all, and that thy obedience may be perfected. Take therefore thy son——”
Abraham answered trembling, “Which son? I have two.”
The voice of God.—“That son which alone counteth with thee.”
Abraham.—“Each is the only son of his mother.”
The voice of God.—“The one you love.”