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I am aware of similar posts (e.g. this and this), but my question criticize the Bible claim about "your only son" from another angle.

In Genesis 22:2 God said to Abraham:

Take now your son, your only son, whom you love- Isaac -Genesis 22:2

Aside from the excellent logical reasoning in this post, I want to approach this issue from another angle.

Genesis 22:16-17 reads:

16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.

The question is this: Is it necessary to emphasize that "you have not withheld your son, your only son" for sacrificing 1 out of 2 sons?

This reward for Abraham together emphasizing "because you ... have not withheld your son, your only son" only makes sense if he had one son at the time.

For example suppose someone has 10 sons and has sent 9 of them to another country. Sacrificing 1 out of 10 sons is not as extraordinary as sacrificing 1 out of 1 son and there is no need to emphasize that "you have not withheld your son, your only son". Because he can bring back one of his other sons after sacrificing the one he has with him.

P.S. I couldn't find the original Torah (in Hebrew and not Hebrew translation of English versions), but I guess in the original Torah none of Isaac and Ishmael are mentioned directly by name same as Quran. In Quran 37:102 reads:

Then when the boy reached the age to work with him, Abraham said, “O my dear son! I have seen in a dream that I ˹must˺ sacrifice you. So tell me what you think.” He replied, “O my dear father! Do as you are commanded. Allah willing, you will find me steadfast.”

but because after the story of sacrifice, the birth of Isaac has been announced 37:112:

We ˹later˺ gave him good news of Isaac—a prophet, and one of the righteous.

so Quran indirectly say the son who was going to be sacrificed was Ishmael, not Isaac.

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  • By the by, something not mentioned in the other answers is the Hebrew word need not be translated "only". Of course, it's a likely translation, and the fact that the Septuagint renders it that way (among many English translations) is compelling, but just as another solution. biblehub.com/hebrew/3173.htm Commented yesterday
  • "I couldn't find the original Torah" — It's not obvious what this means, other than I'm pretty sure you don't mean the one that was stored in the Ark of the Covenant. Commented 23 hours ago

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Isaac is presented in Genesis as Abraham's only son in two distinct senses - spiritually and practically.

Spiritual Perspective

In Genesis 17:19-21, God declares that Abraham's wife Sarai will bear the son through whom His covenant with Abraham will continue. Isaac is therefore the sole covenant heir, the one through whom God's promises to Abraham are established and passed down.

19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” (NIV)

Practical/Historical Perspective

In Genesis 21:9-21, Ishmael and his mother Hagar are sent away after Isaac is weaned. From that point forward, Isaac is the only son living with Abraham, and the only son present during the events of Genesis 22, when God tests Abraham by asking him to offer Isaac.

Afterword

Scripture suggests that Abraham and Ishmael may not have seen each other again until Abraham's death. Both Isaac and Ishmael reunite to bury their father in Genesis 25:7-9:

7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite (NIV)

This brief moment shows that despite their separation, both sons still honored their father at the end of his life.

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  • Up-voted +1. This is the basis of the word monogenes in the New Testament. It is more than merely a firstborn son. This is clear from Luke's use of the word in a variety of contexts. Much appreciated. Thank you. Commented 11 hours ago
  • @NigelJ - except that "monogenes" is never mentioned either in this answer nor in the LXX of Gen 22 - so why raise it? Commented 4 hours ago
  • It may be worth comparing to Galatians 3:16, which clarifies that Abraham's seeds (plural) are his descendents, but his seed (singular) is Jesus Christ. In Genesis, Isaac is a picture/type of Jesus, especially here: God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, then had him stop and sent a lamb instead. Sent His only son. Abraham did not withhold his only son, just as God did not withhold His only Son. So, it looks like a clear parallel between Gen. 22:16, Gal. 3:16, and John 3:16. Commented 2 hours ago
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The answer to this question is found in Heb 11:17 where we read:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and the one who had received the promises was offering up his unique son

Now, as the OP correctly points out, Abraham had other son(s) such as Ishmael. (I will leave aside whether the sons born to him via Keturah were born before or after Isaac's sacrifice as no definite data is available.)

The text of Heb 11:17 says that Isaac was unique. That he was not Abraham's only son is obvious, however, Isaac was unique for several reasons:

  • Isaac was the some of God's promise
  • Isaac was a miraculous son of aged parents that were biologically incapable of producing progeny
  • Isaac was, humanly speaking, became the progenitor of Christ.

All this made Isaac certainly unique among Abraham's children. This is further confirmed by Gen 25:5 which says:

Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.

Thus, the importance and significance of Isaac, as Abraham's unique son validates the comments in Gen 22:

  • V2 - “Take your son,” God said, “your only/unique son Isaac, whom you love ...
  • V12 - ... for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only/unique son from me.
  • V16 - you have not withheld your only/unique son
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Some languages have different words to express 'you' in singular and in plural. In the past, English too had such a differentiation. In Old English, the primary word for "plural you" (nominative case, used as the subject) is ,ge" (pronounced /jeː/), while the object form was ēow. As the language transitioned to Middle English, these evolved into ye (subject) and you (object), often used to address multiple people(*Courtesy: Google AI) At present, English language has only one word 'you' to express either one person or more than one.

Now, there is no reason to believe that Sarah was not privy to the conversation in Gen 22:2. After all, she was Isaac's mother and had been privy to the conversation between Abraham and the Messenger of God, with the latter announcing in advance, the birth of their first- born son (Gen 18:10).

And, Sarah was, at the time of the test, Abraham's legally wedded wife vis- a-vis Hagar, and had borne Isaac their first-born son .In Gen 22:2, God names Isaac , the son to be sacrificed. How could God keep Sarah away from such an important announcement and expect Abraham to inform her ? She wouldn't believe him and would alert Isaac. That meant Abraham would have to 'smuggle' Isaac out of home and from Sarah to certain death. God would be the last to deprive a mother of the right to know what was going to happen to her only child .

Also note the expression " whom you love" . In NT, John the Evangelist uses the expression " one whom Jesus loved " to refer to himself. That expression would become pertinent when Jesus handed over his mother's care to John. As an OT counterpart of John, Isaac was looked upon by Abraham and Sarah as their legal heir, which fact was corroborated by the expression "whom you love ".

So, once we consider:

... that Sarah was privy to God's command to Abraham in Gen 22:2 (just as she had been, in Gen 18:10), and that God meant both Abraham and Sarah by the salutation 'you/your' whose heir Isaac was poised to become...

......it become clear that the expression 'Only Son whom you love ' refers to Isaac.

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