What does the Akeidah, the binding of Yitzchak, have to do with Gaza?
At first glance, very little. The Akeidah is generally understood as the ultimate test of Avraham's faith, demonstrating his willingness to obey Hashem even when commanded to sacrifice his beloved son.
Yet two medieval Torah commentators, the Rashbam and the Chizkuni, link the Akeidah to what we would today call a "Land for Peace" deal between Avraham and Avimelech, king of the Philistines.
The Akeidah opens with the words, "And it came to pass after these things that G-d tested Avraham" (Genesis 22:1).
What were "these things"?
In the preceding chapter, Avimelech approaches Avraham seeking a covenant that will guarantee peaceful relations between them and their descendants. Avraham agrees, and the two seal their pact at Beersheba (Genesis 21:22-32).
But according to the Rashbam (Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir, 1085-1158), Avraham made a grave mistake.
Commenting on Genesis 22:1, the Rashbam explains that "after these things" refers directly to that covenant. Hashem was angered because Avraham had bound future generations to an arrangement that protected Philistine control over territory promised by G-d to the Jewish people.
It was, in effect, an ancient Land for Peace deal. According to the Rashbam, Avraham had secured peaceful relations at the cost of restricting his descendants' future claim to their own land.
The Chizkuni (Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah, 13th century) cites a similar interpretation and emphasizes that Avraham made the covenant without Hashem's authorization. He points to the Divine promise in Exodus 23:31: "I will set your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines."
Both commentators also invoke the Book of Joshua, which counts the lands of the Philistines among the territories allotted to Israel. Joshua 13:3 identifies them as Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron.
Gaza's inclusion in the Biblical inheritance is therefore not a modern political invention. The Tanach names it explicitly.
Why, though, should a covenant with Avimelech lead to the Akeidah?
The Rashbam offers an unusual reading of the word “nissah", usually translated as "tested." He explains that Hashem was giving Avraham a painful rebuke. Avraham had compromised his descendants' claim to part of Eretz Yisrael, so Hashem was now testing him through Yitzchak, the very son through whom that inheritance was to be fulfilled.
The Rashbam also cites a Midrash that links the seven lambs Avraham gave Avimelech to the seven months the Ark of the Covenant later spent in captivity in Philistine hands (I Samuel 6:1). The symbolism is striking: a bargain struck by Avraham would, in this rabbinic reading, have consequences long after his death.
The Akeidah thus exposed the fundamental flaw in Avraham's decision. He had presumed to bargain over land promised by Hashem, even though the future of his descendants depended entirely on the Divine covenant. According to the Rashbam and Chizkuni, the Akeidah was not only a test of faith but also a warning about compromising the Jewish people's inheritance.
The end of the Akeidah adds another dimension. After Avraham demonstrates his obedience, Hashem renews His promise of numerous descendants and declares that they will "possess the gate of their enemies" (Genesis 22:17). The chapter closes by reaffirming the future that no human treaty could guarantee.
Today, Gaza is routinely discussed in terms of borders, negotiations and security arrangements. But the Rashbam and Chizkuni remind us that there is something far more fundamental at stake.
Nearly four thousand years after Avraham's deal with Avimelech, the lesson of the Akeidah remains just as relevant.
Gaza is part of Eretz Yisrael. No one has the right to bargain away that inheritance, and certainly not the politicians and diplomats who would seek to do so today.