עקידת יצחק — ואלהים נסה את אברהם / וירא את המקום

Q — Why does the Torah call the test Avraham's (ואלהים נסה את אברהם) when Yitzchak, 37 and willing, faced the greater trial? Why do Chazal name it Akeidas Yitzchak — the binding — rather than the offering? Why test Avraham with child-sacrifice, an act God abhors? If God always meant to stop him, how is "ועלהו לעולה" fulfilled, and why is it called "you have done this" when no slaughter occurred? Why does the Torah linger over eight verses of preparation? And why "now I know you fear God" only at the end?

A — A test does not inform God; it brings the tested one to actualize his latent perfection, publicly. And acts that flow from the מידות are measured by the כוונה and רצון invested, not by the outcome: יקרא הפועל על פי כוונתו. Avraham's three days of total, unquestioning resolve to fulfill God's word — against logic and against the promise of "ביצחק יקרא לך זרע" — completed his shleimus before any knife. The command was only "raise him up," never "slaughter"; the binding is Yitzchak's trial, the prolonged devotion is Avraham's, and the Torah's record makes his perfection visible to all generations as if witnessed.