In Late Bronze Age diplomatic correspondence, vassals attempt to demonstrate their loyalty by declaring they would carry out any command of the king even if it is self-destructive. A critical aspect of these exchanges is that the seemingly harmful order was never meant to be fulfilled. The exaggerated offer to undergo needless suffering was sufficient proof that the subaltern was an arad kitti, or ‘faithful servant’. This rhetorical dynamic, wherein the ‘deferential gesture’ is enough to satisfy a seemingly overwrought demand, has relevance for evaluating components of the divine decree in Genesis 22, that Abraham deliver up his son ‘as a burnt offering’, his willingness to carry out its dictates, and the heavenly overlord’s ultimately setting aside its execution. The author suggests that the biblical episode was a symbolic ritual enacted between the deity and patriarch, whose intent was to exalt Abraham as the arad kitti, par excellence, and to demonstrate that God was the most trustworthy of suzerains.

在青铜时代晚期的外交往来中，封臣试图通过宣告他们将执行对国王的任何命令来表明自己的忠诚，即使该命令是自毁的。这些交流的一个关键方面是，看似有害的秩序从来没有被实现。接受不必要的苦难的夸大要约充分证明了这支下等兵是阿拉德·基蒂（arad kitti）或“忠实的仆人”。这种修辞学的动态，其中的“后卫姿态”足以满足看似过度紧张的要求，与评估创世记22章中神圣旨令的组成部分有关，亚伯拉罕将儿子“作为burn祭”交付，他愿意执行它决定了一切，而天上的霸主最终将其处决权搁置了。笔者认为，圣经的情节是神和先祖，其目的是为了高举亚伯拉罕之间制定一个象征性的仪式阿拉德KITTI，出类拔萃，并证明上帝是宗主国的最值得信赖的。