Your only son Isaac, whom you love emphasizes the special
relationship between Abraham and Isaac and underlines the harshness of the
demand to sacrifice Isaac. The expression your
only son is emphatic and means the only son you have, which reb translates
“your one and only son.” Ishmael, of course, is also Abraham’s son, but Isaac
is the heir to the promise made to Abraham. Now that Ishmael has been sent
away, Isaac is the only son. (William
David Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry, A
Handbook on Genesis [UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies,
1998], 487)
