Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
Genesis 22:2 (NASB)
Genesis 22:2 is written in a strange way. The rabbis suggest that it is written like a slowly unfolding conversation, with an implied back-and-forth between God and Abraham.
The Midrash breaks it down like this:
God: Please take your son.
Abraham: Which son? I have two!
God: I mean your only son.
Abraham: But each son is the only son of their mother!
God: I mean the one you love.
Abraham: But I love both of them!
God: I mean Isaac.
And they point out that this narrowing of focus from broad to specific is nearly identical to the way God calls Abraham back in Genesis 12:
Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you.
Genesis 12:1 (NASB)
"From your country… from your relatives… from your father's house."
Genesis 12 is referred to as the לֶךְ־לְךָ (Lech-Lecha) in Hebrew. This is the "Go!" instruction that kicks off Abraham's amazing journey.
Further linking the two passages, "Lech-Lecha" shows up only twice in the Torah: Genesis 12, and again here in Genesis 22.
In some ways, both stories are BEGINNINGS. Not that anything resets, or starts over, but perhaps this kicks off a repeated theme that God will make all things new.
Or perhaps they are telling the same story: Leave everything – your known past and your expected future.