A tally of the dramatizations of the Binding of Isaac in the literature of popular German religious drama of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries attests to the keen interest in this story. The fact that this is also true for other national literatures, for example English, French, Italian and Dutch, merely underlines the subject matter's power to move audiences (Reckling 239-246; Bergmann 519; Woolf 805-825; Michael, Das deutsche Drama, 105, 198, 220, 251, 333; Michael, Ein Forschungsbericht..., 41). One reason for its ubiquitous presence is the centrality of the "Binding of Isaac" (or the Akedah as it is known in Rabbinic tradition) in the literature of scriptural exegesis. The testing of Abraham, v'Haelohim nisah et avraham (Genesis 22, 1), is a turning point in the Genesis narrative: the post-Adamic alternating cycles of obedience and rebellion cease and are replaced by a new relationship between God and Israel, formalized into a covenant that establishes Abraham as the founder of a nation designated to be the spiritual leader of the known world. The test itself is as unexpected as it is awesome: Abraham, pious and affluent, having successfully passed previous tests (seven by some counts and ten by others) and whose most fervent wish has been granted, namely the birth of a son, is now bidden to sacrifice him. Abraham's unquestioning obedience is evidence of his faith that in the hands of God he is safe, even when asked to sacrifice what is dearer than life itself. His faith in the infallibility of God's design is manifest on two separate occasions: first when he instructs his servants to wait until he and Isaac have "come back to you" (Genesis 22, 5), and later, when he reassures his son that "God will see to the lamb" for his burnt offering: "elohim jireh lo haesh (Genesis 22, 8) and at the climactic moment when he raises the knife to slaughter him. Christological reading of the Hebrew Bible insisted that the Akedah prefigured the Crucifixion and established Isaac as its hero – Isaac became a Christ type –