Abraham holds high respect among Jews, Christians and Muslims for his famous demonstration of faith in his willingness to sacrifice his son. Genesis 22 tells how God asks Abraham to make a burnt offering of his son and the patriarch dutifully does the deed. Just as Isaac is about to become a a postscript in Biblical studies, there is a divine intervention and the boy is saved.
I find this story horribly offensive. Call me unfaithful or disobedient or sinful, but I would tell God "no" should he ever ask that of me. Let me rephrase. Not only would I say "no," but "hell no" - knowing full well I'm rebelling against the creator of the universe who can dish out Job-esque punishments to make this life and the next full of torment. Did I make myself clear? HELL NO!
I've come to the conclusion that maybe my response is right and Abraham was wrong. Allow me to rationalize my sinful disobedience: what if the test was not a test of obedience, but a test of human compassion? Abraham pretty much proves his obedience time and again. Let me break it down for you.
God himself speaks to Abraham (not an uncommon occurrence to this point) and says "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love...and offer him as a burnt offering (Gen 22:2)." Abraham doesn't express shock (infanticide is a common religious practice at the time); he doesn't protest, doesn't negotiate and doesn't refuse. He wakes up early to get 'er done.
Note that Isaac is old enough to walk and talk and carry enough wood for a bonfire (Gen 22:6-7). He's old enough to question and become suspicious of his own father's motives. I'd venture to say he's old enough to remember this event into his adulthood. At what point did Isaac start crying in terror? As he was being bound, did he try to reason with his father? Plead for his life? Did Abraham turn a deaf ear or did he tell his son that this was all God's will? How deep did the ropes cut as Isaac fought to free himself? When Abraham raised the knife did Isaac scream or wince or just weep in hopeless acceptance?
When Abraham draws back the knife, just before the point of no return, he is stopped. By God's messenger. I've been in a corporate job long enough to know what it means when the boss doesn't want to deal with you anymore. Arrange it with my secretary. I'm going to let the district manager handle it from here. Call my people. God himself makes the request, but he sends a lackey to stop the horror. Abraham screwed up. Screwed up so bad God doesn't want any more to do with him. No where else in scripture does God, or even a messenger of God for that matter, speak to Abraham ever again.
Why would God do this? I mean, the text reads "because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will bless you (Gen 22:16-17)." Wait a second, what did he say before as he was giving the command? He forgot to say something. A little prepositional phrase "whom you love." In the way my Bible is edited these two verses appear nearly side-by-side in two columns and that phrase is clearly missing. In a part of the Scripture criticized by modern readers as being too repetitive why isn't this blessing just repeated rote from the original decree? I'd venture it's because Abraham failed this test of love and compassion.
What about the blessing Abraham gets? Surely that means he was faithful and did what God wanted, right? Well, the reward is really nothing new, just a reiteration of the covenant already given. God's messenger is acting the gameshow host. "Awww. Nice try, but you didn't win this challenge. Don't feel bad though, you've still won $800 and a new cuisinart from the obedience round!" Abraham lost. He failed. This time, God didn't want obedience - he wanted lovingkindness.
Remember how I postulated that Isaac was old enough to remember this event? Next blog I'll talk about the consequences.
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Jer. 30:31 says that God has never commanded such a horrible deed as sacrificing sons and daughters so I tend to agree with your interpretation. Of course, the argument could also be it was a test of love and/or faith. It is thought provoking to think of how this affected his familial relationships. The relationship between Abraham and Sarah was complicated further by them being half-siblings. Twiced Abraham was willing to sacrifice her to other men in order to save himself in Gen. 12:13 and Gen. 20:11.
ReplyDeleteYou write well and you're very thoughtful/imaginative with the text but unfortunately, I would have to disagree.
ReplyDeleteThere is no question that the event, on the surface, is offensive to our modern perspective but the circumstances under which Abraham acted were exactly those in which faith is expressed most and best.
Your comment about Isaacs's non-response is telling. I would suggest his submission was an expression of his own trust in a father who had, no doubt, proven his love time and again.
And, Barbara, I would say it was Abraham's supreme love for his son that made this expression of trust in God so meaningful. His denial of Sara wasn't so much an act of cowardice as it was disapproval, not of God but of Sara. I actually wrote about it here http://tiny.cc/HCfc3 .