A friend of mine once commented: “You are certainly blessed by the love of the scriptures and we are blessed for your interptation here. I would like to hear from you about your take on the story of Abraham and Isaac.“
Thank you for the kind comment. I would be happy to discuss this often misunderstood story from the Bible found in The 22nd chapter of Genesis. I believe to truly understand the message that God intends for us to receive, that we must always look at context in Scripture. Not only historical and cultural context but also textual context.
First let’s look closely at the Scriptural story as related in the book of Genesis 22:1-22
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Okay, now let’s start to look at what we have read. I believe the real “key” to understanding can be found at the very beginning as well as the very end of this story. Let’s look at the beginning. My friend who asked me to look at this story in Scriptures is a writer. Most writers are familiar with BLUFF (Bottom Line Up Front). So I asked myself here, what is God’s “bottom line”? If we condensed this whole story, what is it that God wants us to take away from it?
Let’s look at the first verse again:
1 Sometime later God tested Abraham.
The bottom line is not the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. It is the “testing” of Abraham. The Hebrew word for “test” is nasah (nay-saw). It’s meaning is to test, to prove, to try, to put to the test. So the question becomes, “why does God feel it necessary to “test” Abraham? Let’s look at the last two verses:
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
The purpose of testing is to strengthen our character and deepen our commitment to God and His perfect timing. Through this difficult experience, Abraham strengthened his commitment to obey God. He also learned about God’s ability to provide.
Now, let’s look some historical perspective: Abraham is known as the spiritual father of three of the world’s major religions, Judaism, Christianity as well as Islam. Sounds like quite a responsibility to me. God had a very far reaching plan for this man, Abraham. As an interesting note, Abraham (a name given to him by God meaning “father of many”…..his original name being Abram—meaning “honored father”) grew up in city called Ur on the west bank of the Euphrates River in Southern Iraq. Ur was the control center for the world’s first known empire: Sumner. So, Ur was kind of like a modern day New York if you will. Abraham’s father, Terah, decided to leave Ur with his family and to move to Canaan. They made it as far as the city of Haran, about half way when his father died. By this time Abraham was around 75 years old. It is here that God reveals to Abraham His plans for him.
Let’s look at Genesis 12:1 & 2
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
Wow…..God has a plan here! “I will make you into a great nation..”, and remember Abraham is 75 years old (see Genesis 12:4). Note that God has not changed his name to Abraham yet. Anyway, so Abraham does this. He takes his wife, his nephew, all his livestock and entourage servants and takes off for Canaan. Then God talks to Abraham again in Genesis chapter 12:7 and tells him:
“The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ “.
Hello…….Abraham is 75 years old and doesn’t have any kids. What’s up? What does Abraham do? He builds an alter to honor God’s promise. I guess I would be excited too if God told me at seventy five that I would be the father of a great nation.
So here is the question I have, so far Abraham has been obedient to God by all accounts. Is he ready to the father of a great nation? One thing I love about the Bible, and something that attest, at least to me, too it’s genuineness, is that it speaks truth. What is this truth? We are told early on that none of us is perfect, that all of us are sinners. Now, I don’t mean that we are all evil, but simply that we all make mistakes, we all are capable of doing wrong. The Scriptures doesn’t hide this to give us the “happily ever after”, they are honest to reveal who we are and not shuffle the truth under the rug. Abraham must have wondered about this “promise”, as Canaan at that time was under a famine. God told him to go there. Abraham decides to go to Egypt, the Nile River Valley where he could feed is flocks of sheep (Genesis 12:10).
In my mind, I wonder if this was disobedience to God. This seems where, to me, Abraham started to make his own decisions rather that follow God’s leading. Not only this, but Abraham lies to the Pharaoh, telling him that Sarai, (Abraham’s wife) is his sister rather than telling him the truth that she is his wife. When Pharaoh find’s out (after taking her into his harem and suddenly undergoing plagues), he gets mad and has Abraham escorted out of Egypt. The story goes on, they go back to Canaan, he lies to the King there, however, with better results, and we come to the time that Sari is 76 and Abraham id 85. Still no children. Sarai instructs Abraham to father a child with her servant, Hagar. Understand that in that day and in that culture, this was an accepted practice. However, this also shows a lack of faith that God would fulfill his promise. Ishmael was born. Now, I find this interesting…..look at what and Angel of the Lord tells Hagar in Genesis 16:22-12. Keep this in the back of your mind as we move on. Though Ishmael was not the son destined to inherit Canaan, God made this promise to Abraham. Listen to what God tells Abraham concerning Ishmael in Genesis 21:13: “I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” Okay, now think back to Genesis 16:11-12 that I told you to keep in your mind……..many consider Ishmael the father of the Arab people. Let’s move on.
It was a decade and a half after Ishmael was born (Sari was 90 and Abraham was 99) that God made it clear that the son who would inherit Canaan would be “their” son. Whoa! Can you imagine God revealing a promise such as this at 99 years old! This is where God seals His promise by changing their names from Sarai and Abram to Sarah and Abraham. This was more than a promise; it was a covenant (an agreement) with Abraham. Shortly after this, God promised that Sarah and Abraham would have a son within the year. Here’s an interesting note: Look at Genesis 21:6-7. “Isaac” means “laughter”.
So here we are coming full circle. Here’s what I see: God promised Abraham that he would be the father of nations. Abraham starts to take it upon himself rather than trust in God’s promise, and of course we see the problems when we don’t trust in God’s will for our lives. But, God made a promise. I can see why God felt the need to “test” Abraham before going further. The way to bring peace to a troubled heart is to trust in God’s promises. Trust Him to do what He says.
God tested Abraham, not to trip him up or to watch him fall, but it was to deepen his capacity to obey and trust God. This developed his character! Fire refines ore to extract precious metals……God refines us through difficult circumstances. When we are tested we can complain or we can try to see how God is stretching us to develop our character.
Let’s wrap this up and get back to the Scripture here:
1. God never intended that Abraham kill Isaac. Look at Genesis 22:1 and Genesis 22:11-13
2. God did intend to test Abraham’s trust in Him. Look at Genesis 22:8
3. Abraham passed the test, He trusted God, not himself….. look at Genesis 22:16-18
I like how it is put by the renowned biblical Scholar and professor of Biblical Criticism, F.F. Bruce:
“The truth is that God owns all life and has a right to give or take it as he wills. To reject on all grounds God’s legitimate right to ask for life under any conditions would be to remove his sovereignty and question his justice in providing his own sacrifice as the central work of redemption.
However, our God has chosen to prohibit human sacrifice. It is this dilemma of the forthrightness of the command to Abraham versus the clear prohibition against human sacrifice that must be solved. From the chapter, it seems clear that God never intended that this command be executed. The proof of this is that God restrained Abraham’s hand just as he was about to take his son’s life. “‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son’” (Gen 22:12). God’s purpose was simply to test Abraham’s faith. Since the deed was not carried out, there is nothing unworthy of divine goodness in having instituted the trial of his faith.”
Notice the parallel between the ram offered on the alter as a substitute for Isaac and Christ offered on the cross as a substitute for us. New Testament writers saw in this story the foreshadowing of another Father-Son story. What Abraham was willing to do–sacrifice his son–God did………for us.
I find that often times we must look at “What” God says, in context, not just what seems to be said on the surface. When we are faced with a “problem” in Scripture….always look underneath the surface, look closely, and focus on what is actually said. Sometimes we have to dig deeper than other times.
God is great! Jesus calls us follow Him and to obey His wisdom, not for legal reasons, but for practical reason. We must learn to fully TRUST His will in our lives and we will be blessed……those blessings are a result of obedience……not the object of obedience.