Genesis 22:1-14

Genesis 22:1-14 (NRSV)

After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹ When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

           Genesis 22:1-14 is the story of the near-sacrifice by Abraham of his son Isaac. Biblical scholars will say that the full story, which extends to verse 19, is largely from E, but may have pieces of J at verse 11, 14, 15, and 18. If we look at the canonical context, Jon Levenson has adduced a number of parallels between the account of the near-death of Abraham's son by Sarah in this chapter, and the near-death of his son by Hagar, in chapter 21. Both stories are from the E document. (1) Abraham rises "early in the morning" (21:14; 22:3). (2) Abraham is "placing" the bread and skin of water on Hagar's shoulder and the wood on his son Isaac (21:14; 22:6). (3) The texts note the miraculous opening of the eyes of both parents to the agents of the deliverance of their sons (21:19; 22:13). (4) Both texts note the presence of a bush at the end of each account under which Ishmael is cast (21:15), and from which the ram is drawn (22:13). One could also add angelic communication at the time of despair (21:17; 22:11). The parallels are not coincidental; both Hagar and Abraham are the progenitors of great nations, and Hagar is the only woman in the Hebrew Bible to whom the promise of innumerable descendants is given (16:10), a promise otherwise reserved for patriarchs.  It might help us to realize that the original hearers of this story would have felt the same horror that we feel. Child sacrifice, officially abhorred in the OT (here and, e.g., Jeremiah 32:35) and prohibited in stereotyped language by Israelite legislation (e.g., Leviticus 18:21), was a feature of at least some of the cults of Israel's neighbors, as has been confirmed by the archaeological record. We can be grateful that the earliest Jewish traditions felt this horror at the idea of child sacrifice. As is true of other biblical characters (e.g., Jacob, David, the people of Israel), the story of Abraham includes a series of episodes centered on a theme. For Abraham, the theme appears to be that of God testing him. The call of Abraham tests his willingness to leave a settled life behind for an unknown future (Genesis 12:1-3 (J)). His childlessness tests his willingness to trust the deity for fertility (a test he fails, Genesis 16 (E)). His fear of the loss of his life due to the admiration Pharaoh and Abimelech had for us Sarah tests his willingness to remain honorable (Genesis 12:10-20 (J); 20:1-18 (E)). The command to sacrifice Isaac is part of this series, although it quickly became the pre-eminent example in the religious traditions of Jews and Christians. As we shall learn, the test involves the trust Abraham would have in God and the extent he was willing to obey. The story became powerful enough for New Testament authors that the language of Isaac being the beloved son of Abraham provided a way to talk about the relationship between Father and Son within the Trinity and for the actual sacrifice of the Son upon the cross. All of this is interesting. Yet, the fearful test of Abraham is one that has puzzled many. It puzzles me. Søren Kierkegaard wrote Fear and Trembling in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silento. This story provides the background for his reflection on the teleological suspension of the ethical. The story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac is one of the most troubling and powerful of biblical stories.  Why does God want to test Abraham in this way? What does it tell us about Abraham? What does it tell us about God? A story of a god who might threaten the life of an innocent child is deeply perplexing. Let us be honest. The story raises the question to us. What type of test might God give to us of our willingness to obey? As readers, we often approach the Bible with our questions for which we seek answers in the Bible. If we listen to this story, it raises more questions than it answers, even after we have finished interpreting the story. As readers, the writer lets us off the hook by informing us that the story is a test of Abraham. Yet, within the story, Abraham must take this call from God, this event, this moment, very seriously. This moment contains one of the most severe calls from God in Scripture. Could Abraham give up the child of promise? He does so silently and without question. In fact, we might accept the story easier if Abraham argued with God. After all, he argued with God in the J story in Genesis 18, where the Lord, through angelic messengers, lets Abraham know of the intent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He argued for strangers, but in this story, he will not argue on behalf of his beloved son. Yet, it raises the question of our obedience as well. We know God is faithful. Our obedience is shaky even at its best. We talk a good game about “radical obedience.” If we know ourselves well, we also know we have fallen short. With this story firmly in mind, we are anxious about what God might call us to do. God could ask us to do things that might cut across our normal standards of virtue. This does not mean, of course, that we set aside such virtue, which is a good guide for us. Yet, we need to be open at the extreme to obey God first. Yes, we need to accept the teleological suspension of the ethical, for all ethics need to lead us closer to God. If, in the critical nature of this moment, our ethics lead us further from God, we need to suspend the ethical in this moment. Yet, if you came into my office and said God told you to kill or assassinate someone, I would do all I could to persuade you otherwise and have you placed under professional care. The story uses the horror of child sacrifice in order to make its point. Abraham would obey God in all things. Our horror is a reminder that the true God would call no one to sacrifice a child or loved one. Yes, in this moment, God tested Abraham in this way. That moment has passed. In fact, if we are not careful, our horror of the original call may blind us from the primary point of the story. We can be grateful that the Jewish tradition quite early saw the horror of child sacrifice. At least in part, its system of animal sacrifice is a way of setting aside that practice. We can also be grateful as Christians that this story provides a powerful image of the meaning of the cross of Christ in the context of the Trinity. The cross sets aside the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament. The only and beloved Son is close to the heart of the Father and makes the Father known to us. The Father loves us so much that the Father gave the Son in a sacrificial act of supreme love so that we might find life (John 1:14, 18, 3:16). Our horror at this call, this test, is also a reminder of the precious quality of certain relationships in our lives. As important as they are, have those relationships become more precious to us than God has? To what are we loyal? God wants us to love God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. We can see the emphasis of the test in verse 12, as God spares Isaac because Abraham was willing to give up, sacrifice and surrender his precious son to God. For Christians, the Father set aside the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament through the sacrifice of the beloved Son. The Son offered his life in radical obedience to the Father and out of love for humanity. The love of the Father and the Son for each other and for humanity unites in the cross. To bring us back to the point of the story, it raises the question of what is precious to us. What are the finite things that are so precious to us that we cannot imagine our lives without them? Eventually, all of us will give up what is most precious to us and rest in the arms of God. Sadly, some of such precious relationships end too early, and we must live our lives without them. We will die, and the most precious of these relationships will end. When finite life has passed, the Christian hope is that we will rest in the eternal and infinite presence of God, in whom all relationships will find their reconciliation and fulfillment.