1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.This famous incident is one of the darkest parts of our journey so far.
2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Spin it if you will, but the following are quite clear:
- The Biblical God wants people to be willing to murder their own children for him
- Abraham, hero of three world religions, is happy to oblige
- God calls Isaac Abraham's only son. So much for him looking out for Ishmael, conceived when Abraham fucked his wife's slave, Hagar.
Maybe Dena Schlosser had the same kind of faith when she sang the hymn "He Touched Me" while she cut off her baby's arms.
If this is holiness, praise be to the sinners.
12 comments:
That is the point, for better or worse - that we are to value God above all other things, even life itself. That's an important thought to keep in mind while studying the rest of the Bible (this is hardly the last time that God will test man's faith in this manner), or reading Cal Thomas.
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
Great series, VL. I hope that you can make it through Numbers.
Thanks Dr. S!
The Dylan quote hits the spot for sure.
I look forward to seeing how God tests our faith. So far, it seems to me the greatest test is expecting us to believe obvious hogwash and to treat some really nasty stories like they're inspirational. But what lies beyond Gen 22 is mostly a mystery to me, so on I read!
God's law is supposed to be perfect and the Ten Commandments state that you shouldn't kill. Just how "perfect" is it of God to turn around and ask of Abraham to kill his own beloved son? Of course, at this point, Abraham doesn't yet know of the Ten Commandments, but surely God must have known - what kind of message is he sending us in asking of a man to break one of his sacred commandments?
How can a person or being, which is supposedly the moral compass of millions if not billions, request of a man that he kill his own son? An omniscient God would not doubt have foreseen that he would lead billions with his actions and scriptures; could he not have come up with something a little less violent, such as jumping off a cliff or something that, at least, wouldn't have had a direct consequence on another human being? Moreover, a man who just right-out decides that he will kill his son because he heard a god ask him to do so is not what today's standards would define as sane or respectable. An omniscient God would not have chosen such a deluded and twisted man as a model. And what child would wish to live with a father ready to kill him at the whim of a god? What kind of god imposes such torture on a child only because he wished to test a man's faith?
Abraham's decision to act on God's request implies that he deeply believed that killing his son would give him eternity in heaven. What kind of society would we live in if everyone acted so selfishly killing or hurting others in the hope of getting rewarded? If religion and the Bible are indeed to be regarded as moral guidance, wouldn't Abraham have been wiser to say something like "God, punish me whichever way you see fit for my son's life is more precious than my own"? That is probably what many people would have done. They are presumably wiser than the man who God decides to choose as a model and to reward for this act of cowardice.
Abraham waited a long time for this son. Subsequently, Isaac became everything to Abraham - an idol. This was not a test of faith but a reprimand - "Abraham, did you forget who gave you this son?"
Also, the Ten Commandments in the original Hebrew does not say 'Thou shall not kill'. The correct translation is 'Thou shall not murder'. There is a difference.
For instance, God commanded Saul, the first king of Israel, to kill the Amalaek's. He went on to say that Saul should kill every man, woman, child and all the animals with them. Saul disobeyed, keeping the king of the Amalaek's as a prize. Unfortunately, the king escaped from his captors and went on to procreate. His descendants founded the Persian empire - today's Iran.
Guess God does know something after all.
Imagine anyone today ordering someone to decimate (or kill, or murder, or assassinate) a whole people.
What kind of person would choose him as a moral leader?
Hepzibah,
What, pray tell, was it that God knew? The same thing as the American neo-cons -- that we should indiscriminately visit death and destruction upon Muslims?
God tempted Abraham. God Tempts? Like Satan?
Now here's the thing, its even darker. According to the documentary hypothesis, the last lines of the narrative are redactions, added because Isaac appears in some of the other source texts. In the original narrative he was killed, not saved.
Actually, the proper meaning of the Hebrew word נִסָּה is: "to test". God did not tempt Abraham, rather, He tested Abraham's faith in Him (to strengthen it). Abraham trusted and believes in God's promise that "all nations would come through him", even if that meant that God would raise Isaac from death.
This test of faith echoes Christ's sacrifice on the cross. God's "one and only, beloved Son" died as a substitute for us; there could be no other (i.e., the ram caught in the bushes that Abraham killed instead of Isaac).
Hepzibah,
Are you trying to convince us that God is good because he ordered Saul to commit genocide?
Are you saying that the entirety of Persian history, civilization, culture, and all its people - are evidence that God was right to order the genocide?
Are you saying that we should finish the job?
God can tell to you do something and it will not be a sin. God told abraham to offer his son- is this killing or murder- So by abraham giving his son as a offering is not breaking the 10 commandments. God knows all and gen22:12 is just confirming to abraham because he might of doubt his fear for God just like in the garden of eden--adam where art thou...God had allready provide a ram which it didnt appear to abraham and until after the fact he was about to offer his son....
"To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted."
Titus 1:15
Post a Comment