Genesis 22:1-19
In his biography of German reformer
Martin Luther, Here I Stand, Roland
Bainton tells of an occasion when Luther read this text to his family. Katie Luther, Martin’s wife, spoke up, “I do
not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that!”
Many find this story to be
offensive. Like Katie Luther, they want
nothing to do with a deity who would make such demands. Strangely, some critics
actually claim the story endorses human sacrifice.
To understand the story, we have to
avoid rushing past the first line to get to the narrative. It says, “After these things God tested
Abraham.” Whether you’ve been out of
school for years or you’re still in school, tests make you feel uneasy even if
those tests were announced ahead of time.
This test was something like the infamous “pop quiz,” a really tough
one. There was no warning. One day God just told Abraham “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….” What was going
on?
If you’re using the Authorized
Version that says “God did tempt” Abraham, you should know that is not so much
a bad translation as it is an unfortunate one.
Language has changed over the years and we use “tempt” almost
exclusively to mean to entice someone to do evil. That is not the meaning here, “test” is the
better translation.
The word translated “test” often
means “to prove.” So, it might involve
proving something or someone is what they claim to be. A good English word might be “assay,” a term
meaning the “quantitative analysis of a metal or ore to determine its
components.”[1] In the old movies the grizzled Forty-Niner
would take his ore to the assay office to find out if he had “struck it rich.” This fits well with basic meaning of the word
as used in Genesis 22: “to test the quality or legitimacy of.”[2]
It might not be going too far to
say that in this test, God planned to show what Abraham was made of. But didn’t he already know? Sure, but did Abraham, did those around him?
Those of us who aren’t in charge of
the class may forget that tests are often considered to be teaching tools. With that in mind, let me say that Abraham’s
test taught him some things. I’ll come
back to this later.
Then, too, passing certain tests
are designed to say something to others.
Pass your driving test and the world knows you have at least the minimum
skills to operate a car. The documents
on your doctor’s wall give you comfort for the same reason, they say your
doctor passed certain tests and is qualified to tell you there’s not much you
can do for that virus. In some ways,
Abraham’s test would have the same results.
Adam Clarke quotes an ancient Jewish scholar who said, “God put great
honor on Abraham by giving him this opportunity of showing to all successive
ages the nature and efficacy of an unshaken faith in the power, goodness, and
truth of God.”
So let’s look at the test Abraham
faced. And as we do, look for what it
tells us about this man who is honored by three of the world’s great
religions. More important, look for what
it tells us about God.
We’ll begin with a look at
The Unexpected Journey
Abraham and his family seem to have
been in Beersheba for some time when God’s command came. We don’t know exactly how it came. Perhaps Abraham heard it in the middle of the
night. In any case, he responded
immediately. The next morning the small
party set out for Moriah.
For three days, Abraham traveled
with his son and the servants; they probably talked a little about what they
were seeing. That would have been a very
normal thing to do but I’m sure Abraham spent most of this journey in silence,
thinking deep thoughts.
What did he think about? Frankly, we don’t know. But let me apply just a little imagination to
the question. The journey took three
days so I will organize my thoughts around those three days.
Day One: We can picture Abraham thinking, I left my
homeland for this God, believed this God’s promises, thought this God was
different, even thought this God might be the only God. Now he seems to be no different than all the
other gods.
Perhaps Abraham recalled all the
times he had seen infants ripped from their mothers’ arms by the priests of the
religions of his homeland or recalled the young children led to the altar where
their blood would be mingled with the blood of thousands of children slain
there before they were even born.
It’s true, human sacrifice was
widely practiced in Abraham’s day. A god
not endorsing human sacrifice would be the exception. For years, the God who called Abraham had
never asked for such a brutal act to be performed to appease him. Now, that had changed.
As Abraham thought about this, he
may have recalled all the good things God had done for him over the years. Perhaps he said to himself, “He has given me
great wealth. He has protected me from
my enemies. He has saved my family from
hostile neighbors. He has rescued me
from my own folly.”
As he thought these thoughts
perhaps he concluded, “Such a God is worthy of my obedience but it is so hard;
Isaac is the child of the great promise.
How can the promise come true if I do what he asks?”
Perhaps the first day ended with
Abraham thinking, “If this God is like other gods, he may be as changeable as
they are. Could it be his promises are
worthless?”
Then, just before he drifted off to
a fitful sleep, perhaps he thought again of those thirty-five years he had
followed God. Perhaps he even shouted to
himself, “No, I won’t believe it; I will believe his promises are certain.”
Day Two: The second day dawned and they were further
from home, closer to the mountain where the sacrifice would be made. Abraham didn’t know why the land of Moriah
was so important to God or why one mountain should be preferred over another
but he was glad he had the time with Isaac.
He was also glad he had more time to think of a way out of the
situation.
We could hardly blame him if he
wondered if he might escape the awful command in some way. A thousand alternatives may have gone though
his mind.
Maybe, at some point he thought of
the two young men who were making the journey.
Would God be satisfied by his sacrificing one of these servants instead
of his son Isaac? No, Abraham didn’t
know all there was to know about this God but he knew enough to know that when
he spelled out his demands, that’s what he meant. God had said, “Take your son, your
only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him
there.”
God
had said, “Sacrifice Isaac,” and that’s what he would do. But what would he tell Sarah.
Day
Three:
Sarah may have still been on his mind when the sun rose on the third
day. We don’t know for sure but Luther
suggested that Abraham had not told his wife what he planned to do as they set
off to the land of Moriah. The reformer
believed she would have found some way to stop him.
Sarah
had always been as eager as he was for the promise of a child to be
fulfilled. But the years went by and
there was no pregnancy. Finally, her own
body told her she would not be having a child.
Abraham could recall how, years later,
when Sarah was ninety, three heavenly visitors came to him as they camped near
Mamre. One of these visitors—the One whom
Abraham suspected to be the Lord—said Sarah would have a child. Hiding in the tent, Sarah overheard and
laughed at the very notion.
Abraham couldn’t blame Sarah for
laughing; he had done the same. In fact,
only a short time before he had laughed when God said Sarah would have a
child. Perhaps as he reminisced, he
recalled God’s stern rebuke to Sarah: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
She had laughed but in time she told
Abraham that something was happening in her body, that she believed she was
carrying a child. A few months later,
Isaac was born; their dream had come true.
With the mountain now in sight, is it
possible Abraham began reflecting on that question? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord?
Almost two-thousand years later, a
young woman was told she was to have a child.
When she questioned how this could be possible since she was a virgin,
her heavenly visitor said, “Nothing is impossible with God.”
But back to Abraham. We can’t possibly know for sure but maybe
Abraham’s thinking began to take a path like this. “Sarah and I were beyond the age to have
children yet God allowed us to produce this life. After all, this God is the Author of life. Perhaps the Author of life will give life to
Isaac if I trust him.”
We don’t know his thinking but we know
they finally arrived at the mountain of testing.
The Test
We’ve done some speculation as we considered
those three days on the road to the land of Moriah, the region just outside
what would eventually be Jerusalem. Now,
let’s look more closely at the text itself.
Abraham had brought all he would need
for the sacrifice—wood, knife, and fire.
He had also brought along two young men, servants who were probably brought
to help with the donkey, cook, and otherwise serve his needs and Isaac’s.
Now, he and Isaac left those servants
behind and went on ahead to the place of sacrifice. There may have been a couple reasons for
this.
·
He may have felt this moment was too private
to be shared with anyone.
·
He may have feared the servants would try to
stop him.
·
He may have feared he would let them.
Before he and Isaac went on, Abraham said
something very revealing. He said, “Stay
here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and
then we will come back to you.”
Did you hear that, “we will come back to you?”
Does this suggest that Abraham
believed that somehow, someway, God would change the outcome, even overrule the
sure sentence of death involved in human sacrifice? We can’t say for sure but this was a man
whose faith was strong even in the most severe moment of testing.
So, the pair set off up the
mountain. Abraham carried the fire and
the knife. Isaac carried the wood. It takes quite a bit of wood to burn a human
body, so this was no small bundle of firewood.
Most scholars believe Isaac was between eighteen and twenty-five at this
time. In some translations, Abraham
refers to Isaac as “the lad.” We often
use lad to refer to a young child. But
remember in British English “lad” is often used differently. During both world wars, it was common for
British writers to refer to the young men fighting as “our lads.” The point is, Isaac was no child; he could
have easily resisted what was about to happen.
That he didn’t suggests he trusted his father at least as much as his
father trusted God.
But don’t let me get ahead.
Abraham’s son has a question. Isaac may have been pondering his question
for quite a while. Or, he may have
assumed Abraham would secure a lamb somewhere along the way. After all, taking one lamb on a three days
journey would have been troublesome—it might have gotten hurt, it might have
wandered off and been lost, it might have become prey for some wild beast. But there they were at the place of sacrifice
and they still didn’t have a lamb. So,
finally Isaac asks his very reasonable question, “Where is the lamb for the
burnt offering?”
I would have found it hard to answer
that question, but Abraham doesn’t seem to take long in responding, “God will
provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
We don’t know if Isaac thought, “Huh,
that’s different,” but we do know they climbed on to the place where the
sacrifice was to be made.
They arrived and we’re told Abraham
built the altar. Isaac may have offered
to help but his father didn’t let him.
Perhaps the old patriarch felt this was a task he had to do. Abraham found some stones and arranged them
as an altar. He then placed the wood on
the altar so it would be ready to receive the sacrifice.
Finally, all was ready. There was no excuse for stalling. With amazing brevity the text says, “He bound
his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.” Now, I know we look at this as Abraham’s
story. It truly is. But don’t miss Isaac’s own faith. He could have resisted the old man; he was
younger, stronger. He didn’t.
Abraham prepared to take the next
terrible, fatal step. He had his knife
in hand; artists often depict it raised above the helpless Isaac. Can’t you imagine everything being suddenly
quiet? Abraham is about to plunge the
knife into the boy’s heart. But before
it falls, a voice shatters the silence.
“Abraham, Abraham,” calls voice from
heaven, a voice Abraham has heard before, the voice of the Lord.
Breathless with hope, Abraham replies,
“Yes, I’m here.”
The Voice says, “You’ve passed the
test. You truly trust Me, trust me so
much you would give up your only son.”
At that moment, Abraham hears a
sound. There is a ram caught in a
thicket. That ram becomes the sacrifice
instead of his son. He even gives the
place a name that means, “The Lord will provide.”
Before Abraham leaves that mountain,
God once again repeats the great promise that Abraham would be the founder of a
great nation. That blessing would be
Abraham’s because he had obeyed.
Some writers focus on the fact that
God had determined to test Abraham’s faith and have even asked why such a cruel
test was needed. I can’t explain the
ways of God but certainly God knew the depth of Abraham’s faith and devotion
before this test. Perhaps the test
wasn’t designed to prove something to God but to prove something to
Abraham. Before this test, Abraham might
have thought God could be trusted, now he knew.
Though this event took place long
before the first Easter, the writer of Hebrews goes so far as to suggest
Abraham exhibited a resurrection faith.
Abraham had been promised that Isaac, his only son, would
continue his family. But when Abraham was tested, he had faith and was willing
to sacrifice Isaac, because he was sure that God could raise people to life.
This was just like getting Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19)
Something happens on this mountain
that sets a precedent. It’s here that
the notion of vicarious sacrifice is introduced into the Scripture. Substitutionary sacrifice would shape the
temple worship that played such a role in Jewish life. Two thousand years later God would provide
another Lamb who would die as a Substitute.
After that, no other lamb or bull would have to die.
***********
Remember Katie Luther’s comment on
hearing this story? She said, ““I
do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that!” Well, Luther replied, “But, Katie, he did.”
Often some modern critics of Christianity
have looked at the cross and made the objection that they want nothing to do
with a deity who would endorse such a plan.
They fail to understand what is
going on.
They look at the crucifixion and
say, “How awful God must be.” Instead,
they should look t the crucifixion and say, “How awful sin must be.” It was our rebellion that made the cross
necessary, our disrespect for the Holy One that sent Jesus to the cross.
The critics look at the cross and
say, “How cruel God must be.” Instead,
they should look at the cross and say, “How loving God must be.” Paul marveled at the depth of God’s love that
was demonstrated while we were yet God’s enemies, sinners.
The critics look at the Christian scheme
of salvation and say, “Why would God demand that of his Son?” Instead, they should look at this ancient
plan to overrule the ruin of humanity and say, “Why would God ask that of himself?”
Here we come full circle back to
the issue of substitution. The God Who
Provides provided a ram to substitute for Isaac. Two millennia later, the God Who Provides
provided a Lamb who would be the substitute for us all. Isaac lived because God provided a substitute;
we may live because God provided a Substitute.
In the mystery of the ages, God became
that Substitute and tasted death for us so we might live forever.
If you long for life, put your
faith in Jesus Christ, the One who died for you.
