Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Carol Swanson.
Read again the text Genesis 21:1-3; 22:1-14.
What a heart-wrenching story this is! Was this really a test? What was Abraham thinking!? Why didn’t he argue with God like he did for Sodom? How did Isaac and Sarah feel? I’ve asked myself those questions. Maybe you have too.
Learning a little about the culture of the Canaanites that surrounded Abraham might be helpful. The word Canaanite means “trader,” and they were the same people culturally as the Phoenicians on the northern coast. They represented the more advanced Bronze Age and had rich city-states that traded with Egypt and others. Remember how the spies of Moses were so impressed and afraid of their strength? The Canaanites, of course, believed their gods and goddesses gave them fertility and protection, the reason for success and prosperity. Although these religious practices are condemned throughout the Hebrew Bible, archeologists “have turned up large numbers of small amulets and idols of pagan gods and goddesses in almost every Israelite city that has been discovered,”proving this was a problem throughout Israel’s pre-exilic history.(Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament, p 215)
When I was a student at Augsburg College years ago, I took a Judaism class, and in conversation with the rabbi who taught it, he recommended reading James Mitchener’s The Source to learn more about the long, complex history of Israel. The Source is a novel centered around an archeological dig at fictional Tel Makor in the Galilee. Each chapter is of a revealed layer where they find artifacts, and then it becomes a story of that era with characters who bring it to life. Here are quotes from the chapter “Level XIV 2202 B.C.E. Of Death and Life.”
“But when the god Melak was imported from the coastal cities of the north, a new problem arose. The citizens of Makor were eager to adopt him, partly because his demands upon them were severe, as if this proved his power…
“Furthermore, the cult of human sacrifice was of itself not abominable, nor did it lead to the brutalization of society: lives were lost…but the matter ended in death and excessive numbers were not killed…. In fact, there was something grave and stately in the picture of a father willing to sacrifice his first-born son as his ultimate gift for the salvation of the community….
“The priests now spoke directly to the parents whose sons had died to protect the town: ‘It does not matter at what age a male dies to defend his community. The infant of months…is as notable a hero as the general of forty. Men are born to die gloriously and those who do so as children achieve greatness earlier than we who grow old. For them we do not grieve. They have fulfilled the destiny of males and their mothers shall feel pride…. To those whose children died to save this town Astarte, goddess of fertility and life, offers new life, new children, new fields and new animals grazing upon those fields. Now, in the hour of death, life is born again!’” (pp112-115)
Abraham had been called by a new, unrecognized God in that part of the world: El Shaddai. The Hebrew name has more than one translation: “God Almighty,” “God of the Mountain,” also “God of Breasts” stressing nurturing and fertility, as feminist theologians have pointed out.
Did Abraham feel pressured by the surrounding society to sacrifice his son? Did El Shaddai demand this? Or was this a way for Abraham to show the world that his God was a moral God, a life-giving God “who values innocent human life above the piety of giving honor and thanksgiving to the Gods…In other words, what this story is about is precisely the opposite of the virtue of blind obedience, come what may.” (Yoram Hazony, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, p116)
“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love….” This is the first time “love” is used in the Bible, I was surprised to read in Thomas Cahill’s The Gifts of the Jews. “It is precisely Avraham’s love that makes the episode so unbearable (p 84).”
The Hebrew word hesed, first used here, appears 250 times in the Hebrew Bible, often translated as “steadfast love,” “lovingkindness,” “mercy,” or “faithfulness”—words that describe the love God holds for all of us. And this is the first time that it is used: “your son…whom you love.” This promised son of your old age whom you love deeply.
Israeli philosophy professor Hazony says God never intended for Isaac to die; God’s intervention is the whole point. Stop the killing! Hazony lists several key phrases, literary cues that emphasize the meaning of this key story. (p 78, 117-120)
“He rose early in the morning” ––focused intent.
We’re told it’s a test, a 3-day journey he must go on to reach Moriah ––What is Abraham thinking? Hazony says “the journey, which are days of trial, are days filled with anguish, horror, and doubt. Nevertheless, the text is free of ambiguity as to where he ends up. Abraham at every point keeps firmly in view what is to him a fact —that whatever God may have said to him, he will not require him to murder his son.”
“He looked up and saw” (or lifted up his eyes and saw)––something hidden is about to be revealed.
Abraham says, “the lad and I will go there and prostrate ourselves and return to you.” –– “Return” in the Hebrew is plural. Abraham is trusting God.
When Isaac speaks, “My father,” Abraham answers “I am here, my son.” ––This phrase “I am here” usually signifies “submission and devotion to God,” and here shows Abraham’s “utter devotion” to Isaac.
When Isaac asks where is the lamb, Abraham says “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” –assuring his son.
“So the two of them walk together.” ––we are told twice, emphasizing their close relationship and “a singleness of purpose,” Hazony writes.
The angel of God calls Abraham, and Abraham answers, “Here I am.” –his submission and devotion to God. The angel stops him, and a ram is offered instead of his son. “So Abraham called the place ‘The LORD will provide.’” And the God of Life repeats the promise of myriad offspring.
Yet Abraham did sacrifice something, lost something, in this key story that shows the world God does not want human sacrifice. We are told “Abraham returned to his young men…” but Isaac is not mentioned —not seen again in the presence of Abraham. He had bound his son and laid him on the wood; he had raised his knife to Isaac! The trauma he –they– must have felt! Isaac moves closer to where Ishmael lives. Sarah never speaks and dies soon after, perhaps of a broken heart. Interestingly, Isaac and Ishmael return together to bury Abraham.
God of Love, help us when we falter in our relationships. Forgive us when we hurt one another. Help us hear your call to faithful living: to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you and with one another. Amen.
(Books mentioned are part of our PoP library.)