Digging Deeper

July 2, 2023 – Genesis 22:1-19

22 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. And 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.” And 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[a] 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,”[b] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”[c]

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba, and Abraham lived at Beer-sheb.

Questions for digging deeper

  • The word “test” evokes all sorts of images and memories for most folks. Are there tests where you have passed with flying colors? Have there been tests where you have failed? What sorts of things have you learned from being tested?
  • How many times is Abraham spoken to in this story? By whom? How does he answer?
  • Sarah isn’t mentioned in this story… indeed, the next time we hear of Sarah is at the time of her death. What might the conversation between Sarah and Abraham sound like after this story? What about the conversation between Sarah and Isaac?
  • Read verse 19. Who is missing from this verse? What questions does that raise for you?
  • Rabbi Norman Cohen suggests: “We are all like Abraham; so involved in our outside world – our careers, interests, or principles – that we do not or cannot see that it is our child, or spouse, or parent, that is bound on the altar. We are so adept at sacrificing that which is truly important to us on the altars we have erected that we may whether we are capable of hearing the cry of the angel before it is too late.” Are you “adept at sacrificing”? What have you sacrificed in your life?
  • In what ways do you need to be tested? How might such testing change your life or your relationship with God?

Additional Readings and Links

The Binding or Sacrifice of Isaac: How Jews and Christians see differently. Biblical Archaeology Society. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/binding-sacrifice-isaac/

We Shudder at Abraham Sacrificing Isaac. But We Have Our Own Altars. Christianity Today.https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/january-web-only/abraham-sacrifice-isaac-false-idols-children.html

Perhaps the most powerful consideration of this story is Søren Kierkegaard’s book, “Fear and Trembling”. Read more about that here: http://sorenkierkegaard.org/fear-and-trembling.html

The images above are from Caravaggio’s famous painting, “The Sacrifice of Isaac”. Read more about his famous painting here: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/sacrifice-of-isaac and here: https://www.caravaggio.org/the-sacrifice-of-isaac.jsp

Finally, there are other artistic renderings of this story. My favorites include:

Andrea del Sarto: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.577

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437815

Filippo Brunelleschi: https://dipraarora.medium.com/the-sacrifice-of-isaac-by-filippo-brunelleschi-lorenzo-ghiberti-a7588c5de27d

Deeply indebted to an older resource, The Bible Workbench, for the good questions. Although this resource is no longer in publication, there’s a bunch of other good stuff on their host website: https://educationalcenter.org/

All reprints and images are used for educational purposes.

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