It was recently brought to my attention that the biblical account of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac is difficult to understand, especially in the light of what God has revealed about Himself (i.e., that He’s not the type to demand human sacrifice). I think that first of all we have to have a kind of a priori submission to the mysteries of God, whether we understand them or not, or even whether they fit into our image of God or not. Even though God has revealed much about Himself in the Scriptures, He has not revealed everything (and really cannot, since human words and concepts are wholly inadequate to the Divine Being). So we have to approach the incomprehensible mysteries of God with reverence and with a certain hesitation to make any sort of simple assessment based on our limited reason.
All right, it seems that the main problem here is why God would tell Abraham to sacrifice his son, and why
Abraham didn’t question Him about the wisdom or morality of that command. My first answer would be: I don’t know. But since very few would find that answer satisfactory, I’ll have to dig a bit deeper.
Let’s look at the last issue first: Why didn’t Abraham so much as blink at the divine command to sacrifice his son? We can’t say that the Hebrew religion tolerated human sacrifice, since there’s no evidence in their history that they did, except when foolishly imitating the Canaanites for a time, for which sins—i.e., departures from their religion—they were severely punished. But the better reason is that there simply was no Hebrew religion at the time! All we have at this time is a nomad to whom God appeared and made some promises, and his heir. We can hardly speak of a distinct religion at this point, at least not until we can speak of “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Once Jacob’s sons were established, one can perhaps make the distinction, though it is better made after the Exodus.
Abraham was probably familiar enough with the various religions in his own general environment (some of which most likely offered human sacrifice), and he probably practiced one of them, for practically no one was without any religion in those times and places. I guess, then, the question is not why Abraham didn’t balk at the idea of human sacrifice, but why didn’t he balk after all God’s promises concerning the descendants of the very one He was asking him now to kill! The simple answer is that he trusted God—absolutely, and in the face of all contrary evidence. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives a little commentary: “By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.’ He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead…” (11:17-19). So here we have the interpretation that Abraham was going to do it because he believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. This is interesting because it shows how completely Abraham believed in God’s promise. If God said descendants would come through Isaac, then come through Isaac they would, and if God now says “kill Isaac,” then somehow God would make Isaac live again to have descendants.
So Abraham obeyed out of radical faith and trust in God. But usually the critique is directed not against Abraham, but against God. Why would He even suggest such a monstrous thing? Well, it says right in the first verse of Genesis 22 that God did this to test him. God did not really want Abraham to kill Isaac, and so in the end God prevented him from doing so. But God wanted to see what Abraham was really made of, or rather, God wanted Abraham to see what Abraham was really made of. (This is the basic reason why God tests anyone at all.) This was a test of the highest magnitude, for God went out of his way to pull on the old man’s heartstrings: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love…” (A little aside: here “son” means “heir.” Isaac was actually Abraham’s second son, but Ishmael didn’t “count” in God’s promises. Isaac was the only heir. But here we have the reason that the Muslims say that God called Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael, saying that Isaac was not yet born, so Ishmael was his “only son.”)
Another aside: I’ve often wondered what Isaac was thinking during this whole journey to Mt Moriah. Even from the text we get the idea that he was getting just a tad nervous as they approached the place of sacrifice. “Behold the fire and the wood [he forgot to mention Abraham's knife, which was in his father's hand; I think his heart got stuck in his throat at that point]; but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” The text also says, without going into detail, the preparations: “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.” Isaac certainly would have had a few things to say at this point. “Heh, heh. OK, Dad, that’s a funny joke, but come on now, really, where is the lamb—you know, the one that is really going to be killed and burned? You can untie me now. Dad? Dad!” I also have wondered about the conversation afterward, on the way down the mountain: “Uh, Dad, you weren’t really going, I mean, um, if the Lord hadn’t spoken right when He did, you really wouldn’t have…” I think little Isaac locked his bedroom door every night for years after, and politely declined all subsequent offers to go hiking with Dad.
Back to the meaning of the test and the sacrifice. I think that it was because of the greatness of Abraham’s calling that he had to be put to the most severe of tests. God had to see, and God wanted Abraham to see, that Abraham was willing to surrender everything to Him out of faith and trust. A father of many nations, and the distant ancestor of the Messiah Himself, has to be tried unto perfection, has to be absolutely loyal, has to obey without question—because he has to know the One who commands so well that he knows that even a devastating order will be for his ultimate good.
But we have to look beyond the event itself and its original context to get its full meaning. God doesn’t ask us to do anything He isn’t willing to do Himself. How terrible to ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son! Should He then not have asked him? Isn’t it a much greater sacrifice for God to sacrifice his only Son? Should He then not have done it? Where would we be if Jesus wasn’t bound and laid upon the wood, if the soldier’s lance, like Abraham’s knife, wasn’t poised to finish Him off?
The Lord knew Isaac would live. The author of Hebrews speculated that Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. God knew for a fact that He could raise Jesus from the dead, so He didn’t intervene to spare Him. He let the Sacrifice happen. For us. Lest we think God cruel to ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, let us think of how cruel and wicked we have been, so as to require the sacrifice of the Son of God to take away our sins! But God loved us enough not only to give his only Son over to suffering, but to prepare this mystery for centuries through the events and words of his revelation to his chosen people. God is saying that the supreme test through which He put Abraham is little enough in comparison to what it prefigured. Jesus’ death was not a mere “human sacrifice”—upon Him was laid all the sins of the world, an infinitely intolerable burden that no one but the Son of Man could bear, but which He did out of love for us, having passed the supreme test initiated in Gethsemane.
By the way, Scripture scholar Scott Hahn has discovered something quite astounding (but knowing God, not surprising) in his research. He did some study of the geography of the lands in the time of Abraham and of Jesus. Mount Moriah, the place of Isaac’s near-sacrifice, was much later called by a different name: Mount Calvary, or Golgotha. Yes, God has been speaking to us for a long time, and though we don’t always understand what He’s up to, He is trying to tell us in so many ways that He loves us, that what He asks of us is for our good and his glory. “Because you have done this [i.e., passed the test in obedience and trust]… I will indeed bless you” (Gen. 22:16-17).
Let us, then, trust Him, even when we don’t understand Him or what He is doing in our lives, even if we think He is asking too much of us, or asking something He ought not ask of us. He has our best interests in mind, though we don’t usually know what they really are ourselves. But “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?” (Rom. 8:31-32). Do not shrink from the tests. God will provide. And He will indeed bless you.
