Genesis 22:1-14 for Sunday, June 29, 2008

Translation:
(1)It was after these things and God tested Abraham and he said to him, "Abraham!" And he said "Here I am." (2)And he said "Take your son, your only, which you love, Isaac and go to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering there, upon one of the mountains which I will say to you. (3)And Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and he took two of his servant boys with him and Isaac his son. He cut wood for the burnt offering and he arose and he went to the place which God said to him. (4)On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place from afar. (5)And Abraham said to his servant boys, "Stay here with the donkey and I and the boy will go up to there and we will worship and we will return to you." (6)And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it upon Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. They walked, the two of them together. (7)And Isaac said to Abraham, his father and he said "My father" and he said "Here I am, my son" and he said "Here is the fire and the wood but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" (8)And Abraham said "God will see to the sheep for the burnt offering, my son." And they walked, the two of them together. (9)They came to the place which God said to him and Abraham built there an altar and set the wood in order and he bound Isaac, his son, and he placed him upon the altar upon the wood. (10)And Abraham sent his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. (11)And a messenger of the LORD called out to him from the sky and said "Abraham! Abraham!" And he said "Here I am." (12)And he said, "Do not send your hand upon the boy, and do not do anything to him because now I know that you fear God and did not withhold your son, your only, from me. (13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw there a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. (14)And Abraham called the place "The LORD will provide," which is said this day "On the mount of the LORD, it will be provided."

What a scripture! I'll bet many people find would name this as their least favorite scripture. It's just such a difficult scripture to read, especially if you have children. And, it's still in our canon of scripture. Somehow we've got to reckon with it.

Since I'm preaching on Sunday, I've been thinking a lot about this scripture. In the first verse, we're told that God is testing Abraham. We're not told what kind of test God is giving Abraham, or what the intended outcome is. At the end, we're told that Abraham is spared from harming his son because he has proven that he fears God. And, most of the commentaries I could find said that God was testing Abraham's faithfulness.

Now, this just doesn't add up for me. While Abraham was not a perfect God-fearer (need I name the instance when he passed Sarah off as his sister? Or the whole Ishmael toboggle?), but he seems faithful enough to not warrant a test of his faithfulness!

I've been wondering if this was a test that Abraham passed. The scripture doesn't say if he passed the test. It only says that he is a God-fearing soul and he is not required to sacrifice his son. What if the test wasn't about finding out if Abraham was a God-fearer? What if the test was about Abraham's fidelity to the promise? Back in Genesis 12, God made some promises to Abraham, and in several instances prior to this, Abraham has seemed skeptical about the promise (doubting, for instance, that Sarah would conceive a child).

Maybe if God was testing Abraham in this way, he failed. Maybe the better answer would have been to say "No, no this isn't the promise I heard." Maybe sometimes, we all have to say something similar. When we see things like the poor getting poorer, the lack of affordable housing, lack of health care, lack of clean air to breathe, maybe then we all should say "No, this is not the kingdom of God I was promised." At what point do we refuse the things before us?

In any case, I don't know any better than you do if Abraham "passed" the test. I suspect, however, that another response to this "test" from God, may have yielded a totally different story. Maybe Abraham would have had a stronger relationship with God. Or, maybe we'd have more stories about Isaac's relationship with God. Maybe, ultimately, the people of God would not have ended up in Egypt as slaves. I don't know. What do you think?