Genesis 22: Pt. II

Picking up where I left off last night:

13 to 37. This is the estimated age of Isaac at the time all of this is going on. It is derived from clues given through in chapters 12-24 of the book of Genesis. Genesis tells us that Sarah bore Isaac when she was 90 years old. It also tells us the Sarah died when she was 127. This story occurs between those two. In order to be able to carry the wood, Isaac would have had to be about 13 years old, but chronologically he could not be older than 37. So, why does this matter? Well, because his 100+ year old father bound this young boy/man with no struggle (at least that is accounted for in the book of Genesis). Again, I ask this question: what does that mean? Was Isaac willing to die? Was he that faithful? Was he that obedient? Who knows... Genesis lets us work these questions in our own minds.

The ending. We all know the ending to this story, right? An angel of the LORD stops Abraham from killing Isaac, then Abraham finds a ram stuck in the bushes and offers that up as a burnt offering instead of his son. But there is more to the story, and I must admit that I missed this the first time I ever read through it. Check out verse 19. "So Abraham returned to his servants, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba." Wait a minute... something is missing here... or better yet, someone is missing here! Where's Isaac?! There is no indication that he came down the mountain with his father. We know that he survived because of the rest of the stories in Genesis, but it wasn't "the two of them walked together." Very interesting...

Sacrifice. So what's the point of this story? God 'commanded' Abraham to sacrifice his only son, and Abraham proved himself faithful? Maybe. But I think we could do better than that. Let's think about it: oftentimes, people are enraged by this story. Why? Because why would God ever 'command' someone to kill another person, let alone their own child? And why would Abraham willingly agree? Why would he almost follow through with it? There are a lot of "why's" and unanswered questions surrounding this story. Instead of addressing those, let us ask a different question: Have we ever done something like this? Now, my instinctual answer (and I'm guessing yours is as well) is "NO!" But wait just a minute... to me this story is just as much about sacrifice as it is about faithfulness. This is how I see it, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son for personal gain (to prove himself faithful, to receive a blessing, to get offspring and land, to claim that which God promised unto him). And so I ask again, have we ever done something like this? Have you ever seen individuals sacrificing family time and intimate relationships for career opportunities and self-accomplishment? Have we ever paid more attention to the things of this world that don't matter than we do to the people in this world that do matter? Have we ever been selfish at someone else's expense? Have we ever looked out for ourselves more than others? I think happens. And I think it happens too often. Perhaps before we praise Abraham for his faithfulness or curse him for his willingness to kill his son, we need to ask ourselves: Have we ever done something like this?

The Hebrew Bible is filled with these kinds questions that are just begging to be asked, especially in the narratives. OT narratives have a tendency to not include the thoughts of characters in the stories, and they oftentimes leave big holes or ambiguities. This makes it fun for people like me to read through them! There are always unanswered questions and mysteries. I read these stories again and again and again and come up with new ideas every time. This is only part of the reason I love what I do! Until next time, the Lord be with you! =)