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Genesis 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 2He 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.’ 3So 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. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5Then 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.’ 6Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7Isaac 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?’ 8Abraham said, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’ So 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. 10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 12He 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.’ 13And 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. 14So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17I 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, 18and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.’ 19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.
Generations of readers have wondered at how Abraham could tolerate God’s test. Already forced to abandon Ishmael and Hagar, how could he obediently agree to kill his son Isaac- and do it himself?
In times of cruel oppression and dire desperation, Jews saw bravery in Abraham’s actions, and even more bravery in Isaac’s!
4 Maccabees 12:9-12
"Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal of the furnace. Let us not be cowardly in the demonstration of our piety." While one said, "Courage, brother," another said, "Bear up nobly," and another reminded them, "Remember whence you came, and the father by whose hand Isaac would have submitted to being slain for the sake of religion."
At different times and places in history, some Jews have acted on the challenge and killed themselves rather than submit to forced conversion or other violence.
Centuries of Christians have read in the text of Genesis 22 a prefiguring of the crucifixion of Jesus:
“Although Judaism sees the purpose merely as a point of testing of Abraham’s faith, Christianity understands the full typological significance of what took place—as a sign post pointing to the most significant event in all history: when another Father would offer His “only Son” upon the same mountain. The offering of Isaac is a carefully constructed divine pattern which pointed to the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross many years later. That this is true can be seen from the numerous typological correlations between this event and the crucifixion.” (See link for reference)
Click on this link for a table listing the perceived links between the two stories:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddbxqpcb_3f9vzw4dr&hl=en
Muslims, however have preserved a different story of Abraham’s test, where Ishmael, and not Isaac, is the intended (and very willing!) victim.
QURAN CHAPTER 37:
101So We gave him the good news of a boy ready to suffer and forbear. 102. Then, when (the son) reached (the age of) (serious) work with him, he said: "O my son! I see in vision that I offer thee in sacrifice: Now see what is thy view!" (The son) said: "O my father! Do as thou art commanded: thou will find me, if Allah so wills one practising Patience and Constancy!" 103. So when they had both submitted their wills (to Allah., and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), 104. We called out to him "O Abraham! 105. "Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!" - thus indeed do We reward those who do right. 106. For this was obviously a trial- 107. And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice: 108. And We left (this blessing) for him among generations (to come) in later times: 109. "Peace and salutation to Abraham!" 110. Thus indeed do We reward those who do right. 111. For he was one of our believing Servants. 112. And We gave him the good news of Isaac - a prophet,- one of the Righteous.
Notice that the Qur’an does not specifically state that Ishmael was the sacrificial son…however, only after the incident did Abraham hear “the good news of Isaac - a prophet,- one of the Righteous.” Therefore, some exegetes (not all Muslim interpreters!) reasoned, Ishmael is the son referred to in the Qur’an’s story.
Hayatu 'l-Qulub (Merrick's ed. p. 28) says: "On a certain occasion when this illustrous father (Abraham) was performing the rites of the pilgrimage at the Mecca, Abraham said to his beloved child, `I dreamed that I must sacrifice you; now consider what is to be done with reference to such an admonition.' Ishmael replied, `Do as you shall be commanded by God. Verify your dream. You will find me endure patiently.' But when Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael, the Most High God made a black and white sheep his substitute, a sheep which had been pasturing forty years in Paradise, and was created by the direct power of God for this event. Now every sheep offered on Mount Mina, until the Day of Judgment is a substitute, or a commemoration of the substitute for Ishmael." (Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, p. 219).”
So what "really happened"? What is "the meaning" of the story? We would do well to remember a quote from Zakovitch and Shinan: “The Torah does not always ask to imprison the reader in one interpretative channel. To the contrary, at times it encourages and calls for confusion, and places upon itself the responsibility that not all readers will arrive at identical interpretive understandings.”
(Zakovitch and Shinan, That's Not What the Good Book Says, 2004.)
1 comment:
My answer to Erica’s question, “So what ‘really happened?”, is that we probably will never know. But, we can venture a tentative answer. Which son did Abraham almost offer in sacrifice, until the angel stopped him? Was it Isaac, or was it Ishmael? The Hebrew Scriptures say it was Isaac, but the Quran and the Hayatu’l-Qulub indicate that it was Ishmael.
We must remember that in Biblical times, stories were passed orally through generations and shared orally with neighboring tribes who adopted them as their own, with their own variations on the details. My previous comment on Lech L’cha shows that in Genesis, there is one passage that indicates Isaac was fourteen years younger than Ishmael, and another showing that the two were young boys at the same time. So there may be variations on other specifics coming down to us through various writings.
My Bible (The New American Bible translation) has a footnote on Genesis 22:2, which says, “Then God said, ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. . .’” My footnote says, “Only one: uniquely precious, especially loved; therefore the same term is rendered in vv 12, 15 as beloved.” So the existence of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael, is not negated by God calling Isaac Abraham’s only son, since “only” in this context means “beloved.”
I find the following quote interesting. It is from “Journey of a Lifetime” by Tommy C. Higle: “Isaac is Abraham’s son of promise through his wife Sarah. Ishmael is his first son through the servant Hagar. Ishmael is the result of a lapse of faith on the part of Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 22:1-14 Abraham offers Isaac as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. Arabs believe he offered Ishmael because they are descendants of Ishmael. Jews are descendants of Isaac. Both Jews and Arabs are descendants of Abraham.”
Here’s another interesting quote. It’s from “Jesus of Israel” by Fr. Richard Veras. Recall that Abraham, his father and his brother likely worshiped idols when Abraham was a young man, before turning to the worship of the One True God. The quote: “Let us also note that Abraham, like us, lived in a time and place that affected his mentality. It was not uncommon for other peoples to sacrifice their children to gods; and in the end, when God spares Isaac, he could be showing Abraham something new: that God is not requiring his people to sacrifice their children to him. God is revealing himself to be completely different from the gods imagined and fashioned by the peoples of the Middle East at that time.”
Thanks, Erica, for the wonderful table in your Google Docs link, showing correlation between Abraham offering his beloved son, Isaac, and God offering His beloved Son as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Here’s another quote from “Jesus of Israel”: “These two sacrifices seen together shed light on one another and become yet another way in which God reveals to us the depth of his love. God does for us what we could not conceive of doing for him. This God is unlike us, and he is unlike any god the pagan peoples imagined. These peoples could imagine their gods’ demands for the lives of their children, but who could imagine God the Father’s sacrifice of his Beloved Son for us! God’s ways are not only different from ours but unimaginably contrary to our ways of thinking.”
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