The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

One day God decided to test Abraham.

Before we get into that, let me say I completely understand this “testing” that runs through the old testament; it provides a lesson, that you must have faith in and obey God unequivocally. Aside from that, it makes no sense, because it presents God as an ordinary being who knew so little about a person’s character He had to test them to be sure. That doesn’t jibe with any all-knowing God I might choose to believe in; how could it be consistent with belief in Jehovah, or Yaweh, or the God presented at that time who created the universe, and who knows what is in men’s souls? However, even though we assume (and the people in those times might have assumed) that God is an all-knowing god, we don’t find that implicitly expressed until much later in the Bible, except for references such as God knowing what was in Abimelech’s heart in his behavior towards Sarah, and some discussion in Job about His knowledge of people’s actions.

So did God change, or did our perception of Him change, from an all powerful being who has to test people to know what’s in their hearts, to an all powerful and all knowing Being? I’m not smart enough, or enough of a scholar, to answer that; I’m just raising the question.

Or am I overlooking the paradox of an all-knowing God versus free will? God did basically this same thing with Adam and Eve. He must have known they were going to fail the test, but that fact didn’t influence their free will. In this case, He must have known Abraham was going to pass the test, and that didn’t influence his free will. Perhaps passing the test is more for the benefit of the one being tested than in the one testing. Passing it, and hearing praise from God, laid a solid foundation of faith and personal strength for Abraham.

Moving on…

God said “Abraham!” And Abraham answered “Here I am!” (It appears that’s the way Abraham answered whenever his name was called.)

God says “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

So Abraham took Isaac and a couple of strong servants, and “went to the place of which God had told him.” And Abraham “took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.”

“Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And his son said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’” To which Abraham answered “God will provide,” and they walked on together.

They come to the appointed place. Abraham builds an altar, lays the wood, and puts Isaac on top of the wood. Then “he stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”

Apparently satisfied, God has an angel call to Abraham from heaven, saying “Abraham, Abraham,” to which Abraham answers “Here I am.”

The next voice he hear is evidently God’s, who says “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Hearing that, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw a ram caught in the thicket. He catches the ram and offers him as a burnt offering in place of his son, and calls the place where it happened “God will provide.”

Then the angel of the Lord speaks again from heaven, saying “the LORD declares, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

I totally get this kind of test – set up to prove an employee’s (or potential employee’s) loyalty to the cause, or the firm, or the cult, or whatever. In this case, however, it wasn’t for the benefit of the employer, (God) because He knew in advance what Abraham’s response would be. No, it was for Abraham’s benefit – to focus his feelings and beliefs and internalize how devoted he was to the cause (God). The realization that you would sacrifice your own son to prove your loyalty would be an earthshaking event to me, and perhaps it also was to Abraham.