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NOTES for Gen 22:10-13

Printable version
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
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The entire first half of Genesis, apart from the Prologue comprising its first eleven chapters, is devoted to describing how Abraham gradually, step by step, comes to know the God who called him to follow Him to Palestine, knowing Him ever better. The sacrifice of Isaac is the final and dramatic step in this encounter.

Why, one might ask, would God test a person with something he will never have to do? God does not need human sacrifices; they are an abomination to Him, as the Bible says repeatedly. Of course, the Bible does not always clearly distinguish God’s will from what He permits. Sometimes what He permits is regarded as God’s own intention and attributed directly to Him. Yet even this approach cannot be considered completely mistaken: if God does not decisively prevent something, then He has some plan connected with what is happening.

In any case, one thing is clear: Abraham withstands the trial, and God confirms this. What, then, is the meaning of the trial? Could Abraham have thought that his God would demand a human sacrifice from him? Perhaps he could. God had earlier called Himself by the name El Shaddai, “God of power,” and ancient pagans tended to seek gods with such names in the lower world rather than the upper, in the kingdom of the dead beneath the earth rather than in heaven.

Whatever the case, they placed the source of the power implied by the name God revealed to Abraham not in heaven, but in the lower world. A ruler of the lower world, the world of shades and the kingdom of the dead, might be expected to demand a human sacrifice. But how could Abraham’s God require him to sacrifice his son? Had He not said earlier that all the promises He had given would be connected precisely with this son, born into the world by a miracle?

What, then, could the demand to sacrifice him mean? Had everything been a deception from the beginning? But the promised son really had been born, at a time when such a birth was already entirely beyond expectation! This was a true trial, a trial by absurdity that could be endured only by relying on complete trust in God in a situation where reason refuses to comprehend the horror happening to a person.

Abraham withstands this trial: he hopes to the end. And in the end the situation is miraculously resolved, for God truly does not need human sacrifices. He needs our trust. Sometimes in defiance of what seems obvious.

Other notes

 
For Gen 22:1-24
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and 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.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
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Having read the preceding chapters of Genesis, we cannot doubt that Abraham loves his son. In real...  Read more

Having read the preceding chapters of Genesis, we cannot doubt that Abraham loves his son. In real life, a late and only child draws such a boundless sea of parental love that he often turns into a selfish monster. And nevertheless today we read about how a father takes his only son, leads him up a mountain, and prepares to offer him as a sacrifice. The whole horror is that there is no sense in any of these actions. Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, famous for its monstrous rituals of human sacrifice. He left at the call of God, who is One and Holy and who promised to make a great nation from Abraham. Without complaint and for a very long time, he waited for the promise to be fulfilled, and at last a son was born to him. It would seem there was nothing more to desire; everything had turned out right. And at the very moment when the boy had grown up, when all the fears of losing a small and weak child were behind him, that same Holy and Merciful God demands that Isaac be offered as a sacrifice. To us this seems like senseless cruelty, but Abraham is righteous by faith. His faith is beyond calculation, and in this he is for us an unattainable example of holiness, that is, of being given over to God. Our reasoning and our confidence that certain words of God are meaningless become grounds for refusal. For Abraham there is no such possibility. He obeys God without question, and in this lies his great strength. That is exactly why a great nation came from him, the nation that gave the Savior to the world. For the will of God and its fulfillment are higher than our ideas about what God may ask of us.

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For Gen 22:1-24
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and 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.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Hide
The event we call the sacrifice of Isaac is called the Akedah in Hebrew. The word literally means "binding" - and indeed, the sacrifice itself never took place; it only came to...  Read more

The event we call the sacrifice of Isaac is called the Akedah in Hebrew. The word literally means "binding" - and indeed, the sacrifice itself never took place; it only came to the binding of Isaac and his being placed on the altar. God stopped Abraham - and no killing took place. Killing is exactly the word: today hardly anyone would have doubts about God's attitude toward human sacrifice; the Bible speaks about this completely unambiguously.

So what happened to Abraham then? Traditionally, what happened is interpreted as a kind of test of Abraham - of his faithfulness to God, his trust in Him, his readiness to do everything that God might require. All of this would be true if not for one very important point: why would God need to test Abraham's readiness to commit what in God's eyes is a double sin - apostasy and murder? Apostasy, because in those times human sacrifices were offered only to underground gods, gods of the lower world, lords of the realm of shadows; and murder for an entirely understandable reason - God does not need human sacrifices by definition, so from His point of view this is precisely murder and nothing else. What, then, are we to do with the voice Abraham heard? If it was not God, then who was it? And where was God, if it was not His voice?

In the biblical story of the Akedah God is not named by His personal name; He is simply God there - and the word used in the text to designate God was not used in Abraham's time. We clearly have before us a retold story, retold, judging by the features of the text, by someone from a priestly milieu. In that milieu (and generally in pre-exilic times), believing Yahwists did not distinguish between God's will and His permission as we distinguish them today - at least on the level of terminology. If God allowed Abraham to hear a voice, then the voice was from Him.

What, then, could Abraham himself have thought? He knew that his God was El Shaddai, God of power, as He Himself named Himself during the second of Abraham's theophanies described in the Book of Genesis. The ancients were more inclined to seek the source of power in the lower world, under the earth, than in the upper world, in heaven. What if Abraham's God was lord of the lower world? Then He could demand a human sacrifice... but then what about the promises connected with Isaac? What about the alliance-covenant made with God?

A trial by absurdity is the most terrible kind. Because absurdity paralyzes the soul - and a paralyzed soul is far more terrible than a paralyzed body. Yet Abraham still preserves trust in his God. To Isaac's question about the lamb he answers: God will provide Himself the lamb. And God really does provide it, freeing Abraham's soul from the power of the force He had permitted to take hold of it.

He praises Abraham - for faithfulness. For not going back, for not retreating. Abraham, even while under the power of a dark force permitted by God, understands that there is no way back for him. Back there, behind him, there is no salvation from the evil absurdity in which he has found himself. To be saved, he must go only forward, toward God. Abraham goes forward - and truly meets God, who accepts him, frees him from the power of darkness, and praises him for his faithfulness.

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For Gen 22:1-18
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and 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.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Hide
We strive toward God with an irresistible force. And it seems to us that we are achieving something along this path. We understand something; something comes to us...  Read more

We strive toward God with an irresistible force. And it seems to us that we are achieving something along this path. We understand something; something comes to us; we grow close to our brothers and sisters and to our spiritual father. And it seems to us that this is what is purest and best in me and in my life, that this is my fortress and my stronghold. I know dozens of prayers by heart; my favorite prayer beads are always with me; no one can take this away from me. And we set all this against the dark, raging world, seeing in it a bright and warm refuge. If this is so, we must be prepared for the Lord one day to ask us to give up all of it. For He will understand that our “spiritual life” has become more important to us than He Himself. And if we fail to understand this trial correctly, our end may be very sorrowful. Nothing on earth—not even the people closest to us, not even the one person who was the sole witness to your confessions before God—can be dearer than God Himself. This thought frightens us, but only because our faith is small.

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Readings for  25 February 2024

Main news

Romans 8:31-33

Notes

Orthodox readings

2 Timothy 3:10-15

Luke 18:10-14

Notes

Catholic lectionary

Genesis 22:1-2

Genesis 22:9-13

Genesis 22:15-18

Romans 8:31-34

Mark 9:2-10

Notes

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