DID GOD REALLY ASK ABRAHAM TO SACRIFICE HIS SON, ISAAC?
Genesis 22:1-14
Rev. Paul Wrightman 6/11/23
WE CONTINUE OUR RELATIVELY NEW SERMON SERIES
ON THE MOST IMPORTANT TEXTS IN THE BIBLE
FROM THE BOOK OF GENESIS THROUGH THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
YOU CAN TELL FROM THE TITLE OF TODAY’S SERMON,
WHERE I USE THE WORD “REALLY” IN A QUESTIONING SENSE
IN REGARD TO GOD’S ASKING ABRAHAM TO SACRIFICE ISAAC,
THAT I DON’T THINK GOD REALLY ASKED ABRAHAM TO DO THIS.
I HAVE SOME STRONG REASONS FOR TAKING THIS POSITION,
BUT BEFORE GOING INTO THOSE REASONS,
THIS WOULD BE A GOOD PLACE TO RESTATE
THE POSITION OF COMMUNITY CHURCH ON INDEPENDENT THINKING:
INDEPENDENT THINKING IS ALWAYS ENCOURAGED HERE,
EVEN IF IT LEADS YOU TO A VERY DIFFERENT STANCE
FROM THAT OF THE PASTOR OR OTHER PERSONS IN THE CHURCH.
SO IF MY TAKE ON TODAY’S SCRIPTURE TEXT
IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU,
AND YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO UNDERSTAND IT
AS DESCRIBING THE WAY THINGS REALLY UNFOLDED,
YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT A HUGE MAJORITY OF CHRISTIANS
STILL APPROACH IT AS THE WAY THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO – BEFORE EASTER --
WE LOOKED AT THE COVENANT, OR SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP,
THAT GOD ESTABLISHED WITH ABRAHAM.
WE SAW HOW THROUGHOUT HUMAN HISTORY,
GOD HAS ALWAYS MET PEOPLE WHERE THEY WERE
IN TERMS OF THEIR LIMITED UNDERSTANDING AT THE TIME.
THIS MEANS THAT GOD “CONDESCENDED” TO ENGAGE
IN SOME PRETTY QUESTIONABLE HUMAN CUSTOMS,
ALL IN THE ATTEMPT TO MEET PEOPLE WERE THEY WERE,
NOT WHERE GOD WAS.
WE SAW HOW DURING THE HISTORICAL PERIOD
WHEN ABRAHAM LIVED, APPROXIMATELY 1800 BCE,
SOLEMN AGREEMENTS WERE MADE BY A PROCESS KNOWN AS
“CUTTING A COVENANT.”
THIS INVOLVED A BLOODY SACRIFICE WHERE VARIOUS ANIMALS
WERE KILLED, SPLIT INTO TWO PIECES,
AND THE PIECES ARRANGED TO FORM A PATH THROUGH THEM.
AFTER A COVENANT WAS AGREED UPON,
THE SUPERIOR PARTY WOULD THEN REQUIRE
THE INFERIOR PARTY TO WALK THROUGH THE SPLIT PIECES,
ACKNOWLEDGING THAT IF HE WERE TO BREAK THE COVENANT,
HE WOULD BE BROKEN JUST AS THESE ANIMALS HAD BEEN.
WE SAW HOW GOD ASKED ABRAHAM
TO MAKE THE SACRIFICE, BUT WHEN THE TIME CAME FOR ABRAHAM
TO WALK THROUGH THE SPLIT PIECES AS THE INFERIOR PARTY,
ABRAHAM WAS NOT ASKED TO DO THIS.
INSTEAD, GOD TOOK THE INITIATIVE AND SYMBOLICALLY
WALKED THROUGH THE PIECES GODSELF.
AT THE TIME, NOTHING COULD HAVE STATED MORE STRONGLY
THE FACT THAT GOD CONSIDERED GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM
TO BE UNCONDITIONAL.
GOD WAS SAYING THAT GOD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ABRAHAM –
AND THROUGH ABRAHAM TO ALL HUMANKIND –
WOULD NEVER BE BROKEN FROM GOD’S SIDE.
GOD WOULD RATHER BE “BROKEN IN TWO,” SO TO SPEAK,
BEFORE ABANDONING GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM.
THIS IS THE ONLY EXAMPLE WE HAVE IN ALL OF ANCIENT LITERATURE
OF THE SUPERIOR PARTY TAKING THE PLACE OF THE INFERIOR ONE.
IT SEEMS OBVIOUS THAT NO HUMAN AUTHOR WOULD OR COULD
HAVE DREAMED THIS UP: IT HAD TO COME TO US FROM
BEYOND OURSELVES, IT HAD TO BE REVEALED TO US BY GOD.
ONE OF THE GREAT CHALLENGES TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
IS THAT IT’S VERY MUCH LIKE A VAST MOUNTAIN RANGE
WITH PEAKS AND VALLEYS OF VERY DIFFERENT ELEVATIONS.
THUS, WE GET A “MOUNT EVEREST” TEXT LIKE GOD’S
UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM,
CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY A “DEATH VALLEY” TEXT LIKE TODAY’S
PORTRAYAL OF GOD SUPPOSEDLY ASKING ABRAHAM
TO SACRIFICE HIS SON ISAAC.
MY POINT IS THIS: IF GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT
WITH ABRAHAM IS REAL, AND PREDICATED ON THE FACT
THAT GOD WOULD SACRIFICE GODSELF
BEFORE BREAKING THE COVENANT,
THEN GOD WOULD NOT, INDEED, GOD COULD NOT
ASK ABRAHAM TO SACRIFICE ISAAC,
MAKING GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT
SUDDENLY CONDITIONAL.
IF GOD HAD MADE SUCH A DEMAND,
GOD WOULD BE CONTRADICTING GODSELF,
AND WE MIGHT AS WELL GIVE UP TRYING TO UNDERSTAND GOD
AT ALL.
THE MOVIE A BRILLIANT MIND PORTRAYS NOBEL PRIZE WINNER
JOHN NASH AS DISCOVERING CERTAIN “GOVERNING DYNAMICS”
ABOUT HOW THINGS WORK.
A “GOVERNING DYNAMIC” GOVERNS, OR DETERMINES,
HOW “LESSER” TRUTHS ARE TO BE UNDERSTOOD
IN RELATION TO A “GREATER” TRUTH.
IF A “GOVERNING DYNAMIC,” OR ESSENTIAL TRUTH,
CONTRADICTS A LESSER TRUTH,
WE GO WITH THE GOVERNING DYNAMIC.
AS TWENTIENTH CENTURY PHYSICS
HAS SO BRILLIANTLY DEMONSTRATED,
WHAT WAS TRUE CONCERNING EARLIER,
MORE PRIMITIVE THEORIES, IS NEVER LOST,
BUT BECOMES PART OF A BIGGER, MORE ESSENTIAL, THEORY.
APPLYING THIS AS A METAPHOR FOR UNDERSTANDING
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE TEXT, WE CAN SAY THAT OUR TEXT
IS DESCRIBING SOMETHING THAT REALLY HAPPENED,
NAMELY, ABRAHAM’S ATTEMPTED SACRIFICE OF ISAAC,
BUT THAT OUR TEXT GETS IT WRONG IN TERMS
OF PORTRAYING GOD AS DEMANDING THIS OF ABRAHAM.
IF GOD DID NOT ASK THIS OF ABRAHAM, WHAT DID?
WE KNOW THAT THE PRACTICE OF HUMAN SACRIFICE
ANTECEDED ABRAHAM AND THAT IT WAS PREVALENT
IN PRECISELY THAT PART OF THE WORLD TO WHICH
GOD ASKED ABRAHAM TO MOVE.
JAMES MICHENER, IN HIS FAMOUS HISTORICAL NOVEL
THE SOURCE DEVOTES A CHAPTER TO THIS TOPIC.
HE DATES THIS CHAPTER TO 2002 BCE,
ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE SACRIFICE OF HUMANS
TO PROPITIATE THE GODS CAME WELL BEFORE THIS TIME
AND CONTINUED FOR AT LEAST 1500 YEARS AFTER.
THE BIBLE, DESCRIBING EVENTS A THOUSAND YEARS OR SO
AFTER ABRAHAM, RECORDS HUMAN SACRIFICE
AS A MATTER OF COURSE AMONG ISRAEL’S NEIGHBORS.
WE READ ONE OF MANY EXAMPLES IN THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS:
“WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS LOSING THE BATTLE,
THE KING OF MOAB TOOK SEVEN HUNDRED SWORDSMEN
TO BREAK THROUGH TO THE KING OF ARAM, BUT HE FAILED.
SO HE TOOK HIS FIRST-BORN, HIS HEIR APPARENT,
AND SACRIFICED HIM AS AN OFFERING
UPON THE WALL OF THE CITY.”
(2 Kings 3:26-27a)
THE OLD TESTAMENT RELENTLESSLY DETAILS
ISRAEL’S PERSISTENT TEMPTATION
TO COPY THE PRACTICES OF ITS NEIGHBORS,
INCLUDING THE WORST ASPECTS OF THE NEIGHBORING RELIGIONS,
SUCH AS RITUAL PROSTITUTION AND HUMAN SACRIFICE.
AN ESPECIALLY POPULAR FORM OF SACRIFICE
WAS TO INCLUDE INFANTS AS PART OF THE FOUNDATION
OF NEW BUILDINGS.
THE DEATH OF THE INFANT WAS SUPPOSED TO ENSURE
THE STRENGTH AND SAFETY OF THE BUILDING.
ALTHOUGH MORE WIDESPREAD AMONG NEIGHBORING NATIONS,
ISRAEL, TOO, KNEW THIS CUSTOM FIRSTHAND.
THE BOOK OF FIRST KINGS RECOUNTS:
“HIEL FROM BETHEL REBUILT JERICHO.
HE SACRIFICED HIS FIRST-BORN SON, ABIRAM,
WHEN HE LAID THE FOUNDATION,
AND HIS YOUNGEST SON, SEGUB, WHEN HE SET UP THE GATES.”
(1 Kings 16:34)
AT TIMES A PARTICULARLY EVIL KING OF EITHER ISRAEL OR JUDAH
WOULD OFFICIALLY ADOPT THE PRACTICES
OF THE SURROUNDING NATIONS, INCLUDING HUMAN SACRIFICE.
SADLY, QUITE A FEW EXAMPLE OF THIS COULD BE CITED
FROM THE PERIOD OF THE MONARCHY.
HUMAN SACRIFICE IN ISRAEL, HOWEVER,
WAS NOT LIMITED TO THE TIME OF THE MONARCHY.
IT PRECEDED IT.
IT WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE RELIGION
OF THE PEOPLES SURROUNDING WHAT WAS EVENTUALLY
TO BECOME THE NATION OF ISRAEL
SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL.
LET US TRY TO PUT OURSELVES IN ABRAHAM’S PLACE.
IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE LIVING AROUND 1800 BCE,
A TIME WHEN HUMAN SACRIFICE,
ESPECIALLY OF ONE’S FIRST-BORN SON,
WAS NOT ONLY COMMON, BUT RESPECTED AND EXPECTED.
GIVEN THE FACT THAT LITERALLY ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE
IN YOUR IMMEDIATE VICINITY WERE DOING IT,
AND IT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE THE SACRIFICE
THAT WAS MOST PLEASING TO THE GODS,
NOTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE “NATURAL” AND “EXPECTED”
THAN FOR GOD TO SAY TO YOU, PROBABLY THROUGH A DREAM,
“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.”
(Genesis 22:2)
IN SPITE OF THE OVERWHELMING PRESENCE AND PRESSURE
OF THIS CUSTOM, YOU HAD BEEN HOPING AGAINST HOPE
THAT YOU WOULD BE SPARED THIS REQUIREMENT,
ESPECIALLY SINCE GOD HAD ALREADY “BROKEN THE RULES,”
SO TO SPEAK, AND GRANTED YOU AND YOUR WIFE
THE BIRTH OF THIS SON IN YOUR OLD AGE.
STILL, YOUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP, YOUR COVENANT,
WITH THIS MYSTERIOUS GOD
IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE.
YOU DO NOT PRESUME TO SECOND-GUESS THIS GOD;
YOU SIMPLY OBEY.
YOU GET UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING (22:3),
PERHAPS TAKING GREAT CARE LEST YOU WAKE YOUR WIFE SARAH,
MAKE THE NECESSARY PREPARATIONS, AND SET OUT.
SOMEHOW YOU SURVIVE THE THREE HORRIBLE DAYS –
DAYS FILLED WITH SILENCE AND SORROW –
THAT IT TAKES TO GET THERE.
ON THE THIRD DAY ISAAC BEGINS TO CATCH ON, AND ASKS
HIS IMPOSSIBLE QUESTION: “FATHER! THE FIRE AND THE WOOD
ARE HERE, BUT WHERE IS THE LAMB FOR A BURNT-OFFERING?” (22:7),
TO WHICH YOU GIVE YOUR EVASIVE ANSWER:
“GOD WILL PROVIDE A LAMB FOR A BURNT-OFFERING, MY SON.” (22:8)
UPON ARRIVING, YOU DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE:
YOU THROW TOGETHER A ROUGH ALTAR,
CAST THE WOOD ON IT,
BIND YOUR SON,
AND PLACE HIM ON TOP OF THE WOOD. (22:9)
AND NOW COMES THE PART OF THIS STORY,
ADMITTEDLY HIDDEN BETWEEN THE LINES OF THE TEXT,
WHICH MAKES IT ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TEXTS
OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE:
YOU GRASP YOUR KNIFE TO KILL (22:10),
BUT IN THE ETERNITY BETWEEN
THE UPSWING AND THE DOWNSTROKE A STARTLING INSIGHT
SLAMS INTO YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
IT IS AN INSIGHT WHICH BREAKS IN FROM “OUTSIDE” –
A THOUGHT WHICH COMPLETELY TRANSCENDS
YOUR OWN LIMITATIONS OF TIME AND PLACE.
YOU SUDDENLY REALIZE THAT THIS IS NOT
WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO DO AT ALL.
YOU SEE THAT THIS WHOLE EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN A TEST,
A TEST NOT OF YOUR FAITH AND OBEDIENCE
IN BEING WILLING TO SACRIFICE YOU SON (22:11-12),
BUT A TEST OF YOUR FAITH AND OBEDIENCE
IN BEING WILLING NOT TO SACRIFICE YOUR SON.
ACCORDING TO THIS INTERPRETATION,
ABRAHAM, IN THE ETERNITY BETWEEN THE UPSWING
AND THE DOWNSTROKE OF HIS KNIFE,
RECEIVES A REVELATORY INSIGHT INTO GOD’S NATURE,
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT INSIGHTS IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE.
HE SEES THAT GOD IS A GOD OF LIFE, NOT DEATH.
HE SEES THAT GOD TRULY CAN BE SAID TO BE A LOVING FATHER.
ANTHROPOLOGISTS MIGHT SAY
THAT IN THE ETERNITY BETWEEN UPSWING AND DOWNSTROKE
ABRAHAM EXPERIENCED AN “EVOLUTIONARY LEAP”
A HEIGHTENING OF CONSCIOUSNESS,
WHICH CATAPULTED HIM FAR, FAR AHEAD OF HIS TIME.
VIEWED IN LIGHT OF ISRAEL’S LATER FLIRTATION
WITH HUMAN SACRIFICE, IT BECOMES ALL TOO APPARENT
THAT ISRAEL WAS NOT ABLE TO LIVE UP TO
THIS CRUCIAL INSIGHT OF ITS FOUNDING FATHER, ABRAHAM.
ANOTHER WAY OF PUTTING THIS WOULD BE TO SAY
THAT ISRAEL’S LATER FAITH AND OBEDIENCE
DID NOT OFTEN EQUAL ITS EARLIER FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.
CERTAINLY THERE IS A LESSON IN THIS PATTERN
FOR THOSE OF US WHO CALL OURSELVES “CHRISTIANS.”
CONSIDERING CHRIST’S “EVOLUTIONARY LEAP”
INTO NONVIOLENCE, AND THE NONVIOLENT WITNESS
OF THE EARLY CHURCH, IT BECOMES ALL TOO APPARENT
THAT CHRISTIANITY HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO LIVE UP TO
THIS CRUCIAL INSIGHT OF ITS FOUNDER, JESUS.
WE, TOO, NEED TO BE RECALLED TO THE ROOTS OF OUR TRADITION,
TO RELEARN THE MEANING OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE
ACCORDING TO ABRAHAM,
TO RELEARN THE MEANING OF NONVIOLENCE
ACCORDING TO JESUS.
BY FAR THE BIGGEST TAKE-AWAY I HOPE YOU TAKE AWAY WITH YOU
FROM THIS SERMON IS THAT BIBLICAL TEXTS AND STORIES
THAT SERVE AS “GOVERNING DYNAMICS” OR “FIRST PRINCIPLES,”
HAVE THE POWER AND AUTHORITY –
GIVE US THE POWER AND AUTHORITY –
TO DOWNGRADE, TO PUT IN THEIR PROPER PLACE,
TEXTS WHICH CONTRADICT THEM.
THUS, IF GOD HAS ALREADY MADE AN UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT
WITH ABRAHAM,
GOD WILL NOT ARBITRARILY MAKE THE COVENANT
SUDDENLY CONDITIONAL
BY DEMANDING THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SON.
TWO MORE GOVERNING, OR FIRST PRINCIPLES TEXTS,
RELATED TO THIS, ARE THE FOLLOWING:
JAMES 1:17 TELLS US THAT WITH GOD, “THE FATHER OF LIGHT,
THERE IS NO VARIATION OR SHADOW DUE TO CHANGE.”
IN OTHER WORDS, GOD’S ESSENTIAL NATURE IS UNCHANGEABLE.
THUS, IF GOD MAKES AN UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT
WITH ABRAHAM, AND THROUGH ABRAHAM
WITH ALL HUMANKIND, WE HAVE GOD’S OWN PROMISE
THAT GOD WILL NOT SUDDENLY MAKE THE COVENANT CONDITIONAL
ON OUR DOING CERTAIN THINGS
(LIKE SACRIFICING OUR FIRST-BORN),
OR ON OUR BELIEVING CERTAIN THINGS
(LIKE A LIBRARY OF DOCTRINES).
HEBREW 13:8 ECHOES THIS CLAIM
OF GOD’S UNCHANGEABLENESS, ONLY THIS TIME
WITH REGARD TO JESUS, WHEN IT TELLS US THAT
“JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY
AND TODAY AND FOREVER.”
THUS, IF JESUS IS TRULY THE HUMAN FACE OF GOD,
THE DEEPEST AND HIGHEST REVELATION OF GOD’S NATURE
THAT WE HAVE,
AND JESUS INSISTS THAT GOD IS AS NONVIOLENT AS HE IS,
THIS MEANS THAT ALL THE TEXTS IN THE BIBLE
WHICH PRESENT GOD AS THINKING VIOLENT THOUGHTS
AND DOING VIOLENT THINGS ARE SIMPLY WRONG
IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY’RE TELLING US ABOUT GOD.
IF JESUS REVEALS TO US THAT GOD IS LOVE,
THIS MEANS THAT GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN
AND ALWAYS WILL BE LOVE,
NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS.
ALL THE VIOLENCE ASCRIBED TO GOD IN THE BIBLE
CAN BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD AS HUMAN BEINGS
PROJECTING OUR OWN VIOLENT TENDENCIES ONTO GOD.
IT TAKES A BIT OF COURAGE
TO USE THE BIBLE TO CRITIQUE THE BIBLE.
IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT IF GOD DIDN’T WANT US
TO APPROACH THE BIBLE IN THIS WAY,
GOD WOULDN’T GIVEN US A BOOK THAT CONTAINS
A LOT OF DEATH VALLEYS AS WELL AS THE TALLEST MOUNTAINS.
IN GIVING US SUCH A BOOK,
GOD IS TELLING US THAT THE TRUTH, OR REVELATION,
CONCERNING THE DIVINE NATURE IS NOT ALL ON THE SAME LEVEL,
BUT FOLLOWS A GRADUALLY ASCENDING PATH
TO A VISION WHICH SEES GOD AS
UNCONDITIONALLY COMPASSIONATE,
UNCONDITIONALLY NONVIOLENT,
AND UNCONDITIONALLY LOVING.
AMEN.