"The Lord Will Provide" (Gen 22:1-18)

A Surprising Sacrifice

Recently I stumbled upon the story of a couple who had just started dating. It was around Halloween, and they had gone to a haunted house with several friends. Pictures from early in the evening show the young man with his arm around his date’s shoulder. I’m not really a Halloween enthusiast myself, but I imagine this was all part of the young man’s plan. Little frights and shocks require comfort and reassurance, the perfect excuse for an arm around the shoulder. So far, so good. But a little bit later, a ghost jumped from the shadows into the audience. Footage from the young man’s friends show his arm drop, as he scatters for the nearest door and shuts it—in his girlfriend’s face! That footage found its way online to social media, and the responses are a whole lot of fun, as people debate the meaning of the young’s man decision to “sacrifice” his girlfriend. Some people interpreted it as a warning about the young man’s true character. (One person sarcastically commented, “The signs of a true gentleman”). Others, however, were more optimistic and said the episode deserved laughter; perhaps it would even become a memory that the couple would one day share with their grandchildren.

Does God Get a Pass?

Today’s scripture is about a sacrifice, too, but it is no laughing matter for Abraham. Or his grandchildren, for that matter: his grandson, Jacob, seems to know the family lore, for he alludes to this episode delicately when he refers to God as the “Fear of Isaac,” or “Dread of Isaac” (Gen 31:42), a title that hauntingly confirms the trauma of this episode. Isaac bears the wood for the sacrifice (Gen 22:6). He may well bear the emotional scars for the rest of his life.

The most common interpretation is that this episode is the ultimate test of Abraham’s faithfulness. God had promised him a great family, more descendants than there were stars in the sky. Now, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son. It is completely illogical, not to mention horribly inhumane. Many readers give God a pass here, because, well, God can do anything God likes, right? But for me as a Christ-follower, who has pledged faithfulness to a God of love, I cannot overlook what seems to be a sadistic entrance exam that demands violence and instills fear. If Christ is indeed God in the flesh, the fullest representation we have of God’s character (cf. Col 1:15-20), then I expect God to be at least as loving as Christ. And what’s happening here seems to bear little resemblance to that love.

Recovering God’s Character

But there are other interpretations. Today’s scripture has so many gaps, so many places where we do not know the character’s motives or feelings. And there are many different ways to fill in the gaps.[1]

I want to start with God. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, God clearly opposes child sacrifice. Israel’s neighbors engage in it. Mesha, king of Moab, sacrifices his own son so that he might have victory in battle (2 Kgs 3:26-27). But God forbids Israel to follow in the way of its neighbors, saying, “You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God” (Lev 18:21). Child sacrifice is a blemish on God’s name. It is a bad witness to God’s character. It does not reflect who God is. God even goes further to say that if anyone is aware of the practice going on and ignores it, then God will turn against that person, and they will be cut off from the rest of the people (Lev 18:24-25).

If God is so resolutely opposed to child sacrifice, then what is going on when he tests Abraham with this contradictory command? The Bible never tells us the purpose of the test. Readers have assumed it is a test meant to prove Abraham’s faithfulness. But God already knows what is in Abraham’s heart. Whenever God asks a question in the Bible, it’s not to learn new information, but rather to invite the characters to learn something about themselves, maybe even to take responsibility for themselves. Think about Adam and Eve, whom God asks, “Where are you?” and “What is this that you have done?” (Gen 3:9, 13).

It is possible, then, that God is testing Abraham to show him something about himself. God’s character is not in doubt. We know that God is resolutely opposed to child sacrifice. But what about Abraham?

Abraham’s Character

For readers who pay close attention, Abraham’s character is a dubious matter. Perhaps the most glaring mark against him is his repeated choice to sacrifice his own wife, Sarah, for his own well-being. On two separate occasions, Abraham fears that Sarah’s beauty will lead to his death, that the ruler of the land will dispose of Abraham and take Sarah for himself. So, he formulates a plan. He tells Sarah to say that she is his sister rather than his wife. On both occasions, the plan works wonderfully—for Abraham. The king of the territory takes Sarah into his home and deals favorably with Abraham, giving him livestock and servants (cf. Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). But imagine how Sarah must feel. Her husband is passing her off for personal gain. He is doing much worse than the boyfriend in the haunted house. This is real life, and he’s pushing her into the clutches of what he fears so that he may survive.

Abraham does something similar with the family’s maidservant, Hagar. When Sarah becomes upset with Hagar—although Hagar has done nothing other than what has been demanded of her—Abraham disclaims any responsibility in the matter, saying, “Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please” (Gen 16:6). He passes Hagar off just as he did Sarah.

A Test of Selfishness?

Observing this pattern of sacrifice, we might begin to wonder, “What or whom will Abraham not sacrifice for his own security or gain?” In this context, God’s command begins to look less like a test of faithfulness and more like a test of selfishness. Maybe God is revealing the horrible lengths to which Abraham would go for his own sake. Abraham thinks sacrificing Isaac is necessary to stay in God’s good graces and to continue to receive blessing, so he is willing to make the sacrifice. Rather than question God’s character for making such an outrageous command, we might question Abraham’s character for not refusing, for not saying, “Wait a minute, God. What now?” A little earlier in Genesis, Abraham has no trouble bartering for the lives of the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah. In that episode, he even seems to reprimand God, “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked! … Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen 18:25). It seems that a similar response is even more in order here: “Far be it from you to ask such a thing! Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Amazing Grace

Today’s story ends in blessing. Generally, readers have interpreted this as a sign that Abraham has passed the test. But we can equally read the opposite, that he has failed. Listen to God’s words again: “Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will bless you all the more” (Gen 22:16-17). In other words, “Because you were willing to sacrifice even your son for your own security, well, you stand all the more in need of my grace. You have sacrificed your family at every turn, but look!—I insist on blessing your family.”

Amazing grace, indeed. In this interpretation, we get an early glimpse of God’s surprising character, a God who overcomes evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21). The wonder of the book of Genesis is that the main characters, whom we commonly read as heroes, are actually quite relatable. They commonly lose sight of God’s will and put their own interests ahead of others’. They act out of fear and greed. They endure traumatic moments with lasting consequences. Yet, all the while, God is with them and continues to insist on blessing them, that the world might be blessed.

I’ve been reading a book about the early church. One of things I’m learning is that they emphasized God’s patience as a peculiar virtue. In the Greco-Roman world, patience was not an ideal.[2] It was a trait of the weak or the foolish. Slaves needed patience. But anyone with a smidgeon of power or agency, would proudly try to fashion his own destiny on his own terms. Why wait around? Why let others be a part of the picture?

But that’s what God does. God blesses Abraham’s family again and again, patiently enduring their wayward looks, their flaws, their shortcomings. God’s blessing works on them like water works on stone. The good news that we see in Genesis is not that God instantaneously confers strength and success upon the faithful, but that God patiently loves them even amid their faithlessness. God’s real blessing is God’s steadfast presence, which never leaves them. They move about without a permanent home, they suffer the losses of this world, they endure the consequences of their own mishaps, but God is always there. Abraham gets a lot of things wrong in his story, but one thing he gets so right is his declaration at the end of today’s scripture. There at the place where God stops him from the worst sacrifice of all, perhaps snapping him out of his distorted thinking, out of his repeated attempts to secure his own life on his own terms—there Abraham declares, “The Lord will provide” (Gen 22:14).

Prayer

Patient God,
Whose blessing defies logic,
We are indeed children of Father Abraham,
Imperfect, impatient, impulsive,
Yet also aware of your presence.
Help us to see your blessing
Not so much in materials
But in your insistent love
That will not let us go
…
May your love instruct us
In your patient way.
In Christ, the free gift of God: Amen.

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[1] The interpretation advanced here is inspired by the interpretation offered in David M. Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell, Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 90-100.

[2] Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2016), 20.