Genesis 22: 1-14 (New Jerusalem Bible)
Matthew 10: 40-42 (Common English Bible)
This week’s reading from the Hebrew Bible is one of the most famous or maybe even infamous and suspenseful stories in the Bible, the so-called “Binding of Isaac.” It’s a difficult story to understand that must be read carefully and within its context. And a new way to understand it is through last week’s reading about Ishmael and Hagar being exiled into the wilderness, facing possible death or life, if they were lucky to survive.
The first thing to realize is that human sacrifice was a reality in the ancient world. From Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and even the ancient Hebrews, human sacrifice was practiced. And the saddest story in the Bible about human sacrifice happened after the time of Abraham. It’s the tragic story of Jephthah, when he boasted to God that if he was given victory over the Ammonites, he would sacrifice the first creature coming from his house after the battle. Jephthah won his battle, but at a heartbreaking cost. It wasn’t a pet or livestock that Jephthah saw first as he expected after his victory, but his own beloved daughter. And you can read this sad and tragic story in Judges 11: 29-40.
It was believed in ancient times, the gods had to be appeased by blood. And what blood was more precious than human blood? To the ancient people, sacrificing something very important, humans and valuable livestock, made the gods happy and the security of the community intact.
When Abraham sent Ishmael and Hagar into exile, God did not intend for them to die. God protects them, cares for them and fulfills promises to make them each ancestor of multitudes of people.
But why does God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? From the previous reading, Sarah and Abraham decide to exile Ishmael and his mother Hagar for selfish and maybe even xenophobic reasons, since Hagar was foreign. When God had promised Sarah in previous years that she would bear Abraham a son, she had her doubts. The doubts of Sarah and Abraham concerning God’s promise were so great, they came up with a Plan B. Their Plan B was having a slave woman bear Abraham’s child so he would have descendants.
Even though God permits Abraham to have his way by exiling Ishmael and his mother, God turns the tables on Abraham for his selfish decision. It would be like God telling Abraham, “If you’re willing to turn your back on your own child Ishmael, how would you feel if your favorite son Isaac was sent on a death march much like you sent your first son Ishmael into the wilderness?”
And so God “tests” Abraham. The Hebrew word for test is nasha, the same word used in Deuteronomy for the trial God lets the Israelites in the wilderness after their liberation from Egypt. God’s reason was to humble the Israelites (Deut. 8:2). The death of Isaac would mean the death of the dream that Abraham’s descendants will become a great nation. It would erase that inheritance of Abraham, the very thing Sarah and Abraham tried to insure by exiling Ishmael and Hagar. There were repercussions, coming from God. Some might call it the “butterfly effect.”
It’s as if God also says to Abraham, “You sent Hagar and her only son, your son also, into the wilderness with little to eat. Just as you cut off Ishmael and Hagar from inheriting any blessings, now you will taste a dose of your own medicine. You Abraham, attempted to exclude others, now you will feel what it is like to lose everything. Now you must choose between your arrogant faith and a genuine faith.”
Abraham’s faith on Mt. Moriah was chastened and humbled by his ordeal, and has become the strongest example of faith among both Jews and Christians. In light of this story, we should be careful of the temptation to practice faith as a strategy for gain, rather than a humble form of love and generosity. Today, the evil practice of human sacrifice is long gone. Instead other forms of selfish sacrifice still exist. People today are sacrificed on the altar of profit and corporate merging after years of service. And I remember during the height of the COVID pandemic, meat packers in South Dakota were not even given adequate protection to work safely in those crowded conditions. And meat is not essential to your survival. Vegan people do live long lives! Genesis chapter 22 is a reminder that human sacrifice on any kind of altar is wrong. This is my opinion on how to understand the near sacrifice of Isaac. It is different from most interpretations. Instead of viewing it as most do, that God out of the blue decided it would be good day for Abraham to sacrifice his son, and then for some theological jiu-jitsu how to reconcile God of Sacrifice into a God of Love, the entire story behind this story, is what is important. Read the story of Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael and Hagar as a continuous flow as the first readers did without the chapters and verses dividing the story. The divine Yahweh never intended Isaac to die, no more than Ishmael. And God does work in mysterious ways that are least expected.
And in the gospel of Matthew it shows not only how Jesus represents divine power and promise, but also makes equal the power and responsibility that comes with it. This gave the disciples the same healing capabilities as Jesus. This was the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The divine mission is about the unnamed who provide a thirsty person a drink of water, as much as the famous who did. Most of the unknown names of the first generation of Jesus followers are lost to history, but not to God. Despite their backgrounds, they were all linked to Jesus.
At the end of the 1984 movie, “Places in the Heart,” the final scene is very spiritual and surreal. All of the characters present in the movie are gathered in a church, those living and those who have died. The white racist is next to a Black man he mistreated, all sitting in places they would never be. Then all of them begin taking the Holy Eucharist. The bread and wine are passed from one another. Suddenly, we realize what faith is, even though we might not know how to explain it.
We can feel and realize what Christ accomplished for us on the Cross. We can imagine the Holy Spirit handing the elements of the Eucharist to all of God’s children. This is the true vision of Abraham’s legacy, that everyone will live in harmony.
Dear God give us the guidance to follow you with faith and without doubts. Your ways are not human ways and we must never forget that. But we can rest assured, your ways are the ways of love, justice and mercy. AMEN
