A Terrible Test
Genesis 22:1-18
John Calvin writes concerning this morning‘s sermon text, “For although Abraham, through the whole course of his life, gave astonishing proofs of faith and obedience, yet none more excellent can be imagined than the immolation of his own son.” Luther writes, “These events are recorded for our comfort,…” I suspect that this passage does not normally rank among the most frequented of people’s favorite scriptures. I suspect in fact that this is one account of which there are several that we sometimes find ourselves skipping uncomfortably over. It is hard to join the previous generation of commentators who celebrate the virtue and the steadfast faith of Abraham portrayed in this account. It may even be hard to find the comfort that Luther mentions. We may feel more inclined to the assessment of the anthropologist Carol Delaney who in her book Abraham on Trial; the Social Legacy of Biblical Myth finds a number of ethical questions raised by this account. Delaney goes so far as to assert that the story of Abraham has been promoting child abuse by creating an atmosphere that fosters evil. She argues that Abraham’s faith continues to this day to shape the thought-behavior patterns of Christians, Jews and Muslins, promoting child abuse, domestic violence, war, poverty and a host of other evils. She argues that Abraham’s actions betray an underlying assumption that a father, that is, the male parent, possesses complete authority over his child’s life. She cites a case in the 1990’s where a man in California killed his youngest and favorite daughter and claimed that God had commanded him to offer her as a sacrifice. So what are we to do with this passage?
I recently was talking with a man from out of state who was reminiscing about how they used to celebrate the Fourth of July. He said that back in the rural areas of his home state they used to make their own fireworks. On one such celebration they were all gathered around and his uncle was complaining about some I forget now exactly what animal but it was some digging animal that was making a mess of his crops. So the teenagers decided they would take care of the problem. They found a den, and prepared a firecracker. Their plan was to smoke out the beast and then shoot it. They lit the homemade firecracker and dropped in the whole. What happened next, was described as a blur. All he distinctly remembered hearing was the horrible word….skunk! They ran down the side of the mountain with abandon. The smell took a long time to go away. This account has a kind of repulsiveness about it…that I think is similar to the smell of a skunk. I should say at the outset that this is a passage that will always and should always trouble us. It is meant to. Luther and Calvin recognize the horror in this story, but they also recognize a message, a promise that is meant for us.
By the time one comes to this chapter of Genesis, if one were reading straight through the Bible one would already be familiar with Abraham. He is first introduced at the end of chapter 11. You know his name will be changed. His name from birth is Abram. Abraham as I will for convenience refer to him throughout is a special person in the scripture. Abraham’s importance is connected to what we looked at last week. You see the Lord made a covenant a promise that no matter the wickedness of human, he would not again destroy the earth. But this promise did not mean that the Lord was content to leave humanity in its sinful position. The Lord set about his plan to restore the world and the Lord set about to do this through a particular man. When Abraham was chosen by God he was called to leave the land of his Fathers to set out for a place that God would show him. And Abraham listened. He left all he knew. He packed up his family and set out. The Lord promised that through this man he was going to show his favor to all nations everywhere. We should not forget this promise. It is central to understanding his life to understanding this specific passage. By the time we come to this chapter one will have followed Abraham through many challenges that seem to thwart this promise. There are enemies in the land. There is famine that drives him to leave and find refuge with neighboring rulers. But most serious of all is the barren womb of his wife. He is promised that his line will bless the world but his wife is without child. In her old age she bares a son. And it is at this point in the story. When the long promised heir has finally come that we read in verse one, “After these things, God tested Abraham.”
It is a strange test. He is told to go to a place that the Lord would show him, and at that place to offer a burnt offering of his son Isaac. And Abraham goes about getting ready to do just as the Lord directs him. He gets up early and saddles his donkey. He chops wood and gets on the road. He once again does not know where he is going. The text is sparse in its details. We find no objection from Abraham. It was not the case that Abraham had never questioned God’s plans. Remember when the Lord told Abraham about his plans for Sodom and Gomorrah? Abraham pleads for these wicked cities. And yet here, when it is his own son whose life is at stake, there is not recorded word, just sparse action, he packs up and goes. After three days of traveling he raises his eyes and sees the place. It is hard not to want to imagine what kinds of things might have been going through his mind as he looked out on this mountain in the distance. But there is only one clue. You see as he gathers the supplies, he places the wood onto Isaac to carry. We do not know how old Isaac is at this point, many have offered guesses but I do not know that such guessing is even helpful. He was old enough to carry the wood. Abraham takes the fire and the knife and as they walk, Isaac asks his father. We have the wood, the fire, but what about the lamb for the burnt offering? Here in verse eight, Abraham responds, the Lord will provide. This is the only insight we have into his mind and his thoughts about what God is asking him to do. The Lord has commanded him to do this and the Lord will provide.
There are no more details. Details again are lacking in this story. The next thing we know he builds the altar, and prepares the fire, and then he binds Isaac. Was there a struggle? Did he explain to Isaac what he was going to do? Did Isaac willing agree to lie down. It is almost as if the narrator wants to get to the end of this story as quickly as possible, I know I wish the end came sooner. The intervention will come but it comes pretty late. It is not until Abraham has drawn the knife that the messenger from God an angel stops his hand. He tells Abraham do not harm the child. Here we again find another strange element in the story…as if it could not get any stranger for we find the Lord saying to Abraham now I know that you fear me that you will not withhold your son the son of the promise from me. Did God have to initiate this test to know what Abraham would do? God is all knowing. He knows the heart of man. And yet we find this as the explanation for this terrible test. Abraham then looks up and he sees a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. God’s provision for the sacrifice. As Abraham had told Isaac God will provide the sacrifice.
There are different kinds of test. Since I have spent so much time in school, I think of tests in the academic sense. You have tests that are to assess whether or not you have mastered the material. And you have tests to make sure you are completing your assignments. But these reference points are not fully satisfactory because what God is testing is Abraham’s relationship. Does he really fear me? Sometimes when we think of testing I think of someone trying to figure out what someone else really thinks. My first year of college there was a student who would after leaving a neighbors room stand behind the closed door. People came to know this because when we were walking up and down the hall you would from time to time see him standing at the door…listening. What were they saying about him after he left. This young man as I reflect back on his actions was trying to know what the people he considered to be his friends really felt about him. God did not need to test Abraham in this way. I think a more helpful image for thinking about this test is that performed on borsch the Russian beat soup. Before it is served the cook takes a sip. Is it finally done, or does it need a little more time. The blacksmith forging the swords would test them before they were ready for battle.
But what exactly is the Lord testing? In verse 12, the Lord says now I know that you fear God. What does this mean exactly? Fear is of course an important word used to describe a person’s relationship before God. Fear is the beginning of wisdom. But we should not read this word fear in the way that people normally used the word fear, in fact the way it is meant here is not just a little different but significantly different. We think of acting out of fear as doing something out of compulsion. The man shot his intruder because he feared for his life. Do you notice that almost anytime, in just about every case that the Lord sends his angels to visit people when these angels are revealed the people are terrified. Or when the people of Jesus day realized that this was not just any man they were afraid. The Lord quite easily could have shown Abraham fear. But this is not the way this discovery or test is meant to reveal.
No what this is meant to test is whether Abraham trusts God. Does he fear not doing what God has said not because is scared of God, but because he is scared of not being with God. The fear of God is the reverence and respect the desire to be faithful, the trusting in the almighty. But even here as we think about this encounter just what is it that Abraham is being tested. We think of someone being tested in their faith perhaps in the sense that someone has been given a promise that they cannot quite see whether or not it is going to work out. This is one aspect of faith. I know that my friend said he would meet me here so I am going to wait. I know that God has said this so I will wait on him. I will trust his word even when I cannot completely see the outcome. A second way we sometimes think of trusting God or the need to have faith is when things are not looking like they are going to happen perhaps the promise is against our reason. I am telling you this will work you need to trust me. Sometimes faith involves this trusting someone else’s direction even when our own thinking might indicate some other action. But the story here is even different than either of these scenarios. I mean there are elements of both. Abraham is trusting in God’s promise even though he doesn’t know how exactly it is going to work out. Abraham is also trusting despite the fact that it is counter to what he would think is the right course of action. But even more striking is that he is trusting in God despite the contradiction of God’s own word. This son who he has been promised will be the seed through which all people’s are blessed he has now been commanded to offer as a burnt offering. The Lord’s word to him is in contradiction of his promise. This is what makes this test so great.
The key to understanding this trial is in verse eight. Abraham’s simple straightforward reply to Isaac, God will provide. Even if this means that Isaac will have to die, this command is from God and he will bring him back to life. Now it is important to recognize one element of this story that is just taken for granted. As we read the story you might think how would I know if this was really God? What if it was a bad dream or like the horrible family tragedy recounted by Carol Delaney of the man in California who killed his daughter because he heard what he thought was the voice of God? The story does not really answer that question. Martin Luther makes the comment I pray ever day that I will never be visited by an angel. It is taken for granted in this story the reader knows that this is God who is commanding this. Abraham knows it and he trusts him. He obeys despite the contrary promise. He knows that God is faithful. And the Lord says Abraham is ready. This is the man through whom all nations will be blessed. This son Isaac would be the family line through which God himself became flesh. It will be Abraham who is the model of faithful response to the word of God. It is by faith that one is saved, trusting in the word of God.
We do not live vicariously through Abraham. The test Abraham experienced is in fact the test we all experience. How can we trust God given the contradictory word we find. We find the promise of life and the sentence of death. In the words from the gospel of Luke today Jesus tells those who are following him life is not found in trying to hold on to it but letting it go. The stink of this passage is that the son is on the block. It is Isaac not Abraham who is going to die. I think the choice of the son is very intentional by God and intentional for us. It is not merely though certainly an element that his dearly loved son was the most important thing to Abraham in his life. Isaac was the great gift that he cherished. But even more significantly the son lays down as an offering as a hint of what is to come two thousand years later. For a Father does sacrifice his son, but it will not be Abraham. It will be God the Father who gives his Son Jesus to be crucified that the judgment of God might be received upon himself.
On Wednesday evening Psalm 23 came to my mind as I was leaving the church. I was walking out to check on our soda count for the pool party, when I thought I saw someone in the breezeway between the church and the fellowship hall. It really startled me, until I realized it was my shadow. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. Death looms over our lives. Life is too short not to enjoy yourself. This is the message so often sounding in our ears. How can you give yourself to God, when what we know seems like his no, not his yes. We need to see that the judgment of God is not the final word. We here the conflicting yes the promise of life everlasting the promise of victory over death. Let us be like Abraham people who respond God will provide.
John Calvin writes concerning this morning‘s sermon text, “For although Abraham, through the whole course of his life, gave astonishing proofs of faith and obedience, yet none more excellent can be imagined than the immolation of his own son.” Luther writes, “These events are recorded for our comfort,…” I suspect that this passage does not normally rank among the most frequented of people’s favorite scriptures. I suspect in fact that this is one account of which there are several that we sometimes find ourselves skipping uncomfortably over. It is hard to join the previous generation of commentators who celebrate the virtue and the steadfast faith of Abraham portrayed in this account. It may even be hard to find the comfort that Luther mentions. We may feel more inclined to the assessment of the anthropologist Carol Delaney who in her book Abraham on Trial; the Social Legacy of Biblical Myth finds a number of ethical questions raised by this account. Delaney goes so far as to assert that the story of Abraham has been promoting child abuse by creating an atmosphere that fosters evil. She argues that Abraham’s faith continues to this day to shape the thought-behavior patterns of Christians, Jews and Muslins, promoting child abuse, domestic violence, war, poverty and a host of other evils. She argues that Abraham’s actions betray an underlying assumption that a father, that is, the male parent, possesses complete authority over his child’s life. She cites a case in the 1990’s where a man in California killed his youngest and favorite daughter and claimed that God had commanded him to offer her as a sacrifice. So what are we to do with this passage?
I recently was talking with a man from out of state who was reminiscing about how they used to celebrate the Fourth of July. He said that back in the rural areas of his home state they used to make their own fireworks. On one such celebration they were all gathered around and his uncle was complaining about some I forget now exactly what animal but it was some digging animal that was making a mess of his crops. So the teenagers decided they would take care of the problem. They found a den, and prepared a firecracker. Their plan was to smoke out the beast and then shoot it. They lit the homemade firecracker and dropped in the whole. What happened next, was described as a blur. All he distinctly remembered hearing was the horrible word….skunk! They ran down the side of the mountain with abandon. The smell took a long time to go away. This account has a kind of repulsiveness about it…that I think is similar to the smell of a skunk. I should say at the outset that this is a passage that will always and should always trouble us. It is meant to. Luther and Calvin recognize the horror in this story, but they also recognize a message, a promise that is meant for us.
By the time one comes to this chapter of Genesis, if one were reading straight through the Bible one would already be familiar with Abraham. He is first introduced at the end of chapter 11. You know his name will be changed. His name from birth is Abram. Abraham as I will for convenience refer to him throughout is a special person in the scripture. Abraham’s importance is connected to what we looked at last week. You see the Lord made a covenant a promise that no matter the wickedness of human, he would not again destroy the earth. But this promise did not mean that the Lord was content to leave humanity in its sinful position. The Lord set about his plan to restore the world and the Lord set about to do this through a particular man. When Abraham was chosen by God he was called to leave the land of his Fathers to set out for a place that God would show him. And Abraham listened. He left all he knew. He packed up his family and set out. The Lord promised that through this man he was going to show his favor to all nations everywhere. We should not forget this promise. It is central to understanding his life to understanding this specific passage. By the time we come to this chapter one will have followed Abraham through many challenges that seem to thwart this promise. There are enemies in the land. There is famine that drives him to leave and find refuge with neighboring rulers. But most serious of all is the barren womb of his wife. He is promised that his line will bless the world but his wife is without child. In her old age she bares a son. And it is at this point in the story. When the long promised heir has finally come that we read in verse one, “After these things, God tested Abraham.”
It is a strange test. He is told to go to a place that the Lord would show him, and at that place to offer a burnt offering of his son Isaac. And Abraham goes about getting ready to do just as the Lord directs him. He gets up early and saddles his donkey. He chops wood and gets on the road. He once again does not know where he is going. The text is sparse in its details. We find no objection from Abraham. It was not the case that Abraham had never questioned God’s plans. Remember when the Lord told Abraham about his plans for Sodom and Gomorrah? Abraham pleads for these wicked cities. And yet here, when it is his own son whose life is at stake, there is not recorded word, just sparse action, he packs up and goes. After three days of traveling he raises his eyes and sees the place. It is hard not to want to imagine what kinds of things might have been going through his mind as he looked out on this mountain in the distance. But there is only one clue. You see as he gathers the supplies, he places the wood onto Isaac to carry. We do not know how old Isaac is at this point, many have offered guesses but I do not know that such guessing is even helpful. He was old enough to carry the wood. Abraham takes the fire and the knife and as they walk, Isaac asks his father. We have the wood, the fire, but what about the lamb for the burnt offering? Here in verse eight, Abraham responds, the Lord will provide. This is the only insight we have into his mind and his thoughts about what God is asking him to do. The Lord has commanded him to do this and the Lord will provide.
There are no more details. Details again are lacking in this story. The next thing we know he builds the altar, and prepares the fire, and then he binds Isaac. Was there a struggle? Did he explain to Isaac what he was going to do? Did Isaac willing agree to lie down. It is almost as if the narrator wants to get to the end of this story as quickly as possible, I know I wish the end came sooner. The intervention will come but it comes pretty late. It is not until Abraham has drawn the knife that the messenger from God an angel stops his hand. He tells Abraham do not harm the child. Here we again find another strange element in the story…as if it could not get any stranger for we find the Lord saying to Abraham now I know that you fear me that you will not withhold your son the son of the promise from me. Did God have to initiate this test to know what Abraham would do? God is all knowing. He knows the heart of man. And yet we find this as the explanation for this terrible test. Abraham then looks up and he sees a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. God’s provision for the sacrifice. As Abraham had told Isaac God will provide the sacrifice.
There are different kinds of test. Since I have spent so much time in school, I think of tests in the academic sense. You have tests that are to assess whether or not you have mastered the material. And you have tests to make sure you are completing your assignments. But these reference points are not fully satisfactory because what God is testing is Abraham’s relationship. Does he really fear me? Sometimes when we think of testing I think of someone trying to figure out what someone else really thinks. My first year of college there was a student who would after leaving a neighbors room stand behind the closed door. People came to know this because when we were walking up and down the hall you would from time to time see him standing at the door…listening. What were they saying about him after he left. This young man as I reflect back on his actions was trying to know what the people he considered to be his friends really felt about him. God did not need to test Abraham in this way. I think a more helpful image for thinking about this test is that performed on borsch the Russian beat soup. Before it is served the cook takes a sip. Is it finally done, or does it need a little more time. The blacksmith forging the swords would test them before they were ready for battle.
But what exactly is the Lord testing? In verse 12, the Lord says now I know that you fear God. What does this mean exactly? Fear is of course an important word used to describe a person’s relationship before God. Fear is the beginning of wisdom. But we should not read this word fear in the way that people normally used the word fear, in fact the way it is meant here is not just a little different but significantly different. We think of acting out of fear as doing something out of compulsion. The man shot his intruder because he feared for his life. Do you notice that almost anytime, in just about every case that the Lord sends his angels to visit people when these angels are revealed the people are terrified. Or when the people of Jesus day realized that this was not just any man they were afraid. The Lord quite easily could have shown Abraham fear. But this is not the way this discovery or test is meant to reveal.
No what this is meant to test is whether Abraham trusts God. Does he fear not doing what God has said not because is scared of God, but because he is scared of not being with God. The fear of God is the reverence and respect the desire to be faithful, the trusting in the almighty. But even here as we think about this encounter just what is it that Abraham is being tested. We think of someone being tested in their faith perhaps in the sense that someone has been given a promise that they cannot quite see whether or not it is going to work out. This is one aspect of faith. I know that my friend said he would meet me here so I am going to wait. I know that God has said this so I will wait on him. I will trust his word even when I cannot completely see the outcome. A second way we sometimes think of trusting God or the need to have faith is when things are not looking like they are going to happen perhaps the promise is against our reason. I am telling you this will work you need to trust me. Sometimes faith involves this trusting someone else’s direction even when our own thinking might indicate some other action. But the story here is even different than either of these scenarios. I mean there are elements of both. Abraham is trusting in God’s promise even though he doesn’t know how exactly it is going to work out. Abraham is also trusting despite the fact that it is counter to what he would think is the right course of action. But even more striking is that he is trusting in God despite the contradiction of God’s own word. This son who he has been promised will be the seed through which all people’s are blessed he has now been commanded to offer as a burnt offering. The Lord’s word to him is in contradiction of his promise. This is what makes this test so great.
The key to understanding this trial is in verse eight. Abraham’s simple straightforward reply to Isaac, God will provide. Even if this means that Isaac will have to die, this command is from God and he will bring him back to life. Now it is important to recognize one element of this story that is just taken for granted. As we read the story you might think how would I know if this was really God? What if it was a bad dream or like the horrible family tragedy recounted by Carol Delaney of the man in California who killed his daughter because he heard what he thought was the voice of God? The story does not really answer that question. Martin Luther makes the comment I pray ever day that I will never be visited by an angel. It is taken for granted in this story the reader knows that this is God who is commanding this. Abraham knows it and he trusts him. He obeys despite the contrary promise. He knows that God is faithful. And the Lord says Abraham is ready. This is the man through whom all nations will be blessed. This son Isaac would be the family line through which God himself became flesh. It will be Abraham who is the model of faithful response to the word of God. It is by faith that one is saved, trusting in the word of God.
We do not live vicariously through Abraham. The test Abraham experienced is in fact the test we all experience. How can we trust God given the contradictory word we find. We find the promise of life and the sentence of death. In the words from the gospel of Luke today Jesus tells those who are following him life is not found in trying to hold on to it but letting it go. The stink of this passage is that the son is on the block. It is Isaac not Abraham who is going to die. I think the choice of the son is very intentional by God and intentional for us. It is not merely though certainly an element that his dearly loved son was the most important thing to Abraham in his life. Isaac was the great gift that he cherished. But even more significantly the son lays down as an offering as a hint of what is to come two thousand years later. For a Father does sacrifice his son, but it will not be Abraham. It will be God the Father who gives his Son Jesus to be crucified that the judgment of God might be received upon himself.
On Wednesday evening Psalm 23 came to my mind as I was leaving the church. I was walking out to check on our soda count for the pool party, when I thought I saw someone in the breezeway between the church and the fellowship hall. It really startled me, until I realized it was my shadow. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. Death looms over our lives. Life is too short not to enjoy yourself. This is the message so often sounding in our ears. How can you give yourself to God, when what we know seems like his no, not his yes. We need to see that the judgment of God is not the final word. We here the conflicting yes the promise of life everlasting the promise of victory over death. Let us be like Abraham people who respond God will provide.
posted by Luke at
3:32 PM
|
0 comments
