Lesson #9 Isaac on the Altar (22: 1 23: 20)

1. Prelude to Property: Abraham makes his opening move in acquiring property in the land of Canaan when he relocates to the Canaanite royal city of Gerar where he uses the old ploy say you are my sister with king Abimelech. 2. Delivering on Progeny: Sarah gives birth to Isaac when she is 90 years old and Abraham is 100! 3. Delivering on Property: Abraham negotiates the property rights to a well he has dug and he forms an alliance with Abimelech.

Isaac plays a key role in Gods plan of redemption. But in Genesis 22, God says to Abraham: Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.

This is a stunning demand: what are we to make of it?

One should renounce any attempt to discover one basic idea as the meaning of the whole. There are many levels of meaning.
Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, trans. by J. H. Marks and J. Bowden. London: SCM Press, 1972.

In the story of Isaac, it is not only Gods intervention at the beginning and the end, but even the factual and psychological elements which come between, that are mysterious, merely touched upon, fraught with background; and therefore they require subtle investigation and interpretation, they demand them [my emphasis].
Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: the Representation of Reality in Western Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac . . . and offer him up as a burnt offering. (Genesis 22: 2). Robert Alter observes in his translation, The Five Books of Moses: The Hebrew syntactic chain *of verse 2+ is exquisitely forged to carry a dramatic burden . . ..

Rabbinic Midrash
Your son. He said to Him, I have two sons. He said to him, Your only one. He said, This one is an only one to his mother and this one is an only one to his mother. He said to him, Whom you love. He said to Him, I love both of them. He said to him, Isaac. Rashi (greatest of the Medieval Rabbis)

Bulls bound and prepared for sacrificial slaughter. Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt.

Photography by Ana Maria Vargas

Carvaggio. Sacrifice of Isaac, c. 1603, oil on canvas. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

1. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news [the Gospel] to Abraham, saying, Through you shall all the nations be blessed (Galatians 3: 8). 2. Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel . . . That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4). 3. By faith Abraham when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac descendants shall bear you name. He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol *my emphasis+ (Hebrews 11: 1719).

1. Abraham offers his only son as a sacrifice; God offers his only son as a sacrifice. 2. Isaac is to be sacrificed in the region of Moriah; Christ is sacrificed in the region of Moriah (2 Chronicles 3: 1). 3. Isaac carries the wood of the fire for his own sacrifice; Christ carries the wood of the cross for his own sacrifice. 4. Abraham is told, God will provide the lamb for the sacrificial offering; God provides Christ, the lamb of God, for the sacrificial offering. 5. Isaac is about 33 years old when Abraham offers him as a sacrifice; Christ is about 33 years old when God offers him as a sacrifice.

But what about Sarah?

Abraham, deeming that nothing would justify disobedience to God . . . Concealed from his wife Gods commandment and his own resolve concerning the immolation of the child; nay revealing it not even to any of his household, lest haply he should have been hindered from doing Gods service . . ..
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library Series, trans. by H. St. J. Thackeray. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.

A shrewd real estate deal

1. Through subtle negotiating with Abimelech in 21: 22-34, Abraham acquired a well in Beer-sheba, his first property in the promised land. 2. After Sarahs death, Abraham acquires additional property in Hebron: the entire field belonging to Ephron, son of Zohar.

1. Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? 2. What might you imagine were Abrahams thoughts and feelings during the night-long gap between verses 2 & 3? 3. What might you imagine were Isaacs thoughts and feelings during the 3-day journey to Moriah, the gap between verses 3 & 4? 4. How does the story create tension as it moves forward? 5. What were the long-term effects of Abrahams actions on Sarah and Isaac?

Copyright 2013 by William C. Creasy

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