What do we do with this? God commands Abraham to kill his son.
It is true: God was not going to let Abraham go through with it. But that doesn't change the fact that God commanded it. And apparently Abraham was going to do it. And God praises Abraham for being willing to do it.
We have a problem here. How could God command Abraham to kill his son?
If God had sent marauding bandits to kill his son, we would sympathize with Abraham. After all, many fathers have lost their sons: to the battlefield, to accidents, or to disease. And many fathers have had to trust God in the midst of their grief, knowing that somehow God knows what he is doing.
But not Abraham. Abraham must take the knife in his own hand and slaughter his son for a sacrifice.
Soren Kierkegaard says well on this point, “But he did not doubt, he did not look anxiously to the right or to the left, he did not challenge heaven with his prayers. He knew that it was God the Almighty who was trying him, he knew that it was the hardest sacrifice that could be required of him; but he knew also that no sacrifice was too hard when God required it – and he drew the knife.” (Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling)
Many people have tried to explain the psychology of Abraham as he goes to Mt. Moriah. Was he angry? Did he doubt? Did he wonder if God really said...?
But the text does not answer those questions. Instead, Genesis 22 paints a picture of faith that make you wonder if you really want to have faith.
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