Genesis 22: Abraham is commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac, until at the last moment an angel tells him to stop.
Palestine, Syria, Mosul, Nigeria etc... We are living in difficult times.
The story of Abraham and Isaac is an important yet difficult one. A difficult story for a difficult time.
Abraham is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the Father of their faith. This story is important for all 3 of the Abrahamic faiths. (In the Muslim story, the child is Ishmail) Yet his actions here are abhorrent. Even though he doesn't go through with it, he intends to sacrifice his child. He climbs up the mountain, with the knife and the firewood. He ties Isaac, his much loved and longed for little boy Laughter, to an alter. It isn't reported what Sarah said when she found out, but I don't imagine she was happy.
I am going to explore two interpretations of this story, and what these say to Abraham's children today.
The first interpretation is that it is about unquestioning obedience to God. Some writers commend Abraham for his absolute obedience. Kierkegaard for example calls Abraham a Knight of a Faith. For the Knight of Faith, obedience to God must come before everything, before reason, before morality. To me, this view is abhorrent. If we believe in a God of love, we could never accept that to do harm could be from God.
The second interpretation is that what made Abraham great wasn't that he intended to sacrifice Isaac, but that he didn't. Genesis was written at a time when sacrifice, including child sacrifice, was commonplace. (Such as in the lists of burial sacrifices of the kings of Ur.) Sacrifice was a recognition that everything belonged to God, and we should be prepared to give back anything that we have. This was a society that regarded children (and wives!) as property, so the devout should be prepared to sacrifice them also. Yet, as far as we can understand it from the records, one of the things that marked Israel out as kdifferent from the other nations, was that they didn't sacrifice children. This story is a way of saying that this is not what God requires. Abraham thought His God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac, because that's what all the other gods around at the time were asking. But he was wrong. Yahweh is not like other gods. As the prophet Michah was to later put it, "This is what Yahweh asks of you, only this, act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God."
What is this to say to us to our situation today?
The first interpretation of the story, that we should unquestioningly obey the voice of God, has caused immense problems for Abraham's children. Throughout History Jews, Muslims and Christians, have wielded their knives in response to what they thought was God's command. The crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch trials, 9:11, Northern Ireland, the current situations in Syria, Israel and Palestine. People so often get the voice of God spectacularly wrong. The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, thought that God had told him to murder prostitutes. In 2013, a diabetic 12 year old girl, Syble Rossiter, died after her parents prayed for her healing and thought God wanted them to stop giving her insulin. Richard Dawkins in his book the God Delusion, suggests that all religion is about unquestioning obedience, and all right thinking Scientific people best avoid it. If I thought that this is what our faith required of us, I'm afraid I would have to agree with him.
So what about the second interpretation, that Abraham's greatness was not in his unquestioning obedience, but in his willingness to humbly recognise that he had misunderstood God's voice. To listen again, to hear the voice of an angel, "Put down the knife, Abraham. Do not harm even one hair on his head." It took Abraham great courage to put down the knife and untie Isaac. To climb down the mountain. Some today show a similar courage. Steve Chalk was for many years the leader of the Evangelical Alliance and campaigned against homosexuality, believing this stance to be God's will. Quite recently he changed his mind. This happened through coming across homosexual people in pastoral situations, and seeing the hurt that his church's position had caused them. He felt that to include people, and show the love of Christ, he needed to change his view about what God wanted. There are others who have the courage to be the voice of the angel. When harm is done in the name of faith, they stand up and speak for peace and compassion. Zaki Badawi, who was the chief Iman an London Mosque spoke out when the ayatollah issued a fatwah against Salman Rushdie.
Stand up for the Isaacs of the world. Reflect on our own actions, and those done in our name by our religious communities, or our Nations. Be critical, question things. Join with others such as Amnesty International to stand together for Peace and Justice in the world's troubled situations. Wherever harm is done in the name of faith, let us dare to be the voice of the angel. "Put down the knife Abraham, this is not what God wants." Yahweh is good, Allah is merciful, God is love.
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/gaza-emergency-appeal/index.asp http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/iraq-crisis-appeal/ http://www.amnesty.org.uk http://www.aworldatschool.org https://www.facebook.com/events/580242122084490/?ref=25https://www.facebook.com/groups/365311285573/?ref=ts&fref=ts
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