In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham to see if he has truly surrendered.
Looking on the world from a great height does wonders for your soul. Living for years on the 20th floor of a Chicago high-rise, I get to watch massive cloud formations come and go, to marvel at pulsing bolts of lightning and fierce storms near and far, to gaze thirty miles on a sunny day, to enjoy colorful sunsets of endless variety. To see far and wide even on a normal day feels epic.
In this new series of posts on divine testing we will see far and wide, for we come now to one of the great tests of every soul. We see the shape of this test in the paradigmatic story of God’s testing Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering.
God tests Abraham
The writer of Genesis leaves no doubt about God’s purpose in the event, beginning the narrative, “After these things God tested Abraham” (22:1). The test begins with one short command. Abraham suddenly, unmistakably, hears God call his name and say, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (v. 2).
The Lord does not tell Abraham why to do this or much about how. Instead he makes clear he knows how precious Isaac is to Abraham, tenderly describing Isaac as “your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love.” God knows what he is asking of Abraham. He understands emotion, relationship, love. He is not an impersonal force making heartless demands. The Lord understands the bond between father and son, for God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is love, and as we will see, because he is love he gives this command.
Abraham responds promptly. He awakes early the next morning to do what God said. He does not delay a few days to think over whether he will obey.
Abraham is hands-on. Instead of delegating preparations to servants, the old man (approximately age 110–115) does them himself. He saddles the donkey. He cuts wood for the sacrifice, for this is not ordinary wood but sacred wood on which he will offer to God his precious son. Five times this short narrative calls attention to the wood.
Abraham acts decisively. Five times the narrative uses some form of the word take to describe his actions. He is not suffering from shock at God’s request, not bewildered or immobilized. He knows and trusts the Lord and thus acts with forceful resolution. So he takes the wood, two servants, fire, knife, and Isaac—the son whom God promised to him, whom God called Abraham’s “only son” (v. 2)—and they depart.
Continued next week.
