15…HOLD THAT KNIFE, HOLD YOUR FIRE

Based on GN Chs.21-23…Read more there.

The child born to Hagar is a son, Ishmael. Later, Isaac is born to AB (for short, now on) & Sarah. Sarah is jealous & insists AB sends Hagar & Ishmael away [GN 21].  With help from an angel of God they survive the desert & its ordeals, but then fade from the story as the Hebrews focus on Isaac, his wife Rebekah, & their descendants,  in particular their son Jacob, later to be renamed ‘Israel’ by God. [GN 32:28]. In time, Ishmael comes to be seen as an ancestor of Arabic peoples, & Islam a religion of his  descendants, while Judaism becomes a religion of the children of Israel (Jacob) & his wife Rachel.

But now, is AB out of his mind? Has all that sun & sand & wind got to him, that he would prepare to offer his promised & precious son Isaac as a sacrifice? [GN 22]  Maybe he gets the idea from his travels among other peoples where child sacrifice is not unknown. But if AB sacrifices Isaac, there goes any chance of him & Sarah becoming the parents of a great people as God has promised! Maybe AB just trusts God so absolutely he knows all will be well in some way he doesn’t yet understand! [GN 15:6 tells us AB’s faith in God is so strong, God counts him as righteous. Later Paul echoes this in RO 4:3 & GAL 3:6] So AB & Isaac set out together with servants, a donkey, & wood for the sacrificial fire. AB chooses the spot, & then he & Isaac go on alone. Isaac carries wood, & AB a knife & a torch of fire. When Isaac asks his father, "Where's the lamb for the sacrifice?" instead of telling him, "It's you, my son!" AB tells him "God will provide the lamb!" So AB builds an altar of stones, arranges the wood on it, binds Isaac, places him on top of the pyre, & readies the knife.

 But YHWH is never going to let this happen! As AB prepares to kill Isaac, an angel tells him he doesn't have to prove his faith like this. God knows how strong it is! When AB looks around he sees a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. This is the lamb God has provided! Like many of us AB may show great faith, but has still to grow in  his understanding of God! The story of AB & Isaac highlights how important it is for us reading them at such a distance from the events themselves to understand the Scriptures as a whole if we’re to find & live out mature answers to questions such as, ‘What is God really like?’, ‘What does God require of us?’, ‘Does God ever ‘put us to the test’?’, ‘How far?’ We find understandings of God mature later in the O.T. prophets & then, from a Christian perspective, in the Person of Jesus. We also need to read the O.T. in the light of the N.T.   Next time: An Inheritance for a Bowl of Stew

Question: Are we conscious of sacrifices other people have made for us?