The Binding of Isaac Genesis 22: 1-14 – 2024/6/23

June 23, 2024

Anything but Ordinary
“The Binding of Isaac”
Genesis 22: 1-14

Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl

Genesis 22: 1-14

After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “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 that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide,” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

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The Binding of Isaac Genesis 22: 1-14

This is the story I was hoping would be left out of this particular series because well, it’s a lot. But here it is in this series. Here it is in our sacred story. Here it is as our text for this morning. And as you have heard me say, if it is in our Bible, we can’t ignore it. We can’t pretend as if it doesn’t exist. We are called to faithfully struggle with the text, no matter how difficult, how confusing, how terrifying it might be. Which is why I am inviting us to do just that…to engage this text, to see what it says to us as people of faith, to discern what it means for us as people of God because interestingly enough, this particular story has no parallels in our Bible. There are no parallels to it in ancient Near Eastern literature. It is only found here in Genesis.  Yet, strangely enough, its main theme has shaped the faith of three world religions for thousands of years. For us as Christians, we use similar language and imagery as to that which is found in this particular text anytime and every time we talk about Jesus being a sacrifice for our sins, so much so that Saint Augustine, an early church father said,  “just as the Lord carried his cross, so Isaac himself carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he too was to be placed. Even the author of the book Hebrews referenced this story of Abraham and Isaac as he explained the examples of faith given to us by our faith ancestors, stating: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

So, Church, whether we like it or not, this particular horrifying, troubling story is a part of our faith text. It is a part of our faith tradition. It is part of who we are as people of faith. That’s why again, we need to engage it.

However, before we do that, I am going to make a disclaimer…If from this sermon, we think we are going to get a neat and tidy bow in which to wrap this complicated, horrifying text, we have come to the wrong place. Because it can be argued that the author of this particular story left it vague enough to keep us questioning, to keep us engaging this text, to keep us speaking with this text, again a reminder that faith is not always cut and dry but that’s another sermon for another day.

Back to this text…if I claimed to be a smarter preacher, I would easily tell everyone that this story is about faith, that Abraham showed true faith, showed true obedience when he followed God’s order, that if we just show faith like Abraham, if we just show obedience to God like Abraham, then everything will be fine. After all, that’s the sermon which has been preached for generations when it comes to this text, and yes on some level, that’s correct. We are told that Abraham tells the young men that he and the young boy are going over there, that “we will worship, that we will come back to you.” We are told when Isaac asks about where the lamb is for the burnt offering, Abraham replies: “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”. We are also told Abraham calls this place where this incident happens “The Lord will provide”. All these statements show us, reiterate for us that Abraham’s faith is grounded in the knowledge that God will provide.

If I claimed to be a smarter preacher, I would easily tell everyone that over the last few weeks, these narratives in Genesis have shown us the character of God, meaning that the story of Abraham and Sarah hearing about their long-awaited child, shows us as people of faith, that God sees us. And that the story of Hagar and Ishmael shows us as people of faith that God hears us. And if I claimed to be a smarter preacher, I would say that this story of the binding of Isaac shows us as people of faith that God provides and then we could all go home, feeling great about ourselves and our God.

But…that would be preaching the easy sermon. And our series is challenging us to think about the many, many ways our God is anything but ordinary. So here is what I am going to do…I am going to invite us to take a look at the text again and you can decide what you take from this particular text.

Because here’s what we know:  After all these things, meaning the birth of Isaac, the sending away of Hagar and Ishmael, We are told God decided to text Abraham. We as readers are the only ones who know this. Abraham doesn’t know this is a text. Sarah doesn’t know about this text. And Isaac definitely doesn’t know this is a text. Which brings up the question…why? Why would God want to test Abraham? Why on earth would God demand the sacrifice of Abraham’s son, the very son God promised to Abraham and Sarah, the very son who is to be the sign of the covenant between Abraham and God, the very son who through which Abraham becomes the father of many nations? And if God really demanded that of Abraham, why would that be a god we would want to serve and be in relationship with as people of faith?

With this question of way hanging in the air, this is where I will bore everyone with a bunch of facts surrounding this particular text. Many commentators think that this text is the anti-child sacrifice text, that it shows that unlike other gods in ancient times, our God would never require such a thing. That’s why it uses the language of “test”, to show that for Abraham to even think our God would ask something like and that Abraham would actually do it, doesn’t line up with what we know about our God. And side note…just a few short chapters before this one, Abraham argues with God about wiping out Sodom and Gomorrah, telling God that if at least five faithful people are found there, God would not be able to wipe out the town. So, Abraham really wanted to argue with God for Isaac’s life, he could have done it. But he doesn’t.

The other piece of faith tradition which shapes this story is the place of the binding of Isaac is called “the mount of the Lord” (verse 14). The only other biblical information about this place is “the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah” in 2 Chronicles 3: 1, a verse which seems to assume that Genesis 22 was a founding story for the Temple and Temple worship which included animal sacrifices.” Some commentators argue that this text shows more evidence that unlike other ancient religions, God did not and does not require child sacrifice as part of worship.

As I said, you can make up your own mind about the why behind this text but for me, what struck me as I re-read this text this past week was its emphasis on the relationship between Abraham and Isaac. Over and over again, we hear words like, Your son, your only son, “Father,” My son and then suddenly in verse 19, it stops and we are told “Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba, and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.”

Then in the very next chapter, Sarah dies. Then in chapter 24, it appears as if there is even more separation between Isaac and Abraham with Isaac living in a different town, staying in his mother’s tent.

Like I said, even after spending all week with this text, I have more questions than answers but I can’t help but think that this text is asking us to think beyond the easy answer of “God will provide”. That maybe just maybe, this particular horrifying, disturbing story is asking us to grapple with the world around us, to think about our relationships as community, to think about how our actions not only affect those around us but also send ripple effects down through the generations. Maybe just maybe this particular terrifying disturbing text is inviting us to “readjust, redefine, and enlarge our definition of faith”, that maybe just maybe this particular, horrific disturbing text is asking us to engage our God who is anything but ordinary and ask why…Why is there so much hurt and hate in the world if God is love? Why is there so much brokenness in our relationships if we are called to live in peace and unity? Why do we continue to create God in our own image, using God to justify horrendous and destructive actions? Why do we continue to choose the easy way instead of grappling with the often-difficult parts of our faith, of our lives, of our relationships? Like I said, I have no answers to these questions. All I have is an invitation to engage our God who is anything but ordinary. May it be so.

Amen.

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