Lent Day #9

Today we are going to finish our look at Abram / Abraham in Genesis. There is so much depth to his story, and we've only scratched the surface. A couple days ago, we looked at the the significance of the binding of Issac in Genesis chapter 22 and yesterday we condsidered Abraham's prophetic role and that Isaac was quite possibly an adult at the time of the story. Today we finish this story...

GENESIS 22:9-14 (NJPS)
9 They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an alter there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the alter, on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. 11 then an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: "Abraham! Abraham!" And he answered, "Here I am." 12 And he said, "Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I now that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from me." 13 When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that side Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, "On the mount of the Lord there is vision."

If we assume that Isaac is an adult and Abraham is upwards of 115 years old, then Isaac could probably have overpowered Abraham if he wanted to, so in verse 9 when Abraham binds up Isaac on the alter, Isaac has to be a willing participant! Why don't Christians ever talk about the courageous sacrifice that Isaac was willing to make? My Jewish Study Bible calls him the prototype of the Jewish martyr.

GENESIS 22:15-18 (NJPS)
15 The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I swear, the Lord declares; Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, you favored one, 17 I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. 18 All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command."

It appears that the sacrifice Abraham makes is somehow atoning for the whole world: "Because you have done this ... All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command." Has this come to pass, or is this yet to come? It seems like many of the nations of the earth curse offspring of Isaac (the Jews). As Christians, we probably want to say that this blessing evantually came through Jesus the Christ, but it doesn't seem like all the nations of the earth *are* blessing themselves by Him -- not yet anyway.

Looking at the progression of Genesis 22:1-18 as a whole, it challenges me. I consider how hard it is to follow God's will sometimes. Think about it... It appears that God's will was to deceive Abraham ... that God's will was for Abraham to attempt to kill his son ... that God's will was to have Abraham tie his son upon the alter ... to have Isaac endue the knowledge that his dear daddy was going to sacrifice him ... to have to stop Abraham with his arm raised, just moments before he slits Isaac's throat ... and that God's will was only then to reveal to Abraham a substitute sacrifice.

Huh? If the purpose was to test Abraham, why would a sacrifice still be necessary once the cat is out of the bag? Shouldn't it go, "Abraham stop! You've passed the test. Now, cut only the ropes that bind your son and take him home to celebrate." If there is going to be an animal in the thicket, I expect it to be a nice plump sheep for Abraham to take home for a feast to reward him for passing the test. That's not the way the story goes. Instead, God fulfills the prophecy that Abraham makes in verse 8, when Abraham said, "God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering." Maybe he is rewarding Abraham's belief that God would find a way to ensure that Isaac was able to have progeny. We don't know.

I question why God would tempt people if he really knows what is in our hearts. Testing his follower like this makes it look like God is insecure, but that can't be right, can it? God seems to need to find out if God's chosen apprentice is more than just a fair weather friend -- that Abraham would be obedient even if it seems that God is breaking the promise of a great nation fathered by Isaac, even as it seems that God is merely toying with him. I'm not pleased with the emotional trauma that God makes Abraham and Isaac endure. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that God in no way uses this opportunity to condemn human sacrifice -- instead, he commends Abraham for being willing to go through with it! In the end I have to acknowledge that God's ways truly are beyond my comprehension.

What about you ... what do you think?

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, Thank you for all things. I even thank you for my confusion, for it reminds me that no matter how often I think I "get it", I still don't know it all. As I accumulate knowledge, I realize how much I don't know. I pray only that you light the path far enough for me to attempt to follow your lead. I ask that you give me the courage to be obedient to your will. I hope that you open me up to possibilities beyond my dreams, and I look forward to learning to know you more. In Jesus name, Amen.

Lent Day #8

We've been looking at the story of Abram / Abraham starting with Abram's call story in Genesis 12 and then with Abraham pleading for God's grace to be expansive in Geneis 18. Yesterday we started to look the significance of the binding of Issac in Genesis chapter 22. Today, we continue with this story...

GENESIS 22:3-8 (NJPS)
3 So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. he split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his servants, "You stay here with the ass. the boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you."

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. 7 Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he answered, "Yes, my son." And he said, "Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son." And the two of them walked on together.

In verse 5 Abraham tells his servants: "we will return". That's *we*, referring to Abraham and Isaac. If Abraham thinks that he's sacrificing his son, why does he say that they will both return? Does he already know that this is a test -- that he isn't expected to go through with it. Has he figured this out? Does he have any intention of actually slitting Isaac's throat? Is he hiding his fatal intentions from his servants and/or his son? Is he in denial, or is expressing hope that God won't renege on covenant -- on the promise that Isaac will be a great nation? If we take verse 8 into account, where Abraham tells Issac that "God will see to the sheep", it appears that Abraham has hope or faith that God will find a way to prevent him from carrying out the very task that God assigned him to do!

Hmm, so how old is Isaac at this point anyway? Until recently, I was under the impression we were talking about a young child who was maybe 5-8 years old. What about you? Look at verse 6 --- Abraham piles the wood for the pyre onto Isaac to carry. We aren't just talking about a couple small logs, but enough to conduct a burnt offering. That gets me thinking that this kid had to have been at least a teenager. Most rabbinic commentators see him as an adult -- and Abraham is really freaking old by this point! (He was 100 when Isaac was born!) It makes sense that Isaac is carrying the wood since he's probably much stronger than Abraham by this point...

PRAYER FOR PERSONAL DEDICATION:
(from the Lutheran Book of Prayer, Concordia 1970)

Lord of my life, I know that my life is not my own. By Your death and resurrection You made me Your own. Help me to live under Your direction, always ready to hear the call, "Follow Me"; always aware of Your presence; always knowing that I have received the gift of Your Spirit; always living so that others may receive Your love and mercy through me.

It is not easy to ask for these things, Lord, because I know that I have much to give up. I can no longer pretend that my life is my own. My prayer is my surrender to Your care and direction. I want to follow, Lord, but it is very hard. I will get very tired. I will make selfish mistakes. I will fail time and again. I will fall.

Show me again that there is love and forgiveness and mercy in Your hand. Use me in spite of my reluctance, doubt, and disobedience.

Pour into me Your good Spirit, so that I am not afraid to follow and fall and follow again. Amen.

NOTES:
We still need a couple volunteers for the Hypothermia Shelter on Friday evening. Feel free to bring an interested friend. We'll be serving food to up to 85 homeless folks and getting to spend some time eating with them and talking to them. We'll leave campus at 4:15pm, serve food, eat, and clean up between 5pm and 8pm, and return to campus before 9pm. RSVP on Facebook or by contacting me at bbuss (at) gmu (dot) edu

Lent Day #7

We've been looking at the story of Abram / Abraham starting with Abram's call story in Genesis 12 and then with Abraham pleading for God's grace to be expansive in Geneis 18. We're going to skip over Lot trying to protect God's visitors from the violent inhospitality of Sodomites. As the mobs near overtaking him, the visitors spare Lot and his family before destruction of Sodom. Now we're going to spend a few days working through story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis chapter 22.

GENESIS 22:1-2 (NJPS)
1 Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, "Abraham," and he answered, "Here I am." 2 And He said, "Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you."

If your first thought as someone living in modern times is "What kind of crazy person would even consider killing his own child?" -- you aren't alone. It is worth remembering that Abraham lived in time and place where many gods were worshipped and sacrifices were always getting bigger and you never really knew what you had to do to please the gods, but some priest would tell you and you would do it. If things went well afterward, you would offer a bigger sacrifice as thanks. If things went badly, you offered a more drastic sacrifice under the assumption that the last offering wasn't good enough. Human sacrifice was not uncommon. For a more in-depth analysis of this world, wait until Rob Bell's "The gods aren't angry tour" comes out on DVD.

I want to pull out some things that really struck me in recent study of this passage with a Hebrew Bible professor at a local seminary. First, looking at verse 2 where it says "your favored one". This is apparently far weaker in English than the original Hebrew, which gives the sense of "your own soul". Wow!

If you start poking into it, we see that Abraham's legacy is inextricably bound up with Isaac's -- he is named as the heir who will inherit God's covenant with Abraham, though both of his children will be great nations...

GENESIS 17:17-21 (NJPS)
17 Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live by your favor!" 19 God said, "Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heeded you. I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year."

This shadows the language earlier in Genesis 17 when God makes the covenant with Abraham. Therefore, in some ways Abraham's life centers around Isaac -- it is as if his son were himself because all Abraham's hopes are riding on Isaac. (No pressure kid.) The order of the terms in Genesis 22:2 is also important -- they indicate increasing tension. Read it this way: "I want you to take your son. Not just your son, but your favored son, the one who is the core of your being. Yes, I mean Isaac -- the one you love. I want you to kill him as an offering to me." WHAM! Can't you just imagine how this takes Abraham's breath away? All this time setting up a legacy, a rightful heir born when Abraham is 100, and now God wants the kid back!

What would you do?

PRAYER FOR GRACE TO ADJUST MYSELF:
(From "My Prayer Book", Concordia 1980)

Gracious God, heavenly Father, I must confess that I am sometimes upset by the many changes that come in life. I find it difficult to make the necessary adjustments. I do not ask to understand, but help me, I pray You, always to realize that no matter what happens to me, and what changes must be made, You still love me and will make every experience work together for my good.

Give me the faith to trust Your promise, "My grace is sufficient for you." In mercy forgive all grumbling and complaining of which I have been guilty in the past. Teach me to follow the example of Jesus, my Savior and Lord, who in trial and tribulation said, "Not My will, but Thine, be done." In that spirit I shall be able to meet whatever life has in store for me. For Jesus' sake. Amen.