“Abraham…Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” Genesis 22:2 Thus, Abraham, with perfect faith and trust in the Lord, sets out the next morning.to follow the commandment of God. This is the beginning of one of the most intriguing and horrific stories in the Old Testament. A man willing to kill his only son because he believes it is a Divine command from God. All well and good for Abraham; however, what if someone today came to me and said that the Lord had told them to sacrifice their child? Unlike Abraham, I do not have perfect faith and I doubt, I question, and I would probably think they were crazy. This also sets the stage for one of the nagging questions of morality that has been tackled by theologians and philosophers for ages: Was the command that God Gave Abraham to kill Isaac moral? This issue has been tackled by the likes of Soren Kierkegaard and Immanuel Kant (Collins, 2007). For myself, this is a topic I have wanted to tackle since I took an ethics class last year. In my opinion, there is indeed sufficient rationale for Abraham to act on the word of God and to take his only son to Mount Moriah to offer him up as a sacrifice. Looking at the situation from a historical context, as well as the fact that the Noahide laws in Genesis, chapter nine, state that all life belongs to God (Deffinbaugh, 2004), that God is an all knowing being, that there was no evidence of a direct threat of punishment or an offer of reward in following the instruction (Landau, 2010), that both Abraham and Isaac had perfect faith and trust in the Lord, and finally that God does not ask anything of Abraham that he did not...
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...nd say that I would believe or have faith enough to follow in Abraham’s footsteps; I believe that it would be difficult for most people to believe that God himself spoke and commanded such an act. Perhaps, if more people had the faith of Abraham and listened for the voice of God, our world would be a better place.
References
Armstrong, K. (1993). A History of God. New York, NY: Random House Publishing Group.
Collins, J. J. (2007). A short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Cosby, B. (1983). Bill Cosby, Himself. (B. Cosby, Performer) Hamilton Place Theater, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Deffinbaugh, B. (2004, May 11). The Noahic Covenant - A New beginning. Retrieved March 29, 2011, from Bibke.org: http://bible.org/print/book/export/html/69
Landau, R. S. (2010). The Fundamentals of Ethics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
In the end, Abraham failed, so the city was destroyed by fire. This showed that God was serious about telling people that they needed to change. It gave them concrete proof that God would come through when He said that He would demolish their city. Another example of God’s relationship with Abraham is shown when He orders Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. God wanted to test Abraham’s faith in Him and how loyal Abraham truly was.
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
Abraham obeyed God by preparing wood and loading his donkey and took away Isaac and two servants with him. On reaching the place ordered by God, Abraham built an Alter and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on altar, on top of the wood and picked up the knife to kill him. Abraham was stopped by the Lord’s voice from heaven telling him, he was an obedient man who honored God. The angel of God confirmed to him how God would richly bless him and give him many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore.
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
Metzger, Bruce M., David Hubbard Allan., and Glenn Barker W. Word Biblical Commentary. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1982.
The first problem, “Is there a teleological suspension of the ethical?” begins by declaring that the ethical is the universe which applies to everyone. However, our purpose in the universe, is to act ethically. “As soon as the single individual wants to assert himself in his particularity, in direct opposition to the universe, he sins, and only by recognizing this can he again reconcile himself with the universe” (Kierkegaard, 1985, p. 83). I think that this statement makes sense because we cannot move forward in life unless we acknowledge the mistakes that we have made.
New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. Osborne, Grant R. Revelation. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
... In conclusion, Abraham is shown to be justified; he is not a murderer. In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard wrote that "the future will show I was right (Kierkegaard, 91). " Well, Abraham was proven right by the result. He does not kill Isaac.
The website illustrates Noah as the faithful covenant man who received the covenant from God that grace, redemption and restoration will be maintained in his family. Jesus conditions for Covenant were everyday spiritual fellowship with God, living a blameless life among the fellow human beings. Website #2
Collins, John J. A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007.
Arragel, Moses, A. Paz Y Meliá, Julián Paz, and Alba, Jacobo Stuart Fitz-James Y Falcó. Bible (Old Testament). Madrid: Priv. Print. for Presentation to the Members of the Roxburghe Club, 1918. Print.
Isaiah 53 says “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” Isaac was an example of this complete obedience to his Fathers will. The only question he asks is, “Where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” What it must have meant to Abraham to give up his first born son, but it was far greater for Father God to give up his first born Son, that each and every one of us that believes in Him will not be
Carson, D.A., and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005.