Did God order the killing of Isaac
interpretation, commentary
In the Old Testament, more specifically in the First Book of Moses chapter 22 in verses 1 to 18 we read about God putting Abraham to the test:
"(1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. (2) And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (3) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. (4) Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. (5) And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
(6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. (7) And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? (8) And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (9) And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. (10) And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (11) And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. (12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (14) And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. (15) And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, (16) And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: (17) That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; (18) And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
It begs the question, why did God order Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, when He firmly forbade human sacrifice? Are we like experimental mice and God is playing with us?
We want us to receive the grace of salvation after death and live in heaven. Our faith must be sure, after all, we are to possess immortality, how can we be sure that at some point we will not cause rebellion in heaven again? God had previously made a covenant with Abraham. What happened to Abraham was not a trial in the full sense of the word. This event was meant to be an example for future generations, including us, of how much we should trust in God.
In the previous chapters of the Book of Moses, Abraham did not wait for the fulfillment of the promise given by the Lord, so he obeyed his wife Sarah and communed with Hagar, and she conceived Ishmael. Abraham also did not always fully rely on God when he feared people and proclaimed that his wife was his sister and not his wife. Despite these events, Abraham was a faithful servant of God at the time anyway. God knows our future, and He knew that this test the prophet would pass, thus contributing in some way to his and our spiritual development.
God does not want Isaac to be killed
It is clear that God did not intend for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, as He has always been against human sacrifices. Killing Isaac would have resulted in a failure to fulfill the promise made to Abraham. The servant of God, going up the mountain with his son, believed that God would raise his son from the dead. Proof of this is found in Hebrews 11.19 "Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead" which is also mentioned in verse 5 "Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." He believed in this so strongly that he did not hesitate to sacrifice his beloved son. Let's also note that Abraham was already old by then, and Isaac was about 25 years old. Would a young man be weaker than his grandfather? We don't know, but we can guess that Isaac did not resist, although this is somewhat contradicted by the mention that he was bound. He could have been bound, precisely so that he wouldn't change his mind at the last minute. These are only speculations, and Isaac's surrender should not be taken for granted. Abraham's faith in God at that time was so great that even in the Old Testament he is mentioned as one of the most faithful prophets. This faith became a role model that was counted as part of his justification. How much we miss the faith of this prophet today.
The sacrifice of Isaac also illustrates what will take place in the future. Jesus was sent by God the Father to suffer death for our sins. Isaac symbolizes Jesus, who died for our sins and then rose again. The innocent lamb, which also symbolizes Jesus, whose blood was shed for human sins. God, unlike Abraham, observed the death of His Son and, for the sake of all of us, did not stop this cruel event so that everyone in the universe would understand what evil leads to. Let's remember that 1/3 of the angels were deceived and sided with Satan, we don't know how many of God's creatures completely understood what evil leads to.
Isaac was to exemplify the prohibition of human sacrifice
One interpretation of the command to sacrifice Isaac is that God thus categorically forbade human sacrifice. In Old Testament times, people sacrificed human beings, and Abraham must have known this as well. When he was about to kill his son, God stopped him from doing so. This was a symbol of the prohibition of human sacrifice, which in later times some Israelites disregarded.
This argument is supported by many verses of Scripture and, among others, by this one from Jeremiah 32.35 "And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin."
Today, if you heard a voice from God to make a child sacrifice, would you obey?
After the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, sacrifices ceased. Nor does God speak to us as he did to the Old Testament prophets. Nowadays, any such voices should be firmly considered a fraud and a voice from Satan. For this reason, many consider the order to sacrifice Isaac as something ungodly and question God's love, claiming that God would never order the killing of his own child. What is forgotten is that this is exactly what happened, God never wanted Isaac to be sacrificed, He knew that the sacrifice would not be made.
