i recently read a book that included an amazing description of Abraham and Isaac's story in Genesis. i don't really have anything to add to it; it's just so good on its own. so here i quote from the book Wounds by Alton Gansky:
"Genesis 22 holds an account that makes me furious. I cannot read it without a sense of outrage boiling in my gut. God asks for a human sacrifice. Not only that, He demands that His chosen man - Abraham - cut the throat of his only son, the son of divine promise. When I think of Abraham and Isaac crossing the distance from their home to Mount Moriah, the future site of Solomon's temple, I ache for them. What thoughts ran through Abraham's mind? What fears? Imagine the heartbreak. And what of the young man Isaac, who makes the journey with only one question: 'Where is the sacrifice we are to make to the Lord?' My anger grows when Abraham states that God will provide the sacrifice.
"There the scene unfolds. The kindling and wood are laid for the fire to burn the sacrifice. Who set up that altar? Isaac, the one who would be asked to crawl on the wood arranged to burn his flesh to ashes. My fury mounts. At some point Isaac realizes what is being asked of him and based on his father's requests, lays himself on the mound of kindling.
"Then it comes. The moment when the elderly Abraham lays the sharp edge of his knife to his own son's throat. Did he let it linger? Did his hand shake? Did he close his eyes?
"The muscles in his back and shoulders and arm tense, ready to draw the blade and split Isaac's throat. Isaac, the son he longed for, prayed for, hoped for. Isaac didn't protest. We have no record of him begging for his life for making any attempt to escape. He could have gotten away. He was young; Abraham was old. If Isaac had chosen to fight, Abraham would not have had a chance. Isaac didn't fight back. His father was a man who spoke to God and if this was what God demanded, then he would not resist.
"Then the knife began to move. Only then did God stop Abraham. No other passage makes me want to shake my fist in God's face. 'How could You,' I want to cry. 'What kind of God does that?'
"I'll tell you what kind of God does that: the kind of God who would ask the same thing of Himself. Except for Him, there was no one to stop His hand.
Jesus is God the Father's Isaac.
"Do I have a right to feel angry over the passage? I think so, but I also have a responsibility to remember that it was God who made that kind of sacrifice for us. We are supposed to be angry about injustice. We are supposed to be furious about the sacrifice Abraham was called on to make. It is the sacrifice of Good Friday. Jesus went to the cross willingly. He did so for us, and it was no easier for God to see than it was for Abraham. Our life came from Jesus' death. We celebrate Easter - Resurrection Day - but re grieve on Good Friday. The cartoon character Charlie Brown used to say, 'Good grief.' There is a good grief if that grief achieves an eternal difference.
We do not have Easter without Good Friday.
Out of death came life."
"Genesis 22 holds an account that makes me furious. I cannot read it without a sense of outrage boiling in my gut. God asks for a human sacrifice. Not only that, He demands that His chosen man - Abraham - cut the throat of his only son, the son of divine promise. When I think of Abraham and Isaac crossing the distance from their home to Mount Moriah, the future site of Solomon's temple, I ache for them. What thoughts ran through Abraham's mind? What fears? Imagine the heartbreak. And what of the young man Isaac, who makes the journey with only one question: 'Where is the sacrifice we are to make to the Lord?' My anger grows when Abraham states that God will provide the sacrifice.
"There the scene unfolds. The kindling and wood are laid for the fire to burn the sacrifice. Who set up that altar? Isaac, the one who would be asked to crawl on the wood arranged to burn his flesh to ashes. My fury mounts. At some point Isaac realizes what is being asked of him and based on his father's requests, lays himself on the mound of kindling.
"Then it comes. The moment when the elderly Abraham lays the sharp edge of his knife to his own son's throat. Did he let it linger? Did his hand shake? Did he close his eyes?
"The muscles in his back and shoulders and arm tense, ready to draw the blade and split Isaac's throat. Isaac, the son he longed for, prayed for, hoped for. Isaac didn't protest. We have no record of him begging for his life for making any attempt to escape. He could have gotten away. He was young; Abraham was old. If Isaac had chosen to fight, Abraham would not have had a chance. Isaac didn't fight back. His father was a man who spoke to God and if this was what God demanded, then he would not resist.
"Then the knife began to move. Only then did God stop Abraham. No other passage makes me want to shake my fist in God's face. 'How could You,' I want to cry. 'What kind of God does that?'
"I'll tell you what kind of God does that: the kind of God who would ask the same thing of Himself. Except for Him, there was no one to stop His hand.
Jesus is God the Father's Isaac.
"Do I have a right to feel angry over the passage? I think so, but I also have a responsibility to remember that it was God who made that kind of sacrifice for us. We are supposed to be angry about injustice. We are supposed to be furious about the sacrifice Abraham was called on to make. It is the sacrifice of Good Friday. Jesus went to the cross willingly. He did so for us, and it was no easier for God to see than it was for Abraham. Our life came from Jesus' death. We celebrate Easter - Resurrection Day - but re grieve on Good Friday. The cartoon character Charlie Brown used to say, 'Good grief.' There is a good grief if that grief achieves an eternal difference.
We do not have Easter without Good Friday.
Out of death came life."
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