God commanded… child sacrifice?
Today we are going to explore the story, context, and meaning of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. I’ll admit, this will be a tricky one.
Hopefully this analysis will give you a new insight on this famous story and maybe clear up some questions (or possibly create more).
Okay. Let’s dive in.
The Famous Story
I am going to tell you the story told in Sunday school. This is without the rest of the context of Abraham, so you may see where the confusion in this story comes from:
There once was a man named Abraham. God decided to bless Abraham and make his descendants a great nation. However, Abraham and his wife were very old and had no children.
God promised that they would have a son, and when Abraham was 100 years old, it came true. Abraham had a son whom he named Isaac.
One day, God wanted to test Abraham’s faith, so he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain.
Abraham followed what God said and brought his son up on a mountain to be sacrificed, but right before he could bring down his knife to kill him, an angel stopped him.
The angel said that Abraham should not kill his son because it was a test of his faith. Abraham then saw a ram caught in a thicket and used that as a sacrifice for the Lord.
Hmm…
This seems like a nice Bible story about faith and trusting God, but I personally feel like there is a lot of detail left out.
God just asking Abraham to sacrifice his son for “faith” reasons? There has got to be more than that.
Also, I thought God does not command us to sin:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
— James 1:13 NKJV
There has got to be more to the story than God just testing Abraham for fun. There must be something in Abraham and God’s underlying relationship of trust that we are not understanding.
So that’s what we are going to explore.
The Full Story
God Calls Abraham
There once was a man named Abraham. This was a man who grew up in a pagan land with a pagan family. (Joshua 24:2)
Despite his background, God decided that He would make him a great, God-fearing nation. He was going to display his power and faithfulness through this imperfect human.
God told Abraham that he should leave his homeland of Haran and move to Canaan. This would be the land that God would bless Abraham and his descendants.
Abraham and Sarah’s Mistakes
Mistake #1 (Genesis 12)
However, Abraham showed his distrust in God’s power when a famine went throughout Canaan. Abraham decided that it would be better for him to move out of God’s promised land and into Egypt.
When Abraham and his wife sought refuge in Egypt, he became afraid. He knew that his wife was incredibly beautiful, and he was afraid that someone in Egypt would kill him so they could marry her. Because of this, He told the Egyptians that Sarah was just his sister, not his wife.
Apparently, Abraham’s wife truly was beautiful. The Pharaoh was pleased with Sarah and desired her to be his own, unaware that Abraham had lied to him.
At this point you might think that God should give up on Abraham. Abraham obviously does not display any form of trust toward God… right?
No. Instead, God sent plagues on the land as a warning to Pharaoh. Pharaoh realized that Abraham’s God was preventing their marriage and Abraham had lied.
Pharaoh sent Abraham away with many riches, despite his deceit.
Mistake #2 (Genesis 16)
It has been some time now and Abraham and Sarah still do not have any children.
Doubt begins to rise in their hearts.
Abraham and Sarah came to the conclusion that maybe God was not going to provide how they thought he would. Maybe Abraham should have a child through someone who was not his wife.
Because of this conclusion, Sarah gave Abraham her servant to sleep with, and her servant bore a son: Ishmael. This, once again, shows their lack of trust in God’s power.
So what does God do? Does He turn away from Abraham?
No. Instead, God promises that he will bless Ishmael and make him a great nation, clarifying, however, that Ishmael is still not the promised son of Abraham.
God continues to repeat Himself to Abraham, promising that He will make Abraham a great nation through his own child, despite him and his wife’s old age.
Mistake #3 (Genesis 18)
This story only gets sadder.
God, the Creator of the Universe, came down in human form to Abraham, telling him face-to-face that indeed he and his wife will have a son this time next year (Abraham is currently 99 years old!).
Surely Abraham will learn his lesson! God is going to bless him - no doubt!
Yet, once again, there is doubt in their hearts. The moment that God tells Abraham that he will have a son with his wife in their old age, Sarah overhears Him and laughs to herself.
She still does not believe.
Is this the part where God says, “Okay, that’s enough. I have told you countless times that you will have a child, and still you do not believe. If you really do not believe then I should just not give you a child. You don’t deserve it.”
No. Instead, He actually doubles down and tells Sarah and Abraham once again that nothing is impossible for God, and they will have a child.
Mistake #4 (Genesis 20)
Abraham, once again, goes out of God’s promised land and into Gerar where Abimelech reigned as king.
This next part is a copy-paste of the first mistake:
Abraham is afraid that the king will kill him for his wife, so he tells the king that she is only his sister. The king then takes Sarah and plans to make her his wife.
Are you kidding me Abraham? You are making the exact same mistake you made before! God surely will give up on Abraham now, right?
No. Instead, God intervenes again, telling the king in a dream that Sarah is another man’s wife, and if he takes her as his wife, there will be serious consequences.
Abimelech let Abraham and Sarah go, and, just like Pharaoh, left them with an abundance of wealth.
God is making it clear that He has not left Abraham and Sarah, and He never will. Even in their doubt.
A Child Is Born
Let’s review what has happened:
| God’s Promise | Mistake | God’s Blessing |
|---|---|---|
| Abraham will be a great nation in the land of Canaan | Abraham leaves to Egypt and lies to save himself | Abraham departs from Egypt rich |
| Abraham will have a son in his old age | Sleeps with Sarah’s servant to obtain a child (Ishmael) | God says Ishmael will become a great nation as well |
| Abraham will have a son in his old age | Sarah still doubts and laughs at God’s promise | At this time next year, Isaac will be born |
| Abraham will have a son in his old age, becoming a great nation | Abraham leaves to Gerar and lies to save himself | Abraham departs from Gerar rich |
Wow. There were a lot of mistakes, but there was also a lot of blessings coming from God, even when Abraham and Sarah doubted. What will happen next?
To no one’s surprise, the Lord - the faithful Lord - gave Abraham (now 100 years old) and Sarah a baby boy: Isaac.
God told Abraham that this was the one. This was the son who would become a great nation.
“…Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.”
— Genesis 17:19 NKJV
The question is, does Abraham still trust God?
The Command
Then He said, “Take now 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 of which I shall tell you.”
— Genesis 22:2 NKJV
Woah. This is a bold ask. After all these years, God is now asking Abraham to sacrifice his promised son?
Not quite.
Now that we have looked at the context, it is clear that this command is a faith wake-up call for Abraham.
Time and time again, God has told Abraham that Isaac will be the son to become a great nation, so God is asking Abraham to trust that no matter what happens on that mountain, Isaac will come out alive.
God is basically saying, “Abraham. I have repeatedly promised that your son Isaac will become a great nation, and your descendants will be innumerable, and you have shown over and over that you lack trust. I am going to ask you to sacrifice him, and you are going to have to trust me that I will fulfill my promises. Isaac will come out alive. Isaac will become a great nation.”
It is a much different perspective than the famous story, isn’t it?
In the famous story there is no context of Abraham’s constant cycle of doubt and God’s continual faithfulness. There is only a command that seems contrary to God’s nature that ends up working out.
Now that we know Abraham’s story, it makes sense that God is asking him of this. He wants to drill into Abraham’s thick skull that the Lord is God, and the Lord never backs down from a promise.
Thankfully, as we will soon see, Abraham finally learns his lesson.
The Sacrifice
Abraham takes himself, Isaac, and two young men on his journey to the mountain in Moriah with all their supplies. What Abraham says to the young men next shows his new-found faith at work:
“Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
— Genesis 22:5 NKJV (Italics added by author)
Yes! Finally! Abraham is learning that God stays faithful!
At the very end of the verse he tells the young men that both him and Isaac will return to them, meaning that he knows that Isaac will come out of this alive.
He has realized that God is going to fulfill His promise.
Now this is the part where we start catching up to the details of the famous story. Abraham binds up Isaac and is about to sacrifice him…
“But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, 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.’”
— Genesis 22:11-12 NKJV
God then provided Abraham a ram as a sacrifice instead of his son, showing that His desire was never for Isaac to die, but for Abraham to see His provision in impossible scenarios.
This sacrifice of the ram also alludes to what Jesus would do for us. Because of our sin, God’s just nature says that we should die, but because of His love for us, He provides.
Summary
So is God immoral?
No. Actually, through this story we see God’s faithfulness to the sinners who continually turn away from Him.
Abraham was a pagan whom God chose to make a holy nation, and he repeatedly showed his lack of trust in God, always trying to take matters into his own hands.
In spite of Abraham’s unfaithfulness, God showed His faithfulness by blessing Abraham through every mistake he made. God had every right to take away Abraham’s blessing. He had every right to not give him a son.
But because God is faithful and patient, He still provides.
When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, it was not some cruel, unorthodox way of seeing how obedient Abraham would be. It was a confirmation from Abraham that he understood God’s faithfulness, and no matter how impossible the situation seems, God will always fulfill His promises.