Genesis 22 (1-19)

This research will seek to delineate God's call to Abraham, his emotional anguish, his subsequent actions, and his ultimate reward. It will similarly draw parallels with the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The following presentation is a synthesis of biblical commentary and exegesis, grammatic analysis, and homiletical interpretation.

In Genesis 22, God proposes the "supreme test of Abraham's faith" when he commands Abraham to "offer" Isaac as a burnt offering. While most biblical translations refer to Isaac, in verse 2, as Abraham's "only son," the Jewish Publication Society's Torah (hereinafter referred to as "the New Jewish Translation" (NJT)) more correctly translates the phrase "your favored son," since Abraham did have another son, Ishmael, through his union with Hagar the maid servant, and who was also blessed by God to be the progenitor of a great nation (Islam, according to the Koran).

The call to Abraham is understood by Lange to have come in dream form, but m

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ich had transpired in the mountains. Later Jewish tradition holds that Abraham did tell the details of the incident to Sarah, following which she uttered six or seven cries, and died--which is a convenient segue to Genesis 23. There are at least two ways of approaching and dealing with the difficulties inherent in understanding Genesis 22. The first is one of literal interpretation; the second that of legend. The literal interpretation would hold that the event actually occurred during the lifetime of Abraham, but that some inward force averts the offering with the understanding that the real surrender was that of Abraham's will to that of God--"that the sacrifice of a human life is not in accordance with the character of the true God whom Abraham worshipped." Yet there is nothing in this narrative which references human sacrifice or repudiates it afterward. If, on the other hand, the narrative is designed as a legendary account designed to illuminate spirituality, then its true purpose might be that of substituting a system of animal sacrifice for human sacrifice. Of course, neither can be proven nor disproved, and the superiority of one interpretation over the other should really have little effect on one's faith.
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Approximate Word count = 2411
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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