| The story is much deeper than you give it credit: 1. God promises Abraham that his descendants will be numerous as 'stars in the sky' 2. Abraham and Sarah have 1 kid in their old age: Isaac, the only chance for God to fulfill the promise 3. God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his compliance indicates his faith in God's promise (that it can happen outside of his control, and beyond his knowledge) 4. God stops it and provides a 'ram in the thicket' as substitute, note the sacrifice still occurs. 5. Sacrifice is required to save the Israelites in Egypt from the angel of death, Passover begins. 6. We see a whole system and culture of sacrifices instituted in the tabernacle and later the temple as a method of 'atonement' 7. Jesus presents himself as the ultimate atonement or 'propitiation', closing the circle Essentially in the Bible sacrifice is integral to the entire story, beginning to end. In some ways the story of the sacrifice of Isaac is a peek into the nature of justice and how in the Biblical God's conception of justice wrongdoing must be paid for by blood, just not necessarily the blood of the perpetrator themselves. All members of Israel are responsible for providing their sacrifices indicating that no one is free from guilt providing the backdrop for Christianity's pessimistic take on the nature of Man. |