Genesis 22 (Abraham, Isaac and the toughest chapter in the Old Testasment)

There's an old joke that Abraham was fussing with his pc when Isaac wandered past.

Whatcha doing pop?" he asked.

I'm trying to load Windows 7 on my old laptop," Abraham said.

It'll never work," Isaac replied. "You don't have enough memory on that thing."

"Don't worry, my son," Abraham said. "God will provide the RAM."

I think I've heard more jokes about this story than any other in the Bible. That may be because we have to laugh at it to keep from crying. It's a wrenching story and probably much more for us than for the people who first told it.

The chapter opens with the statement that "God tested Abraham." God speaks to Abraham and tells him to take his son Isaac to a certain place and there to kill him and offer his body as a burnt offering to God.

What kind of a God makes a demand like this? What kind of a father would even consider doing such a thing? And yet, Abraham doesn't even seem to hesitate. Of course, the story has a happy ending; God tells Abraham not to kill his son and gives him a ram as a sacrifice. Nobody dies (except the ram) and father and son live happily ever after. That should be enough.

I've heard a lot of explanations for this. Fundamentalist friends have told me that we're not supposed to question the Bible. If God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, God must have had a good reason for doing it and we should just accept that.

I don't buy that. For one thing, it's not honest. For another, questioning God is something that people of great faith do pretty often, both in the Bible and throughout history. When God does something that seems so far out of character, the faithful thing to do is to question and even to challenge. Failing to do so can lead us to some very dark places and twisted ideas.

So what's going on here? I don't think I can give a simple answer for that, but here are some of my thoughts.

- One of my professors in seminary said that, as horrible as the story is, it says something important about human commitment. Being committed to God means doing the right thing, no matter the sacrifice involved. That means standing up for justice for all people, even when that is an unpopular cause. However, when we are confronted with the need to stand up to racism, sexism, homophobia, and other things that marginalize people, we find it easy to make excuses. We are afraid of losing a job, or of being rejected in our social circle, or even afraid that the people doing the persecuting will do something to harm us. In the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s (for example) people who stood up for racial equality often ran the risk of being harassed, arrested, assaulted or even killed.

The professor pointed out that children were the most compelling excuse people had for remaining on the sidelines. "I'd do something, but I have my children to think about."

The professor's point was that, as long as we do that, injustice will prevail. To follow God, we have to give up our excuses; even when the excuse is our children. Only when we're able to make that sacrifice are we truly following God. It's a challenging idea and a little intimidating, but important to keep in mind.

- On a more historical note, we know that child sacrifice was a reality in the ancient Middle East. While the information is limited, and biased, it seems that the sacrifice of children to gain favor with the gods was practiced by Israel's neighbors. There is a law, repeated several times in the Hebrew Scriptures (Lev 18:21, Lev 20:3, Deut 12:30-31, Deut 18:10) specifically forbidding the practice. Since you don't normally make a law forbidding something unless people are actually doing it, this strongly suggests that this was practiced by the people of Israel as well. This story may have been used as a way to end the practice by showing that God rejected the sacrifice of Isaac.

- As I said, there isn't an easy answer to understanding this story. The one answer I can give with perfect confidence is that we are supposed to do terrible things without questioning them if God says so. The scriptures are filled with examples of people of great faith questioning and arguing with God. Job argued about the justice of his situation, Jesus bitterly questioned God at Gethsemane, and even Abraham argued with God about the destruction of Sodom. Questioning and arguing are not signs of a lack of faith. Someone with integrity will always question and even argue when the message that seems to be coming from God is ungodly. When you think about it, the name "Israel" even means, the one(s) who struggle with God.

If you are ever called on to do something that goes against the character of God, question it. If you are told that God wants you to do something that is not just, or compassionate, or merciful, argue with it. Don’t accept it easily; not even if it comes from your preacher, or your church's doctrine, or even if it comes from the Bible. There's a difference between true faith and blind obedience, and I believe that the people who struggle with all their passion and integrity to do the right thing are closer to God than those who unthinkingly do what they're told.