I wanted to clear up any misconceptions regarding
Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. So, the following teaching is from The Word's
Way Studies in Abundant Living by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, American
Christian Press, 1973, Chapter 8, pages 131-141.
Of Human Sacrifice
Abraham and Isaac
The Biblical record of the offering of Isaac has been a source of confusion
and misunderstanding for many years. It is difficult to understand why God
apparently asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. If God is the giver
of all life, how could He ask Abraham to offer up his only son whom God had
promised him? The account of Abraham and Isaac simply has not made sense, and
thus critics have constantly wrestled over it.
The record of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22:1 begins, "And it came to
pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham ...." The first
misconception has stemmed from the word tempt. In Hebrew "tempt" is bachan,
meaning "to prove." "Tempt" must be incorrect because James
1:13 says that God never tempts.1
Although God never tempts, it is possible for Him to prove man: God proves us
as we prove ourselves. He gives us His Word and as we walk on it, we are proved.
But God does not tempt us. Only Satan tempts.
Hebrews 1I:17 records, "By faith [believing] Abraham, when he was
tried [proved] offered up Isaac ...."
Genesis 22:1,2-:
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [prove] Abraham,
and said unto him, Abraham: and he said,. Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there
for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
According to these verses, God told Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer
him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which God would tell him.
Our whole problem. may be that we do not understand what a burnt offering is.2
God never asked Abraham to put a fire under Isaac. This idea has come to us
because of teachers we have heard, books we have read and pictures we have seen.
We have in mind the image of Abraham walking Isaac up the mountain, gathering
the sticks, building the altar, tying Isaac and preparing to slay him when
suddenly a ram is noticed behind them. This is not the Word of the Lord. What
did the Lord tell Abraham to do?
Genesis 22:2:
... Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get
thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
This is all that God commanded Abraham to do. So when we understand what a
burnt offering is, we will then have the key to the correct understanding of
this verse.
To most of us a burnt offering concerns burning something with fire. But in
Eastern custom a burnt offering does not indicate the presence of fire. When
speaking of people as being a burnt offering, it did not mean sacrifice by fire.
A burnt offering was a total, unreserved commitment of self to God.
Let us note carefully this truth so plainly taught in the record in Judges 11 of
Jephthah who gave his daughter as a burnt offering.
Judges 11:30-40:
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail
deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to
meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be
the Lord's and I will offer it up for a burnt offering [Carefully
notice Jephthah's promise.] .
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them;
and the Lord delivered them [the children of Ammon] into
his hands.
And he smote them ....
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came
out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only
child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said,
Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them
that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go
back.
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto
the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth;
forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even
of the children of Ammon.
And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone
two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my
virginity, I and my fellows.
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went
with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her
father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and
she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament [visit3]
the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Eastern custom teaches us that an unmarried maiden is a disgrace not only
to the girl herself but also to the family;
An unwed daughter indicates that a curse of God is on the family. Often such
parents give these maidens as servants to serve at the temples for the rest of
their lives. But before the young lady is committed, the maiden vacations in the
mountains with relatives and a few close friends and together they have
consecration ceremonies for two months, bewailing her virginity--that is,
lamenting the fact she did not marry and produce offspring. Then the maiden bids
farewell to all her relatives and friends. Once the girl enters into the service
of the temple, she cannot be released to go back to her friends, relatives nor
parents.
Jephthah gave his daughter permission to go to the mountains for two months.
When she came back, her father took her to the temple. There she followed the
ceremony all such girls go through. Her head was shaved at the door of the
temple and she put on a long robe. She then remained in the temple the rest of
her life. During special times each year, people would go and praise her, talk
with her and compliment her far obeying her father's will. This account of
Jephthah's daughter shows that a burnt offering means that she was living in
temple serving God.
Jephthah had promised God that whatever first came out of the doors of his
house to meet him when he returned from battle he would give as a burnt
offering. Having no other son or daughter, this child was the only hope of
perpetuating Jephthah's family line. The total commitment of his only daughter
to God's service was Jephthah's burnt offering. Jephthah felt especially bad
because his family line had come to an end.
Just as Jephthah's daughter was dedicated to temple
service for her lifetime, so Isaac was totally dedicated and consecrated to the
commitment for all Israel believers for all ages as God's people. All Israel was
called in Isaac.4
Now let us go back and carefully examine God's command to
Abraham. God did not say that Abraham should take wood with him to start a fire.
God told Abraham to take Isaac to a mountain and to offer him. Then we read that
Abraham prepared himself with all those other things. This shows us that Abraham
deliberately went beyond God's commandment.
Genesis 22:3:
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of
his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering . . .
This is the first place we get the idea that Abraham was
going to burn Isaac. God's revelation was one thing; Abraham's sense-knowledge
was something different:
As you recall, God had revealed long before that He was
going to give Abraham a son by Sarah; but Abraham did not believe this until he
was old. In the meantime, he took Hagar as his wife and Ishmael was born.
Abraham did this by his sense-knowledge. God did keep his promise and Isaac was
born to Sarah in her old age. Abraham again acted by his erring sense-knowledge
regarding God's commandment concerning the offering of Isaac. Abraham lived near
the Canaanites and had seen them burn human sacrifices to their gods. So when
God said to Abraham, "Take him and give him as a burnt offering,"
Abraham immediately injected his own ideas and thought, "Well, that means
I'd better take the wood along."
Genesis 22:3-6:
... and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar
off:
And Abraham said unto his. young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon
Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went
both of them together:
Isaac was not just five or six years Old at this time. He
was a grown adult, age thirty.
Verses 7-9:
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said; My father: and he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where
is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son; God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt
offering: so they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an
altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him
on the altar upon the wood.
The Scriptures do not say that God told Abraham to build
an altar nor to lay wood on the altar nor to bind Isaac and lay him on the
altar. God had told Abraham what to do, but Abraham was the one who thought of a
literal burning. He was using his own imagination, influenced by the actions of
his unbelieving neighbors, and interjecting his own ideas.
Verse 10:
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Look how really wrong Abraham was.
Verses 11,12:
And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham,
Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad ....
Had this been God's will, as Abraham thought it was, there
never would have been an angel needed to suddenly terminate the action because
God cannot contradict Himself, He cannot change His will. It was not God's
will to literally burn and kill the young man. This was Abraham's idea. Yet,
even though Abraham went beyond God's request and was wrong in so doing, he
proved his utter willingness to relinquish his son. Therefore the angel of the
Lord could make the following declaration in Genesis 22:12, not because Abraham
went beyond God's request, but because he was committed to total relinquishment
of his son.
Genesis 22:12:
... for now I know that thou fearest [has awe or reverence for]
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Paul wrote concerning sacrifice in the book of Romans to
us who are in the Church age.
Romans 12:1,2:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present [yield]
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.
What good are we to God as dead sacrifices? He needs us as
living, active sons to be faithful and carry out this work, totally committed to
Him until death. By living according to God's Word, we are proved by Him and are
"burnt offerings."
Bookmarks
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off.
1 "Let no man say when
he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempteth he any man." Return to text
2 For Biblical research students it is of
interest to note that in the Aramaic Peshitta text the word ykda,
"burnt;'' is never used in this story. The word alta,
"offering," is used throughout. Thus, could it be that every sacrifice
is an offering, but not every offering a sacrifice? Return
to text
3 King James has the marginal note
"talk with." Young's Concordance says "to give praise." Return
to text
4 Hebrews 11 :17, 18: "By faith
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac
shall thy seed be called." Return to text
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