seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
On the positive note.... Look.... verse 23 is Rebekah! She was Abraham's niece! Rebekah was born to a wife... as opposed to the concubine.
Attempted murder.... that's what we would call it today.... laying your son on a stack of rocks and putting a knife to his throat is attempted murder.... and he planned it... he hauled the wood and the weapon up from the valley with him with the intent of sacrificing his son. He was instructed by God. Today... he would get a lifetime in a mental wing in the prison. People in a modern jury would consider him insane.... talking to God indeed. They say Lyme disease causes humans to think they are talking to God... that's what they say. The idea that God would instruct a human directly is out of the question these days.
Now the days have come that my friends and I talked about when I was a kid, lounging in Mr. Wilson's apple trees and talking about God. One of my friends said all the miracles had stopped. My friend said there are no more miracles because the Bible has been written and the story is over. I refuted it... and told her God is still alive and miracles still happen... but she was more on point than I imagined.
We don't believe in miracles anymore. We don't believe that God has a ram stuck in the bushes by it's horns for our salvation. We think God is too busy to be involved in miracles.... and let's face it.... it's a miracle Abraham did what God wanted him to do with Isaac..... but then again... he already had a son... Ishmael.... maybe he remorseful that he ran his son Ishmael away.
Today we would call it attempted murder in the first degree.
