\u2018pirasmos\u2019\u00a0<\/em> can mean either test or temptation. While God will not tempt you or allow you to be tempted past your power to endure, God absolutely will test you.\u00a0 This is why we pray \u2018do not put us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one\u2019 in the Lord\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 The function of a test is to try and strengthen someone\u2019s faith and character, whereas the function of a temptation is to destroy one\u2019s character and faith.\u00a0 \u00a0The story of Abraham shows however that the test can indeed stretch one to the limits of what one can endure, and force one to trust God, even when things look bleak.<\/p>\nJews call the story in Gen. 22 \u2018the akedah\u2019\u00a0 the binding, referring to what was done to Isaac, but it is Abraham who is in a different sort of bind. What are you prepared to give, or give up in order to do God\u2019s will?\u00a0 Inquiring minds want to know.<\/p>\n
God calls him, and Abraham says \u2018Here I am\u2019 not suspecting what would come next\u2014 the power of the words in Hebrew which build to a climax are not so easily conveyed in English\u2013\u2018take pray your son, your only one,\u00a0 the one you love, Isaac and offer him up as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah on one of the mountains I will indicate to you\u2019.\u00a0 Obviously, anyone who heard this might start bargaining with God, and indeed Rashi, the famous Jewish commentator expands the text in a midrash to read as follows (as Alter notes)\u2013\u2018take your son\u2019 God said, but Abraham replied \u2018I have two sons\u2019, Take your only son\u2019 but Abraham replied \u2018Well this one is the only one to this mother, and this one is the only one to that mother\u2019, and God said \u2018the one you love\u2019 and Abraham said \u2018I love them both\u2019.\u00a0 Then God said \u2018ISAAC!\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0But in the story in Genesis, Abraham offers no quibbles or rebuttals, Note that the theme, \u2018your son, your only one\u2019 will return at the end of the story.<\/p>\n
Early the next morning, Abraham saddled up a donkey, chopped wood for the offering took Isaac and two servant boys with him, and headed out to the land of Moriah,\u00a0 But where pray tell is Mt. Moriah?\u00a0 According to the later tradition found in 2 Chron. 3.1\u2013 Mt. Moriah is where Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0 But in the Samaritan Pentateuch it is rendered as Morrah, said to be a location near Nablus and associated with Mt. Gerizim.\u00a0 Furthermore, in the Koran it is rendered as \u2018Marwa\u2019 which is close to the Kaaba in Mecca.\u00a0 The problem with 2 Chron. 3.1 is Moriah is spelled a bit differently than in Gen. 22.\u00a0 And then there are some scholars who think that the reference is to the land of the Amorites, with the initial aleph being suppressed.\u00a0 \u00a0I suspect 2 Chron. 3.1 got it right, in which case the poem I wrote comparing the binding of Isaac to the bind Christ was in on the cross is apt.\u00a0 Only Christ actually ends up sacrificed.\u00a0 \u00a0When they draw near to Moriah, Abraham says to the lads, stay here with the donkey, and he puts the wood on Isaac and indicates he and Isaac are going up the mountain to perform an act of worship.\u00a0 Abraham takes the fire and the butcher knife with him. When Isaac asks here\u2019s the wood and the fire but where is the lamb, Abraham provides \u2018God will see to the sheep for the offering my son\u2019.\u00a0 Notice Isaac doesn\u2019t mention the knife, the one thing that might scare the boy, and notice that Abraham doesn\u2019t allow his son to carry the dangerous things\u2013 the fire and the knife.\u00a0 \u00a0The eternal question is\u2013 Is Abraham really confident of this, or is he just hoping against hope God will do something at the last minute?<\/p>\n
And as the story is told, it must genuinely the very last minute that divine intervention happens because they reach the spot, Abraham ties Isaac to the wood, he lifts the knife to kill Isaac\u2026\u2026 and then , and only then he hears the divine messenger call his name\u2013 Abraham! and he replies \u2018Here I am\u2019 And the messenger orders \u2018do not reach out your hand against\u00a0 the boy, and do nothing to him\u00a0for now I know you genuinely fear God and you have not held back your son, your only one, from Me.\u2019\u00a0<\/em> And at that very moment Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a nearby thicket by his horns, and Abraham went, grabbed the ram\u00a0 and offered him up as a burnt offering instead of Isaac.\u00a0 And Abraham called that spot YHWH-yireh \u2018as is said to this day\u2019\u00a0 \u2018On the mount of the Lord there is sight\u2019.<\/p>\nAgain the divine messenger or God himself calls out to Abraham and says \u201cBy my own self, I swear (because of course there is no higher being by which God could swear), \u2026that because you\u2019ve done this and you did not hold back your only son I will greatly bless you, and multiply your seed as the stars in the heavens \u2018and your seed will take hold of your enemies gate, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your seed, because you have listened to my voice.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0Abraham then returns to Beersheba with Isaac and the servants and he dwelt there.\u00a0 This is the climax of the Abraham Saga, but not the end. The genealogical note at the end of the chapter is there to introduce us to Rebekah, and what is left is the story of Abraham finding a suitable burial place for Sarah who predeceases him.\u00a0 Again we must bear in mind Abraham is a nomad, and so he doesn\u2019t automatically have an appropriate burial place for Sarah.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
AKEDAH<\/p>\n
Did he ponder Isaac<\/p>\n
Whilst hanging on the cross<\/p>\n
A last second substitution<\/p>\n
Just before all was lost?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Is this why he cried out<\/p>\n
\u2018My God, My God\u2019 so loud<\/p>\n
Showing disappointment<\/p>\n
Before a hostile crowd?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s God\u2019s intervention,<\/p>\n
Offering another lamb<\/p>\n
Or would He be passed over<\/p>\n
A dangling great I AM?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abandoned but begotten<\/p>\n
Left to face his fate?<\/p>\n
Would help arrive in \u2018nick of time\u2019<\/p>\n
Or would it come too late?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s the lamb, asked Isaac<\/p>\n
And told \u2018God will provide\u2019<\/p>\n
But Jesus died in plain sight<\/p>\n
No place for grace to hide.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jesus, like old Isaac<\/p>\n
An only begotten son,<\/p>\n
Isaac was no substitute<\/p>\n
But Jesus was the one.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We like sheep have gone astray<\/p>\n
Unblemished lambs we\u2019re not<\/p>\n
God led the One to slaughter<\/p>\n
The Passover he\u2019d begot.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Offering isn\u2019t \u2018finished\u2019<\/p>\n
Until the sacrifice<\/p>\n
For any true atonement<\/p>\n
Blood shed must suffice.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Behold the Lamb of God<\/p>\n
Who takes away our sin<\/p>\n
God accepts no substitutes<\/p>\n
For Jesus, in the end.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 Just when you thought Abraham and Sarah could live happily ever after,\u00a0 Gen. 22 shows up, and as the very first verse indicates, after all that had gone before, God decided to test Abraham.\u00a0 Lest you think he won\u2019t do this to you at some point in your spiritual pilgrimage, read this story carefully.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":68563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15206,15209],"class_list":["post-69131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-father","tag-where-is-the-lamb"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n