The Role Of Sacrifice In Genesis 22

The birth of Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac was nothing short of a miracle, so the fact that God asks Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice in Genesis chapter 22 is quite intriguing. After a period of time since Isaac’s birth, God calls on Abraham and asks him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. Early the next morning, Abraham gets up, prepares his donkey, cuts up enough wood for the offering, and heads out with Isaac and two servants. It is a three-day journey to the spot God had told him to go. Abraham asked his servants to stay back so that he and his son can go worship, and then promises that they both would come back to them. Isaac is loaded up with the wood for the sacrifice and as they are about to start on their way, he notices something important is missing. Isaac asks his father where the lamb for the offering is, to which Abraham answers that God will provide the lamb for them. With that, they headed up to the place God told Abraham about (Genesis 22:1-8). Once they reached the place, the father and son began building an altar. Abraham then proceeded to bind his son and laid him down on the altar. Just

When God first approaches Abraham He says, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love” (Genesis 22:2). However, the reader and God know that Abraham has another son from Hagar named Ishmael. Maybe this is because Isaac “is the one son who counts in terms of the fulfillment of God's purpose” (Goldingay 2010, 45). In the ancient culture this text was written in, it is likely that because Hagar is Abraham’s second wife, it means that she is not the “primary wife” and thus Ishmael is not legally identified as Abraham’s son (Goldingay 2010, 45). Therefore, the intended audience would understand why Isaac is seen as Abraham’s “only