An Atheist's Guide to the Bible

Abraham and Isaac

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The stories of Abraham are not simple to understand, having been reworked several times in the compilation of the book of Genesis. I have picked out here one important strand from the stories concerning Abraham's son Isaac and God's command that the boy should be sacrificed.

Abraham represents the ideal ancestor of the Semitic people, not only of the nations of Israel and Judah who trace themselves back to Jacob, Abraham's grandson. Abraham is also the mythical ancestor of the Arabs, through his other son Ishmael, and as such features very prominently in the Muslim Qu'ran.

In contrast to Adam and Eve, Abraham is protrayed as the faithful servant of God. He is even, when tested, ready to sacrifice his son Isaac to Yahweh. Luckily Isaac is saved from this fate at the last moment. In return, Yahweh tells Abraham his descendants will be many, and they are promised possession of the land of Canaan (i.e. what we now call Israel or Palestine).

Now this story may seem more difficult to comprehend than the clearly moral tale of Adam and Eve. But it is probably more important for the understanding of the Old Testament. The promise of land in return for loyal faith in God is the cornerstone of the later prophetic books. The punishment hanging over the Israelites is always that of "exile" - being deprived of the very land their God Yahweh had promised them.

Eventually this punishment comes to pass, at the hands of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. It was even repeated in New Testament times under the Romans, who banished the Jews from Palestine after the great revolt of 135 CE. The effects of land disputes in this area are of course still very much present, following the rise of Zionism in the nineteenth century and the foundation of the modern state of Israel.

 

Genesis 12:1 - 12:9

Abram is called by Yahweh

Abraham starts life as Abram - the motif of name-change is very common in biblical stories, usually signifying the character's destiny somehow in the meaning of the new name. Abraham is taken to mean "father of many nations".

Abram responds to Yahweh's call to leave his country and wander in the far-off land of Canaan, along with his retinue of family-members, servants and livestock. He pitches his tent and builds altars at two of the later holy shrines of Yahweh, Shechem and Bethel. This story is being used as a myth to explain the origin of these holy places. Here the sacred tree of Moreh at Shechem is mentioned - elsewhere Abraham himself is said to plant a tamarisk tree at the shrine of Beersheba (Gen 21:33).

Most significantly, though, Yahweh appears to Abraham and promises him the country of the Canaanites, "I shall give this land to your descendants" (Gen 12:7).

Genesis 17:1 - 17:14

The covenant of circumcision

At the start of this passage, Yahweh renames Abram to Abraham. Perhaps coincidentally, Yahweh himself uses another of his own names in this episode - he appears and announces "I am El Shaddai", El meaning God and Shaddai a title that occurs only occasionally in the Old Testament, and is usually represented in English as Almighty.

Yahweh repeats his promise to make Abraham a great nation, his descendants will be kings, they will be very numerous, and they will possess the land of Canaan in perpetuity. This is the third set of promises so far (we saw one of these in Gen 12:1-7, there is another promise sequence in Gen 15:1-21; each of these seems in fact to be composed of two or more separate promises).

These promises are not free. Yahweh announces a "covenant" - this is a rather archaic term in English now, associated mainly with its biblical usage. It means a solemn contract or agreement. In the Bible, covenants are usually marked by a symbol agreed between the parties which is then regarded as a witness to the agreement. This might mean setting up a stone (which is said to have heard what has been agreed), or in Gen 21:25-31 Abraham makes a covenant with the local king Abimelech and gives him seven sheep as witnesses to their agreement.

In this case, Yahweh's covenant with Abraham is marked by the symbolic ritual of circumcision - all male children are to be circumcised, a practice still followed by Jews and Muslims today as a sign that they belong to the promise of Abraham.

Genesis 17:15 - 17:27

Sarah is promised a son

Yahweh's further promise is to give Sarah a son. Sarah's name is changed from Sarai, but it is not exactly clear what this signifies. Abraham already had a son, by his wife's servant Hagar because Sarah was barren. But this son Ishmael is to be dispossessed in favour of a son which Sarah is to bear, who will be called Isaac.

The birth of Isaac is miraculous, because Sarah is ninety years old and Abraham a hundred. Abraham actually laughs at Yahweh when the promise is made, but nevertheless Yahweh insists that Isaac will be born and will be the inheritor of the promises to Abraham.

A separate tradition of the promise of Isaac is given in Gen 18:1-15, where Yahweh appears in person with two angels at Abraham and Sarah's tent. In this version, it is Sarah who laughs at being promised a son, but she denies having done so because she is afraid. The connection of laughter with Isaac is a play on his name, which can be interpreted as "God has smiled" or "God has been kind".

Genesis 21:1 - 21:7

Isaac is born

Isaac is born to Sarah, and two traditional poetic verses are given expressing Sarah's joy at having a child in her old age.

Genesis 22:1 - 22:10

Abraham is called to sacrifice his son Isaac

Abraham's utter faith in Yahweh is tested when God appears to him and tells him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt-offering. The incident is supposed to take place in the "land of Moriah", which can no longer be identified. Much later tradition places the sacrifice on the same holy rock around which the Jerusalem temple was built (and which is now the site of the Muslim holy place the Dome of the Rock).

The literary power of this extraordinary scene is undeniable. Abraham saddles his donkey and sets off with his son and two servants. He behaves throughout in a completely matter-of-fact fashion. He even makes poor Isaac carry shoulder the wood which his father has choppped for the pyre and carry it up the hill (a point echoed in the gospel of John where Jesus is made to carry his own cross, John 19:17).

Abraham himself carries a knife and the spark to light the fire. Young Isaac asks him where the sacrificial lamb is, and Abraham tells him God will provide. This is faith under test. The climactic moment is in verse 10, with Isaac tied up on top of a pile of wood on the newly-built altar, and Abraham stretching out the knife to kill him.

Genesis 22:11 - 22:19

Isaac is reprieved

The angel of Yahweh intervenes at this very last moment, preventing Abraham from putting in the knife, and providing a ram caught in a thicket as the necessary sacrificial victim. The significance of the story lies in this substitution of one victim for another. As Frazer has described in The Golden Bough, it is usual for human sacrifices to be moderated at some point during the development of civilisation, and for them to be replaced progressively by symbolic human sacrifice, then actual animal sacrifice, and finally merely symbolic animal sacrifice.

One final time, the promises to Abraham are repeated. His descendants will be as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore, and they will be mighty and overcome their enemies. This reward is given because Abraham has been so completely obedient.

Abraham is important in the theology of Paul. Abraham is the model for faith in Yahweh - "Abraham believed in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3, Genesis 15:6). Abraham did what Yahweh told him to, even being prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, because he trusted his God. Paul uses this to demonstrate the kind of faith that Christians ought to have.

 

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This is the second of a selection of five stories which are offered as an introduction to the Old Testament

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