Abraham and Isaac in the Modern Age

a sheepI recently had occasion to ponder the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. For those who don’t know the story, Abraham was told by God to offer his only son (and only child) Isaac as a sacrifice to God, by killing him. As Abraham was about to slaughter his bound son with a knife, God sent an angel to stop the sacrifice. God was satisfied with Abraham’s faith and did not require the sacrifice.

Then I got to thinking about what would have happened should that biblical story unfolded in the modern world – in the time of 24-hour news coverage. I can just see the headlines in the Daily Mail: Father claims ‘God made me do it’. I wonder what the people at Health and Family Services would have to say about a father who tried to kill his son with a knife on God’s orders?

And then, I got to thinking (I know, lots of thinking for me): How did Isaac and Abraham’s wife, Sarah, take the whole episode? I wonder if almost being sacrificed alive was enough to put Isaac off religion for a while. Certainly, if this were a modern story, Sarah would never leave Abraham alone with her son ever again.

Anyway, these are just some of the things I pondered this week.

9 comments

  1. FOX news would be camped out, Nancy Grace would talk about it ad naseum and give Abraham a name such as the “demented dad.” Abraham would go on talk shows “live” from jail. Sarah would divorce his crazy ass, and marry Ezekiel, who was her high school boyfriend and first love.

    Abraham would be in therapy for life.

  2. Whoops, I meant Isaac would be in therapy for life. After jail, Abraham would go on a national “I’m sorry” tour to various media outlets.

  3. Haha. Funny thoughts Noel. I think there would also be a book deal somewhere in there.

    This story is very disturbing on a lot of levels, especially for the modern world. It sheds light on a different type of world back then. I find it very interesting to see that before going to sacrifice his son, the story in Genesis 22:5 actually says something to the effect of “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.” So, in effect, Abraham knew that they would return yet apparently was rewarded for his willingness to go all the way with the sacrifice. Perhaps his faith in God was even before the “sacrifice” itself. Just a thought. What does that mean for the modern world? I’m not quite sure because I don’t relate to sacrifices of animals or kids but maybe I can relate to faith? Unique and disturbing story for sure, at least to me especially because I see people doing crazy things nowadays in the name of “faith.” The media would be all over this “stuff” if it happened nowadays. Haha.

    There is some commentary on the matter here as well, titled “The Terrible Aqedah” for those interested – http://www.wordonfire.org/AudioLists.aspx?DateBeg=1/1/2009&DateEnd=12/31/2009

    Holla.

  4. I’ve often pondered the same thing about Joan of Arc. If my teenaged daughter told me that voices from God told her to lead armies into war for the glory of the Dauphin… Oy vey! I’d have her committed!

  5. @ Noël:

    You had me rolling on the floor with that commentary. I don’t even know who Nancy Grace is, but your explanation was hilarious. Thanks for that!

    @ Steve:

    Reference the Genesis citation … Abraham really couldn’t have told the servants to stay put whilst he went ‘over there’ to kill his son. Surely, one of the servants would have intervened.

    @ Isabelle:

    Ha-ha! Could you imagine Joan of Arc in the modern age? Sitting in front of a panel of generals and politicians, explaining why she needed to be put in charge of the military … ‘But, Dauphin, the English have weapons of mass destruction! God has told me so!’

  6. @Liam
    Great read my man. It is open to interpretation, of course, like all texts. I perhaps agree with your read. However, I would propose that in that time, Abraham would not have to explain himself to his servants to this level. Furthermore, he could have easily just as said, “Stay here while the boy and I go over there to worship.” The “we will return” part is just a bit extra. Was he lying to save face with servants? Did he know they would return? Was it just coincidence that the passage turned out this way? Eh, do we need to care? Haha. Was my comment the least funny? Yes. Haha.

  7. @ Steve:

    Maybe Abraham’s ‘statement of return’ was more of some little self-affirmation along the lines of ‘Surely God won’t actually make me kill my son … this must be a test … of course, we’ll come back together … yeah, this is just a test … nothing more … ok, I can do this.’

  8. I am not sure if this has been mentioned before or not but Abraham had two sons. Issac and Ishmael who he had with his slave Haggar. Granted Sarah had him banish Haggar and Ishmael but that doesn’t mean Ishmael stopped being his kid.

  9. @ Bridget,

    Oh, Fox News would so have dug that story up in about a day! One of their news presenters would have shouted the shocking story at us for sure! Ha-ha!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *