Why Would God Tell a Man to Kill His Son? (Genesis 21-22)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Why would God command Abraham to kill his son Isaac?

First, we should note that Genesis 22 is one of the most controversial and challenging passages in Scripture. A lot is going on in this passage. God instructs Abraham to kill his only son with his wife, Sarah, and from the outside, this feels like the end of God’s covenantal promise.

As Gordon Wenham notes, “In content and outline, the stories in chaps. 21 and 22 run parallel, with Abraham in a role like Hagar’s, and Isaac like Ishmael.”^[1] Read both chapters together, and you notice God orders Ishmael to be expelled and Isaac to be sacrificed. Both go on a journey, both are about to die, and an angel from heaven steps in, the promises of God are reiterated to both of them, and Hagar opens her eyes to see a well while Abraham opens his eyes to see a ram. There are also striking similarities between Genesis 12 and Genesis 22.

These dramatic parallels tell us something bigger is going on than just a heinous command to murder one’s offspring. God is testing Abraham to reveal the state of his heart. Victor Hamilton notes,

The text clearly makes the point that what follows is a divine testing, not a demonic temptation. This particular verb, with God as the subject, does not occur again until Exod. 15:25…The wilderness period, after the departure from Egypt, is a testing experience. Will the Israelites take freedom with all the insecurities that freedom brings, or will they take incarceration and the guarantee of regular meals? That is the test. ^[2]

The Hebraic structure of God’s command to “take your son” in verse 3 is usually translated as “please” or “I beg you.”^[3] This tells us God understands how great an ask this is. The literal reading of verse 2 says, “Take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love,”[4]and this dramatic progression emphasizes how significant this is. Hamilton writes,

The intensity of the divine test is further demonstrated by the fact that Abraham is instructed to offer Isaac as a whole burnt offering (ꜥōlá). Later Levitical ritual (see Lev. 1) designated this particular offering as the only one to be completely consumed (except for the hide) on the altar, and hence the appropriate and normal Greek translation for Heb. ꜥōlá is holokáutōma, “holocaust.”^[5]

In Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, he wrestles with the ethical dilemma of this passage. Kierkegaard’s main argument is that Abraham’s faith was so great that this allowed for “the teleological suspension of the ethical.”[6] I’ll leave it to others to decide whether his assessment is accurate. But what is clear is that God is doing something grander than a quick read of this passage might suggest.

Andy Patton of The Bible Project says,

“On the surface, Genesis 22 is a problematic passage. But when we notice how this story fits in with the broader context of Scripture, we see how it points us toward God’s solution to the problem of death in our world. Abraham’s words to Isaac ultimately point to Jesus, ‘God himself will provide the sacrifice.’”^[7]

In the end, the focus of this passage is not the ethics of God’s “primitive command” but Abraham's absolute faith in God’s covenantal faithfulness. A faith that had been built up over years of intimate relationship. Hebrews 11:19 tells us his faith was so great that “He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead.”

A Meditation to PRAY

Praise | Thank you for being a God I can trust, even when I don’t understand all the details.

Release | I release my tight hold on my life. I trust you to guide me.

Ask | Lord, increase my faith in you.

Yield | I give you my desire to understand every situation fully. I commit to walking your way.

A Challenge to Act Like Christ  

When we read Genesis 22 disconnected from the grand narrative of God’s redemptive plan, we will inevitably walk away convinced that God is “deceptive, irrational, and self-contradictory, if not cruel.”^[8] But everything changes when we understand that this passage is not only a test of Abraham’s faith but also a pointer to Jesus. We realize that God was never going to go back on his promises and that his testings are a sign of his trust.

As Andy Patton says, “This story is a prophetic reenactment of the greater redemption God would someday accomplish through one of their descendants, Jesus.”^[9] He then goes on to show this excellent comparison between the two figures.

Both Isaac and Jesus are long-awaited “beloved sons” who are born in miraculous circumstances (Gen. 22:1; Matt. 3:17). Both sons carry the wood that is to be the instrument of their deaths on their backs (Gen. 22:6; John 19:17).  In both stories, the father leads the son up a mountain, and the son follows obediently toward his own death (Gen. 22:3; Matt. 26:39). And in both scenarios, God provides the sacrificial substitute, which Abraham says will be a ram (a male lamb) and the New Testament authors identify as Jesus, “the lamb of God” (Gen. 22:8; John 1:29).[10]

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.

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^[1] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, vol. 2, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1994), 99–100.

^[2]Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50, New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 101.

^[3]Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50, New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 101.

[4] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (The Writings), vol. 3 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019), 72.

^[5]Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50, New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 103-104.

[6] Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, tr. H. V. Hong and E. H. Hong (Princeton: Princeton University, 1983). This book was first published in Danish in 1843.

[7] Andy Patton, "Why Did God Ask Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?" Bible Project, https://bibleproject.com/articles/why-did-god-ask-abraham-to-sacrifice-isaac/ (accessed 5 December 2023).

^[8]Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50, New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 105-106.

[9] Andy Patton, "Why Did God Ask Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?" Bible Project, https://bibleproject.com/articles/why-did-god-ask-abraham-to-sacrifice-isaac/ (accessed 5 December 2023).

[10] Andy Patton, "Why Did God Ask Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?" Bible Project, https://bibleproject.com/articles/why-did-god-ask-abraham-to-sacrifice-isaac/ (accessed 5 December 2023).