(Genesis 21:22 - 22:19)
At that time it happened that King Abimilech and his chief military commander Phichol spoke to Abraham "Since God is with you in all that you do, swear by Him here and now that you will have honest dealings with me and with my successors, that you will extend the same courtesy to me that I have extended to you as a foreign resident in my country."
"I do so swear," replied Abraham. But he complained to him about a water well of his that Abimilech's followers had taken by force.
Abimelech responded "I don't know who’s responsible. You never told me about this before and it’s the first I've heard of it."
Abraham presented Abimelech with some sheep and oxen, and they made a pact. Abraham also set aside seven female lambs from his flock.
"What is the meaning of these seven female lambs that you have set aside?" asked Abimelech.
"I hope who will accept them as an assurance that I was the one who dug that well."
The place was thereafter called Beersheba, for that was where both of them swore an oath and made a contract. Abilemech and his general Phichol then departed and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a grove of tamarisks at Beersheba and there worshipped Jehovah, the eternal god. And Abraham made his residence in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
After these events, Jehovah tested Abraham. He called out his name, "Abraham, Abraham!" And Abraham responded "Here I am." Jehovah then told him "Take your favored son, Isaac, whom you love, and journey with him into the land of Moriah [clear vision]. On a mountain that I will show you, you will offer him to be burned as a human sacrifice."
Rising early, Abraham saddled his donkey and split some wood logs for the sacrifice. Accompanied by Isaac and two trusted man servants, he set out on his trek to the place designated by Jehovah. On the third day, Abraham surveyed the land above and located his destination still some distance away. Abraham bid his trusted servants “Rest here and stay with the donkey. My son and I are going to hike up there. After we hold worship, we will return.” Abraham collected the timber needed for the sacrifice and placed it on Isaac’s shoulders for him to tote, while he carried the sacrificial knife and a brazier of charcoal embers for the fire.
As they walked on together, Isaac turned to his father and asked "Father?"
"What do you want, my son?" Abraham replied.
"We have the fire and the wood, but where is the animal to burn as a sacrifice?" he asked.
"Jehovah himself will furnish the victim for the sacrifice" he replied. And they continued on.
When they came to the place that Jehovah had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the firewood upon it. He then bound up his son Isaac and laid his body on the altar atop the pile of wood. Abraham seized the knife and raised it to strike and kill his son.
At that moment, Jehovah, in his aerial vehicle, hailed him from the sky "Abraham, Abraham!”
"Here I am!" Abraham rejoined.
"Don’t strike that boy, or harm him in any way. For I am now assured that you are obedient to me, since you have not hesitated to sacrifice to me your son, your much-loved son."
Abraham looked up and noticed that behind him there was a ram caught in the briars, held fast by its horns. Abraham captured the sheep and used it for the burnt sacrifice instead of his son.
Abraham named this place Jehovajireh, (Jehovah sees), as it is called even today, for it is said “upon the mountain, Jehovah will be seen.”
Jehovah called down to Abraham from the sky a second time. And Jehovah proclaimed to him "I have promised myself that if you would go through with this act and not hesitate to sacrifice to me your favored son, I would bless you. Indeed, your progeny will be as abundant as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the beach. Your descendants will occupy the cities of your enemies. All the nations of the earth will thus be blessed, since you have obeyed my command."
Abraham returned to the trusted servants waiting for him, and together they went to Beersheba, where he made his residence.
Notes
1. Apparently Abraham dug a well and some of Abimelech people, unbeknownst to their king, took possession of it by force. Abraham's word that he was the one who dug it seemed insufficient, so he intended to convince Abimelech of the fact by giving him seven she-lambs. The gift/bribe was not refused. Abraham ended up buying the well that was already rightfully his. One can imagine he didn't want to press the case and perhaps disrupt the good relations he was having with Abimelech.
2. Abraham has all along been a faithful follower of Jehovah and continued to worship him as a god. For some reason, though, Jehovah, decides to test his fidelity and does so in the most extreme way imaginable, demanding that he kill his beloved son as a human sacrifice to him. It is hard to see this demand as anything but malicious, a desire on Jehovah's part to totally humiliate his follower and reduce him to absolute subservience. What is presented here is subjective morality. Whatever Jehovah desires, whatever he happens to like, is good. Obedience to him is the sole criterion for righteousness. If Jehovah demands some vile, despicable, obscene thing like human sacrifice, then it becomes good. Abraham and his followers do not seem to be required to conform to any abstract moral precepts, only to do Jehovah's bidding and abide by his wishes, whatever they might be. Jehovists are not expected to think or make moral judgments on their own. Abraham doesn't question Jehovah's command, but blindly obeys. This is reminiscent of cults and secret societies where absolute obedience is required and heinous acts are often demanded as a test of one's fidelity. --- It might be pointed out that this kind of unquestioning and fanatical devotion is surely the source of all the great evils in history. The lesser evils result from unbridled personal ambition, but all history shows that it is the collective adherence to some sort of -ism that produces the greater evils, the bloodiest wars, the severest persecutions, the harshest tyrannies.
3. The scene in which Isaac, walking with his father to the place where they will build the sacrificial altar, is out of a horror story. He asks where the animal for the sacrifice is. Does he suspect that he is to be the sacrifice, that his own father is going to cut him up and burn his body? Does he struggle when his father ties him up? Does he question his father's judgment or sanity? Or does he accept it all like the lamb led to slaughter that he is? At any rate, one suspects that the experience would have been traumatic for the boy, even though it all turns out well when his place on the altar is taken by some unlucky ram. One wonders what he subsequently thinks of his father, or if he has totally bought into the self-means-nothing worship of Jehovah.
4. In many translations, Isaac is referred to as Abraham's only son, which is, of course, incorrect. I have used “favored,” and “well-loved” which is a more accurate rendering. --- Also, the reference to coal used in many translations cannot be right, since ancient man did not mine and burn coal until a much, much later period, approximately the second century B.C. Charcoal seems more likely to have furnished the embers that Abraham carried in a brazier and used to start the fire for the sacrifice.
5. When Jehovah stops the sacrifice of Isaac just as Abraham has raised his knife to eviscerate the lad, it is like the end of a cruel joke. "Just kidding!" Jehovah seems to be saying. "I'll be merciful. You won't have to murder your son after all, since you have shown me that I can make you do anything. You are confirmed as my stooge, my sap, my slave. I will now reward you and throw you some scraps from my table” One wonders what would have ensued if Abraham, like a real man, had instead told Jehovah to go fly a kite, that he wasn't going to murder his son under any circumstances, let alone to satisfy a mere whim, and that Jehovah could keep his big promises about Abraham becoming the father of nations and kings. However, for those living at the time of the Bible's writing and, one supposes, contemporary devotees, Abraham represents an ideal of religious devotion.
6. An ‘angel” or “messenger” of Jehovah calls down to Abraham from the sky, but it is obviously the words of Jehovah that are spoken. The context does not indicate two persons calling down from the sky. In this case, as in many others, the “angel” should be interpreted not as another extraterrestrial being, but as a vessel, an aerial vehicle in which Jehovah is traveling and from which he can project his voice below.
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