Lord Yahweh Demands Human Sacrifice

The Lord Yahweh did as he had promised—Sarah soon conceived and gave birth to a son that Abraham named Isaac.  Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old, as Yahweh had told him to do with all males in his household. 

Abraham was now a hundred years old and Sarah, who was almost as old as Abraham, proclaimed, "I am happy. Yahweh has brought me happiness in my old age.  Now everyone who hears about me giving birth at my age will laugh with me instead of laughing at me. Who would have ever thought that Sarah would nurse children in her old age—but I have borne Abraham a son.”

The child grew and was weaned and no longer suckled at his mother's breast.  Abraham made a great feast for his household on the day that Isaac was weaned.  Sarah saw Ishmael, Abraham's son born to the slave Hagar the Egyptian, playing with her son Isaac, so she said to Abraham, "You must throw this slave woman and her son out of our house, because I do not want the son of this slave to inherit along with my son Isaac."

Sarah's demand to kick Hagar and Ishmael out of his house distressed Abraham, but Yahweh came to Abraham to calm him down and told him, "Do not be distressed over Ishmael and your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that your offspring will inherit your name. As for Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring."

Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a goat skin bag of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away.  Hagar wandered off into the desert wilderness. When the water in the goat skin bag was used up she placed the child under one of the bushes and then she sat down a good way off, about the distance an arrow can fly, thinking to herself, "I don't want to look on the death of the child," and she began to cry.

Yahweh heard the cries of Ishmael and Hagar.  The messenger of Yahweh called to Hagar from the sky and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid. Yahweh has heard the crying of Ishmael from the bushes where you put him.  Go pick up the boy and hold him tightly by the hand, because I am going to make a great nation of him.” 

Then Yahweh caused a well of water to appear in front of her. She filled the goat skin bag with water and gave Ishmael a drink. 

Yahweh watched over the boy and protected him.  Ishmael grew up in the wilderness of Paran.  He learned to live in the wilderness and he became an expert with the bow.  His mother got a wife for him from Egypt, her homeland.

At about that time King Abimelech, together with the commander of his army, went to Abraham and said to him, "I have noticed that your god Yahweh is with you in all that you do.  I want a peace treaty with you.  I want you to swear to me, right here in the presence of your god Yahweh, that you will not lie to me or betray me or deceive me or my people or my descendants.  I have been loyal to you and treated you fairly, and I expect you will deal with me the same way.” 

Abraham said, "I swear it." Then he complained to Abimelech that the king’s workers had seized a well belonging to Abraham. 

Abimelech told Abraham, "I do not know who has done this.   You never mentioned it before and I did not hear about it until just now."

Then Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to King Abimelech and the two men made a formal agreement.  Abraham set apart seven lambs from his flock.  King Abimelech asked Abraham, "Why did you separate those lambs from the flock?"

Abraham told the King, "You must accept these lambs from me so that our contract is valid and so you can be my witness that I dug this well."  After they sealed their contract with the gift of lambs, King Abimelech and the commander of his army left and went home to the land of the Philistines.  Abraham resided as a foreigner for many days in the land of the Philistines.

Yahweh decided to test whether Abraham would keep the agreement he made with him. He called out to him, "Abraham!"

Abraham replied, "I’m right here!"

Yahweh said, "Take your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Mount Moriah and when you get there I want you to sacrifice him there as a burnt offering to me.” 

Without protest or argument Abraham rose early the next morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young servants with him and his son Isaac, cut the wood for the burnt offering and then set out toward the mountains in the distance just as Yahweh had ordered him. On the third day Abraham saw Mount Moriah in the distance, so he camped there and said to his young servants, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go to the mountain and after we have made the offering we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and handed it to his son Isaac to carry.  Abraham carried the fire and the knife.  The two of them, father and son, walked along together toward Mount Moriah.  Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!"

“Yes, my son?” asked Abraham. 

Isaac asked him, puzzled, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 

Abraham answered, "Yahweh himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.  When they came to the place on the mountain that Yahweh had described to him, Abraham built an altar and laid the wood on it.  Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.  As Abraham raised the knife to kill his son the messenger of the Lord Yahweh called to him from the sky and said, "Abraham!  Do not kill the boy or do anything to harm him.  Now I know that you will obey me and keep our agreement, since you were willing to kill your son for me."

After Yahweh spoke, Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught by its horns in a nearby clump of bushes. Abraham took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.  So Abraham called that place The Lord Yahweh Will Provide and it is still called that to this day. 

Then the messenger of the Lord Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from the sky, and said, "The Lord Yahweh has made a promise and wants me to tell you about it.  Here is the message from Lord Yahweh:  ‘Because you were willing  to sacrifice your own son to me and offer him as a burnt offering to me, you have demonstrated your loyalty, and I confirm that I will indeed bless you and will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.  You and your offspring will have my help in conquering all your enemies and your offspring shall occupy the lands of their enemies because you obeyed my instructions.’"

Abraham and Isaac came down from the mountain and joined the servants, who were waiting for them at the camp below and together they went back to Beersheba, where Abraham lived.

 

Sarah’s annoyance with Hagar is understandable, but throwing her out of the house violated tribal custom that secondary wives had certain rights.  That is why Abraham was upset and why Yahweh intervened and promised Ishmael rights of inheritance as well. The contract between Abraham and King Abimelech was typical—gifts had to be given and received for the contract to be valid. We have the same principle in contracts today—each party to the contract has to both give something and get something in return, even if it is only $1, to make a contract valid. The sacredness of an agreement, that once your word was given you were obligated to perform as agreed, is what underlies the demand for the sacrifice of Isaac.  Yahweh wanted to see if Abraham would keep his word to do whatever Yahweh commanded him.  Abraham was not surprised at Yahweh's demand for human sacrifice because it was not that unusual in that time.