23 January Daily Question

There are multiple reasons to why Abraham may have listened to the request of God. Firstly, and most obvious, God promises Abraham that he “ will make you into a great nation,and I will bless you; I will make your name great,and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Though Abraham was married to a beautiful woman, he still did not have children by the age of 75 because his wife has barren. Now a voice from the heavens has called him by name, clearly and deliberately, and promises him one of the few things that he most dearly wants, to be made into a great nation aka to have a lineage of his own. In 22:5 I do not believe that Abraham is lying. He says that they will both come back, and I think he believes in the goodness of the lord and thus believes that if he follows Gods commands, he will not ask him to truly sacrifice his son. While I believe he was fully prepared to do it if the Lord commanded it, I believe he also thought that the Lord was either testing him or had other plans. Again, in 22:8, he may have been lying in that very moment, but ultimately it was not. The Lord did provide the sacrifice for Abraham. I believe that Gods intention with this act was in fact to test Abraham. At this point he had seen generation after generation of man disappoint him and turn their shoulder to him, so asking his follower to sacrifice the one thing that he wanted more than anything else, a son, was the ultimate test of faith for Abraham to see if he was worthy of the gifts of the Lord. I believe that while Abraham’s actions are commendable, the fact that he would potentially give his sons life if asked is morally concerning, so I would not label them “praiseworthy”. In this story, whether the Lord is praiseworthy is based on whether this was entirely a test of faith or a split second change of mind from God. Is it evil to ask of Abraham the very act of sacrificing his son? If they both knew that it was a test, then the act was more so just going through the motions, but if not, it is quite a morally deficient thing to ask of someone.