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NASB | Genesis 22:1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 22:1 Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he answered, "Here I am." |
Subject: "God told me to do it" |
Bible Note: Hi, Ricardo; A couple of points: There was no benefit to God in testing Abraham's faith; as your friend Tim said, God already knew what Abraham's choice would be. We need to ask ourselves two questions when we study an event like this: 1) What was the benefit to or effect on the participants? Perhaps it was important for Abraham to know that God might make extraordinary demands, but he would always provide the means for satisfying them; at least, that seems to be what he learned and passed on to Isaac. And perhaps Abraham needed to discover for himself the depth and importance of his obedience. It was after passing this test that God reaffirmed his covenant with Abraham. 2) What did God want us to learn? Most of what happened during Old Testament times was not recorded. Only events and conversations of God's choosing were written down for us. So why did God preserve this incident for us? Was it his intent to teach us that he will sometimes ask us to do things that are wrong? If that were his intent, I would expect to see other examples; I don't. No, I think God wanted us to learn lessons similar to those taught Abraham. It is also important to remember the context of these events. It is silly to imagine that God will interact with us the same way he interacted with Abraham. None of us will be called to start a new covenant and a new nation as Abraham was. None of us will appear in the Bible. Abraham's experience was unique. Should we believe a virgin who in 2004 claims that Gabriel told her whe would bear the son of God? Of course not; that was reserved for Mary; it will not happen again. Like Mary, Abraham lived the life God set out for him. None of us will re-live his life. Finally, we need to remember that Genesis, the rest of the Pentateuch, the rest of the Old Testament, and the rest of the Bible represent a progressive revelation of God's character and will. Abraham had no Law to guide him; God was revealing his will a step at a time. It is likely that Abraham did not yet know that God abhorred the sacrifice of children. Through Moses his descendants knew it and so do we. If Abraham had not been paying attention the second time God spoke, he might have had a flimsy excuse for sacrificiing Isaac; we would have none. In short, with all of Scripture to guide us, we can be confident that God absolutely will not tell us to do wrong. There is no scriptural basis for believing that he would. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |