But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Genesis 22:11-12

There are simply some stories in the Bible, I wish we’re not there. I wish they were not part of our sacred text. I wish long ago they had been edited out of scripture and discarded as unworthy of who God is.

The story of the sacrifice of Isaac is one such story. As written, God is testing Abraham and his faithfulness. Does Abraham really love God, and if so, is he willing to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering?

The problem is not in the way the story turns out. Isaac is spared, and God provides another way for the sacrifice. The problem is “The Ask” . . . How could God ask this of any parent?

Some scholars believe, the story is included to set apart the Jewish faith, from those who practiced human sacrifice. It is a defining word that God does not want children to be sacrificed, in a world where it was  believed God demanded it.

And yet the scripture says of Abraham, that his willingness to sacrifice his child, was counted to him as righteousness.

Every year or so, there is a tragic story of a mother or father, who harms their children, believing God has told them to do so. A twisted belief that either their child is demonic, or God is telling them to sacrifice  their children, to prove their own faithfulness. I worry this text influenced that parent.

We are left to argue with scripture, on the why of this text? Why include such a horrific story? Why indeed, count Abraham’s willingness to kill his son, as righteousness instead of evil, or the product of a terribly twisted mind?

Why not name it for what it is? The deepest betrayal of the parent – child relationship and a breach of trust broken and destroyed. Only the intervention of an angel spares, Isaac’s life.

So I do not like this story. Nor do I like calling Abraham righteous for his willingness to take the life of his son.

The Rabbinic Tradition has struggled with this scripture as well. Some in the tradition of the rabbis say that to prove his righteousness before God, Abraham ought to have said, “If you need a sacrifice, take me and not my son. “ Others point to a misunderstanding by Abraham, a belief that when God called to him, it was a call to turn his son over to God, recognizing his child was not a a piece of property, but a gift of God.

Some have questioned if the original text or oral tradition was corrupted, in the form it came to us.

In Genesis Rabbah (56:8), God scolds Abraham saying: “When I told you to bring Isaac for a sacrifice, I wanted him at my altar, not on it.” God chastises Abraham for his lack of understanding, “When I told you, ‘Take your son…,’ I was not changing My promise that you would have descendants through Isaac. I did not tell you to slaughter him but rather to take him to the top of the mountain. You have taken him up; now take him down again.”

Our understanding of God is an ongoing revelation, which has changed and grown through the centuries. From a world where children were sacrificed to appease an angry God, God reveals through the prophets that harming a child, is always condemned.

Jesus continued the revelation, when he called the children to him saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” Luke 18:16

In doing so, Jesus reminds us for all time, that every child is precious, beloved by God, to be protected and loved.