The Story of The People of God: Part V - Threats to the Promise, ep.1

PRAYER
Faithful God, you lead and care for us
with invitation to relationship,
and challenge to maturity,
helping us grow in love for you
and our neighbors. Through Christ,
may we hear more deeply your call
to be rooted in your way.
Amen.

the CHURCH calendar: SUNDAY, 7.23.23

The Story of the People of God: Part V
THREATS to the PROMISE: ep.1

Now the Lord said to Abram,
‘Go from your country and your kindred
and your father’s house to the land that
I will show you. I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and the
one who curses you I will curse; and in you
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
GENESIS 12:1-3

THREATSTHAT FOLLOW…
• Famine; flight to Egypt 12:10
• Pharoah takes Sarah 12:15

• PROMISE: LAND 13:14-16

• Still no biological heir 15:15

• COVENANT: FAMILY/LAND 15:5-6, 18

• COVENANT/PROMISE: FAMILY 17:1-2

• King Abimalech takes Sarah 20:1

• 1 PROMISE FULFILLED: FAMILY 21:1-5

• 1 PROMISE FULFILLED: FAMILY 21:1-5
• Abraham to sacrifice Isaac 22:1-19

After these things God tested Abraham.
He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said,
‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your
only son Isaac, whom you love, and go
to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as
a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that
I shall show you.’ So Abraham rose early in the
morning, saddled his donkey, and took two
of his young men with him, and his son Isaac…
GENESIS 22:1-3a

…he cut the wood for the burnt-offering,
and set out and went to the place in the distance
that God had shown him… Abraham took the
wood of the burnt-offering and laid it on his son
Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.
So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said
to his father Abraham, ‘Father!’ And he said, ‘Here
I am, my son.’
He said, ‘The fire and the wood are here,
but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?’
GENESIS 22:3b, 6-7

Abraham said, ‘God himself will provide
the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’
So the two of them walked on together…
And Abraham looked up and saw a ram,
caught in a thicket by its horns.
Abraham went and took the ram
and offered it up as a burnt-offering
instead of his son. So Abraham called that place
‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day,
‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’
GENESIS 22:8, 13-14

Great ending. But it’s actually a bit
unnerving to see (1) how willing
Abraham is to sacrifice his son,
and (2) that God couldn’t think
of a different kind of test. Both
of these questions have troubled
readers of this story for over 2,000
years, as they scramble to try to
understand what God is doing –
especially since other parts of the
Bible say God hates child sacrifice…

Prohibiting child sacrifice:
• Leviticus 18:21
• Deuteronomy 12:31
• Deuteronomy 18:10
God appearing to command it:
• Genesis 22:1-2
• Exodus 22:29-30
• Judges 11:30-39
• Ezekiel 20:25-26
PROBLEMATIC PASSAGES

God wanted to make sure Abraham
would trust that he WOULD NOT need
to go through with it, DESPITE the
command; trusting God’s faithfulness
in the face of a
command that contradicted it
PAULCOPEN’SVIEW

1. Suggesting God was merely trying
to find out if Abraham trusted God
doesn’t suffice in this case
BOYD’S RESPONSE

1. Suggesting God was merely trying
to find out if Abraham trusted God
doesn’t suffice in this case
2. If God was already confident in
Abraham’s character, why would
God need to test him at all?
BOYD’S RESPONSE

“YHWH stooped to momentarily take
on the appearance of a typical ANE
child-sacrifice-demanding deity
by giving the command, but only
so Abraham could ultimately undergo a
highly emotional paradigm shift
in his view of God that removed
any doubt that YHWH might be
like other ANE gods who required
this ultimate sacrifice.”
BOYD’SVIEW

1. Abraham didn’t hesitate to comply
with the command; it didn’t shock
him, contrary to Abraham’s efforts
to save Sodom and Gomorrah
BOYD’SARGUMENT

1. Abraham didn’t hesitate to comply
with the command; it didn’t shock
him, contrary to Abraham’s efforts
to save Sodom and Gomorrah
2. YHWH had done this before with
Abraham and Sarah, challenging
their ANE thinking about the need
for humans to help their deities
get things done See: Hagar/Ishmael
BOYD’SARGUMENT

3. Since childhood, Abraham would
have understood sacrificing one’s
firstborn son as the ultimate
“work” a human could perform;
if there were remaining suspicion
about YHWH being like other ANE
deities, it would have been about
this; God temporarily stoops to
take on this role in an effort to
jolt Abraham out of this suspicion
BOYD’SARGUMENT

This story certainly generates a lot
of questions, but it does not leave
us in the dark about one thing,
at least: God’s command to Abraham
highlights the radical and risky nature
of trust in God…The Israelites that
shaped this story into its final form,
those living in the wake of the numbing
national tragedy of the Babylonian
Exile, were also asking questions of
trust in God’s goodness
and faithfulness to them…

They, too, were confronted with
the choice of radical trust that God
would intervene for them as God
did for Isaac and deliver them
from dire circumstances…

1. Are we able/willing to trust
God’s character in the midst
of challenging circumstances?
If not, be curious about why…
QUESTIONS FORUS

1. Are we able/willing to trust
God’s character in the midst
of challenging circumstances?
If not, be curious about why…
2. Are we fully convinced God’s
character looks like Jesus?
If not, be curious about why;
if so, what are the implications
of that belief?
QUESTIONS FORUS

A Prayer For The People of God
Steadfast God,
teach us your ways.
Root us in you alone,
and help us to grow in grace and love,
that we may fulfill our role and work,
now and in the reign of Jesus,
for which we wait in hope.
Amen.

The Story of The People of God: Part V - Threats to the Promise, ep.1

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