Danny Hickman Supporter

This is a quality question! Abraham's relationship with God is attested to in Genesis 18. 

Abraham and Sarah received good news from the Lord. Three men appear to them and they're told Sarah will have a son (vs 14). (Abraham recognize the men as being sent by God; he offers to wash their feet, he kills a young calf, Sarah bakes bread, etc, and the men ate, before he was given the news about Sarah bearing to him a son). 

Sarah found the whole thing to be funny; she laughed about it. 

One minute they're amused about an old man and his old wife being told they would have a baby in their old age, and the next minute the conversation takes a serious turn. 

"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" 

God's getting ready to destroy a whole region. He told Abraham what he was getting ready to do. Why tell Abraham? He says, "For I've known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, THAT THEY KEEP THE WAY OF THE LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." (emphasis mine)

So he told Abraham and the bargaining began. Abraham wanted to know if there was any way the destruction of all those people could be avoided. God told him 'If he could point out any righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, he would spare the whole region.' 

We know how that turned out... 

If Abraham felt comfortable bartering with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, why didn't he barter about being told to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering? If he and God have that kind of rapport and friendship, why didn't they talk it out in Genesis 22 like they did in Genesis 18? 

Great question! (this is the kind of question I think is very relevant. I'll give it a shot).

I think God wanted Abraham to really know Him; He wanted Abraham to know there was another side to Him; the side that would hold his children accountable when they needed to be corrected. So he clued Abraham in on why that region was being targeted BY HIM! (He wanted Abraham to know that it was His doing. This wasn't "the gods" this was HIM). 

As for why Abraham didn't protest being told to sacrifice Isaac: why should he? He wasn't in danger of losing Isaac, and he knew it. If he tried to bargain with God, it would mean he didn't trust the promise God had given him about Isaac. When God told him to take Isaac to a mountain that He would show him (God didn't even specify which mountain, he told him, 'I'll show you on the way') Abraham must have thought, 'Well, Here We Go!' 

When he bargained with God about S&D, God agreed to his terms. That told him all he needed to know; again and again! (God also sent help from heaven to save his nephew Lot and his family (Genesis 19)). 

He knew he could trust God. That means he was willing to live with whatever God would do. I think that's what we're being told about Abraham. He wasn't like Gideon; Gideon needed confirmation for his confirmation. Lol. 'Show me again, God.' (Judges 6) He and I must be distant relatives... lol

9 days ago • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Child of the Almighty God Supporter

As I know, God told Abraham to kill his son, Issac in favor of him. (Genesis 22) Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Mind the word SACRIFICE. So he has the idea that he will kill him in the favor of God. He knows that he will get a reward. On the other hand, God planned to finish Sodom and Gomorrah because of their disgusting behaviors. 

Genesis 18:23 -25: "Then Abraham approached him and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’”

He said this because it was the living place of Lot. And since Lot was a relative, he had felt sorry for him. He bargained for Sodom and Gomorrah because of this in my point of view. 

And another one, God has a reason for everything. He wanted to teach us and other people about obeying God with no hesitation. And that is, as i think, and as I have been taught the reason for Abraham not hesitating to kill his one and only son.

February 27 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Donna Williams Supporter

I believe the two situations are entirely different, in that God had pronounced judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. I believe that Abraham interceded on behalf of Lot and his family because they had settled in that land. God answered Abraham's prayer by saving Lot and his family from being destroyed with the wicked. Unfortunately, only Lot and his two daughters escaped the wrath of God! We know that Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back at the cities, on which they were commanded not to look back.

As it pertains to Abraham offering up Isaac as a burnt offering, it was a test of his faith and obedience to the commandment of the LORD. 

There is no revelation in the Genesis account about whether or not Abraham made intercession on behalf of his son. We see a man who was being tested, and how he was willing to sacrifice the son of promise.

This was a foreshadow of the sacrifice that God the Father would make, by offering up His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ! 

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but shall have eternal life."

In Genesis chapter 22, we see how Abraham and Isaac arrived at Mount Moriah on the third day of their journey to the mountain that the Lord had chosen, which was a type of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus was raised on the third day after his crucifixion. As Abraham was about to kill Isaac, the Lord spoke to Abraham and told him not to lay a hand on Isaac because the Lord had provided a ram, which was the substitute offering in place of his son. The Lord commended him for his reverence and willingness to keep his commandment.

In Hebrews the eleventh chapter, it speaks of Abraham receiving Isaac back from the dead as a type of the resurrection of God's Son!

April 07 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report