Perspective: Child Sacrifice

Originally delivered as a Sunday school lesson at Bethel United Methodist Church in West Greenville, South Carolina on December 11, 2011.

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Child Sacrifice

Scripture:

After these events, God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!"

Abraham answered, "I'm here."

God said, "Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him up as an entirely burned offering there on one of the mountains that I will show you." Abraham got up early in the morning, harnessed his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with his son Isaac. He split the wood for the entirely burned offering, set out, and went to the place God had described to him.

On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place at a distance. Abraham said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will walk up there, worship, and then come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the entirely burned offering and laid it on his son Isaac. He took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father?"

Abraham said, "I'm here, my son."

Isaac said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the entirely burned offering?"

Abraham said, "The lamb for the entirely burned offering? God will see to it, my son." The two of them walked on together.

They arrived at the place God had described to him. Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. But the LORD's messenger called out to Abraham from heaven, "Abraham? Abraham?"

Abraham said, "I'm here."

The messenger said, "Don't stretch out your hand against the young man, and don't do anything to him. I now know that you revere God and didn't hold back your son, your only son, from me." Abraham looked up and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the dense underbrush. Abraham went over, took the ram, and offered it as an entirely burned offering instead of his son. Abraham named that place "the LORD sees. That is the reason people today say, "On this mountain the LORD is seen."

The LORD's messenger called out to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I give my word as the LORD that because you did this and didn't hold back your son, your only son, I will bless you richly and I will give you countless descendants, as many as the stars in the sky and as the grains of sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies' cities. All the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants, because you obeyed me." After Abraham returned to the young men, they got up and went to Beer-sheba where Abraham lived.

Genesis 22:1-19 (CEB)

Ruin my life - the plans that I made
Ruin desires for my own selfish gain
Destroy the idols that have taken Your place
'Til it's You alone I live for
You alone I live for

From "Ruin Me" by Jeff Johnson

Central to the religious narratives of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims is a man named Abraham, a man whom God found righteous. Nearly four thousand years ago, God called Abraham to leave his homeland and to travel to the land of Canaan. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him that he would be the "ancestor of many nations" and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God promised him that his descendants would live in the land of Canaan and that ultimately all people would be blessed because of him.

There was one small obstacle to this promise being fulfilled: Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children. How could Abraham be the father of nations if he had no children? God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, but they had trouble believing God in this matter because they were both elderly. Eventually the day they awaited came, and Sarah gave birth to a son whom they named Isaac, just as God had promised.¹

One day, years later, God commands Abraham to take his son Isaac to a mountain and to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Abraham tells Isaac that they are going to make a sacrifice to God, but he does not tell Isaac that he is to be the sacrifice. As they ascend the mountain, Isaac senses that something is amiss. He notices that they have everything they need to make the sacrifice except the sacrifice itself. Isaac asks his father where the sacrifice is, and Abraham replies that God will provide them a sacrifice.

Once they reach their destination, Abraham builds an altar, ties up his son, and places him on the altar. Just as Abraham lifts up his knife to kill his son, an angel stops him and tells him that the entire ordeal was simply a test from God. The angel then blesses Abraham for his dedication to God and his for his faith.

Whether or not this is the first time you have ever read about this story, perhaps the story has brought to your to mind some very uncomfortable questions. Perhaps you are asking yourself, "What kind of story is this, and what kind of God do we worship?"

One potential danger in the story is that someone - a religious yet delusional person - might read it and think that God is actually calling him to kill his children. Over ten years ago, for example, a woman suffering from severe depression and psychosis killed her five children to ensure that they went to heaven, lest they grow up, become lost souls, and ultimately go to hell.² I do not know whether or not the story of Abraham and Isaac played a part in her decision to kill her children, but I can imagine that the story could have such an affect.

I take a lot of comfort in the fact that God has since made the sixth of the ten commandments, "Do not kill."³

One interpretation of the story is that God was teaching Abraham that God was different from the deities of Abraham's culture who demanded human sacrifices - even sacrifices of one's own children. After all, God did not really want Abraham to sacrifice his son, as proven by the end of the story.⁴ Even if this interpretation is true, I wonder if the story perhaps has something else to teach us. I believe that the story of Abraham and Isaac, like all stories in the Bible, has something to teach us in our own time and place.

I believe that this story teaches us that, at some point, all parents must sacrifice their children to God.

Now that I have made that shocking statement, I hope you will allow me the opportunity to explain what I mean. First, I want to present to you a second, very different story of child sacrifice found in the Bible.

Hannah is the favorite of her husband's two wives. Unlike her sister-wife, she has no children, and what she wants more than anything else was to have a child of her own. Her sister-wife, jealous of their husband's affection toward Hannah, often taunts her.

One year, when Hannah goes with her family to Shiloh to make an offering to God, she becomes so distraught because of her infertility that she is unable to eat. She leaves her family and goes to the temple. She prays, "LORD of heavenly forces, just look at Your servant's pain and remember me! Don't forget Your servant! Give her a boy! Then I'll give him to the LORD for his entire life. No razor will ever touch his head."⁵ Though her lips are moving, no sound is coming out of her mouth, so Eli, the priest on duty, thinks she is drunk. Hannah explains her predicament to Eli, and he blesses her, saying "May the God of Israel give you what you've asked from Him."

Shortly afterward, Hannah becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a baby boy whom she names Samuel, meaning "I asked the LORD for him." Once the boy is weaned, the family returns to Shiloh, and Hannah gives him back to God, just as she promised. She leaves Samuel at the temple to be raised by Eli. Samuel will go on to become a prophet of God and a leader of Israel.⁶

It has been said, "Man plans, and God laughs." We often make plans for ourselves, but sometimes these plans are contrary to what God, in His infinite wisdom, has planned for us. Sometimes parents make plans for their children, and sometimes parents try to live vicariously through their children.

"My child is going to have all the opportunities I never had."

"My child is going to college."

"My child is going to be rich."

"My child is going to carry on the family business."

"My child is going to be the president of the United States."

Sometimes the hopes, dreams, and expectations that parents have for their children are contrary to the purpose that God has created for their children. Sometimes the parents' wishes go against the children's nature: they are not compatible with the people God created the children to be.

I feel as though I experienced a mild form of this in my childhood. When I was a child, my dad, like a lot of parents, tried to get me interested in things that interested him but meant nothing to me. For the longest, he tried to get me to play sports, particularly baseball. The problem was that I simply had no interest in sports. I had no skill in sports, and I simply didn't enjoy playing them. An athlete is not who I believe God created me to be.

I think that my dad eventually came to a better understanding of the person I really was. Though he tried to get me interested in a lot of things I didn't like, he is also the person who got me interested in computers. In fact, he even gave me my first two computers as Christmas presents. My interest in computers when I was young led to my decision to study computer science in college and ultimately to a career as a computer programmer.

At some point, my dad had to build an altar and sacrifice his hopes for an athletic son.

Abraham was a man who probably had a lot of plans that God disrupted. He probably intended to enjoy his golden years in his homeland when God called him to journey to Canaan. He and Sarah had probably wanted a child for a long time, so it is possible that they, like a lot of parents, had plans for their child. Perhaps, at some point, God had to say, "I know that you have a lot of hopes and dreams for your child, but Isaac belongs to Me. I have a purpose for his life."

I believe that God has a purpose and a plan for each of us and that we must surrender ourselves to God's will if we want to live our lives to the absolute fullest. For parents, there is an added dimension to surrendering to God. For them, it means acknowledging that God has a purpose and a plan for their children. Perhaps a father wants his son to follow in his footsteps, but maybe God has a completely different vocation in mind for the son. Perhaps a mother wants her daughter to be financially successful, but maybe God wants the daughter to minister to the impoverished in a faraway land.

At some point, all parents must surrender their children to God. Parents must put their children's future and their children's safety in the hands of God, knowing that God knows what is best for each and every one of us.

Is there something - or someone - you need to surrender to God?


Notes:
1 - For Abraham's backstory, see Genesis 12-21.
2 - Wikipedia Article
3 - Exodus 20:15 (CEB)
4 - Erik Swenson, "How to Read the Bible the Wrong Way." RELEVANT Magazine Deeper Walk, January 18, 2012.
5 - At that time, long hair was a sign of dedication to God. This is my justification for having a ponytail.
6 - For more about the stories of Hannah and Samuel, see the book of 1 Samuel.

Abraham and Isaac, the painting featured in this perspective, was painted by Rembrandt in 1634.


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.