Of Human Sacrifice
Of Human Sacrifice: Abraham and Isaac
The Biblical record of the offering of Isaac has been
a source of confusion and misunderstanding for many
years. It is difficult to understand why God apparently
asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. If God
is the giver of all life, how could He ask Abraham to
offer up his only son whom God had promised him?
The account of Abraham and Isaac simply has not made
sense, and thus critics have constantly wrestled over it.
The record of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22:1 begins,
“And it came to pass after these things, that God
did tempt Abraham. . . .” The first misconception has
stemmed from the word tempt. In Hebrew “tempt” is
bachan, meaning “to prove.” “Tempt” must be incorrect
because James 1:13 says that God never tempts.*
Although God never tempts, it is possible for Him to
prove man. God proves us as we prove ourselves. He
gives us His Word and as we walk on it, we are proved.
But God does not tempt us. Only Satan tempts.
Hebrews 11:17 records, “By faith [believing] Abraham,
when he was tried [proved] offered up Isaac. . . .”
Genesis 22:1, 2:
And it came to pass after these things, that God did
tempt [prove] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham:
and he said, Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land
of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
According to these verses, God told Abraham to take
his son Isaac and offer him for a burnt offering upon one
of the mountains which God would tell him.
Our whole problem may be that we do not understand
what a burnt offering is.** God never asked Abraham
to put a fire under Isaac. This idea has come to us because
of teachers we have heard, books we have read and
pictures we have seen. We have in mind the image of
Abraham walking Isaac up the mountain, gathering the
sticks, building the altar, tying Isaac and preparing to
slay him when suddenly a ram is noticed behind them.
This is not the Word of the Lord. What did the Lord tell
Abraham to do?
Genesis 22:2:
. . .Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom
thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah;
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one
of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
This is all that God commanded Abraham to do. So
when we understand what a burnt offering is, we will
then have the key to the correct understanding of this
verse.
To most of us a burnt offering concerns burning something
with fire. But in Eastern custom a burnt offering
does not indicate the presence of fire. When speaking of
people as being a burnt offering, it did not mean sacrifice
by fire. A burnt offering was a total, unreserved commitment
of self to God. Let us note carefully this truth so
plainly taught in the record in Judges 11 of Jephthah who
gave his daughter as a burnt offering.
Judges 11:30-40:
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said,
If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of
Ammon into mine hands,
Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of
the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in
peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be
the Lord’s and I will offer it up for a burnt offering
[Carefully notice Jephthah’s promise.].
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon
to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them
[the children of Ammon] into his hands.
And he smote them. . . .
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and,
behold, his daughter came out to meet him with
timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child;
beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent
his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast
brought me very low, and thou art one of them that
trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the
Lord, and I cannot go back.
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened
thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that
which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch
as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done
for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up
and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity,
I and my fellows.
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two
months: and she went with her companions, and
bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.
And it came to pass at the end of two months, that
she returned unto her father, who did with her according
to his vow which he had vowed: and she
knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,
That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament
[visit]*** the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four
days in a year.
Eastern custom teaches us that an unmarried maiden
is a disgrace not only to the girl herself but also to the
family. An unwed daughter indicates that a curse of God
is on the family. Often such parents give these maidens
as servants to serve at the temples for the rest of their
lives. But before the young lady is committed, the maiden
vacations in the mountains with relatives and a few close
friends and together they have consecration ceremonies
for two months, bewailing her virginity—that is, lamenting
the fact she did not marry and produce offspring.
Then the maiden bids farewell to all her relatives and
friends. Once the girl enters into the service of the temple,
she cannot be released to go back to her friends, relatives
nor parents.
Jephthah gave his daughter permission to go to the
mountains for two months. When she came back, her
father took her to the temple. There she followed the
ceremony all such girls go through. Her head was shaved
at the door of the temple and she put on a long robe. She
then remained in the temple the rest of her life. During
special times each year, people would go and praise her,
talk with her and compliment her for obeying her father’s
will. This account, of Jephthah’s daughter shows that a
burnt offering means that she was living in the temple
serving God.
Jephthah had promised God that whatever first came
out of the doors of his house to meet him when he returned
from battle he would give as a burnt offering.
Having no other son or daughter, this child was the only
hope of perpetuating Jephthah’s family line. The total
commitment of his only daughter to God’s service was
Jephthah’s burnt offering. Jephthah felt especially bad
because his family line had come to an end.
Just as Jephthah’s daughter was dedicated to temple
service for her lifetime, so Isaac was totally dedicated
and consecrated to the commitment for all Israel believers
for all ages as God’s people. All Israel was called in
Isaac.****
Now let us go back and carefully examine God’s command
to Abraham. God did not say that Abraham should
take wood with him to start a fire. God told Abraham to
take Isaac to a mountain and to offer him. Then we read
that Abraham prepared himself with all those other things.
This shows us that Abraham deliberately went beyond
God’s commandment.
Genesis 22:3:
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and
saddled his ass, and took two of his young men
with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for
the burnt offering. . . .
This is the first place we get the idea that Abraham
was going to burn Isaac. God’s revelation was one thing;
Abraham’s sense-knowledge was something different.
As you recall, God had revealed long before that He
was going to give Abraham a son by Sarah; but Abraham
did not believe this until he was old. In the meantime,
he took Hagar as his wife and Ishmael was born. Abraham
did this by his sense-knowledge. God did keep his promise
and Isaac was born to Sarah in her old age. Abraham
again acted by his erring sense-knowledge regarding God’s
commandment concerning the offering of Isaac. Abraham
lived near the Canaanites and had seen them burn human
sacrifices to their gods. So when God said to Abraham,
“Take him and give him as a burnt offering,” Abraham
immediately injected his own ideas and thought, “Well,
that means I’d better take the wood along.”
Genesis 22:3-6:
. . .and rose up, and went unto the place of which
God had told him.
Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye
here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship, and come again to you.
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering,
and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in
his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them
together.
Isaac was not just five or six years old at this time.
He was a grown adult, age thirty.
Verses 7-9:
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said,
My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he
said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the
lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both
of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him
of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the
wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him
on the altar upon the wood.
The Scriptures do not say that God told Abraham to
build an altar nor to lay wood on the altar nor to bind
Isaac and lay him on the altar. God had told Abraham
what to do, but Abraham was the one who thought of a
literal burning. He was using his own imagination, influenced
by the actions of his unbelieving neighbors, and
interjecting his own ideas.
Verse 10:
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the
knife to slay his son.
Look how really wrong Abraham was.
Verses 11, 12:
And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of
heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said,
Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad. . . .
Had this been God’s will, as Abraham thought it was,
there never would have been an angel needed to suddenly
terminate the action because God cannot contradict Himself,
He cannot change His will. It was not God’s will to
literally burn and kill the young man. This was Abraham’s
idea. Yet, even though Abraham went beyond God’s request
and was wrong in so doing, he proved his utter
willingness to relinquish his son. Therefore the angel of
the Lord could make the following declaration in Genesis
22:12, not because Abraham went beyond God’s request,
but because he was committed to total relinquishment
of his son.
Genesis 22:12:
. . .for now I know that thou fearest [has awe or reverence
for] God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy
son, thine only son from me.
Paul wrote concerning sacrifice in the book of Romans
to us who are in the Church Age.
Romans 12:1, 2:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present [yield] your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
What good are we to God as dead sacrifices? He needs
us as living, active sons to be faithful and carry out this
work, totally committed to Him until death. By living
according to God’s Word, we are proved by Him and
are “burnt offerings.”