In the story of the
Aqedah, the “binding of Isaac,” God commands Abraham to go to the land of
Moriah and offer his only son as “a burnt offering” (עֹלָה)
on a mountain that God will reveal (Gen 22:1-2). As the story goes, Abraham and Isaac walk
together and at one point, Isaac asks, “Father…the fire and wood are here, but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham answers, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt
offering” (vv. 7-8). As it turns out,
when Abraham reaches out his hand with the knife to kill his son, the angel of
the Lord calls from heaven to stay his hand.
Abraham then looks up and sees a ram, which he offers up as a burnt
offering (עֹלָה) in place of his son (vv. 12-14). And as it was said, “On the mount of the Lord
it shall be provided.” Because Abraham
obeyed God’s voice, the Lord swore an oath (שׁבע) to bless
Abraham, multiply his offspring, and through (בְּ) his offspring (sing. זַרְעֲ)
all peoples and nations of the earth shall bless themselves (הִתְבָּרֲכ֣וּ).[1] This Hebrew verb form is the hithpael,
perfect, which usually reflects a “reflexive” action, thus they will bless
themselves through, with, and in (בְּ) Abraham’s offspring. This promise is later confirmed with Isaac
(26:4-5),[2]
then with Jacob in a dream at Bethel (28:14),[3]
and restated through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 4:2). In the New Testament, Peter and Paul are both
attributed with pointing to the promise with slight variations among which they
use the passive, ἐνευλογηθήσονται,
“shall be blessed” (Acts 3:25; Gal 3:8).[4] For Peter the blessing is turning from wickedness, and for Paul it is
justification by faith. According to the author of Hebrews, it was
through faith that Abraham offered up (προσφέρω)
his son; when he was tested, reasoning [in his own mind] (λογισάμενος), he considered that God is able
to raise the dead (Heb 11:17-19). In a
sense, Abraham offered up Isaac as a kind of firstfruits to God and received
him back to be a blessing to all peoples and nations.
In
the Letter of James, Abraham’s faith is described as active through his works
when he offered up (ἀναφέρω)
Isaac on the altar. The gathering in
which James was addressing (2:2), who were
a kind of firstfruits (ἀπαρχήν),
where encouraged to act generously with every perfect gift coming down from the
Father of lights (1:17-18). The congregation
was to believe and worship God in the way that allowed them to act justly and
to be a blessing to those who were poor, inferior, disadvantaged, orphans, and
single mothers. True religious devotion
is to care for the widow and the orphan.
This link between faith and good works is not that removed from the
author of Hebrews, who encourages the audience to both worship God with a sacrifice (θυσίαν)
of praise, and also to do good and share with others, for such sacrifices (θυσίαις) are pleasing to God (Heb
13:15-16).
In
an early Jewish work, entitled Pseudo-Philo
(1st century C.E.), the offering up of Isaac is described as an acceptable sacrifice and
claims that Isaac himself understood that
the Lord had made the soul of man to be worthy to be a sacrifice.
And I demanded his son
as a holocaust. And he brought him to be placed on the altar, but I gave him
back to his father and, because he did not refuse, his offering was acceptable
before me, and on account of his blood I chose them (Pseudo-Philo 18.5).[5]
God said to him, ‘Kill
the fruit of your body for me, and offer for me as a sacrifice what has been
given to you by me.’ And Abraham did not argue,
but set out immediately. And as he was setting out, he said to his son, ‘Behold
now, my son, I am offering you as a holocaust and am delivering you into the
hands that gave you to me.’ 3 But the son said to the father,
‘Hear me, father. If a lamb of the flock is accepted as sacrifice to the Lord with an odor of sweetness and if
for the wicked deeds of men animals are appointed to be killed, but man is
designed to inherit the world, how then do you now say to me, “Come and inherit
life without limit and time without measure”? Yet have I not been born into the
world to be offered as a sacrifice to him who made me? Now my blessedness will
be above that of all men, because there
will be nothing like this; and about me future generations will be instructed and through me
the peoples will understand that the Lord
has made the soul of a man worthy to be a sacrifice’ (Pseudo Philo 32.2-3).[6]
Before
moving on, something needs to be said about the location were the binding of
Isaac took place, that is, the land of Moriah.
According to the Chronicler, Mount Moriah is the location where Solomon
built the Temple (2 Chron 3:1). It was
also the location of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where David
built an altar to offer burnt offerings (עֹלָה) and peace
offerings (שֶׁ֫לֶם) to the Lord in order to stop the
plague threatening Israel (1 Chron 21:18-27; 2 Sam 24:18-25). We will return next time with Moses, Israel, and Mount Sinai.
 |
| Sacred Door in the Holy City of Jerusalem |
 |
| Pathway Toward Mount of Olives |
[3] וְנִבְרֲכ֥וּ בְךָ֛ כָּל־מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָ֖ה (BHS):
Here the verb form is the Niphal, which is either “passive” or “reflexive,”
thus, “all the families of the earth will be blessed [or “will bless
themselves”] through you and your offspring.”
[4] The LXX uses the passive ἐνευλογηθήσονται, “they will be blessed,”
in all three accounts (Gen 22:18; 26:4; 28:14).
[5] James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New
Testament: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom, and
Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost
Judeo-Hellenistic Works (vol. 2; New Haven; London: Yale University Press,
1985), 325. *
[6] James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New
Testament: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom, and
Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost
Judeo-Hellenistic Works (vol. 2; New Haven; London: Yale University Press,
1985), 345. *
No comments:
Post a Comment