(Genesis 22.1-19) 28 June 2020
Neil Millar
This reading is surely one of the most confronting in all of Scripture. Its Jewish title is ‘the Akedah’ (the binding of Isaac), and I spent a year studying this text at St Mark’s. It fascinates and baffles me, and over the years, philosophers, poets, preachers, painters, singers and actors have all struggled with its meaning… Questions abound, and so too interpretations. Why did God test Abraham? The Book of Jubilees, written two centuries before the birth of Jesus, connects this testing to the testing of Job. Jubilees contends that a dark angel called Mastema questioned God as to whether Abraham’s faith was as strong as it seemed. This instigated a testing, just as Satan’s question about Job led to his ordeal. According to Jubilees, Mastema and the angel Gabriel accompany Abraham and Isaac up the mountain, and eventually Gabriel intervened to save the boy. What did Abraham think of God’s request? Some rabbis writing in the Talmud and Midrash hold that
Abraham is stoic and obedient. Others contend he was wracked with guilt and washed over with distress. How does Isaac understand what’s happening? Does he resist or does he too have faith? Some rabbis submit that he actually asked to be bound so as not to flinch and ruin the sacrifice. Wow!
Full reflection here