Difference between revisions of "Binding of Isaac"

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The '''Binding of Isaac''' is the common name for a story from the [[Book of Genesis]] where the patriarch [[Abraham]] is commanded by [[Elohim]] to murder his son [[Isaac]] and burn his corpse as a human sacrifice to Elohim. Abraham unquestioningly accepts the order and prepares to murder his son, but, at the very last minute, an angel tells him to stop because he was merely being tested. Abraham butchers a ram instead, and is told that he will be rewarded for his blind obedience with a large number of offspring who will successfully conquer enemy cities.
+
[[Image:Binding of Isaac - Mural at Dura-Europos Synagogue, c.245 CE.jpg|thumb|256x256px|A mural at the Dura-Europos Synagogue in Syria, c.245 CE. One of the earliest surviving depictions of the story.]]
  
Unlike many of the stories in Genesis, the Binding of Isaac appears to be an original Hebrew story.
+
The '''Binding of Isaac''' is the common name for a Hebrew story found in the [[Book of Genesis]] where the patriarch [[Abraham]] is commanded by [[Elohim]] to murder his son [[Isaac]] and burn his corpse as a human sacrifice to Elohim. Abraham unquestioningly accepts the order and prepares to murder his son, but, at the last minute, an angel tells Abraham to stop because he was merely being tested. Abraham sacrifices a ram instead, and is told that he will be rewarded for his blind obedience with a large number of offspring who will conquer his enemies.
  
 
==Source==
 
==Source==
The story appears in the Book of Genesis, chapter 22, verses 1 to 19. The following is the [[New International Version]] translation:
+
The story appears in Genesis 22:1-19. The following is the [[New International Version]] translation:
  
 
: Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
 
: Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
Line 34: Line 34:
  
 
==Historical Evidence==
 
==Historical Evidence==
Other than the account in Genesis, there is no evidence that this story ever actually happened. There is no reasonable evidence that Abraham or Isaac existed, and the Quran is not a secondary source, but rather a modification of the original written at least 1,000 years later.
+
Other than the account in Genesis, there is no evidence that this story ever actually happened. There is no reasonable evidence that Abraham or Isaac existed. The story mentions the foundation of a place called [Wikipedia:Jehovah-jireh|Jehovah-jireh]], but no such place exists today, and no credible evidence shows that it ever existed. The Quran is not a secondary source, but rather a modification of the original written at least 1,000 years later.
  
 
==Criticisms==
 
==Criticisms==
===Elohim/Yahweh Is Evil===
+
===The Jewish Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless===
My biggest criticism is the immorality of this story. Religious interpretations force content into the story to try to make it seem less barbaric than it actually is, but when you remove their spin and use a literal appraisal, the story is horrific.
+
In the Jewish interpretation, which has no textual basis, Abraham is immediately aware that Elohim is testing him because Elohim demands a human sacrifice which Abraham would recognize to be disingenuous based on his existing understanding of Elohim. This interpretation has two main problems.
  
In the story, Elohim commands Abraham to murder his son, and Abraham carries out his order without any mention of argument, hesitation, or remorse. If I heard a voice telling me to murder my children, I would seek mental help. If I believed the voice were a god, I would tell the god that demanding murder is something only an evil god would do, and I wouldn't obey.
+
The first is that it requires people trust their own understanding over a direct commandment from their god. However, a common theme to Abrahamic faiths is that human's cannot be trusted in matters of morality, and should always defer to their god. This interpretation says that humans have the ability to use their own faulty reasoning to know which of their god's commands are genuine and which are merely ruses.
  
===The Jewish Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless===
+
The second problem is, if Abraham knew it was all a test, then his obedience is pointless. Obedience only matters when you have to do something difficult or confusing, when you have something to lose from it, like the death of a child. If someone orders you, with a wink and a nod, to do someone extremely difficult, so you're confident they won't actually expect you to do it, then it doesn't require any effort. You're merely going through the motions, secure in the knowledge that nothing bad will happen.
In the Jewish interpretation, Abraham is fully aware that Elohim is testing him the moment he demands a human sacrifice. This is nowhere to be found in the text, but the Jewish belief is that Abraham would know it to be true based on his existing understanding of Elohim. This interpretation has two problems. The first is that, it requires that people trust their own understanding over a direct commandment from their god, which most religious people are quick to point out should never be done. The second problem is, if Abraham knew it was all a test, then his obedience is unimpressive. Obedience only matters when you have to do something difficult or confusing. If someone orders you, with a wink and a nod, to do someone extremely difficult, and you're confident they won't actually let you do it, then it is no effort to go through the motions, secure in the knowledge you won't actually have to do the task they commanded.
 
  
 
===The Christian Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless===
 
===The Christian Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless===
In the Christian interpretation, Abraham believes he will have to murder his son, but he believes Elohim will raise Isaac from the dead after he has been sacrificed. Much like the second problem with the Jewish interpretation, this makes the test pointless. Abraham is convinced that there are no real consequences to his actions, so obedience doesn't require any effort on his behalf.
+
In the Christian interpretation, Abraham believes he will have to go through with murdering his son, but he believes Elohim will raise Isaac from the dead after he has been sacrificed. This too has no textual basis. Much like the second problem with the Jewish interpretation, this makes the test pointless. Abraham is convinced that there are no real consequences to his actions, so obedience doesn't require any effort on his behalf.
 +
 
 +
===The Literal Interpretation Is Immoral===
 +
Religious interpretations force content into the story which isn't there in order to make it seem less barbaric, but when you remove their spin and use a literal appraisal, the story is horrific. Elohim plainly commands Abraham to murder the son whom he loves without giving him any justification, and Abraham blindly carries out the order with any mention of argument or hesitation. This interpretation doesn't add anything to the story which isn't there and makes it a proper test of obedience. Since he loves his son, he wouldn't want to murder him.
 +
 
 +
However, just because this is a proper test of obedience, doesn't make it any less immoral. Abrahamic religions view their god as all-good and all-powerful. It is conceivable that an all-good god could require a small amount of evil in order to construct an even greater good, but, if the god were also all-powerful, then it would be unnecessary, so this story falls prey to the [[problem of evil]]. If Abraham was aware that his god were both all-good and all-powerful, he would know that his god would never ask him to do anything immoral, and could conclude that the order was coming, not from his god, but from an evil entity pretending to be his god. Abraham should have instantly rebuked the order.
 +
 
 +
Of course, these days, when people hear a voice in their heads telling them to murder their children, even religious people call it mental illness, and they certainly don't entertain the idea that those parents might actually be doing the bidding of their god. In fact, this story has inspired countless parents with mental illness to commit infanticide in the name of their god, many of whom cite this story specifically as their justification.
 +
 
 +
However, I find that this story does have an interesting use in modern discussions about morality. When religious people taut the importance of obedience to their god and the inability of humans to make moral judgments, this story helps to explain why their beliefs are internally inconsistent. If they truly practiced what they preached, they should always cheerfully accept any violent murderous command that their gods makes (murder, rape, genocide) confident it is the perfectly moral thing to do.
  
 
===Isaac Would Be Traumatized For Life===
 
===Isaac Would Be Traumatized For Life===
What is left out of the story and the religious interpretations is how Isaac feels about all this. Put yourself in his shoes, you're taking a long journey with your father carrying a heavy bundle of firewood on your back. Your father explains that the two of you are going to perform a sacrifice to your god, which you understand to mean an animal sacrifice. You ask your father, where is the animal? And he gives a vague answer about your god providing it. When you get to the site of the sacrifice, your father ties you down on the very same wood you trudged all this way, and raises a knife up to your throat. At this point, you're freaking out at your clearly insane father, but, as luck would have it, your father hears a voice from the sky telling him it was all a ruse. He unties you and kills an animal instead. Then you walk back home with him. Should you ask him, "what the hell man?" Should you tell your mother or alert the authorities? Will you be prepared for the next time he tries to murder you?
+
Interpretations of this story never seem to mention how Isaac feels about all this. Put yourself in his shoes: you're taking a long journey with your father carrying a heavy bundle of firewood on your back. Your father explains that the two of you are going to perform a sacrifice to your god, which you understand to mean an animal sacrifice. You ask your father, where is the animal? And he gives a vague answer about your god providing it. When you get to the site of the sacrifice, your father ties you down on the very same wood you trudged all this way, and raises a knife up to your throat. At this point, you're freaking out at your clearly insane father, but, as luck would have it, your father hears a voice from the sky telling him it was all a ruse. He unties you, kills an animal instead, and then gives a fun name to the site of your almost-murder. Then you walk back home with him. Should you ask him, "what the hell man?" Should you tell your mother or alert the authorities? How well will you sleep knowing that he might try again to murder you?
  
 
===Yahweh's Reward Is Immoral===
 
===Yahweh's Reward Is Immoral===
Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with the gift of many offspring which are to be a blessing to the whole earth because they will "take possession of the cities of their enemies." And, we see later in the Torah precisely how Abraham's offspring "possess" these cities: through violent bloody genocide. Yahweh could have given Abraham's children the gift of persuasion and they could have used arguments to convert these so-called "enemies" to the truth, or simply shown everyone on earth the truth, but, instead, he chooses barbaric wars.
+
Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with the gift of many offspring which are to be a blessing to the whole earth because they will "take possession of the cities of their enemies." And, we see later in the Torah precisely how Abraham's offspring "possess" these cities: through violent bloody genocide. Yahweh could have given Abraham's children the gift of persuasion and they might use cogent argument to convert these so-called "enemies" to the truth, or simply used his omnipotence to show everyone on earth the truth, but, instead, he chooses barbaric wars.
  
===Contradictions With the Rest of Genesis===
+
===Inconsistencies With Other Scripture===
There are a couple parts of this story that contradict earlier parts of Genesis.
+
The following explains aspects of this story that are inconsistent with other parts of scripture.
  
Three times throughout the story Isaac is referred to as Abraham's "only" son. However, in the chronology of Genesis, after Abraham rapes his wife's slave woman Hagar, she gives birth to Ishmael, Abraham's first son. The story could be repaired if it said that Isaac was Abraham's only "legitimate" son, but it does not say this. The statements could also be correct if Ishmael were dead, but his death age is accounted for in Genesis, showing that he would still be alive at this point in the narrative.
+
Three times throughout the story Isaac is referred to as Abraham's "only" son, which is wrong. In the chronology of Genesis, after Abraham rapes his wife's slave woman Hagar, she gives birth to Ishmael who is Abraham's first son and only later is his second son Isaac born. If Ishmael were dead, this statement could be true, but Genesis gives a time line for all the characters' lives, and Ishmael is still alive at this point. It the story said that Isaac was Abraham's only "legitimate" son, it could also be true, but, as it it, it is in error.
  
Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with countless offspring. However, he already did this back in Genesis 13:16. And then again in Genesis 15:5. And again in Genesis 17:6. Each time it's the same reward, but for different reasons. The authors just couldn't seem to make up their minds.
+
Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with countless offspring. However, he already did this back in Genesis 13:16. And then again in Genesis 15:5. And again still in Genesis 17:6. Each time it's the same reward, but for different reasons. The authors just couldn't seem to make up their minds as to why Abraham was blessed with obscene proliferation.
 +
 
 +
All of the explanations for how to conduct a sacrifice and why sacrifices are necessary in the first place are not mentioned anywhere in the [[Torah]] until after the Hebrews leave Egypt with Moses in the [[Book of Exodus]], which, in the chronology of the [[Torah]] doesn't occur until centuries after this story. This mean Abraham shouldn't even be able to understand what Elohim is asking for when he demands a human "sacrifice."
 +
 
 +
The placing of the story, like most of Genesis, is disjointed. There is no segue into or out of the story, it's simply tacked between Abraham's fight with Abimelech and the lineage of Rebecca. This isn't so much a critique of story, but a critique of the inability of the authors to form a cohesive narrative.
  
===Evidence For the Documentary Hypothesis===
 
 
The minor inconsistencies internal to the story add weight to the documentary hypothesis. The first half of the story uses the term God ("Elohim"), while the second half uses Lord ("Yahweh"). Also, in the Elohist portion, Elohim speaks directly to Abraham, while, in the Yahwist portion, an intermediary angel is used. Literary scholars also describe how each section uses a different writing style consistent with their other contributions.
 
The minor inconsistencies internal to the story add weight to the documentary hypothesis. The first half of the story uses the term God ("Elohim"), while the second half uses Lord ("Yahweh"). Also, in the Elohist portion, Elohim speaks directly to Abraham, while, in the Yahwist portion, an intermediary angel is used. Literary scholars also describe how each section uses a different writing style consistent with their other contributions.
 +
 +
This story also causes theological inconsistency with many modern branches of Christianity who taut the importance of [[free will]]. To them, their god imbued all people with the freedom to make their own decisions. However, in this story, reward comes, not from exercising free will, but from blindly obeying commands.
 +
 +
Throughout the scripture of Jews and Christians, a common theme is that Yahweh cannot be tested (Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, among many others), however, here Yahweh is testing Abraham. This shows an all-too-common problem with tyrants: the masses have to abide by the law, but the despot does not.
  
 
==Adaptions==
 
==Adaptions==
 
[[Image:Michelangelo da Caravaggio - 1603c - Sacrifice of Isaac.jpg|thumb|[[Caravaggio]]'s inaccurate ''Sacrifice of Isaac''.]]
 
[[Image:Michelangelo da Caravaggio - 1603c - Sacrifice of Isaac.jpg|thumb|[[Caravaggio]]'s inaccurate ''Sacrifice of Isaac''.]]
  
The vast majority of artists who have painted the Binding of Isaac have taken artistic liberties with the story. Most of them show an angel physically stopping Abraham from murdering his son just as he's under the knife which is incorrect since the story states that the angel spoke from heaven. Many of them show Isaac on a large cut-stone altar, but the story implies the sacrifice was to take place in a mountain wilderness. Also, some depictions show the angel pointing toward the ram indicating Abraham should sacrifice it instead, but, in the story, Abraham sacrifices the ram without any prompting. [[Caravaggio]]'s painting is guilty of both of these inaccuracies.
+
The vast majority of artists who have painted the Binding of Isaac have taken artistic liberties with the story. Most of them show an angel physically stopping Abraham from murdering his son just as he's under the knife, but the story states the angel spoke to Abraham from heaven. Many art pieces show Isaac on a large cut-stone altar, but the story implies the sacrifice was to take place in a mountain wilderness with firewood as the altar. Some depictions show the angel pointing toward the ram indicating Abraham should sacrifice it instead, but, in the story, Abraham sacrifices the ram without any prompting. [[Caravaggio]]'s famous painting appears to be guilty of all three of these inaccuracies.
  
 
In season 3, episode 6 of ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' the comedic duo depict Abraham and Isaac as all-too eager to fulfill Yahweh's command for sacrifice, even to the point where they shock Yahweh. The skit is meant to satirize the flaw in so many religious doctrines: if humans are incapable of figuring out morality on their own, a god's commands must be presumed to be perfectly correct without even considering it might be evil.
 
In season 3, episode 6 of ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' the comedic duo depict Abraham and Isaac as all-too eager to fulfill Yahweh's command for sacrifice, even to the point where they shock Yahweh. The skit is meant to satirize the flaw in so many religious doctrines: if humans are incapable of figuring out morality on their own, a god's commands must be presumed to be perfectly correct without even considering it might be evil.

Revision as of 15:12, 13 August 2019

A mural at the Dura-Europos Synagogue in Syria, c.245 CE. One of the earliest surviving depictions of the story.

The Binding of Isaac is the common name for a Hebrew story found in the Book of Genesis where the patriarch Abraham is commanded by Elohim to murder his son Isaac and burn his corpse as a human sacrifice to Elohim. Abraham unquestioningly accepts the order and prepares to murder his son, but, at the last minute, an angel tells Abraham to stop because he was merely being tested. Abraham sacrifices a ram instead, and is told that he will be rewarded for his blind obedience with a large number of offspring who will conquer his enemies.

Source

The story appears in Genesis 22:1-19. The following is the New International Version translation:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

Dating

Although the Book of Genesis, as we receive it today, was finalized around 400 BCE, portions of this story are probably much older. According to the documentary hypothesis, the bulk of Genesis was formed when the Elohist and Yahwist sources were merged together around 650 BCE, but the Elohist and Yahwist sources themselves are estimated to have been first formulated around 900 BCE and 750 BCE respectfully. Since the final story contains elements from both sources, and both sources describe a similar narrative, the story must predate unification making it at least as old at 700 BCE.

Interpretations

The interpretation of this story is different in each major Abrahamic religion, but the primary moral seems to be, obedience in the god of Abraham yields rewards.

The oldest commentary by Jewish authors states that Abraham knew he was merely being tested, and that he would never be expected to murder his son.

Early Christians accepted the Jewish interpretation, but later Christians adopted an interpretation where Abraham believed Isaac would be raised from the dead after he was murdered. The Christians I've spoken to about this topic (mostly American Evangelicals) have a more literal approach where Abraham had no idea it was a test, and believed he was about to murder his son.

The Quran has a significantly modified version of the story, where Abraham has a vision that he is to sacrifice his son, and his son willingly agrees to be sacrificed, but they are stopped at the last minute. Early Muslims couldn't agree which son Abraham was going to kill, but now predominately agree that it was Ishmael, not Isaac.

Historical Evidence

Other than the account in Genesis, there is no evidence that this story ever actually happened. There is no reasonable evidence that Abraham or Isaac existed. The story mentions the foundation of a place called [Wikipedia:Jehovah-jireh|Jehovah-jireh]], but no such place exists today, and no credible evidence shows that it ever existed. The Quran is not a secondary source, but rather a modification of the original written at least 1,000 years later.

Criticisms

The Jewish Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless

In the Jewish interpretation, which has no textual basis, Abraham is immediately aware that Elohim is testing him because Elohim demands a human sacrifice which Abraham would recognize to be disingenuous based on his existing understanding of Elohim. This interpretation has two main problems.

The first is that it requires people trust their own understanding over a direct commandment from their god. However, a common theme to Abrahamic faiths is that human's cannot be trusted in matters of morality, and should always defer to their god. This interpretation says that humans have the ability to use their own faulty reasoning to know which of their god's commands are genuine and which are merely ruses.

The second problem is, if Abraham knew it was all a test, then his obedience is pointless. Obedience only matters when you have to do something difficult or confusing, when you have something to lose from it, like the death of a child. If someone orders you, with a wink and a nod, to do someone extremely difficult, so you're confident they won't actually expect you to do it, then it doesn't require any effort. You're merely going through the motions, secure in the knowledge that nothing bad will happen.

The Christian Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless

In the Christian interpretation, Abraham believes he will have to go through with murdering his son, but he believes Elohim will raise Isaac from the dead after he has been sacrificed. This too has no textual basis. Much like the second problem with the Jewish interpretation, this makes the test pointless. Abraham is convinced that there are no real consequences to his actions, so obedience doesn't require any effort on his behalf.

The Literal Interpretation Is Immoral

Religious interpretations force content into the story which isn't there in order to make it seem less barbaric, but when you remove their spin and use a literal appraisal, the story is horrific. Elohim plainly commands Abraham to murder the son whom he loves without giving him any justification, and Abraham blindly carries out the order with any mention of argument or hesitation. This interpretation doesn't add anything to the story which isn't there and makes it a proper test of obedience. Since he loves his son, he wouldn't want to murder him.

However, just because this is a proper test of obedience, doesn't make it any less immoral. Abrahamic religions view their god as all-good and all-powerful. It is conceivable that an all-good god could require a small amount of evil in order to construct an even greater good, but, if the god were also all-powerful, then it would be unnecessary, so this story falls prey to the problem of evil. If Abraham was aware that his god were both all-good and all-powerful, he would know that his god would never ask him to do anything immoral, and could conclude that the order was coming, not from his god, but from an evil entity pretending to be his god. Abraham should have instantly rebuked the order.

Of course, these days, when people hear a voice in their heads telling them to murder their children, even religious people call it mental illness, and they certainly don't entertain the idea that those parents might actually be doing the bidding of their god. In fact, this story has inspired countless parents with mental illness to commit infanticide in the name of their god, many of whom cite this story specifically as their justification.

However, I find that this story does have an interesting use in modern discussions about morality. When religious people taut the importance of obedience to their god and the inability of humans to make moral judgments, this story helps to explain why their beliefs are internally inconsistent. If they truly practiced what they preached, they should always cheerfully accept any violent murderous command that their gods makes (murder, rape, genocide) confident it is the perfectly moral thing to do.

Isaac Would Be Traumatized For Life

Interpretations of this story never seem to mention how Isaac feels about all this. Put yourself in his shoes: you're taking a long journey with your father carrying a heavy bundle of firewood on your back. Your father explains that the two of you are going to perform a sacrifice to your god, which you understand to mean an animal sacrifice. You ask your father, where is the animal? And he gives a vague answer about your god providing it. When you get to the site of the sacrifice, your father ties you down on the very same wood you trudged all this way, and raises a knife up to your throat. At this point, you're freaking out at your clearly insane father, but, as luck would have it, your father hears a voice from the sky telling him it was all a ruse. He unties you, kills an animal instead, and then gives a fun name to the site of your almost-murder. Then you walk back home with him. Should you ask him, "what the hell man?" Should you tell your mother or alert the authorities? How well will you sleep knowing that he might try again to murder you?

Yahweh's Reward Is Immoral

Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with the gift of many offspring which are to be a blessing to the whole earth because they will "take possession of the cities of their enemies." And, we see later in the Torah precisely how Abraham's offspring "possess" these cities: through violent bloody genocide. Yahweh could have given Abraham's children the gift of persuasion and they might use cogent argument to convert these so-called "enemies" to the truth, or simply used his omnipotence to show everyone on earth the truth, but, instead, he chooses barbaric wars.

Inconsistencies With Other Scripture

The following explains aspects of this story that are inconsistent with other parts of scripture.

Three times throughout the story Isaac is referred to as Abraham's "only" son, which is wrong. In the chronology of Genesis, after Abraham rapes his wife's slave woman Hagar, she gives birth to Ishmael who is Abraham's first son and only later is his second son Isaac born. If Ishmael were dead, this statement could be true, but Genesis gives a time line for all the characters' lives, and Ishmael is still alive at this point. It the story said that Isaac was Abraham's only "legitimate" son, it could also be true, but, as it it, it is in error.

Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with countless offspring. However, he already did this back in Genesis 13:16. And then again in Genesis 15:5. And again still in Genesis 17:6. Each time it's the same reward, but for different reasons. The authors just couldn't seem to make up their minds as to why Abraham was blessed with obscene proliferation.

All of the explanations for how to conduct a sacrifice and why sacrifices are necessary in the first place are not mentioned anywhere in the Torah until after the Hebrews leave Egypt with Moses in the Book of Exodus, which, in the chronology of the Torah doesn't occur until centuries after this story. This mean Abraham shouldn't even be able to understand what Elohim is asking for when he demands a human "sacrifice."

The placing of the story, like most of Genesis, is disjointed. There is no segue into or out of the story, it's simply tacked between Abraham's fight with Abimelech and the lineage of Rebecca. This isn't so much a critique of story, but a critique of the inability of the authors to form a cohesive narrative.

The minor inconsistencies internal to the story add weight to the documentary hypothesis. The first half of the story uses the term God ("Elohim"), while the second half uses Lord ("Yahweh"). Also, in the Elohist portion, Elohim speaks directly to Abraham, while, in the Yahwist portion, an intermediary angel is used. Literary scholars also describe how each section uses a different writing style consistent with their other contributions.

This story also causes theological inconsistency with many modern branches of Christianity who taut the importance of free will. To them, their god imbued all people with the freedom to make their own decisions. However, in this story, reward comes, not from exercising free will, but from blindly obeying commands.

Throughout the scripture of Jews and Christians, a common theme is that Yahweh cannot be tested (Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, among many others), however, here Yahweh is testing Abraham. This shows an all-too-common problem with tyrants: the masses have to abide by the law, but the despot does not.

Adaptions

The vast majority of artists who have painted the Binding of Isaac have taken artistic liberties with the story. Most of them show an angel physically stopping Abraham from murdering his son just as he's under the knife, but the story states the angel spoke to Abraham from heaven. Many art pieces show Isaac on a large cut-stone altar, but the story implies the sacrifice was to take place in a mountain wilderness with firewood as the altar. Some depictions show the angel pointing toward the ram indicating Abraham should sacrifice it instead, but, in the story, Abraham sacrifices the ram without any prompting. Caravaggio's famous painting appears to be guilty of all three of these inaccuracies.

In season 3, episode 6 of That Mitchell and Webb Look the comedic duo depict Abraham and Isaac as all-too eager to fulfill Yahweh's command for sacrifice, even to the point where they shock Yahweh. The skit is meant to satirize the flaw in so many religious doctrines: if humans are incapable of figuring out morality on their own, a god's commands must be presumed to be perfectly correct without even considering it might be evil.

The video game The Binding of Isaac uses this story as inspiration. In the game, Isaac's mother has a mental illness where she believes she hears the voice of her god telling her to murder her son, so Isaac hides from her in the basement.

Links

Link-Wikipedia.png