7. 26

Maybe Abraham wasn’t surprised.
It’s not like the God he knew was particularly reliable or constant in his actions. We can see that by just looking back a couple of chapters.And it wasn’t like Abraham had a huge support group of people telling him that, “No, God didn’t actually mean it ‘cus everyone knows that “God is Love” bla bla…”

Why didn’t Abraham argue with God? Perhaps he was supposed to, perhaps he failed the test in one way, but succeeded in another. Or perhaps we’re supposed to be as confused by Abrahams actions as Abraham was confused by God’s command. The starkness of the text certainly is confusing… it doesn’t leave a reader much to hold on to, and maybe that’s what Abraham felt. Not that his notions about God were wrong, but merely that this was a side of God he had hoped not to encounter.

I’m struck most by the rhythm of the verbs… of how much Abraham is doing… rose, saddled, took, split, rose, went, raised, took, build, laid out, bound, placed… when I read it now it almost frustrates me. The text, to me, is very oppressive and all I want Abraham to do is throw up his arms and say, “This is ridiculous!”

But maybe that’s a point, too… maybe the text is less about thought and reason, but the follow through on a decision. God told Abraham to go sacrifice his son. He probably agonized about it, but he made a choice knowing full well that he certainly wasn’t able to explain that unusual god he had found himself following. And the little hand out that we were given in class seems to suggest the same thing… that God is uncontrollable and unfathomable. Either way, the authors don’t seem to be judging Abraham too much. They don’t seem to say that it was right or wrong or disgraceful… it’s dramatic, certainly, but it seems to be just us that needs to explain why he did it…. It could be that the decision, an the results of the decision were more important than the inner turmoil that preceded it.