The story of the binding of Isaac or, if you rather, the sacrifice of Abraham is deceptively familiar and even obvious. We see it through the traditional lenses as a foreshadowing, a picture of the love for us by which God allowed his only begotten Son to endure death for our sake. Even from the perspective of Isaac, who allows his father to bind him and place him on the altar of sacrifice, we see a picture of the love of Jesus who obeys his Father’s will and goes to his death for our sake.
But considered from a psychological viewpoint, it raises many questions. For example, some would say: “None but an evil demon can ask of a father to sacrifice his only son.” Others ask: “How could Abraham ever forgive God for this trial? Or how could Isaac ever love his father after this?
Scripture scholars point out that human sacrifice had been practiced not only by Israel’s neighbors but by the Hebrews themselves, and this story in its original form meant to show God’s rejection of such a practice: “Do not lay you hand on the boy.”
If we can abstract from the psychological horrors seen in this story, we can find a profound lesson about faith and trust. In his willingness to obey God, Abraham would not only be killing his son but also committing a kind of suicide by ending all his chances for hoped-for descendants. As he once gave up his past when he left his homeland in Haran, now he’s asked to give up his future. Can we see in this story a model of radical trust willing to leave all security and look beyond disaster and even beyond death? As the Letter to the Hebrews says: “Abraham reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.”
It would seem that even in this horrible story, there are traces of God’s love and compassion.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator