After completing the readings on this page, write two or three sentences explaining why the Akedah account is so important within Christian history. All I want to see is this final summary statement which you should post as a comment on this page.
Akedah
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The Akedah story is important in Christian history because it keeps popping up in other sources and stories. Without understanding the framework of the story (ie. historical-criticism, social world of the text, etc.) we would not have the complete set of tools to observe the complex web that the Akedah story has woven during the millennia. The Akedah story’s importance can also be seen in its subtle questioning of God’s omniscience. Perhaps it was not the original intent to create questioning about God’s omniscience, but nevertheless, it is still confusing to read about a God that puts Abraham and Isaac through an emotional rollercoaster when God already knows the outcome. In an attempt to fill in the superpower “plot hole” humans have come up with interesting conclusions of just why God might have tested Abraham when God already knew Abraham’s heart, mind, and faith. However, there are other moments (ie. Genesis 3:8-9) where God shows the same moment of superpower failure. Would moments such as Genesis 3:8-9, be interpreted in the same vein as the Akedah story? Was God also testing Adam?
I apologize for the length of this entry. After reading through the texts and mulling over the questions this is what came out; mea culpa.
“Am I being tested and why am I being tested?” are universal questions that span the ages, and find a home in the Akedah, an account that been interpreted to stand for many things. For some generations and cultures the story also evokes visceral emotions surrounding sacrifice of one’s own. Humanity struggles to comprehend the nature of God and of God’s purposes, and in this story, we can ask whether the characters knew and accepted; was there a role of the Satan seeking to incite God (cf. Job); is this a story with limited or broader purposes; does it foreshadow God’s activity in the Christ Event; are Abraham and Isaac models for humans, or revelatory of more? As we grapple for answers, we quantify, rationalize and embellish, as is seen in the apocryphal texts, canonical Scripture, Hellenistic Judaic writings, pseudepigrapha, apostolic fathers and into modern literature.
In reading the Akedah story, of whom do we learn the most? Is Abraham revealed as a man of immense faith, ready to sacrifice that which is most precious if God so requests? Or is Isaac the real centerpiece of the story – a young man who willingly submits to his father in order that God’s will (however discerned) might be done?
For me, the Akedah account is less about Abraham and Isaac than it is about God. It is God who in this story is struggling to communicate His pain to us – a God who wants to be like Abraham and receive “new orders from above” that do not require the sacrifice of a son. It is God who in Genesis 22 is engaging in wishful thinking, musing like Kierkegaard about alternate endings, but who knows that Jesus will have a very different fate than Isaac. Thus the Akedah is important to Christian history because, short of the cross itself, nothing else in scripture is as revelatory of the nature of God and of God’s ultimate love for humanity.
The Akedah account is so important within Christian history because it is a story whose scenario and characters have subjected and continue to subject Jews and Christians throughout generations. The story evokes questioning of the deepest kind (What does it mean to be faithful to God? Who is God? How are God’s people to worship? etc.). The Akedah account has created and continues to create a wake of perseveration that spans generations, this collection of interpretation and exegetical work is a tremendous trove which affords us insight into the development of Judaism, and in turn Christianity.
After reading the prescribed readings in the OT, Apocrypha, NT, Psuedapigrapha, Apostolic Fathers, etc., I thought I’d be writing about how Abraham wanted to please God and give Isaac to God for his own. I also thought that Abraham wanted to do what God had asked out of gratitude for all God had done for him (Abraham’s supporter and defender – Antiquities of the Jews) and felt it was his duty (Philo) to do this as a believer. But, after reading the Akedah, I realized that by being willing to give Isaac up, Abraham was putting God ahead of himself, and therefore giving his beloved son the gift of faith in God – someone greater than Abraham could ever be. This is the greatest gift that a person can receive. The Akedah demonstrated how hopeless life is without faith.
This exercise certainly sheds new light on the first and greatest commandment, doesn’t it?
OOPS! I meant …
But, after reading the Kierkegaard “Prelude” in Fear and Trembling, I realized that by being willing to give Issac up …
I think the Akedah helps us to ponder the possible answers to a number of questions such as those concerning the faithfulness of Christ or the faithfulness of God. I think it is also a typological expression of God speaking and acting in both the Old and New Testaments.
The story of the near sacrifice of Isaac is so important because it provides an example of what God may call upon the faithful to fulfill. It foreshadows Christ’s path to the Cross and Christ’s call to his followers to take up their crosses to follow him.
The Akedah is an interesting story that has been used over time in many ways. Some see confident sacrifice of an ultimate gift, whereas others see nerve-racking torture of the emotions. The readings show how the passage has been interpreted in such a variety of ways – some closer to the Bible than others. This passage has shed important insight into the characteristics of God for Jews and Christians. I also find it interesting how some have interpreted angels and even Satan into this story when it is difficult to explain God.
Through these readings I learned a great deal more about Abraham’s obedience to God. In “The Legends of the Jews” I learned what Sarah had to say about how Abraham explained what he was going to do as well as her response. These articles helped me once again realize that Abraham was working through his faith in God’s promises to him. Oh, could we all be so obedient to what God calls us to do? I believe that is what makes this story so important within Christian history.
The Akedah is incredibly important in Christian history precisely because it is tough to determine how important it really should be in Christianity. At first glance, Abraham and Isaac gloriously typify God the Father and Jesus the Son. Considering all the questions that surround this story, however, there are many other ways to interpret it–some of which potentially contradict Christianity. Thus, the Akedah is important for us as Christians because it can tune us in to reservations non-Christians may have concerning the God they find in that story.
Why is this story so important within Christian history? Because even the early church saw in the Akedah the Isaac/Christ typology; that this is how God acted in Abraham’s day, and this is how God acted in Christ, and this is still how God acts…
Wait, no – that last part doesn’t work. First, let me put myself in the place of Abraham. My answer would have been “no.” God would call upon me to sacrifice my child – in fact, he expressly forbids it (Lev 18.21, 20.2-5). Thus, if “the Word of the LORD came to me” and said, “thou shall sacrifice thy son, thy only son, whom thou lovest” I would reply, “Ummmmmm – no. This runs against the commandments of God – you must not be a true prophet (Deu 18.20ff).” Of course, in this case I would have ignored the previous verse (19), which reads, “Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.” Or I might reply with the words like “what kind of Spirit are you?” (Rom 12.2, 1 John 4.1). Of course, at this point, I’m overthinking the issue… Further, why would God want to take the son that God had promised earlier, through whom “all the families of the world will be blessed?”
I think I remember learning, at some point, that this text had been changed in popular imagination, that Abraham did , in fact, sacrifice Isaac, and that God raised him from the dead (though I did not find that in today’s readings).
This text is hugely important, however, for other reasons – the biggest being that it denies that God knows everything, with which several authors struggled. Why did God not know how Abraham would react (the answer being just like Paul’s words in Rom 4.23 and 1 Cor 10.11)?
So, even the Isaac/Christ sacrifice thing, and the Abraham/Christ obedience thing, aside, this text is going to get attention (the more difficult the text, the more attention it’s going to get).
Ha! Ha! Greg…I found my way…er, I mean ‘the way’
There is so much to summarize in a few sentences. There is a lot going on, as some have already mentioned: testing, the hiddeness/revealing of God, binding and loosening, atonement, sin, law, grace; the Akedah is packed full of these themes. Maybe it is because this account is so packed full that was of importance to the New Testament writers, and to the Christian Church today. One can certainly look back on this account and draw many parallels to the Christ event as we seek understanding of how we relate to and understand God and God’s characteristics. Key themes that interested me was the reason for God to test Abraham, as well as Abraham’s and Isaac’s faithfulness (trust/willingness). For me, the actions of Abraham and Isaac point more to a truth about who God is, than the divine bidding or angel who stopped Abraham’s hand.