Abraham And Isaac Rhetorical Analysis

The story Abraham and Isaac conveys a moral lesson about devotion and loyalty within religion. Genesis 22 revolves around God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham listens to God and takes his son to a mountaintop where he plans to slay his son for the burnt offering. Just before committing the act, an angel of the Lord stops him. Because he did not withhold his son from God, Abraham is promised the same covenant that is talked about in earlier chapters of Genesis. He proved himself worthy of such a promise as he exhibited his devotion towards god. The moral lesson of loyalty within religion can be further explained by the narrative elements of setting, character, and plot. Abraham and Isaac’s story takes place in the land of

He faces conflict created by the antagonist, which is God. Abraham encounters his conflict when God asks him, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (22:2). The conflict of having to give his son up to God is both physical and internal. It is physical based on the fact that Abraham must literally kill his son, and this is not something he necessarily wants to do. Additionally, the conflict is internal because Abraham must decide whether to trust or question God’s intentions behind such an extreme request. Abraham most likely does not want to believe that he will actually have to kill his son, but he also wants to remain loyal to God and his religion. The characters within Genesis 22 are majority very flat and static. They do not have many of their own thoughts and feelings that are discussed outwardly in the text. Abraham could potentially be the only character to appear more rounded and dynamic. He actually faces an internal conflict that shows some of his inner workings to the reader. If he were to be a more static character, the build up and resolution of the conflict would have been played out much

Abraham and Isaacs situation teaches an example of what devotion and loyalty to religion can look like. Despite facing an internal conflict on whether or not to give up his only son, Abraham puts his trust within his higher power, which in this case is God. Although not said in blatant terms, it can be assumed that Abraham felt some hesitation in deciding to offer up his son’s life. He explains to Isaac at one point, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (22:8). This gives a hint that Abraham truly trusted the intentions of God and how he potentially could spare Isaac’s life. He does not appear as worried about what might happen at the land of Moriah, which is another example of how much devotion is being portrayed within this chapter. True devotion should be the type of loyalty to contain doubts or concerns in what you believe, especially in terms of