Who Is Juliah In Genesis 22

As someone who has been a Christian their whole life, I never gave a second thought to the “unjustness” in the story of Abraham and Isaac. However, after reading the first few pages of the story, I began to question my childish acceptance of this story for it’s face value. In Genesis 22 God asks Abraham to take his son to the land of Moriah to sacrifice him. Being a faithful servant of the Lord, Abraham obeys. However, right before he is about to offer him up, God speaks to Abraham and tells him that he passed the test. Solely looking at Genesis 22, many might see God a hypocrite for telling his people not to murder while asking Abraham to sacrifice his own son. However, Copan makes a very valid point that you cannot solely look at chapter 22 but must look at Abraham’s life before as well. Before God asks him to sacrifice his son, God continually promises and confirms numerous things to Abraham. His most significant promise was that He would “make [Isaac] a great nation” (Genesis 17:20). Because God had fulfilled all of his other promises, logically there would be no reason for Abraham to doubt Him about this one.

First, the omniscient narrator explicitly says, “God tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). So before we even find out what outrageous way God is testing Abraham, we know that it is a test. Copan says that “the harsh command to Abraham is cushioned by God’s tenderness”, however, in my translation (ESV), there is not particular tenderness but this could be the difference in a translation or the general gap in the Bible’s translation to english (Copan 47). Yet, in verse two, God does make it clear that He is well aware of Abraham’s love for his only son. Because of His acknowledgment of Isaac being Abraham’s only son, and God’s recent promise concerning Isaac, and His fulfillment of all other promises, Abraham has only to trust