>IT WAS JUST A PRANK BRO!! Why would the writer depict

>>9888906
To display the Judaic radical separation between man and God, between the very possibility of sacrifice itself. Between the total arbitrariness of the relation between God and man, man and his son, the law and the spirit.
To suggest towards the coming of the Messiah who would reconcile these divides through the completion of the sacrifice which the Jew could never render

>>9888906
It shows God wanted Abraham to pass the ultimate test of faith by demonstrating he would destroy what he held most dear if God asked him to, and it also shows God is good because he stops him from actually killing his son after seeing that he had the will to do it.

In Semitic religions there was a practice of offering children in holocaust to gods. But instead of asking for his child, He allows Abraham to offer a ram instead. If you read into the Bible it is a common feature to warn against offering a child in such a way, but when strife comes people choose to anyways, usually making it worse for them.

>>9888906
>faith is easy and cheap
why would OP think this

>>9888906
To demonstrate Abraham's commitment to the covenant he'd made with God.

You have to keep in mind the context: the version that we get is from just before the Babylonian exile, so at that point in time (when things were somewhat good, somewhat bad, always on the verge of great danger), most of the depictions of God were as an unpredictable, all-powerful being who could only be consistently pleased with you if you followed every single rule to the letter. And even then, he was liable to not be pleased.

Even though a lot can be conjectured about intentions, I think the rocky and chaotic relationship between God and the Jews was an intentional inclusion in the Pentateuch, meant to suggest that even though they were out of touch with their ancestors' religion, they were in roughly the same ship as them. Thus, all they had to do was believe and accept the covenant and they'd be able to have hope and confidence for the future.

I know that doesn't strictly deal with Abraham, but it helps give a clearer picture as to why God acts the way he does.

The drama of the Book of Genesis reaches its greatest intensity in 22:1-9, the heart-wrenching story of Abraham offering his beloved son as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. So momentous is the event and its outcome that it stands as one of the defining moments of salvation history. Had Abraham shown anything less than heroic faith, there is no telling how the grand narrative of the Bible would have developed thereafter. The question if how to interpret the significance of the episode. For some, the story is a protest against the rituals of child sacrifice that plagued the biblical world. By holding back the knife, the Lord shows that he rejects rather than requires this kind of savagery in the name of religion. For others, the story is a lesson in trusting God and obeying his word, even when life's circumstances seem to contradict his promises. Stretching out faith beyond comfortable limits is seen as the path to greater blessing that Abraham blazes for us by example. Both of these readings provide genuine insights into Genesis 22. But more can be said about the spiritual and theological dimensions of the episode. In the interpretive tradition of Judaism and Christianity, the sacrifice of Isaac is an even of monumental historic importance. It is one of the few events in scripture that have a lasting effect on the shape of God's plan for the future of the world.

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>>9889402

Spiritual significance:
For Abraham personally, the sacrifice of Isaac marks the highpoint of his developing relationship with the Lord. Ever since his call in Genesis 12, Abraham's faith in God has been gradually deepening and maturing to the point where, in Genesis 22, God sees fit to test the strength of his commitment. Preceding chapters describe how the plot builds to reach this climactic moment. (1) Initially Abraham is asked to leave is home and set out for the land of Canaan at the Lord's direction (12:1-2). (2) Later he is asked to sacrifice animals from his herds (15:18-20). (3) Then the patriarch is asked to sacrifice part of himself in a covenant of circumcision at the age of ninety-nine (17:1-21). (4) Finally, the Lord asks for the life of Isaac, Abraham's beloved heir (22:102). No greater sacrifice could be asked of a father than this, all the more so since God's promises to bless Abraham are literally bound up with Isaac on the altar (see 17:19).

So it is that Abraham learns the lesson of trustful surrender to the Lord. At each stage in the process, more is asked of him than before, until all that Abraham holds dear is given over to God and nothing is held back. Each time he is summoned to sacrifice, he is asked to love the Creator more than his creatures and to esteem the divine Giver above his most precious gifts. Even when God's promises and credibility hang by a thread, the only acceptable course is to entrust ourselves to him in faith. Because Abraham followed this course, he shows himself to be one who fears God (22:12). This is significant because the Bible extols "fear of the Lord" as the preeminent religious virtue, the very essence of what it means to possess wisdom and to live uprightly in the eyes of the Almighty (Ex 20:20; Job 1:1; 28:28; Ps 111:10; Prov 1:7).

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>>9889407

Theological significance:
In early Jewish theology, the sacrifice or "binding" of Isaac is an event that sends ripples down through the history of the covenant people. It is said, for example, that Isaac played an active role on Moriah by offering himself as a willing victim and that the merits of his action were stored up for the redemption of Israel in future days. Thus, saving events such as the Exodus from Egypt, the forgiveness of the people after the golden calf apostasy, and the crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land were all made possible by the sacrifice of Isaac. Likewise, the cultic ministries of the Temple, especially the daily burnt offering and the yearly Passover sacrifice, were considered liturgical memorials of Isaac's offering. In these and other ways, the sacrifice of Isaac was believed to secure lasting benefits for the descendants of Abraham.

From a Christian perspective, the sacrifice of Isaac points forward to the salvation of the world by the Messiah. Anticipation of this rests on both a prophetical and typological reading of Genesis 22. Prophetically, the divine oath to bless the world through Abraham in 22:16-19 is fulfilled in Jesus Christ as the messianic offspring of Abraham (Gal 3:16). Through him the blessing of God's covenant with Abraham, destined for all families and nations, are poured out for the salvation of Israel and the Gentiles alike (Mt 28:19; Acts 3:25-26; Gal 3:14). In this way, the curses of the Adamic covenant are surpassed and surmounted by the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant fulfilled by the Messiah (see Rom 5:12-21).

Typologically, the offering of Isaac serves as a preview of how the world's redemption would be accomplished. Like Isaac, Jesus is an only beloved Son (Mt 3:17; Kn 3:16) who is not spared by his Father but is offered in sacrifice (Rom 8:32). So too, as Isaac is returned alive to the arms of his father, thanks to the intervention of Gof (22:12), Jesus is restored to life in his Resurrection (Heb 11:17-29). Building on this NT foundation, the Fathers of the Church went on to correlate Isaac carrying the firewood (22:6) with Jesus bearing his own Cross (Jn 19:17), to link the deliverance of Isaac on the third day after consignment to death (22:4) with the deliverance of Jesus from death on the third day (Mt 16:21), and to see the ram caught by its thorns in the thicket (22:13) as a depiction of Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb (Jn 1:29), Finally, the sacrifice of Isaac is said to have taken place on Moriah (22:2), which is none other than the mountainous elevation of Jerusalem (2 Chron 3:1) the city where Jesus was called upon to offer his life in sacrifice. Given these remarkable prophetical and typological features, it is no surprise that Christian tradition places Genesis 22 alongside other OT passages such as Isaiah 53 that most clearly describe the work of the Messiah for our redemption.

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>>9889402
>>9889407
>>9889414
Not an argument

>>9888915
Preach!

>>9889007
Romans, despite killing people for sport, despised human sacrifice. One of the reasons Carthage was destroyed.

>>9889764

No, it's not

>>9889764
hehe

>>9889764
Quality post