believing? Did I do something wrong, did I not handle the promise well? Did you not say
through him my descendants would be named? I’m sure God does not change His mind
but... God I can’t understand this? Is it possible for my elderly wife and myself to get yet
another child at this age? Or maybe you are testing me..., maybe you will bring him back
to life again?
A delve into theological studies indicate that in the days of Abraham human
sacrifices were common, definitely in the surrounding idolatrous societies. As a
matter of fact, the people that God drove out of Canaan so Israel could settle in
their promised land practiced many abominable rituals. These included human
sacrifice, which God hated as He later revealed to Moses and His prophets when
writing the Book of the Law and the Old Testament. God forbid the Israelites from
adopting such pagan practices when he said in Deuteronomy 12: 29-31:
‘The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and
dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they
have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods,
saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not
worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds
of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as
sacrifices to their gods.’
And in Leviticus 18:21: ‘ Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for
you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord .’
Abraham at this point, not having the benefit of this revelation, may have
concluded that maybe God too required this kind of sacrifice. Yet deep down,
being a righteous man of faith, something whispered to him that the God he serves
is different, and would somehow raise his son back from the dead, even if he was
actually sacrificed. And so we read in Hebrews 11:17-19:
‘By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced
the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him,
“It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God
could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from
death.’