The question is a valid question.
One I will attempt my best to answer. We must keep in mind when asking God
questions, we must never ask in a accusative manner for who are we to question
God? Will the thing formed say to the one that formed him why did you make me
like this? (Romans 9:20).
Exodus 20:13 commands us that we
are not to murder. But in Genesis 22 we read the account of God commanding
Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to Him (God). This on the surface it
appears God is contradicting himself. Is He?
Let’s examine carefully these two
commands.
First, in Genesis 22:1-19 we
read:
And it came to pass
after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And
he said, Here am I. 2 And
he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, 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.
3 And
Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he clave the wood for the
burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted
up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here
with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come
again to you. 6 And
Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son.
And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And they went both of them
together. 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said,
Behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? 8 And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb
for a burnt-offering, my son. So they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of.
And Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac
his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the
knife to slay his son.
11 And
the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham.
And he said, Here I am. 12 And
he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For
now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son, from me. 13 And
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram
caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and
offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place
Jehovah-jireh. As it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be
provided.
15 And
the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah,
because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, 17 that in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens,
and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies. 18 And
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because thou hast
obeyed my voice. 19 So
Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to
Beer-sheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
In this account God
is commanding Abraham to kill his
son. By this time in his life Abraham is an obedient man, and has learned over
time to trust in God. Notice verse five he tells his servants that he and the lad
will go and worship and come again to you. That let’s the reader know that
Abraham was convinced even if he had to sacrifice his only son, God would have
to raise him from the dead. That’s great faith. Remember, God made a promise to
Abraham that even before Isaac was born that all the nations of the earth would
be blessed through Abraham’s seed; that being Isaac. The scriptures tell us
that Abraham believed God’s word (Genesis 15:5; 22:18).
So, why the whole
scene of sacrificing Isaac? Did God need to find out what Abraham would do? No.
God knew all along what Abraham would do. The test was to prove Abraham’s faith
to himself; to see if he would obey God’s command. The one thing that was most
precious to him, his only son[i]
God commanded him to give him up for the Lord. Abraham proved to himself that
he loved God more than Isaac exhibited by his perfect obedience (John 14:15).
This account was an
analogy of what would happen 2000 years later when the Father God would offer
up his only Son the Lord Jesus Christ on that very mountain. Abraham knew this
and called that place Jehovah Jireh – in the mountain of the Lord it will be
seen (Genesis 22:14).
In Hebrews 11:17-19
we read, By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac, And he who had
received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was
said through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was
able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking he did
receive him back (i.e. Isaac).
Figuratively speaking,
Abraham and Isaac were portraying the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
So we see the main issue wasn’t
the sacrifice of Isaac, it was whether
Abraham would trust and obey God at any cost. God chose to use the sacrifice of
Isaac as the means of how Abraham was to demonstrate his faith in God. God knew Abraham loved his son, but he had to
show his love for God was greater than his love for his only son who was given
to him by God.
Even if Abraham had literally
killed Isaac at the command of God, it would not violate Exodus 20:13. Why?
Because God commanded him to do it. I realize this seems confusing, and also
offends our sense of moral ethics, but we have to remember, God is perfect, and
everything he does is perfect as well. We are not perfect, we are sinners and
we are finite. God is not like us and he’s infinite (Isaiah 55:8-9).
The marked difference with Exodus
20:13 vs Genesis 22 is that here God is commanding us not to murder. By this time in Israel’s history over 500 years has
passed from Abraham’s day and the nation now has written legislation by way of
the Decalogue or Ten commandments given to Moses from God.
The Hebrew word for murder is rāsah. This word is dealing with premeditated
murder (manslaughter) and unintentional killing (involuntary manslaughter).
In the first case the book of
Numbers says, that the manslayer should be put to death but not by one witness,
but by multiple witnesses. The accused like today would go to trial for murder
and if convicted, would be put to death (Numbers 35:30).
In the second case if a man
killed someone accidentally, then the manslayer could flee to the city of
refuge so he’s not killed. He can reside there until he goes to trial. He would
be judged between he and the avenger of blood – a designated member of the
victims family. The congregation would rescue the manslayer so that he could
seek asylum from the avenger of blood in the city of refuge. There he would
live his life in exile until the death of the high priest, and only then could
he return to his own land. But, if the manslayer left the city of refuge before the
death of the high priest and the avenger of blood finds him and kills him, then
the avenger will not be guilty of shedding the manslayer’s blood because he broke
the law and left the city of refuge before he was supposed to and according to
the law the avenger had the right to seek retaliation for his murdered family
member – a provision in the law sanctioned by God (Numbers 35:22-29).
Concluding, in Genesis 22 God
commanded Abraham to kill Isaac to prove his faith and obedience to God. So in
this scenario, what Abraham was doing was actually good, righteous and holy as
hard as it may seem for us to understand considering naturally the crass nature of the event[ii].
Whereas in Exodus 20:13 God is
commanding us to have regard for human life; not to murder for all life is created
by him and for his pleasure (Revelation 4:11b). We have no right to extinguish
it.
Final Thoughts
God is perfectly just when he commands men not to murder and at the same time command Abraham to offer up his son as a sacrifice. The offering (a foreshadowing and a symbol) of Isaac was not for no reason at all. It was to test Abraham’s faith which was to Abraham’s benefit and God’s glory. Whereas cold blooded premeditated murder is always sinful with no virtue in the act; only unbridled wickedness and malice.
END NOTES
Something important for us to
keep in mind is that God is not subject
to the laws He creates (emphasis added). The laws that exist are for the good
and boundaries of men. God does not need law and order, He is law and order.
The allowances and prohibitions are for men not for God for He does not need
permission to do anything and He doesn’t need any restraints like we sometimes
do. Since man is inherently evil, God in his infinite wisdom places a checks
and balance system on man. He is rewarded when he does well, and punished when he
violates the laws of man ordained by God.
God is perfectly just when he commands men not to murder and at the same time command Abraham to offer up his son as a sacrifice. The offering (a foreshadowing and a symbol) of Isaac was not for no reason at all. It was to test Abraham’s faith which was to Abraham’s benefit and God’s glory. Whereas cold blooded premeditated murder is always sinful with no virtue in the act; only unbridled wickedness and malice.
END NOTES
[i]
We know that Abraham had another son named Ishmael by Sarah’s handmaid Hagar.
However he was not the son of promise (Genesis 16:15; Galatians 4:31). He was
the son of the flesh and the bondwoman so Ishmael was disqualified as Abraham’s
heir and sent away hence Isaac was his only son at that time. When Sarah died,
Abraham married Keturah and had more children, but they were given gifts and
sent away also (Genesis 25:1-3).
[ii]
Another hard matter to accept was when God commanded the destruction of the
Amalekites during the reign of King Saul. God through the Prophet Samuel
commanded Saul to kill even the infants which of course had committed no wrong.
God knowing all things knew that if those infants were allowed to live, they
would grow up and oppress the Israelites and blaspheme God as their fathers did
before them. This is a case of the sins of the fathers passing down to the
children. The people were wicked and were ripe for judgment (I Samuel 15:1-3).
This was not a gross act of senseless genocide on the Amalekites as some would
view it. This was a divine decree from God to execute final judgment on His
enemies – Holy War! Saul disobeyed the Lord in the command given to him whereas
Abraham obeyed.