![]() ![]() So what is at stake is not obedience merely but total mutual trust. Twice Abraham has let his wife Sarah go into the harem of a foreign king ( Gen 12 and Gen 20) he did it to protect himself, evidently not trusting God to see them through their dangerous sojourns among foreigners. However, certain things have happened that give God reason to doubt Abraham, making it necessary to test him, to see if Abraham can bear the weight of that immense trust. God’s plans for bringing good to the inhabitants of the world depend on Abraham ( Gen 12:3). However, the opening words of the story suggest a different understanding: “ After these things, God tested Abraham” ( Gen 22:1). The story is often said to be about total obedience, but we know that there is no virtue in unquestioning obedience to a tyrannical demand. He returned to the story multiple times through his lifetime and through it reflected on his own love for his children and his suffering over their early deaths. Rembrandt is one of the greatest interpreters of Gen 22, in the media of painting and copper engraving.This story has been the basis for much Christian reflection on the crucifixion of Jesus and also for Jewish theological reflection on martyrdom, especially in the period of the Crusades and, more recently, following the Shoah/Holocaust. ![]() Later tradition has widely identified the son in question as Ishmael.
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