Gamera

Covenant Schmovenant, is what Abraham should have said and what any loving father would say.

It is an immoral demand for God to ask a father to slit his son's throat for any reason no matter how grand. Period. End of story. Abraham may indeed have followed your reasoning. And thus he failed. He put covenants and theology over love. And if there is a theme in the (redacted) Hebrew scriptures, it is that ultimately it's love and justice toward others that count, not slavish faith in God and Law. That's what the prophets, especially Isaiah and Ezekiel, keep telling them.

The Hebrew and Christian scriptures embed faith in love toward others, not toward God alone. That's what makes them inspiring and worthy of consideration above typical mystical religious traditions.

Hence Isaiah 1:

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
. . .

16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,

17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. [a]
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.


Can't this be translated: "Screw faith, love others."

Anat

God does not care about love that he does not command. Leviticus 19:18 says "Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD"
Caring and loving don't count on their own in YHWH's eyes, only if they are done out of intent to obey him.

Regarding Genesis 18:23-25, there is a demand for justice: "'Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" and "That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?'"
But also a request for mercy: "Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?"
Forgiving the whole city for the sake of the few righteous people is an expression of mercy, not justice.

The interpretation of 'screw faith, love others' is a distortion of the message of the prophets. There is nothing about love in the passage you quoted, but fairness that is legislated. The prophets supported the temple cult as long as it was carried out properly, and their vision of the ideal future included an active temple.

Anat

Here is what Yeshayahu Leibowitz said about morality and the prophets:

Morality in Halacha
(Judaism, the Jewish Nation and the State of Israel, p. 239)

hinduwoman

whether God testing Abraham’s obedience or morality, it is clear that He actually spoke to him.
So if someone today actually killed their son saying God spoke to him/her, how do you know that is not what actually happened? More to the point, the killer parent would be justified in believing he/she is carrying out God’s commands --- because that is what the story of Abraham teaches him/her.

credoconsolans

Well, maybe because to them it wasn't odious and thus was a hard nut to get rid of. Child sacrifice seems abhorrent to us, but in the context of these pre-historical societies, it could be seen as the utmost in sefllessness and loving that a parent could do.

These people were used to sacrificing to their gods - in the beginning probably the first/best fruits of their labor - grain and fruit, milk - in order to placate and honor their gods into giving them continued prosperity and fertileness or for whatever reasons. Things got better economically or environmentally and they moved to animal sacrifices. This is not an unimportant thing. Stock animals are notoriously expensive to raise and eating meat was something that was rarely done, except on the most celebratory of holidays or to give thanks. So, as a really big gift to the gods, in recognition of whatever - thanks or for some hope/wish for the future - they gave this animal.

Imagine a modern-day equivalent - giving your wide/flat screen HD liquid-crystal TV or your new Mercedes to the gods in thanks for your family living another year without problems.

These people were prey to raiders and to the weather and to disease. They could only hope and pray things went well, otherwise they were doomed to short brutish lives and horrific deaths.

Things get really really bad. Bad weather, change in climate, constant raiding, disease and plague, starvation...they figure the gods are pissed. Really really pissed. Goats and cows and doves aren't good enough anymore. The people look around for another sacrifice in the same vein that is valued by them and loved by them above all else - something that would show their ultimate devotion/honor to the gods. Something to sacrifice that would indeed be a great burden to them, but show their willingness.

Something...or someone. The most valued possession these people had - their children.

The parents would be devastated to have to offer them, but what else of value - extreme value - do they have? They're trying to save their society, their culture, their entire existence as they know it.

Like child sacrifice of the - Incas was it? - these people probably truly believed they were saving everyone else with this sacrifice. The sacrifice of their children, while an emotional burden and simultaneously a great honor, would save everyone else - literally the entire universe in some belief systems. This is not the act of selfish or unloving people, but rather the reverse.

Anat

The Jewish workaround was to claim that God no longer speaks to people on manners of law (or probably anything else) since he already gave out all his laws and the ways to interpret them. And the interpretation of the majority of rabbis in any generation trumps even a divine proclamation.

WishboneDawn

Now there's a clear headed and refreshing view. I think that post comes as close to an honest attempt to understand ancient people as any I've ever seen here.

quester

I think this story more than anything else is what turned me against religion. My Sunday School book talked about how faithful both Abraham and Isaac were, Isaac for not running away. To me the lesson was that children were supposed to go along with whatever their parents wanted, because it was God's will. I always knew that parents sent children to Sunday School to make them good -- that is, obedient.

Gamera

This may be why Abraham didn't tell anybody what he was going to do. He especially didn't tell Sarah, who might have reacted normally and said, forget it.

The proper reaction to somebody willing to kill their child because of a message from God is (a) they are nuts or (b) there's something wrong with God.

No normal person would say, wow, you've got a lot of faith, go at it man. No morally sensient person would ever do that. That's why I insist the story cannot be about faith, since it's utterly abhorrent at its core.

Gamera

You have missed the radical nature of the command to love others. It is impossible to command love. One can only command actions. The commandment to love is an oxymoron, a moment of cognitive dissonance that is supposed to break the listener out of the obedience mode and to bring him to in insight: the one internal condition is all that counts, not God's commandments.

Jesus says that the Law is reduced to loving your neighbor and God -- the exact things that cannot be commanded. You can't summon an emotion with a command. You've taken the OT literally and missed its self-subversive intent. The whole point of the Law is to show how useless the Law is.