Bob Stark
I think our tendency, as Western Christians, is that when reading scripture we tend to over spiritualize the stories and to jump to the conclusions we are looking for without really engaging in the story with our heart, and without asking the hard questions that make us uncomfortable.
Life is messy. Our lives are messy. And the lives of the bible characters were messy. And that's the point. With the exception of Jesus, they were just like us in many ways. They were stumbling through life, trying their best to follow God, yet they all lived in a very imperfect way. However, despite their weaknesses and struggles, God always had a plan of redemption.
God is big enough for us to ask hard questions….whether it be about the scriptures, or whether it be about our lives. In order to fully live, we need to fully engage with the scriptures, and to fully engage with life. We need to allow ourselves to look at things honestly, and engage with hard questions, and to wrestle with things that make us uncomfortable.
That’s actually a very Hebraic way to look at things, and is, I believe, the way that God would have us look at things. We are going to look at a familiar story, the story of the sacrifice of Isaac , with fresh eyes, and we are going to connect with the story with our hearts, not just our heads. To do this, we will refer to Genesis chapters 22, 23 and 24. Here’s what we know: God told Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah What we don't know is how Abraham handled this with Isaac….we don't know what conversations Abraham had or didn't have with Isaac leading up to this.
Let’s look at Genesis 22:1-19:
22 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will [a]provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham reached out with his hand and took the knife to [b]slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you [c]fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Here is a question to ask ourselves at this point in the story: “What was that experience like for Isaac?”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your [f]seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand, which is on the seashore; and your [g]seed shall possess the gate of [h]their enemies. 18 And in your [i]seed all the nations of the earth shall [j]be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba.
Can we put ourselves in Isaac’s place for a minute? How must Isaac have felt? Could this have been traumatic for him?
One of the most prevalent Midrash viewpoints on this story is that Isaac was so traumatized by this experience that he didn't come back down the mountain with Abraham and instead, he ran away. Where does this come from? Let’s look further.
What is Midrash? Midrash is an ancient Jewish/hebraic form of commentary which leads to raising questions in an attempt to cause us to look deeper into the text for clues that are intentionally left there by the writers.
The purpose of Midrash is discovery. It teaches us how to think, how to wrestle and discover, but not what to think. As compared to our Western biblical commentary which typically tries to answer questions through explanation or interpretation
Findings: Abraham, Isaac, and two young men journey from Beersheba to the land of Moriah to make a sacrifice. Abraham and Isaac go up the mountain for the sacrifice. Abraham binds Isaac and is about to kill him when the angel of God stops him. God gives Abraham a prophecy about his legacy. There is no mention of Isaac coming down off of the mountain with Abraham and returning with him. Abraham returns with the young men to Beersheba.
Let’s continue in Genesis chapter 23:1-2. Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Abraham then returns with the young men to Beersheba. Chapter 23 opens with the death of Sarah (Abraham’s wife) in Hebron. The original Hebrew text in vs 2 implies that Abraham “came to” where Sarah had died to mourn for her. In other words, Abraham was not with Sarah when she died Sarah dies in Kirath-arba which is about 25 miles north of BeershebaSarah dies 25 miles away from where Abraham was (Beersheba) Why were they separated? What must this experience have been like for Sarah? What conversations did Abraham have/or not have with Sarah about this? There is no mention of Isaac at all in this chapter.
In Chapter 24 we see the story of Abraham sending his chief servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. We find Isaac in Chapter 24, verse 62: “Now Isaac had come back from a journey to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the Negev. 63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.”
Beer-lahai-roi - This is the well that Hagar named when God met her after Abraham sent her away with Ishmael.
Well - “You are a God who sees me.” Beer-lahai-roi is about 50 miles south of Beersheba
Meditate - the original Hebrew can be interpreted as “muse pensively.”
Why would Isaac go to Beer-lahai-roi? And why is he pensively musing?
Let’s now put this all together: God speaks to Abrahan and tells him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering.
Abraham, Isaac, and two young men go from Beersheba to the land of Moriah to make a sacrifice.
Agraham and Isaac go up the mountain for the sacrifice.
Abraham binds Isaac and is about to kill him when the angel of God stops him.
God gives Abraham a prophecy about his legace.
No mention of Isaac coming down off of the mountain with Abraham and returning with him.
Abraham returns with the young men to Beersheba (presumably without Isaac).
Isaac is in a field, having returned from Beer-Lahai-roi (a well named by Hagar after being sent away by Abraham and Sarah, 50 miles from Beersheba).
Isaac is “pensively musing.”
Remember, this is about discovery, about wrestling with questions, not about trying to put a definitive answer to all of the questions.
So we have to admit what we don’t know, and not go too far to draw concrete conclusions, but I think there is enough here to say that not everything was perfect in this family, and likely there were some significant issues within the whole family unit. And it is very likely that this family has experienced some level of religious trauma as a result of these events.
So what do we do with this? We apply what we’ve learned here and we ask questions of ourselves: Have we experienced some type of religious trauma in our lives? Fathers: How many of us as fathers have done our best to follow God’s call on our lives, and have said yes to God as best we knew how, but in the process of us proceeding in an imperfect way, might have inflicted some level of trauma on our wives and children?
Maybe we went into ministry, and God used us mightily. But have we wrestled with the questions of “what impact has this had on my kids?” “What impact has this had on my wife, and our family as a whole?”
Have we allowed ourselves to ask these questions?
Have we asked this question to our wife, and children in order to get their perspective? Have we acknowledged our own “human-ness” in this equation and owned our mistakes in how we might have carried out our journey to follow God’s voice in our lives. This isn't to say that following God’s direction has caused trauma to our families, but that the way that we have walked it out may have. It begs us to have those honest conversations with our wives and children. Not to justify our actions, but to truly see them, and acknowledge our part if there has been hurt, and take whatever steps to ask for forgiveness and move toward mending the relationships.
The point here is that despite our best efforts as Fathers and Husbands to follow God's will and direction in our lives, the ways that we have walked this out have been imperfect at best, and our mistakes, no matter how well intentioned, may have led to consequences for the ones we love.
Children: How many of us as children have suffered trauma to our lives because of the imperfect way that our fathers have devoted their lives to “the ministry” in service to God?
How has that impacted our relationship with our father? How has that impacted our view of our heavenly Father? How has that impacted our relationship with our heavenly Father?
Has that caused resentment in relation to God?
Have we acknowledged that trauma as real, and how have we dealt with that?
Have we tried to speak to our parents about this?
The goal here is reconciliation. The goal is to “see” the impact of our decisions, and our actions on those we love….and own that in the fullest way possible… with the ultimate goal of bringing healing to our relationships.
Malachi 4:5;“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction.”
It’s easy to look at this in regard to our society, but what about in our own household? It has to start with us as fathers, especially fathers in the church…
Bob Stark
You can watch this message at: https://www.youtube.com/live/kneeaHrN5Ls
Bob Stark and his wife Anita are Ordained ministers and Elders in The Covenant Center. Bob dives into God’s word bringing wisdom, insight and truth to his messages and teachings. He has a heart for the hurting and wounded and a desire to see people prosper. Bob encourages others to develop a relationship with God which brings intimacy and guidance from the Father. He and Anita enjoy spending time with their family and grandchildren. An avid fisherman, Bob enjoys the open water and the discussion of lively fishing tales.
Contact - www.info@thecovenantcenter.com