Posts Tagged: The Bible as disturbing

“When God Says ‘Please!’”

On July 14, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Genesis 22 contains one of the most profoundly disturbing stories in a very disturbing book, the Bible. Yes, I still believe that the Bible is the very Word of God. However, that doesn’t keep the book from being profoundly disturbing.

Genesis 22:1-19 tells the story of how God tested Abraham by commanding him to go to a certain mountain and sacrifice his son, Isaac. Yes, it is true that, at the very last moment, God kept Abraham from actually sacrificing his son. But the very fact that God would command such a thing is—and should be, in my opinion—a great difficulty for believers. Of course, for unbelievers, it is likely to be a deal-killer.

In Hebrew, there is a little word called “the particle of entreaty”: nāʾ. It basically means “please” or “I beg you.” It is a very common word in Hebrew, but it only occurs five times in the Old Testament when God is asking or commanding a human to do something. Apparently, God doesn’t generally say, “Please!”

But then, there are those five times—Genesis 13:14; 15:5; 22:2; Exodus 11:2; and Isaiah 7:3. In each case where God says, “please,” God is asking a human being to do something or believe something that is virtually unimaginable.

Commenting on these five strange uses of Hebrew “please” (and particularly applying his observation to God’s command to sacrifice his son Isaac), Victor P. Hamilton writes, “Each time God asks the individual to do something staggering, something that defies rational explanation or understanding.”[1]

It is truly staggering that God would issue such a command to Abraham or, indeed, to anyone. The word “please” doesn’t help much. But at least it suggests that God realized how staggering God’s command to Abraham was.

However, Hamilton makes another interpretive move that I find helpful. Hamilton notes some intriguing connections between Genesis 21 and 22—the sending away and loss of Ishmael and the sacrifice of Isaac. Hamilton asks, “Can God protect and provide both for Ishmael and Isaac?”[2]

The answer is both stories is a definite “Yes!” But perhaps God can only protect and provide for both Ishmael and Isaac if Abraham is willing to give them both up? All good parents want to provide for and protect their children. But often, even the best of intentions is inadequate to either provide for or protect. Bad things happen to good people—even to good parents. Perhaps faith includes giving up the very things that we love the most, and the very ones whom we love the most, to God. Perhaps that is the only way to really provide for and protect those things and those people.

In any case, the bottom line is this: Abraham passed the test by not sacrificing his son Isaac. Maybe God passed the test too.

Of course, those of us who are Christ-followers can’t resist pointing out that God did sacrifice God’s only son. Now that is staggering!

 And we didn’t even have the good sense or courtesy to say, “Please!”

[1] Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50, NICOT (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995), 99.

[2] Ibid., 97.

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