Difference between revisions of "Binding of Isaac"

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(The Christian Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless)
(The Literal Interpretation Is Immoral)
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===The Literal Interpretation Is Immoral===
 
===The Literal Interpretation Is Immoral===
Most religious interpretations force their own beliefs into the story to make it seem less barbaric, but when you remove their spin and use a literal appraisal, the story is quite horrific. Elohim plainly commands Abraham to murder the son whom he loves without giving him any justification, and Abraham blindly carries out the order without any mention of argument or hesitation. This interpretation doesn't add anything to the story which isn't there and makes it a proper test of obedience. Since Abraham loves his son, he wouldn't want to murder him, and there is no mention that Abraham thinks the request is anything but genuine.
+
When you don't force your own beliefs into the story to make it seem less barbaric, and use a literal appraisal, the story is quite horrific. This is how most Evangelical Christians I've met interpret the story. As it is written, Elohim plainly commands Abraham to murder the son whom he loves without giving him any justification, and Abraham blindly carries out the order without any mention of argument or hesitation. This interpretation doesn't add anything to the story which isn't there and makes it a proper test of obedience. Since Abraham loves his son, he wouldn't want to murder him, and there is no mention that Abraham thinks the request is anything but genuine.
  
However, just because this is a proper test of obedience, doesn't make it any less immoral. The adherents of Abrahamic religions view their god as all-good and all-powerful. It is conceivable that an all-good god could require a small amount of evil in order to construct an even greater good, but, if the god were also all-powerful, then it would be unnecessary, so this story falls prey to the [[problem of evil]]. If Abraham was aware that his god were both all-good and all-powerful, he would know that his god would never ask him to do anything immoral, and could conclude that the order was coming, not from his god, but from an evil entity pretending to be his god. Abraham should have instantly rebuked the order assuming it was coming from Satan. In fact, pretending to be Yahweh in order to convince a human to do something evil is precisely the sort of thing you would expect Satan would do.
+
However, just because this is a proper test of obedience, it doesn't make it any less immoral. The adherents of Abrahamic religions view their god as all-good and all-powerful. It is conceivable that an all-good god could require a small amount of evil in order to construct an even greater good, but, if the god were also all-powerful, then it would be unnecessary, so this story falls prey to the [[problem of evil]]. If Abraham were aware that his god were both all-good and all-powerful, he would know that his god would never ask him to do anything immoral. Abraham should have instantly rebuked the order assuming it was coming from Satan. In fact, pretending to be Yahweh in order to convince a human to do something evil is precisely the sort of thing you would expect Satan would do.
  
Of course, these days, when people claim to hear a voice in their heads telling them to murder their children, even religious people say they're mentally ill, and they certainly don't entertain the idea that those parents might actually be doing the bidding of Yahweh. Sadly, this story has been cited as justification for countless mentally ill parents who have committed infanticide, and will certainly be used as inspiration for countless more.
+
Of course, these days, when people claim to hear a voice in their heads telling them to murder their children, even religious people agree they're mentally ill, and they certainly don't entertain the idea that those parents might actually be doing the bidding of Yahweh. Sadly, this story has been cited as justification for countless mentally ill parents who have committed infanticide, and will certainly be used as inspiration for countless more.
  
However, I do find that this story has an interesting use in modern discussions about morality. When religious people taut the importance of obedience to their god and the inability of humans to make moral judgments, this story helps to explain why their beliefs are internally inconsistent. If they truly practiced what they preached, they should always cheerfully accept any despicable command that their god makes (murder, rape, genocide) confident it is the perfectly moral thing to do.
+
However, I do find that this story has an interesting use in modern discussions about morality. When religious people taut the importance of obedience to their god and the inability of humans to make moral judgments, this story helps to explain why their beliefs are internally inconsistent. If they truly practiced what they preached, they should always cheerfully accept any despicable command that their god makes (murder, rape, genocide, etc.), confident it is the perfectly moral thing to do.
  
 
===Isaac Would Be Traumatized For Life===
 
===Isaac Would Be Traumatized For Life===

Revision as of 16:09, 13 August 2019

A mural at the Dura-Europos Synagogue in Syria, c.245 CE. One of the earliest surviving depictions of the story.

The Binding of Isaac is the common name for a Hebrew story found in the Book of Genesis where the patriarch Abraham is commanded by Elohim to murder his son Isaac and burn his corpse as a human sacrifice to Elohim. Abraham unquestioningly accepts the order and prepares to murder his son, but, at the last minute, an angel of Yahweh tells Abraham to stop because he was merely being tested. Abraham then sacrifices a ram and is told that he will be rewarded for his obedience with a large number of offspring who will conquer their enemies.

Source

The story appears in Genesis 22:1-19. The following is the New International Version translation:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"

"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

Dating

Although the Book of Genesis, as we receive it today, was finalized around 400 BCE, portions of this story are probably much older. According to the documentary hypothesis, the bulk of Genesis was formed when the Elohist and Yahwist sources were merged together around 650 BCE, but the Elohist and Yahwist sources themselves are estimated to have been first formulated around 900 BCE and 750 BCE respectfully. Since the final story contains elements from both sources, and both sources describe a similar narrative, the story must predate unification making it at least as old at 700 BCE.

Interpretations

The interpretation of this story is different in each major Abrahamic religion, but the primary moral seems to be, obedience in the god of Abraham yields rewards.

The oldest commentary by Jewish authors states that Abraham knew he was merely being tested, and that he would never be expected to murder his son.

Early Christians accepted the Jewish interpretation, but later Christians adopted an interpretation where Abraham believed Isaac would be raised from the dead after he was murdered. The Christians I've spoken to about this topic (mostly American Evangelicals) have a more literal approach where Abraham had no idea it was a test, and believed he was about to murder his son.

The Quran has a significantly modified version of the story, where Abraham has a vision that he is to sacrifice his son, and his son willingly agrees to be sacrificed, but they are stopped at the last minute. Early Muslims couldn't agree which son Abraham was going to kill, but now predominately agree that it was Ishmael, not Isaac.

Historical Evidence

Other than the account in Genesis, there is no evidence that this story ever actually happened. There is no credible evidence that Abraham or Isaac existed and no credible evidence that the site mentioned in the story, Jehovah-jireh, ever existed. The Quran is not a secondary source, but rather a modification of the original which was written at least 1,000 years later.

Criticisms

The Jewish Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless

In the Jewish interpretation, which has no textual basis, Abraham is immediately aware that Elohim is testing him based on the fact that Abraham would recognize the demand for human sacrifice to be disingenuous based on his existing understanding of Elohim. This interpretation has two main problems.

The first is that it requires people trust their own understanding over a direct commandment from their god. However, a common theme in the Abrahamic faiths is that human reasoning is limited and cannot be trusted on matters of morality. Instead, people should always defer to their god to know what is right or wrong. However, this interpretation suggests that humans should not only use their reasonoing to know what's right, but they should place it above the will of their god.

The second problem is, if Abraham knew this was merely a test, then his obedience is pointless. Obedience only matters when you have to do something difficult. If you ordered a child to eat candy, you wouldn't praise their obedience because they wanted to eat the candy anyway. However, you might praise them for obediently brushing their teeth even when they didn't want to. Likewise, if an employee is ordered to do a difficult task, but their boss gives them a wink and a nod assuring them they won't actually have to do it, then the employee doesn't deserve to be rewarded; it was all pretend.

The Christian Interpretation Makes the Test Pointless

In the Christian interpretation, Abraham believes he will have to go through with murdering his son, but he believes Elohim will raise Isaac from the dead after he has been sacrificed. This interpretation also has no textual basis, and, much like the second problem with the Jewish interpretation, it renders the test pointless. Abraham is convinced that there are no real consequences to his actions, Isaac will be alive and well at the end of this, so obedience requires no effort on his behalf.

The Literal Interpretation Is Immoral

When you don't force your own beliefs into the story to make it seem less barbaric, and use a literal appraisal, the story is quite horrific. This is how most Evangelical Christians I've met interpret the story. As it is written, Elohim plainly commands Abraham to murder the son whom he loves without giving him any justification, and Abraham blindly carries out the order without any mention of argument or hesitation. This interpretation doesn't add anything to the story which isn't there and makes it a proper test of obedience. Since Abraham loves his son, he wouldn't want to murder him, and there is no mention that Abraham thinks the request is anything but genuine.

However, just because this is a proper test of obedience, it doesn't make it any less immoral. The adherents of Abrahamic religions view their god as all-good and all-powerful. It is conceivable that an all-good god could require a small amount of evil in order to construct an even greater good, but, if the god were also all-powerful, then it would be unnecessary, so this story falls prey to the problem of evil. If Abraham were aware that his god were both all-good and all-powerful, he would know that his god would never ask him to do anything immoral. Abraham should have instantly rebuked the order assuming it was coming from Satan. In fact, pretending to be Yahweh in order to convince a human to do something evil is precisely the sort of thing you would expect Satan would do.

Of course, these days, when people claim to hear a voice in their heads telling them to murder their children, even religious people agree they're mentally ill, and they certainly don't entertain the idea that those parents might actually be doing the bidding of Yahweh. Sadly, this story has been cited as justification for countless mentally ill parents who have committed infanticide, and will certainly be used as inspiration for countless more.

However, I do find that this story has an interesting use in modern discussions about morality. When religious people taut the importance of obedience to their god and the inability of humans to make moral judgments, this story helps to explain why their beliefs are internally inconsistent. If they truly practiced what they preached, they should always cheerfully accept any despicable command that their god makes (murder, rape, genocide, etc.), confident it is the perfectly moral thing to do.

Isaac Would Be Traumatized For Life

Interpretations of this story never seem to mention how Isaac feels about all this. Put yourself in his shoes: you're taking a long journey with your father carrying a heavy bundle of firewood on your back. Your father explains that the two of you are going to perform a sacrifice to your god, which you understand to mean an animal sacrifice. You ask your father, where is the animal? And he gives a vague answer about your god providing it. When you get to the site of the sacrifice, your father ties you down on the very same wood you trudged all this way, and raises a knife up to your throat. At this point, you're freaking out at your clearly insane father, but, as luck would have it, your father hears a voice from the sky telling him it was all a ruse. He unties you, kills an animal instead, and then gives a fun name to the site of your almost-murder. Then you walk back home with him. Should you ask him, "what the hell man?" Should you tell your mother or alert the authorities? How well will you sleep knowing that he might try again to murder you?

Yahweh's Reward Is Immoral

Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with the gift of many offspring which are described as a blessing to the whole earth because they will "take possession of the cities of their enemies." And, we see later in the Torah precisely how Abraham's offspring "possess" these cities: through violent bloody genocide. Yahweh could have given Abraham's children the gift of persuasion and they might use cogent argument to convert these so-called "enemies" to the truth, or simply used his omnipotence to show everyone on earth the truth, but, instead, he chooses violent wars.

Inconsistencies With Other Scripture

The following details aspects of this story that are inconsistent with other scriptures.

Three times throughout the story Isaac is referred to as Abraham's "only" son, which is wrong. In the chronology of Genesis, before this story Abraham rapes his wife's slave, Hagar, and she gives birth to Ishmael who is Abraham's first son. Only much later in the narrative is Isaac, his second son, born. If Ishmael were dead, this statement could be true, but Genesis gives a time line for all the characters' lives, and Ishmael is still alive when Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. The story could be rectified by saying Isaac was Abraham's only "legitimate" son, or the only son "he actually cared about," but, as Genesis is written, it's in error.

Yahweh rewards Abraham's obedience with countless offspring. However, he already did this back in Genesis 13:16. And then again in Genesis 15:5. And again still in Genesis 17:6. Each time Abraham is blessed with obscene proliferation, but for different reasons. The authors just couldn't seem to make up their minds.

All of the explanations for how to conduct a sacrifice and why sacrifices are necessary in the first place are not mentioned anywhere in the Torah until after the Hebrews leave Egypt with Moses in the Book of Exodus, which, in the chronology of the Torah, doesn't occur until long after Abraham is dead. This mean Abraham shouldn't even be able to understand what Elohim is asking for when he demands a human "sacrifice."

The placing of the story, like most of Genesis, is disjointed. There is no segue into or out of the story, it's simply tacked between Abraham's dispute with Abimelech and the lineage of Rebecca. This isn't so much a critique of story, but a critique of the inability of the Torah's authors to form a cohesive narrative.

The minor inconsistencies internal to the story add weight to the documentary hypothesis. The first half of the story uses the term God ("Elohim"), while the second half uses Lord ("Yahweh"). Also, in the Elohist portion, Elohim speaks directly to Abraham, while, in the Yahwist portion, an intermediary angel is used. Literary scholars also describe how each section uses a different writing style consistent with their other contributions.

This story also creates a theological inconsistency with many modern branches of Christianity who taut the importance of free will. To them, their god imbued all people with the freedom to make their own decisions. However, in this story, reward comes, not from exercising free will, but from blindly obeying commands.

Throughout the scripture of Jews and Christians, a common theme is that Yahweh cannot be tested (Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, among many others), however, in this story, Yahweh is testing Abraham. This shows an all-too-common problem with tyrants: the masses have to abide by the law, but the despot does not.

Adaptions

The vast majority of artists who have painted the Binding of Isaac have taken artistic liberties. Most of them show an angel physically stopping Abraham from murdering Isaac just as he's under the knife, but the actual story states the angel spoke to Abraham from heaven. Also, many art pieces show Isaac on a large cut-stone altar, but the story implies the sacrifice was to take place in a mountain wilderness with firewood as the altar. Some depictions show the angel pointing toward the ram indicating Abraham should sacrifice it instead, but, in the story, Abraham sacrifices the ram without any prompting. Caravaggio's famous painting appears to be guilty of all three of these inaccuracies.

In season 3, episode 6 of That Mitchell and Webb Look the comedic duo depict Abraham and Isaac as all-too eager to fulfill Yahweh's command for sacrifice, even to the point where they shock Yahweh. The skit satirizes the flaw in so many religious doctrines: if humans are incapable of figuring out morality on their own, a god's commands must be seen as the most perfectly moral thing to do, no matter how evil they may seem to us, and we should cheerfully carry them out.

The video game The Binding of Isaac uses this story as inspiration. In the game, Isaac's mother has a mental illness where she believes she hears the voice of her god telling her to murder her son. She prepares to do so, so Isaac hides from her in the basement.

Links

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