All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you. Genesis 12:3 (MSG)
Blessed Through You – The Sacrifice and Sons Series – Part 1
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
Father Abraham had many sons.
Wait. No, he didn’t.
Abraham only had two sons. Well… he went on to have eight, but for most of the stories told about him, he had but two. And they came pretty late in life. Yes, yes. We call him Father Abraham, the grandfather of pretty much everyone. The great patriarch of our faith, the father of many nations whose “children” are as numerous as the stars. “I am one of them and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord.”
Even though Abraham had an incredible promise from God that his descendants would fill the earth, we forget that in his lifetime, his family unit was anything but numerous. And it was anything but conventional.
Back when he was called Abram, God said to him:
“Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you. I’ll make you a great nation and bless you. I’ll make you famous; you’ll be a blessing. I’ll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I’ll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:1-3 MSG).
I wonder what his family thought? Did they try and make him stay? Did they disown him in his decision to leave? Telling him never to come back?
Abram left with his brother Lot and his wife, Sarai. And together they had many adventures. Promises were made about kids and generations. His name got changed to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah. He and his brother parted ways. Sarai, who wasn’t falling pregnant, told him to have sex with her servant so that they could get the promise-fulfilled started already. He had a kid with said servant, and the love he had for this son, Ishmael, spurred hatred and jealousy in Sarah. So, Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, left (were made to go). He was the first person to ever get circumcised (that would have been an interesting conversation). He accepted foreigners and strangers into his camp. He was visited by angels, had visions, and communed with the Divine on the regular. He argued with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, basically calling God a hypocrite. Finally, Sarah fell pregnant, and they had a son. They were old and weary and tested. And yet, their long-awaited boy had arrived.
Isaac. The promise. An anchor to knowing that the Divine could be trusted.
That is until God asked Abraham to kill the only son that he had living with him. The son he loved more than anything in the world. The son that had been promised to him, through whom the visions and prophecies would be fulfilled.
If I were Abraham, I would have said,
“Nope. No. Not happening.”
But, seemingly, Abraham set out to obey this weird, random, violent command.
Was it a test of his faith? Was God being two minded? Did he forget the promise? What kind of God asks a person to kill his own son?
Or was something new, radical, and different happening in the life of Abraham and the world at that time?
God told Abraham that all people on earth would be blessed through him and his offspring. Perhaps God was trying to tell him (us) something.
Go to Part 2 – A Sacred Commitment »
Written by Lizzy Milani
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