The following is my final paper for my English 2030, The Bible as Literature course, which I took in the fall of 2013. As such it was written from the perspective provided only in the Bible and Gnostic writings. My personal beliefs are culled from the Bible as well as various extra biblical texts such as The Book of Mormon and The Pearl of Great Price. While excluding the stories and doctrines contained in such works means that some of the points of view found in this text conflict with what I personally believe, the portrait of Abraham as a man portrayed in this work is, I believe, accurate. I also firmly believe that God had a very close and very real relationship in which man and deity reasoned together (Isaiah 1:18). This work is dear to my heart, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
- J. Leonard Dietz
Early humanity must have been
terribly disappointing to God. Adam and
Eve rejected all of Eden’s wealth for a single fruit. Cain killed his brother to compensate for his
meager offering to God. And in only a few generations humankind had drawn so
far away from God, they had become so corrupt, that God, in his sorrow,
destroyed all of them, save eight. To be
sure there were some men who still loved God, or at least respected him. Able offered the firstlings of his flock,
Noah built the ark amidst dry skies and Enoch was upright enough to walk with
God. But did any of them truly love God? Had any of his capstone creation actually
loved him? No man had truly shown that
he loved God above all else, above all desire, all fear, and all adoration for
any other being. Until Abraham. Abraham, the man who left the land of his
fathers with no questions asked. Abraham
the man who waited decades for his promised son, and then willingly climbed
Mount Moriah. Abraham, the man who never
doubted the goodness of God.
Abraham
is an incredibly unique character. It is
little wonder that he is such an august figure in the Judaic, Muslim and
Christian traditions. God singled
Abraham out in a way that no other figure in the Old Testament experienced. Who
else had the benefit of being comforted by the Father of Creation when he was
childless? Who else was promised that they and all their posterity would be
guaranteed a land protected by God? Who
else was able to garner the affection of Elohim? Abraham, whose compassion, obedience and
child-like faith in the goodness of God was unrivaled by any figure to precede
him in the Bible, was able to soften
the heart of a God who had been so wounded by his creations. By showing forth the faith to lay Isaac on
the altar of Moriah Abraham accomplished the impossible. He restored God’s faith in humanity. Søren
Kierkegarrd sums the character of Abraham beautifully in his treatment on the
character of God and Abraham Fear and
Trembling, “Yet no one was as great as Abraham; who is able to understand
him?” (48).
Abraham’s Compassion
Abraham
is perhaps the first figure in the Old
Testament who is treated as a human being.
For the first time in the narrative of early humanity a man is given
complex feelings. He is placed in
situations that test his ability to stay true to his standards, and he has
problems that have been shared by many people in both the distant past as well
as today. Infertility, confrontations
with others who desire what you have, disappointment when what you want most is
withheld, and betrayal. What is truly
remarkable about Abraham is how he treated those who mistreated him. Truly he blessed them that cursed him, did
good to them that hated him and prayed for them which had despitefully misused
him (King James Version Bible Matt.
5:44).
Perhaps
no other story better illustrates Abraham’s love for his fellow man and his
immense capacity to forgive than the incident which occurred while Abraham and
Sarah were dwelling in Gerar, a Canaanite city-state in western Negeb (Alter
92). While dwelling in the foreign land Abraham
fooled the locals into believing that Sarah was his sister and not his
wife. Abimelech, who honestly believes
Sarah is the wife of Abraham takes her for himself.
The
account of the tale given in Genesis
is rather truncated, omitting any account of Abraham’s reaction to losing
Sarah. An apocryphal rendition synthesizing the accounts of Abraham’s sojourn
in Egypt as well as Gerar is found in the Dead Seas Scrolls. Its poignant first-person account serves to fill
the void left by Genesis’ lack of
detail with a rather heart-wrenching exposition of Abraham’s feelings at
having lost Sarah:
And I, Abram wept aloud that night…because Sarai had been taken from me by force. I prayed that night and I begged and implored, and I said in my sorrow while my tears ran down: ‘Blessed art Thou, O Most High God…I cry now before Thee, my Lord, against [the king], because of my wife who has been taken from me by force. Judge him for me that I may see Thy mighty hand raised against him…that he may not be able to defile my wife this night (separating her) from me…’ And I wept and was sorrowful. (Vermes 454-455)
What agony Abraham experienced! God had singled him out, and yet here he languished in a strange land, his only company the thoughts of what depraved acts the king was performing with his beloved. His weeping and desperate pleas to God for aid clearly demonstrate the deep and abiding love he harbors for Sarah. Abraham’s depth of love for Sarah is beautiful, but what is truly astounding about this account is how much Abraham still loves God. Lesser men would have cursed God, or at the very least question God’s goodness.
For
Abraham God’s goodness was never in question.
He believed that Jehovah would deliver both he and his wife from the
grips of the wicked king. There is no
hint of anger in Abraham’s voice, only pleading. Because he believed in the moral uprightness
of God Abraham feels no need to be angry at God. He gives God the benefit of the doubt, a gift
that is rarely given to God by man.
Such
sweet and pure faith must have touched God, for he does protect Sarah from the
king’s advances. In Genesis God causes all of the king’s household to become infertile
and then comes to the king of Gerar and, after revealing the true identity of
Sarah tells him that he is a dead man unless he returns her to Abraham (Alter
92-96). In the apocryphal account God curses
the king with a sore affliction until he is prompted to give Sarah back to
Abraham (Vermes 455). Both accounts end
with Abraham doing something quite remarkable.
Abraham blesses the man who stole his wife. In the apocryphal account Abraham lifts the
curse placed on the king (Vermes 455) and in the Genesis account he intercedes between God and the king, asking for
God to forgive the man for his indiscretion.
Such an act must have shown God that man is capable of performing that
most noble act of forgiveness. Perhaps
there was still hope for man after all.
Unquestioning Obedience
It
is truly difficult to imagine what it must have been like for Abraham when God
told him one day to pack up his things and leave the land where he had been born
and raised to wander the wilderness with a vague promise of being blessed in
some way. How many people would be
willing to do such a thing? Perhaps some
time deliberation and a little more information would ease the mind of one who
was called upon to undertake such a request.
Not so with Abraham. Immediately after being asked by God to relocate,
Abraham moves out (Alter 50-51).
Abraham’s
response to God’s command to move out from the land of his fathers would become
the pattern for Abraham’s life. What the
Lord asked Abraham did. Always and
without question. Even when the promises
God made to Abraham seemed more and more unlikely to be fulfilled. Such behavior must have been refreshing for
the Lord, after all Abraham was only a few generations removed from the
Deluge.
Abraham’s
obedience must have sparked affection in the Lord. Here was a man who would not only do what he
was told, he would do it without question.
Perhaps that is why God felt that he could not hide his plans to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah, and with them Abraham’s nephew, Lot and his family. Choosing to share his plans with Abraham
marks a huge change in the relationship between God and man. Abraham had proven to the Lord through his
obedience that he could be trusted. God
had asked so much of Abraham on the promise that he would be given an heir, and
yet the heir had not yet been given.
Perhaps God even felt a twinge of pity knowing how obedient and trusting
Abraham had been with little sign of reward.
When God decided to tell Abraham of his plan to destroy Sodom and
Gomorrah he knew how Abraham would respond.
He knew Abraham would try to talk him down (King James Bible Gen. 18:16-20).
Abraham’s Faith in the Goodness of God
After
being told of the Lord’s plans for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham did something
that no other man up to this point in the Bible
had had the courage to do. He openly
questioned the motives of God saying, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous
with the wicked?” (Gen. 18:23). What
follows is a back and forth between Abraham and God culminating with the Lord
promising that if there should be 10 righteous people found within the walls of
the cities their destruction would be averted (Gen 18:24-33).
What
is interesting about this exchange is the tone in which Abraham addresses the
Lord. It’s almost as if he is saying to
God, “You are better than this, I know you must have some compassion beneath
your anger.” By believing that God could
be talked down Abraham demonstrated his abiding faith in the goodness of
God. Why try to convince somebody whom
you believe to be utterly devoid of compassion to spare the lives of the wicked
for the sake of the righteous?
Abraham’s
intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah marked a level of trust and intimacy
between God and man not known since the days of Eden. Abraham had shown that man was capable of
compassion, both for those who had wronged him and for those whom he had never
met. Abraham had also demonstrated that
it was possible for a man to want to obey God, not out of fear but out of
devotion and perhaps even love. But what
about sacrifice? Could man ever be
willing to sacrifice something he cherished above all else to show his love for
God? Could man trust God enough to be
willing to risk everything? Would Abraham
be willing to sacrifice the son whom he had waited for so long to receive?
There
are few religious tales as gripping as the Binding of Isaac. It is difficult for many faiths to grasp why
a perfect, loving God would put anybody through the agonizing torture he had
reserved for Abraham. In fact this story has been subject to multiple
interpretations throughout the years by theologians and philosophers alike. Most discussions have tended to focus on how
the God who said “thou shalt not kill” (King
James Version Bible Exod. 20:13) could possibly ask a man to kill his
son. Many have come to the conclusion
that God was simply testing the faith of Abraham because, after all, asking him
to leave his homeland to wander the wilderness for decades, while withholding a
promised son until both Abraham and Sarah were incredibly advanced in years
weren’t sufficient tests of their faith.
God’s
request to for Abraham to ascend Moriah and sacrifice Isaac was as much about
love as it was about faith. Abraham had done
much, but when it came down to it how would he respond to this beastly
request? Would Abraham’s devotion to
God evaporate the moment God asked him to give up his most valued treasure? Was Abraham like the rest of humanity, who so
easily forgot their creator? Whatever
doubts God may have had about Abraham’s devotion must have quickly been put to
rest. When he was called upon by God
Abraham gave a response which so succinctly summed up his attitude toward God,
“Behold here I am.” (Gen. 22:1). Surely Abraham must have sensed foreboding
tone in God’s voice, yet he did not flinch.
Adam ran and hid himself when he heard the voice of God coming near
(Gen. 3:8-9) but Abraham stood fast, ready to face whatever challenge the Lord
had in store for him.
That
is what makes Abraham so incredibly remarkable.
He never began to doubt the goodness of God, though so many others
throughout mankind’s short history had.
Abraham laid the wood upon Isaac’s back knowing that if God wanted him
to kill his son there must be some great blessing in store. How else could he have made that gloomy
journey so quietly, so willingly?
Abraham had faith that God would do the right thing in the end. Such child-like faith restored God’s faith in
humanity.
Abraham
turned the tides of human-deity relations.
One man’s life of dedicated service was enough to begin to bridge the
gap that had grown so wide between God and man.
In that way Abraham could be seen as a second Adam. The relationship Abraham and God shared
should have been the relationship that Adam and God shared. Abraham healed the wounds inflicted by his
forefathers, and in so doing, he assured a history in which God and man would
work closely together.
Copyright, Joshua Leonard Dietz
Works Cited
Alter, Robert. Genesis. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company Inc., 1997. Print.
Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling. Trans.
Alastair Hannay. New York: Penguin Books Ltd.,
2003. Print.
King James Version Bible. Salt Lake City: The Church
of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints,
1981. Print.
Vermes, Geza. The
Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1997. Print.
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