Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Sunday, July 2. 2023

From today's Lectionary


Genesis 22:1-14


22:1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."


22:2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."


22:3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.


22:4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.


22:5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you."


22:6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.


22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"


22:8 Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.


22:9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.


22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.


22:11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."


22:12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."


22:13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.


22:14 So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."




Posted by Bird Dog at 07:09 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Time and time again, throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh is presented as a severely limited God, forever unaware of what is happening in the world. In Deuteronomy 32:8, he is clearly a secondary God, whom the High God El assigns to the Jews. The Old Testament is a Jewish book, so it does not tell us which God El has assigned to the Indo-Europeans.
#1 bob sykes on 2023-07-02 07:52 (Reply)
1. bob sykes:
Nope - comments like this are examples of the combined ignorance and hubris of postmodern secular folk. The type who are not even aware of all they do not know.

The attempt to read pagan polytheism into the Jewish bible never held up well since it was first attempted in the 19th century... and it is obviously tainted with the earlier Christian need to paint the Jews and their Torah as proto- or primitive, not yet fulfilled.

The idea that uncircumcised gentile scholars largely dependent on translations could pick up subtleties missed by generations of hair-splitting Jewish sages is..... quaint and self-flattering.

Since Biblical Criticism started, a century-plus of archaeological finds have confirmed the biblical account - starting with the temple of Balaam that was found in the Negev desert, through to the relics of Joshua's altar in Nablus.

In traditional Jewish approach, all these names refer to different aspects of G-d in His relationship to this world. This explanation remains the most plausible and comprehensive.

G-d himself uses these names in this way to describe to Moses the new revelation of G-d that will be brought by the Exodus (Exodus 6:3).

2. Other commenters:
Yes this like many of the stories of Abraham is about striking a new path against the prevailing practice. Remember that the word 'Hebrew' literally means 'crossed over, on the other side' and does not just describe Abraham's status an an immigrant.

It is also noted by the sages that this command comes after Abraham signs a treaty with the locals - despite G-d's promise that he will inherit this land. So it can be seen as a rebuke for accommodating the local culture.
#1.1 Ben David on 2023-07-02 14:58 (Reply)
One of my favorite stories in the bible. An important step towards civilization and in salvific history. God telling us that he doesn't require human sacrifice and also a premonition of the sacrifice on the cross.
#2 jack walter on 2023-07-02 08:51 (Reply)
22:2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."

Something just ain't right about that order from God. ]

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.] ,>

If this were to be true, then there is something seriously wrong with Abraham.
#3 RL on 2023-07-02 10:57 (Reply)
Human sacrifice was common at this time. Abraham was being obedient to God. God, in turn, was teaching him that He doesn't require human sacrifice, that He is different from the other gods.
#3.1 jack walter on 2023-07-02 12:02 (Reply)
I wonder how Isaac ended up doing?
#3.1.1 RL on 2023-07-02 14:19 (Reply)
Pray for France and Europe. The enemy is inside the gates and the leaders are incompetent.

Pray for the U.S. the left is preparing to begin riots all Summer to protest the Supreme Court ending racial discrimination.

Pray for Donald Trump. His lead in the polls is scaring the swamp creatures and they will stop at nothing to get rid of him.

Stay away from crowds.
#4 Pray on 2023-07-02 11:31 (Reply)
Translation notes:
22:7 In their desire to be conversational, the translators miss an opportunity to match the cadence of the original, which translates exactly as:
Here are the fire and sticks, but where...

22:14 Nope Nope Nope
There is no 'providence' here.
The root of Moriah is 'to see'.
Same root used in multiple forms in Genesis 16:13 to describe an angelic vision.

On this mount people will come to 'appear' before G-d (Deutoronomy 16:16) - same root.
#5 Ben David on 2023-07-02 15:09 (Reply)
The late Madeleine l'Engle was a presenter at a retreat which I was fortunate enough to attend. She made a comment about this particular passage. As I recall, she said something to the effect that - after this episode - God was sad. And the angels around asked why He was sad since Abraham was so obedient. And God said, sadly, "Yes, he was". I think she attributed it to Jewish sources.
Our priest preached on this reading today. I recounted what I'd heard many years ago; spouse said conversations between Abraham and Sarah must have been interesting.
#6 Frances on 2023-07-02 20:57 (Reply)
Blather on all you want about how it proves one thing or another but I would think an omniscient god would know Abraham feared god. "... for now I know that you fear God ..."
#7 willful knowledge on 2023-07-04 10:24 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.