40 Old Testament Stories Every Christian Should Know: The Binding of Isaac

The story in Genesis 22:1-19 is often called the Sacrifice of Isaac.  I prefer the term the binding of Isaac, because he wasn't actually sacrificed.

I have to say that I have always found this story rather horrible.

I understand that the point of the story is to show that Abraham was willing to trust God with the most valuable thing he had - his only son.  The son that he had waited for for years, the son that he believed would never come.  I get it.

I also get that it prefigures God sending and sacrificing his Son for us.

I still find the story rather horrible.  The idea that God would ask a parent to kill their own child is bad enough.  The idea that God would ask a parent to kill their own child and then when they are willing to do it, basically say "psyche! I didn't mean it" is cruel.  While I know that there are lots of times in the Bible when God seems cruel, this just doesn't seem like the God that I know.

An interesting note to this story is that in the Quran there is an identical story but with Ishmael as the son who is nearly sacrificed.