Genesis 22: Why Did Abraham Lie to Isaac?

1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. [/color]


Genesis 22 is about God testing Abraham. The KJV version listed begins it by saying God had decided to "tempt" Abraham, even though Abraham was offered nothing of any tempting value. Suffice it to say, God tested Abraham (as is listed in modern english bible versions).
Abraham's lie:

Reading just the bold-faced text from above, Genesis 22:7,8, we see that Isaac, befuddled as to why they were bringing the all necessary accoutrements for an offering except for the offering itself, asked his father, Abraham, where was the offering? Abraham did not tell Isaac that Isaac, himself was to be the offering.

Why would Abraham not tell his son the truth, if Abraham assumed that it was righteous, which he must assume, otherwise he would not agree with it.

Remember too, that when God spoke of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham, that Abraham bargained on behalf of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He made no similar attempt to bargain with God over his son, Isaac, in contrast.If Abraham did not feel it was righteous to sacrifice his son in a burnt offering as God had ordered, surely he would have balked at the suggestion, as he had balked on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah.

So let's assume, for the moment, that Abraham did know it was a righteous request, by his lack of argument against it, and by his immediate action towards fulfilling God's request.

Knowing that Abraham knew it was a righteous request by God, why would he fail to inform his own son of the coming glory of his death by sacrifice? He felt his son wouldn't understand, perhaps? How could a child not understand the logic of doing God's word? If our children are to do something that is good, that they may not want to do, does it stand to reason that it's somehow better to not tell them why they are doing it? My experience with children tells me that it's much easier for a child to understand the value of any sacrifice, whether it be time, money or life, would be to instruct the child on why it is valuable. It's not like they were pressed for time, either - they had three days to travel to get to the place of sacrifice.

Should not Abraham have maybe been excited for his son, soon to join the ranks of Heaven? If so, would he not want to communicate that to his son? Notice that we do not hear of any words spoken by Isaac once he was bound and placed on the altar, once he knew he was in fact the sacrifice. Either Isaac now had nothing to say, and was at peace with the decision, or his reaction was omitted from the story. If Isaac was at peace, and realized how righteous his death would be, surely Abraham, knowing his own son, would have been inclined to tell Isaac in the first place.

In the case of Abraham's defense of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham wasn't sure if it was righteous or not, to destroy the two cities, but his instinct was that it was not. Surely Abraham would fight with more tenacity on behalf of his own son, than two cities besmirched with sin. The only reason Abraham would not argue on behalf of Isaac, is because either Abraham already knew whether or not the request was righteous.

The only reason that Abraham would lie to his son, and not tell Isaac that Isaac, himself was the offering, is because Abraham felt it was not righteous, and yet could do nothing about it. Does Abraham value dishonesty? Is honesty only important for scenarios in life when people may not understand the truth?

Furthermore, why would God need to test anyone? If God already knows the future, surely he would know what Abraham would do, under any circumstance. It's impossible for an omniscient God to not know that Abraham would have every intention of doing God's will, as he did in this test. If God did know what Abraham would do, why would he need to "test" him, at all?

If God knew Abraham would do the righteous thing, i.e. kill his son as ordered, how would Abraham gain from that situation? It stands to reason that the only justification God would have in testing Abraham, when God already knew what Abraham would do, is that God must have designed this test to teach Abraham something. If Abraham were already righteous, if he already had instilled in him a pious fear of the Lord, prior to being tested with his son, what could Abraham have learned from this test? Obviously, God didn't learn anything, because He is omniscient. Abraham could not have learned that he, himself, feared the Lord - he already knew it, and moved immediately to fulfill God's wishes in this test.

Perhaps Abraham was to learn how fickle God can be?
Perhaps Abraham learned how to lie?
Perhaps God wanted Abraham to know that God knew that Abraham was righteous?
That's getting pretty murky.

One other possible scenario, which still doesn't account for lying to his son, is that Abraham knew that God would not go through with the test. While this seems doubtful, it is plausible. If Abraham suspected this, he could have still told Isaac the truth, and spared him the doubt and worry over being sacrificed, comforted by Abraham's assurance that God would rescind the request.

But, if Abraham knew that God would not go through with the sacrifice, and God knew that Abraham knew, what was learned?

Nothing - other than that God is a bit of a mental case.

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