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Discussion
Discussion
Many of you will probably, understandably, say that the most important thing in your life is your family. Would you do something evil to save your family? How can an action be evil but simultaneously be the right action? Isn’t this a contradiction in terms?
Background
Background
Abram was the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandon of Noah:
Abram’s father was Terah and he grew up in Ur Kasdim, which is normally assumed to be the ancient city of Ur in Sumeria.
Ur was an important city state, where there are still the ruins of an enormous Ziggurat - a kind of artificial hill that they built, probably for some kind of religious reasons. Here is a photo of the Ziggurat of Ur.
Summary
Summary
Abraham had a wife called Sara. They wanted children but Sara didn’t get pregnant.
She suggested that Abraham have a child with Hagar
Hagar gave birth to Ishmael
God promised Abraham many descendants and the land (now called Israel and Palestine).
Sara had a son called Isaac
Sara told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away to the desert
According to Arabic tradition, Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael to Mecca, where they built the Kaaba
God asked Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son.
Abraham took his first-born son up to the top of Mount Moriah (in Jerusalem) and was about to kill him, but God stopped him.
Abram, Sarai, and Hagar
Abram, Sarai, and Hagar
According to the story of Abram in Genesis, Abram was called by God to leave Ur, and God said that he would become a great man.
He was married to Sarai, but Sarai hadn’t had any children. She thought that God had kept her from having children, she knew that Abram wanted children, so she suggested that he have children with her slave, Hagar. Abram agreed and Hagar had a child who they called Ishmael.
The Covenant with Abraham
The Covenant with Abraham
Later, when Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him and made a covenant (agreement or deal) with him that he would be the father of many nations:
…God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham*, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
—Genesis, chapter 17*(Abram meant ‘great father’ and Abraham probably meant ‘Father of many’)
As a sign of this agreement, God asked that every male in his family and every male descendent should be circumcised.
Sarai’s name was also changed to Sarah, which means princess, and God said that she too would have children.
When Isaac was born, Sarah decided that she didn’t want Hagar and Ishmael around and so told Abraham to send them away.
Why is Abraham so important?
Why is Abraham so important?
Abraham is considered the father of not one, not two, but three religions. Through Ishmael, he is the ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam. According to Islamic tradition, Ishmael and Hagar were banished to the area around Mecca (in modern day Saudi Arabia) and Ishmael and Abraham built the Ka’aba. The most holy shrine of Islam:
His son Isaac was the father of Israel, and thus, Abraham was also the ancestor of the Israelites and the Jewish faith.
Finally, Jesus was a Jew, and Israelite, and so Abraham was also the father of the christian faith.
Abraham Tested
Abraham Tested
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
—Genesis, Chapter 22Tasks
Tasks
Create a storyboard summarising the story of Abraham: write out six of the key parts of the story and illustrate them with a picture.
Do you think that Abraham was right to be willing to kill his son? Explain your answer.
Would you do something evil to save your family? If so, do you think that would be the right thing to do? If so, how is that possible - how can an evil thing be also the right thing to do?
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