Abraham “offered” Isaac to the mighty one (elohim) because he was still acting under a basic ancient pagan or heathen culture. This was a culture that believed that a great gift, such as one’s only child late in life, or any great blessing deserved thanks to one’s mighty one (elohim). The pagans thought that even greater blessings would result. This, as we know, is a completely false concept.<\/p>\n
YHWH corrected Abraham by having His messenger call out to Abraham to prevent this act of heathen intent and instead provide a substitute so Abraham would not have to gift Isaac but still be able to bring a gift to YHWH in the form of a pagan burnt offering.<\/p>\n\t
“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now 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 of which I shall tell you.”<\/em>” (Genesis 22:1-2).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Though you live about 4,000 years after the event you claim that what the Bible has recorded is completely backward from what you believe the event to be. God, in His inspired Word, states that He asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. You claim that it was Abraham’s idea and it was prompted by Abraham’s pagan beliefs. Yet the Bible is clear that Abraham was not a pagan but a believer in the Almighty God. The request originated from God and not Abraham.<\/p>\n
“For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:19-20).<\/p>\n
“Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged<\/em>” (Romans 3:4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Abraham “offered” Isaac to the mighty one (elohim) because he was still acting under a basic ancient pagan or heathen culture. This was a culture that believed that a great gift, such as one’s only child late in life, or any great blessing deserved thanks to one’s mighty one (elohim). The pagans thought that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[23,189,891],"class_list":["post-8389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-abraham","tag-genesis","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-isaac-come-off-of-the-mountain-with-abraham-after-the-sacrifice-of-the-ram\/","url_meta":{"origin":8389,"position":0},"title":"Did Isaac come off of the mountain with Abraham after the sacrifice of the ram?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Isaac come off of the mountain with Abraham after the sacrifice of the ram? Answer: The answer is logically \"yes.\" Isaac is mentioned many times after the sacrifice recorded in Genesis 22, so he must have come down from the mountain. In addition, before climbing the mountain, Abraham\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36597,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-sons-did-abraham-have\/","url_meta":{"origin":8389,"position":1},"title":"How many sons did Abraham have?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding Genesis 20, where it says Sarah was untouched. So being the wife of Abraham she had no relations with him?\u00a0 Then how was it written she was barren?\u00a0 Abraham was married to his half-sister so he only told half a lie to the Pharaoh. Why was the Pharaoh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8418,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-gentiles-also-descendants-of-abraham\/","url_meta":{"origin":8389,"position":2},"title":"Are Gentiles also descendants of Abraham?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we Gentiles are also descendants of Abraham, then from whose mother: Hagar, Sarah or Keturah? Is it from Keturah to whom she bore Abraham six legitimate sons after Abraham married her after Sarah died? Am I correct to say that Muslims are descendants of Ishmael who later intermarry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sacrifice-of-isaac\/","url_meta":{"origin":8389,"position":3},"title":"The Sacrifice of Isaac","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 22:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are stories that cause some concern because they involve the concept of sacrificing a human being to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cause concern because the Bible is very clear about God\u2019s opinion on human sacrifices. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The slaying of humans invokes a death sentence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91137,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/abrahams-informed-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":8389,"position":4},"title":"Abraham\u2019s Informed Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Gentry God's command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is arguably one of the most staggering tests of faith in the Bible. How could he trust God in the face of such a shocking demand? Abraham's obedience was not an act of blind, desperate loyalty, but a calculated step\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-old-was-isaac-when-he-was-offered-up-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":8389,"position":5},"title":"How old was Isaac when he was offered up to God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How old was Isaac when he was to be sacrificed? Answer: The Bible does not give a specific age, but there are events surrounding Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac which gives us clues. Most scholars believe that Isaac was in his late teens or early twenties at the time of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}