Binding of Isaac

these three terms are evident in Jerusalem’s history. The biblical texts Genesis, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and Lamentations examine how the Israelites’ fear and reverence of God led them to regard Jerusalem as a holy space. A combination of fear and reverence singled out the Temple Mount as a holy region and installed King David’s dynasty in Jerusalem. Ultimately, a lack of the same fear and reverence led to Jerusalem’s destruction. Before the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, Jerusalem had already experienced a precursory event that marked it as holy, which can be seen in Genesis. Hundreds of years before Yahweh’s entrance to Jerusalem, the Binding of Isaac set apart the region as a holy space around 1850 BCE. God told Abraham to take his son Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice Isaac. However, before Abraham could kill Isaac, an angel appeared and stopped Abraham, and God blessed Abraham for his devotion (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Gen. 22.2-17). This event separated Mount Moriah from other locations, not only because God had shown Abraham mercy, but also because God had blessed Abraham at this location. The covenant indicated that while God was to be feared, if his followers respected his demands and showed him loyalty, he would reward them. In the 5th century BCE, Mount Moriah became recognized as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The author of 2 Chronicles wrote that Solomon began construction of his temple on Mount Moriah, where God had interacted with Solomon’s…

Like every other Christian, I have heard the story of Abraham and Isaac many times. I have listened to pastors preach about Abraham’s obedience and unwavering faith in God as he prepared to kill his son. And often, I have wondered what Isaac thought as this happened. I wondered if he fought back or if he was mentally and emotionally effected by his own father trying to kill him. I have wondered if this event made him angry with a God that was supposed to love him and care for him. I have even…

faith, people are often exhorted to have the faith of Abraham, the father of three of the largest religions in the world. His story in Genesis is celebrated for his unyielding belief in God’s divine plan which is what sets him aside as a figure to which all can aspire. However, his actions and choices seem a bit questionable. God’s command to kill one’s own son is fundamentally unreasonable given the premise that God is all good, and Abraham’s willingness and lack of objection in obeying him…

words, and the universality of Jesus’ kingship, the description of the inscription on Jesus’ cross in John 19:16b-22 also exposes Jesus’ willingness to do anything for God, which both parallels and deepens Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac. The initial image of Jesus “carrying the cross himself” in John 19:17 reveals Jesus’ control over his destiny, as well as his willingness to sacrifice anything for God and suffer for the…

Western culture and civilization is the product of two world views. Hellenism and Hebraism are two very different worldviews but they also have some similarities. In one perspective everything is done for an almighty god in the other everything is done for glory. Both of them have gods but they do not have the same quantity and quality. One was created with organization and peace and the other was created through chaos. Even with their differences Hellenism and Hebraism coexist in Western…

In the story of Abraham, he was given the mandate by God to sacrifice his son to him. God wanted to test Abraham’s faith and he was willing to sacrifice his son without questioning God’s orders. However, when God informed Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham resisted. Part of the reason that Abraham pleaded with God to not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah was that he realized that there was good in that city full of sin. That not everyone was to be punished for the faults…

despite God appears to Abraham and makes the covenant promises of land and numerous offspring, Abraham fails proving his faith many times. As The IVP Bible Dictionary explains, following the sequence of the story of Abraham, one can see a circle of faith, fall and redemption. Abraham believes in God, but when a difficult appears, he gives up. In the first part, Abraham has faith and goes from the promise land to Egypt, then, despite God promised him protection, he lies about her wife since he is…

nature of his Judaistic perspective of a Jewish mystical understanding of God and creation Rabbi Goldfarb is constantly testing his worldview against two thinkers who seem to be diametrically opposed to each other: Moses Maimonides and Isaac Luria. Though there are inherent self-contradictions between the two thinkers, Goldfarb has fused them together. This is, he said, one of the biggest dilemmas of Judaism for some people. However, for Rabbi Goldfarb, it means that his worldview is a…

Night Looking deeper into this memoir, one can see that the traumatic journey had a great effect on Elie physical, mental, and spiritually. Some may say that Elie lost his faith in God during his endeavors in the concentration camp, but personally I would disagree he completely loses his faith. Ultimately, I do not think Elie lost his faith throughout his journey, although certain situations in the book lead the reader to believe that Elie had finally had enough. Many times Elie questioned…

In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous author, Johannes de Silentio attempts to explain faith by examining the biblical story of Abraham who was told, by God, to sacrifice his son, Isaac. With this objective in mind, we quickly come to bear that this explanation cannot so evidently be made since faith cannot be verbally expressed. Through a close inspection of the role of silence in faith, I will provide the interpretation that one cannot speak when acting in faith because in faith…