Abraham initially agrees to God’s quest to get up and go to the land God shows him where he will make a great nation because Abraham longs for settled land and a great name, all of which God promises him if he follows the command. He knows he is being commanded by a God because He speaks to Abraham knowingly and with divinity. God is able to see into Abraham’s heart and offer him what he desires most if he follows His command. Abraham also answers God’s request to (almost) sacrifice his only son because he trusts God and knows that He will only do what is best for Abraham and for humanity. He puts the life of His son in God’s hands because He believes in His omniscient power and plan for him. I do think Abraham is lying in the two passages, but I think he has a good reason to do so and it is not done with poor intention. He does not do so to harm or in spite of anyone. Rather, I think he lies to comfort his son and his servants and because he does not want his mission to be disrupted by their objections. Again, he knows that what God tells him is what he needs to do and thus he does not want anyone to stop him from carrying out this mission. I think God’s intention of making him go through the ideal was to test his trust and his willingness to obey God in any circumstances. I think this was a test of Abraham’s obedience to God’s mission and to ensure Abraham does not think of himself as more powerful or knowing than God. I think Abraham is praiseworthy for following God’s command almost blindly because he is not given an explanation for the mission. I admire his trust in God and his commitment to carrying out God’s word because he knows God has a plan for his own family and for humanity. I would not exactly call God praiseworthy in this instance, but I would say He acts strategically and with intelligence by putting forth such a daunting and difficult challenge to Abraham in order to test his obedience and trust in God.
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Mollie's Blog 
Hello Mollie! It was great reading your post, and I found your perspective on whether or not Abraham was lying very interesting. I was wondering why exactly you came to the conclusion that God was not praiseworthy in this situation? From my perspective, God would still have learned Abraham’s obedience just as clearly if he allowed Abraham to carry out the terrible action. That being said, I think it is praiseworthy that he spared Issac’s life when he could have just as easily let him be slaughtered and then given Abraham and Sarah a new son (it is, after all, his choice.) I would love to know what you think.
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I’m interested in the point that you make, that God was admirable because he had a good reason for testing Abraham. It makes you wonder, though: would Abraham have been punished for not sacrificing Isaac? Doesn’t that seem a little messed up, punishing a person for trying not to murder their son? Did the test have to be that extreme? Who knows
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Hi Mollie! I enjoyed reading your response because you raise some really great insights I hadn’t even thought of while reading Genesis or writing my own response, such as how what Abraham says in Genesis 22:5 and 22:8 might actually be comfort or insurance so as to not be disrupted. Overall really great job!
You also responded in a different way than myself and other responses in regards to the fourth question. It’s easy to fall into the trap of immediately answer “yes” when asked if God is praiseworthy (as I did), but you instead say that he might “not exactly” be praiseworthy in this instance. The more I think about this question the more I’m not sure which answer I would give anymore, because it seems to go against God’s “morally good” quality to ask Abraham to burn his beloved son, or to put Isaac through that. I would love to hear more about why you believe God is not worthy of praise in this narrative.
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