One of the clear, overarching lessons in the Bible is that there are no true heroes among humans. The best of humanity is merely human at best. Yet, the Bible demonstrates that some individuals can display admirable qualities, even in a fallen state. Alongside these examples, we also encounter characters who are hopelessly self-absorbed. Later writers tend to praise earlier Scriptural figures but often do so selectively, focusing on specific attributes while neglecting the fullness of their characters. These figures become literary constructs where certain aspects of their lives are highlighted, but the reader must remember the whole story and context.
My examination of the Aqedah would be incomplete without delving into the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. This chapter underscores individuals who exemplified faith in God’s promises, contributing to the unfolding of God’s plans for humanity. These figures should not be elevated to the status of ideal humans to model our lives after in every respect; nevertheless, they serve as examples of faithfulness to God’s promises. Let’s first consider some straightforward examples:
Hebrews 11:29, 31-32 ESV
[29] By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
[31] By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. [32] And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets
It is crucial to note that most of the Israelites who crossed the Red Sea on dry land ultimately perished in the wilderness (Exodus 32), as Hebrews 4 suggests, and Paul states explicitly in 1 Corinthians 10:5. They are included in the Hall of Faith not for their overall conduct but for that singular moment of faith that advanced God’s agenda. Similarly, Rahab is noted for her courage in concealing the Israelite spies out of reverence for Yahweh. Her story would have resonated with the original audience of Hebrews, as she was a non-Israelite who chose to place her faith in Israel’s God, even while being a prostitute.
The story of Barak is in Judges 4 at a time when Deborah was the judge and leader of Israel. An outside enemy commanded by Sisera was harassing Israel, and God gave instructions to Barak through Deborah:
Judges 4:6-7 NRSV
[6] She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. [7] I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’ ”
Here is how Barak responds to the divine command:
Judges 4:8-9 NRSV
[8] Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” [9] And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Barak flatly refuses to carry out God’s command unless a woman goes with him to war at a time when it is not customary. He negotiated the command of God and yet made it into the Hall of Faith. This indicates that the commendation these figures received is not predicated on an imagined perfect trust in God but rather on their imperfect yet significant roles in propelling God’s agenda forward.
Sometime later, a new enemy arose against Israel requiring a new judge and leader. God called Gideon for this task. At first, Gideon was not sure it was God talking to him. So, he did a confirmatory test after which he knew God was summoning him to a task (Judges 6:17 – 24). However, Gideon was not perfect in the execution of the task. First, he allowed his fear of people to influence how he executed some divine instructions (Judges 6:27). Also, even though he was called from the get-go to deliver Israel from Midianite oppression militarily, Gideon yet asked God twice more whether God would do what he had said he would do:
Judges 6:36-37 NRSV
[36] Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, [37] I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said.”
God honored the request as Gideon asked. What did Gideon do? He asked God to reconfirm what he has already confirmed:
Judges 6:39-40 NRSV
[39] Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.” [40] And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
He would eventually successfully deliver Israel from the oppressors. But the point for us is that perfect faith in God is not why these men are in the Hall of Faith. They are here despite their imperfections.
In Part 1 of this series devoted to child sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible, we highlighted Jephthah, a significant military leader after Gideon’s time. While he achieved success in his military campaigns, he made a hasty vow that tragically led to the sacrifice of his only daughter. Although time doesn’t allow for an in-depth examination of all the figures mentioned by the author of Hebrews, we can certainly touch on a few.
Samson stands out as another prominent Israelite military savior after Gideon. Anyone familiar with Sunday School stories knows about Samson’s unconventional choice to marry a Philistine woman (Judges 14:7-8), his unkosher act of consuming honey from the carcass of an animal (Judges 14:8-9), and his betrayal of his wife’s people (Judges 14:12-15). Samson was hardly a model of sound judgment or adherence to God’s law. Yet, despite his flaws, he is included in the Hall of Faith because he played a pivotal role in advancing God’s ultimate redemptive plans.
David is a well-known biblical character who showed extraordinary mercy to his oppressor, Saul the king of Israel, who sought to kill him. While hiding, David had multiple opportunities to end Saul’s life but chose against it. He was not going to kill God’s anointed king over Israel. But this act of mercy seems selective. When David did not have his way with Nabal, Abigael’s husband, he was quick to embark on a trip to kill not only Nabal but also every male in Nabal’s house:
1 Samuel 25:32-34 NRSV
[32] David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! [33] Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! [34] For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.”
The good judgment of Abigael stopped David from bloodshed. Moreover, as it is well-known, David would usurp his soldier’s wife and have the soldier killed while doing what David was supposed to be doing – out there defending his kingdom! Yet, even he made it into the Hall of Faith. Again, the qualification is not some perfect demonstration of faith in God but playing a role in moving along God’s ultimate redemptive plan.
So, whatever else we may imagine qualifies these people to be in the Hall of Faith, their inclusion is no endorsement of the defective details of their lives. Not one of them is a hero. With this background information in mind, let us now look at what the author of Hebrews says about Abraham in connection to the Aqedah:
Hebrews 11:17-18 NRSV
[17] By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, [18] of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.”
This summarizes the Genesis narrative but may help shed light on our subject. “By faith” here, as in many other verses in this chapter, refers to each character’s role in moving along God’s plans. This does not necessarily mean the characters knew they were playing little roles in a divinely directed drama. But in hindsight, the author of Hebrews could look back and see the roles the men of old played. This commentary on the Aqedah also explains God’s use of “only son.” Isaac is described as Abraham’s only son because Isaac, not Ishmael, would move God’s specific plan forward, a redemptive plan discussed here.
Ultimately, the book of Hebrews cannot help us determine whether Abraham met God’s ideal in the Aqedah scene. The “faith” of Abraham, like virtually everyone else’s in the Hall of Faith, is not perfect, and neither was perfection a requirement for being knighted into the Hall. Abraham was as imperfect as many of the other named characters. He twice risked Sarah’s life and sexual integrity to save his own life. On one of those occasions, Sarah might have been pregnant with Isaac. Abraham was also impatient and took matters into his own hands when he impregnated Hagar, plausibly without her consent, to help move God’s plans along. After impregnating a girl probably about seventy years his junior, he did not fight back when Sarah told him to send the pregnant Hagar away into the wilderness. Nevertheless, Abraham is in the Hall of Faith for his role in advancing God’s redemptive plan—indeed, the divine plan began with Abraham. He is numbered here with several others who imperfectly carried out God’s instructions.
The traditional reading of the Aqedah often asserts that the divine test was designed to test Abraham’s obedience. But this is an assumption. The text merely says, “God tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). What for? We are not told. It is left to readers to decipher from the narrative, but the “obedience” reading is not logically the only way to read it. The divine commendation, “for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Genesis 22:12), tells us what the test revealed about the candidate after it was administered, not the purpose of the test (Middleton, 138). Middleton gives a helpful classroom analogy. Suppose a professor says to a student after a test, “Now I know you are a B student.” We may not conclude that the goal of the test was to prove that the candidate is a B student. Perhaps the professor wants the student to work hard and complete extra credits to ace the class. So, what we can say is that the test reveals that the student is a B student. Similarly, the purpose could be for Abraham to demonstrate his love for his son by speaking up for his life as he did for Lot. But what the test revealed was good enough with God, and he worked with it to further his plans.
Abraham indeed passed a divine test and was commended for his obedience. However, we may not conclude that obedience was the test’s purpose. He showed extraordinary single-mindedness when he went on a three-day journey to sacrifice his second son and yet did not change his mind about what he set out to do. The author of Hebrews comments that Abraham even believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. All of these things are true, but Abraham narratively and actually missed the opportunity to plumb the depth of God’s loving mercy in addition to the attributes of God he did discern.
In the fullness of time, when Jesus appeared, he taught his disciples that loving God, not fearing him, was the greatest commandment and that the next greatest commandment was to love other humans (Mark 12:28 -31). In John, Jesus extends this idea:
John 15:10, 12 NRSV
[10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Abraham came quite close to discovering this nature of his then-new God when he negotiated with God to save his nephew’s life. Even there, however, he stopped the negotiation prematurely, but God’s mercy answered for his deficiency and rescued Lot and his willing family members.
Work Cited
Middleton, J. R. “Did Abraham Pass the Test? Unbinding the Aqedah from the Straitjacket of Tradition.” Global Perspectives on Bible and Violence, edited by Helen Paynter and Michael Spalione, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2023, pp. 133 – 148.
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