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Theological Questions the Akedah Story

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Theological Questions the Akedah Story CHAPTER NINE THE AKEDAH AND THE FESTIVALS OF PASSOVER/ UNLEAVENED BREAD (17:15–18:19) Theological Questions The Akedah story (Gen 22) has raised numerous difculties for interpret- ers throughout history, rst and foremost of which was the question, how God could have tested Abraham with such a cruel ordeal, and what purpose it could possibly have served. These issues are interrelated with other, more general, theological questions. If God can create such a cruel test, which is fundamentally evil, one can then conclude that God is not completely good. One who wishes to defend the assumption that God is all-good by assigning evil to some other being (as is done in polytheistic religions) must then limit God’s omnipotence. If another power is able to bring about events in the world, then that power controls certain areas that God does not. The existence of evil in the world thus leads to one of two possibilities according to a monotheistic worldview: God is limited either in his power (or knowledge), or he is the source of the evil. God’s desire to test Abraham raises another theological conun- drum. If God did not know the results of the test in advance, and he therefore needed to put him through this ordeal in order to nd out whether Abraham would obey or not, one can conclude that God is not omniscient. On the other hand, if God knew the results of the ordeal before Abraham passed, then one can conclude that Abraham lacked the free will to choose whether to observe his commandment or not. God’s foreknowledge limits human freedom, and vice versa. The Akedah story in Gen 22 perhaps addresses both of these theo- logical issues, albeit only indirectly. Gen 22:1 states that “God tested Abraham,” without mentioning any other power. According to the view of this story, God himself designed this harsh trial. In the more abstract terminology used above, according the view of Gen 22, God is the source of evil, and he decided to demand that Abraham offer his son as a sacrice. This god is omnipotent, and no other being caused him to make this decision. But Gen 22 also assumes that God did not 190 chapter nine know the results of this test in advance, as can be demonstrated by God’s response after Abraham successfully fullled his request: “For now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold your son, your only one, from me” (Gen 22:12). The story therefore assumes that God did not know in advance that Abraham would obey him and offer his son. Only after he witnessed Abraham’s willingness to fulll the divine commandment was he able to declare that “now” he knows that Abraham is loyal to him. The biblical story limits God’s knowledge in order to allow for Abraham’s free will. God in Gen 22 is omnipotent, but not omniscient. The rewritten version of the Akedah story in Jub. 17:15–18:19 describes that the idea of testing Abraham did not originate with God, but rather with another character, Mastema; the Lord only approved his idea (17:16–18).1 This trial is parallel to the one found in the narrative framework of Job, with one important difference: Mastema appears here in the place of Satan ( Job 1:9–11). There is no explicit reason offered for Mastema’s animosity towards Abraham (nor for Satan’s towards Job), and it is presumably the result of his being completely evil.2 If God is not responsible for planning this test, he cannot be blamed for this evil act. In contrast to the biblical Akedah story, the rewritten version in Jub. 17–18 presents the Lord as completely good. At the same time, the inclusion of the character of Mastema in the story and his ability to inuence God to test Abraham, detract from YHWH’s power as the exclusive sovereign over all that takes place in the world.3 According to Jub. 17:17, the Lord, in contrast to Mastema, knew in advance that Abraham was loyal. After Abraham indeed obeyed the Lord, and was willing to offer his son Isaac as a sacrice, God stated: “because I now have made known4 that you are one who fears the Lord” ( Jub. 18:11); “I have made known to everyone that you are faithful to me in everything that I have told you” (v. 16). The Lord is omniscient, 1 Compare Jub. 48:2 (bridegroom of blood) and 48:3ff. ( plagues and Exodus). 2 Regarding the character of Mastema in literature of the Second Temple period, and especially in Qumran texts, see van Henten 1999; Mach 2000. 3 Both Jubilees and Job leave unanswered the question why God agreed to Mastema’s (or Satan’s) proposal. 4 According to Kugel (1997: 172), the verb should be vocalized as a piel form (similar in meaning to the hiphil ), based upon the Latin translation. The Geez reads “I know,” in the qal conjugation. The verb y-d- appers in the piel in only one biblical text, the qere reading of Job 38:12. However, it is clear from Jub. 18:16 that the rewriter interpreted the biblical story in line with the Latin version of v. 11..
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