Burnt Offerings

God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a burnt offering on a height that I will point out to you." Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the burnt offering, set out for the place of which God had told him.

On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar. Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you." Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham: "Father!" he said. "Yes, son," he replied. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" "Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering." Then the two continued going forward.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered. "Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." 

As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, "On the mountain the LORD will see." Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--all this because you obeyed my command."

Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his home. (Genesis 22:1-19)

First of all, since when would we believe a voice telling us to sacrifice our son as a burnt offering?  Sounds like the devil speaking, not God.  During this week of the 4th, come to think of it, young men and women sent off to war by the U.S. government were, in essence “burnt offerings.”  Many died in flames for their country; however, they died in unjust wars such as the Vietnam War and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Dying for their country is a misplaced concept to justify the horrors of wars with muddled objectives and political and/or religious motivations.  

For example, consider the TomDispatch September 3, 2004 posting about James Carroll’s 2004 book “Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War" [Bush’s War] that reads:

(begin) To my mind, Boston Globe columnist James Carroll, along with New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, has consistently been the strongest voice in the op-ed page media mainstream of our country. In his first post-9/11 column, aptly titled “Law not War,” Carroll promptly asked whether “the launching of war [is] really the only way to demonstrate our love for America?” In his column last March on the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, he wrote, “Whatever happens from this week forward in Iraq, the main outcome of the war, for the United States, is clear. 

We have defeated ourselves.” These two columns are the bookends of his remarkable, just published record of Bush’s war — Crusade, Chronicles of an Unjust War (Metropolitan Books, 2004). In that very first essay, written on September 15, 2001, he concluded: “How we respond to this catastrophe will define our patriotism, shape the century, and memorialize our beloved dead.” How painfully prophetic that sentence has proved.

Below is a shortened version of Crusade’s introduction (which will appear in print in the new issue of the Nation magazine). A deeply moral voice, Carroll picks up on a presidential slip of the tongue, the sort that reveals a basic truth — George Bush’s single use of the word “crusade.” Carroll, the author of a bestselling history of Catholic anti-Semitism, Constantine’s Sword, has a powerful understanding of the roots of religious conflict. From Bush’s slip to Mel Gibson’s Passion, he takes us places we need to go by routes we might not think to take ourselves. He has been on leave from the Globe and returns to its pages this Tuesday. Read the essay that follows, but don’t miss the book. It’s a powerful tale of loss. (end)

The publications of James Carroll, a former Catholic priest, are necessary reading for any of us wanting to dig deeper into our faith and how it has been “administered” by Church leaders over the decades.   

Abraham eventually was told to use a sheep for the burnt offering instead of his son.  This was God’s command after testing Abraham, according to the legend.  Now, we often use unmanned drones [my sheep comparison] that are effective but make it easier for our government to pursue unjust wars and conflicts.  I admit drones are a far better alternative to boots on the ground.  However, those who are killed become faceless with public justifiable outrage against the killings and assassinations being muted.

God puts us to the test.  We often fail especially when it comes to humanity's failings: man's inhumanity to man.

Deacon David Pierce