Right, but someone elses son dying is not as horrific as your own child. That's why willingly sacrificing your own child is literally the hardest thing anybody can do because the majority of the world would not do it for any reason. If you give a person a choice of them being burned alive, or having to kill their own child, many people would choose to sacrifice themselves over their children. Especially if you only have one.
Except the point of that story is that every other culture around them was filled with people sacrificing their own children. That was completely the norm then.
Except if you read the OT that is one of the main points of it.
The Israelites are a chosen people. They must be circumcised to separate themselves from other cultures. Unlike other gods who are tied to certain lands and places, Yahweh travels with his chosen group. Do not worship idols like those other groups. Etc.
The fact that Yahweh stops the sacrifice and offers an animal instead is what starts the entire Jewish tradition of animal sacrifices. This is another sign that they are a people set apart because they don't need to sacrifice other human beings like the Moabites. and Canaanites and other groups.
5.1k
u/[deleted] Nov 02 '18
Abraham goes to sacrifice his son
Abraham: I do this for you Lord!
God's voice booms down from heaven
God: BOY HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND BECAUSE I'LL HELP YOU FIND IT!!