God put Abraham to the test.
Genesis 22:1-18
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 holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you.”
From our first taste in Eden,
we've feasted on our strife
'til sin consumes our children—
as Cain took Abel's life.
And long we've tried to barter
or bargain, blood for blood,
to soothe the brokenhearted—
God drowned our tears in flood.
Not even losing Isaac
could heal the brutal rift
or Hagar sent to exile
and Ishmael cut adrift.
No sacrifice we offered
could ever clear our debt—
It was already all yours,
no matter how we bled.
Yet now the Son of David
steps in for Adam's sons.
For Esau and for Jacob,
you offered up your own.
The Son of Man, God-with-us,
will go to Calvary.
The ram within the thicket
sets all the children free.
From a 14th-century Icelandic manuscript of Stjórn By Unknown author – From the 14th century Icelandic manuscript AM 277 fol., now in the care of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17700394
Kate Bluett 