265 GENESIS 22: WHAT QUESTION SHOULD WE ASK THE TEXT? Let us try to pinpoint some of its main features. First, God’s order and behavior are in contradiction with everything that comes prior to it in the Abraham cycle. God promised a land and a son (or numerous descen- dants) to Abraham. The same God refused all the other possible solutions: Lot is put aside in Genesis 13, Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, in Genesis 15, Ishmael in Genesis 16 and 21. The Priestly text in Gen 17,17-21 also con- firms that the only possible heir to the promise is Isaac, and nobody else. After all these texts, of different origin and belonging to different literary layers, God seems to jeopardize or even to annihilate for ever Abraham’s and Israel’s future. This is a test, of course, as the reader knows. But the test itself touches one of the cornerstones of the Abraham cycle and clashes with all that has been said before about the promises. Moreover, we can say that the image of God that appears in Genesis 22 clashes with the usual theology of the patriarchal narratives 21. Accord- ing to several specialists and some basic works in the field, the God of the patriarchs is — generally speaking — on the patriarchs’ side, he hardly judges or punishes them, and does not require any special moral behavior. His blessing and his support are not conditioned by obedience to a law or specific regulations. This is well summarized by Psalm 105,12-15: When they were few in number, of little account, and strangers in it, 12 wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another 13 people, he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their ac- 14 count, saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm”. 15 In this regard, Genesis 22 is different. God, in this text, is more similar to the divinity that appears, as we saw, in Deuteronomy or in the Deuteronomistic history. It is as if God put Israel’s ancestor to the test be- fore he put Israel to the test. The narrative also shows how to go through the test in the right way and to give an example to future generations. As we have seen, the test is a Deuteronomic or Deuteronomistic topic. Even- See, for instance, R. ALBERTZ, Persönliche Frömmigkeit und offizielle 21 Religion. Religionsinterner Pluralismus in Israel und Babylon (Stuttgart 1978); T.N.D. METTINGER, In Search of God. The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names (Philadelphia, PA 1988) 63; K. VAN DER TOORN, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel. Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life (Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East 7; Leiden 1996); J. BODEL – S.M. OLYAN (eds.), Household and Family Reli- gion in Antiquity (Oxford 2008). © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati