There's a pattern emerging through Genesis where certain characters grasp at something that they already have, whether in actuality or by promise of Yhwh. The result of the grasping tends to be the loss or spoiling of that which they have grasped for. The prevailing theme is faith, or lack of faith, that Yhwh has given them that good thing.For Eve, that was the knowledge of good and evil. Though she possessed it, she was tricked into thinking God had been stingy and so she grasped for it, and lost it, in the eating of the fruit of the tree.
For Sarah, it was having a son. Though Abraham had received the promise of a son, she grasped at it by giving Hagar to Abraham, and ended up causing Isaac and his descendants the problem of their relationship with Hagar's son, Ishmael.
Now we come to Genesis 22 and the great test of Abraham's faith. Will he give his only son back to God? The one through whom God's blessings were promised to flow? Or will he grasp at him, attempting to keep that which God has said he must give up?
It seems utterly impossible for Abraham to believe that Yhwh will provide for him an heir through Isaac. The very act that Yhwh asks of him inherently destroys any hope of this. Yet in a complete reversal of our previous scenes, Abraham trusts Yhwh in the impossible situation. He freely gives up that which Yhwh had given him and in whom the rest of Yhwh's promises will stand or fall. He entrusts himself to Yhwh's goodness in spite of all human logic. (It thus makes sense that Hebrews 11:19 ascribes to him a divine wisdom that affronts all human experience and common sense.)
This scene is the ultimate example of trust in the providence of Yhwh, against all his human experience of possibility. It is also the polar opposite of the actions of Eve and Sarah in grasping at that of which Yhwh had already assured them. It is an anti-type-scene in every conceivable way.
The author sets Abraham's insane trust in the providence of Yhwh against the grasping of Eve and Sarah, whose lack of trust had varying degrees of "understandability".
There is so much pastoral application in these chapters that is really huge for our generation. No time for it here, but perhaps I'll rant about it in another post. This series is about establishing a pattern of scenes in Genesis, which in turn may enhance the case for my project's slant on Genesis 3.
Next stop, Genesis 27, where the scene reverts to type...