Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God

Middleton (A New Heaven and a New Earth), a professor of biblical worldview and exegesis at Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, N.Y., explores the implications of Abraham’s silence in the face of God’s commandment to kill his son Isaac, in this dense work of scriptural interpretation. When God orders the human sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham obeys blindly—and is only kept from filicide by a deus ex machina intervention. Middleton studies the episode both from the perspective of a Bible scholar and as a man of faith who aims to “help people of faith recover the value of lament prayer as a way to process our pain” by analyzing “models of vigorous prayer in the Bible.” He concludes that “Abraham’s response to God” should not be “exalted as a paradigm for us to follow.” Ultimately, Middleton considers Abraham’s silence a missed opportunity, as the patriarch could have objected to the decree—an act that “would have had the salutary result of Abraham exhibiting... his discernment of God’s merciful character.” It’s an intriguing interpretation, though Middleton spends more time than is needed making the case that the traditional understanding of the story—as a positive exemplar of blind faith—won’t work for every modern believer. James Goodman’s But Where Is the Lamb? will be a better bet for readers grappling with this Bible story. (Nov.)