WGW - Why Did God Ask Abraham To Sacrifice Isaac? - Dr. Richard Middleton

In this episode of the "Why God Why" Podcast, Peter Englert and Aaron McGinnis interview Dr. Richard Middleton on the question, "Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?"

J. Richard Middleton is a professor of biblical worldview and exegesis at Northeastern Seminary and Roberts Wesleyan University. He is the author of five books, including "Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God" (Baker Academic, 2021).

Special areas of interest for Middleton include Old Testament theology, the Christian worldview, the doctrine of creation, eschatology, the problem of suffering, and the books of Genesis, Job, Samuel, and the Psalms. He is past president of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (2019–2021) and the Canadian-American Theological Association (2011–2014).

[DiscipleDojo]

Thank you so much for the shout-out, Richard! I'm honored! 😊

[mattwisemw]

We need to get back to the bible people! Love it

[SibleySteve]

What a discovery on YouTube. Human sacrifice (this story) is a major reason I fell away years ago. I came back with Jacob as an inspiration, that we wrestle with faith and keep going. Faithfulness. What I missed was that Abraham was a man of his day, a Mesopotamian who did not object to the ubiquity of the “ask”. But our God spared Isaac and provided a way. The Way seems to be a recurring biblical theology (deliverance). I love the psalms because David like Jacob also wrestles. Whenever I feel that the Old Testament story morally fails modern ethics, I think wait, John Walton always says it is not written to us, but is a gift for us.