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Traditionally, Chapter 22 of Genesis, the Binding of Isaak, is viewed as a central chapter to the Hebrew Bible insofar as Abraham’s great and ever-trusting faith in a seemingly exterior character, God, is both tested and proven true. Viewing God, however, as simply an archaic (perhaps imaginary) exterior phenomenon, a booming voice which descends from on High, makes it all to easy for one to dismiss the passage as irrelevant to one’s life and experience and continue on one’s merry way unmoved. I propose another reading. Taken beyond the literal level, the Binding of Isaak may be seen as the archetypal story for inward spiritual journey and revelation. The story represents an expansion of inner consciousness, or the awakening of insight which brings a human, Abraham, closer to understanding the universe, or closer to embodying the completeness of God’s vision. The Binding of Isaak begins with an inner calling*, in which God speaks to Abraham, “Abraham,” and Abraham replies, “Here am I.” (22:1) Taken at face value, it seems strange that God would be calling out for Abraham, as if the Omniscient Creator would not be able to find him independently. Yet, more profoundly, God’s calling may be seen as the first step of inward spiritual journey, as a sort of self-evaluation. God’s calling is the inward call to attention which asks, ‘Where are you in your inner development; where are you in relation to God?’ It is only after this self-evaluation that Abraham becomes open to knowing what must be undertaken.
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