Does God Command Immoral Actions? | Lecture 2

In this second lecture, Professor J. Richard Middleton deepens his reinterpretation of Genesis 22 by reading the Akedah within the full narrative arc of the Abraham story — and asks what Abraham's silence cost his family for generations.

Middleton traces Abraham's growing and then declining intimacy with God across Genesis 12–22, showing how each conversation with God reveals something about the kind of faith God was inviting Abraham into. The critical turn comes in Genesis 18, where Abraham boldly intercedes for Sodom — and where God was trying to teach him something about divine mercy that Abraham never fully grasped. Genesis 22, Middleton argues, was God's final and most urgent attempt to press that lesson home.

In this lecture, you'll explore:

· The narrative arc of Abraham's relationship with God, from Genesis 12 to 22

· Why God's switch from "Yahweh" to "Elohim" in Genesis 22 may signal something significant

· What was really happening in Abraham's dialogue with God over Sodom — and why it wasn't bargaining

· How Genesis 18 was a teaching moment about divine mercy that Abraham didn't fully receive

· What Abraham's words to Isaac — "God will provide" — actually reveal about his state of mind

· The haunting detail that Isaac does not return down the mountain with his father

· What the phrase "the fear of Isaac" in Genesis 31 tells us about the theological legacy Abraham passed on

· How Abraham's silence may have traumatized Isaac and alienated Sarah

This lecture is essential for anyone interested in narrative theology, Old Testament characterization, the theology of prayer, and what authentic faith looks like when it costs something.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER:

J. Richard Middleton is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis, at Northeastern Seminary and Roberts Wesleyan University, in Rochester, NY. A native of Jamaica, he immigrated to Canada for graduate studies and moved to the USA for a teaching position. He is past president of the Canadian-American Theological Association (2011–2014) and the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (2019–2021). Middleton’s research area is Old Testament theology with a focus on creation, suffering, and the ethics of power. He is the author of five books; the most recent are The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005); A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014); and Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God (Baker Academic, 2021). He is currently working on two new books, one on the power dynamics between prophet and king in 1 Samuel and the other on the biblical worldview for our troubled times.

Genesis 22, Akedah interpretation, Abraham and Isaac, binding of Isaac, Abraham's Silence, J. Richard Middleton, Genesis 18 Sodom, fear of Isaac, Old Testament narrative theology, Abraham's relationship with God, biblical intercession, Upper House Madison, New College Madison, divine mercy, biblical exegesis