Passover 2023: Movie Review---"His Only Son"

So far my favorite movie of 2023 is "His Only Son," which dramatizes a crucial episode in the life of the biblical patriarch Abraham.

Recall that Abraham, according to the book of Genesis, received at age 75 a divine call to leave his homeland and go to a land that God would show him.  God promised Abraham and his wife Sarah that they would be progenitors of a great nation which would bring blessing to the entire world.

Abraham and Sarah followed God's direction and moved to the land of Canaan, but they struggled to understand how a great nation would come from them.  They were childless and becoming too old to have children.  Still, God assured them that they indeed would have a child, and after 25 years their son Isaac was born.  

This sets the stage for Genesis 22:1-18, the passage pictured in the movie.  The movie opens with Abraham being "tested" by God.  Inexplicably, God tells Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering at a mountain in "the land of Moriah."  

With heavy heart Abraham complies, setting out on a three-day journey with Isaac and two servants.  At Moriah he sets up an altar and prepares to sacrifice his son.  Then God intervenes, providing a ram in Isaac's place and praising Abraham for his willingness to give up his promised son.    

The brief biblical account raises many questions, including:  What did Abraham tell Sarah about the purpose of the trip to Moriah?  What were Abraham's thoughts and prayers during the journey?  What was Isaac's reaction when he found out what Abraham had been asked to do?  

The movie offers plausible answers to these questions and others.  In doing so, it brings viewers into an ongoing conversation about Genesis 22 that stretches back over 2000 years.  There are rich bodies of Jewish and Christian tradition on this incident that intertwine in fascinating ways.  

For example, a tradition based on 2 Chronicles 3:1 says that Abraham's altar was located at the future site of Solomon's Temple.  The willingness of Abraham and Isaac to perform the sacrifice has been seen in Jewish tradition as a basis for the efficacy of sacrifices later carried out at the Temple.

A tradition recorded in the Book of Jubilees (second century BC) says that these events occurred near the time of Passover.  Pirke Avot, a rabbinic text from around 200 AD, suggests that the ram for the sacrifice was prepared during creation week.  A later rabbinic work, Genesis Rabbah, compares Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice to a man carrying his own cross.

Christians see in Genesis 22 a foreshadowing of God's offering of Jesus of Nazareth as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, a sacrifice planned "before the foundation of the world" and carried out in Jerusalem at the time of Passover.    

The movie gives an explicitly Christian portrayal of Genesis 22 but should be meaningful for all who value this text.  I recommend it enthusiastically.