Why God Chose Abraham
There is causal relation in anything, including the establishment of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
From the beginning why did God choose Hebrews or the clan led by Abraham as His own people? This is a very important and crucial question for the mankind or at least billions of Judaists, Christians, and Muslims of today.
The most impressive episode between God and Abraham is that God told Abraham to sacrifice his son as a proof of his obedience to God.
Gen 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Gen 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Gen 22:3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
As Abraham completely obeyed the order of God, God stopped Abraham to offer his son Isaac. Abraham then offered a ram for a burnt offering to God.
This kind of offering of human beings to god was widely observed in the ancient world, including ancient Egypt and Greek and other regions around the Mediterranean. So, it may be natural for Hebrews also practiced this kind of human offering. But was that so decisive that Abraham faithfully obeyed the order of God to offer his son?
In other tribes, kings and their families were not offered to god. It was young men or women or children of subjects or slaves that were offered to god. Rather to keep prosperity of royal families, kings sacrificed their subjects or slaves as offering to god. But God ordered Abraham, a kind of king of his clan, to sacrifice his only son Issac.
If kings other than Abraham had been ordered by God to offer their only sons, they should have found others to play the roles of their sons. But Abraham honestly intended to offer his son. If Abraham had been ordered by God to offer himself, he should have done it. Other kings were selfish, dishonest, and coward, but only Abraham faithfully obeyed the order of God to offer his only son.
This must be one of the major reasons why God chose Abraham around 2000 BC. When kings on this world became so selfish, dishonest, coward, and cruel to subjects and slaves to secure their royal families, only Abraham showed the extreme faith in God. His extreme faith became the origin of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Put simply, God tested many kings and heads of clans in the ancient world. And Abraham was the only one who passed the test. The above episode symbolized how Abraham passed the test.
(In this context, native Central and South Americans who had been practicing much bloody human offering to their gods were eventually conquered by Spanish who introduced Christianity to these regions, and religious ceremonies with bloody offering were terminated, although Spanish conquest of Central and South Americans was made in a very cruel and bloody manner.)
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Joh 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.