Brigid, 6th century founder and abbess of Kildare in Ireland.

God 

him-self 

will pro-vide the lamb 

for the burnt offering. 

                    Genesis 22:8

I love this story and am always sorry when people get stuck on the literal details: I don’t think that’s what the Bible is about - in fact, it just keeps us on the surface.  The creation story, for instance, is not about how God created the earth, but that he did! so if you don’t get stuck on “human sacrifice, that’s terrible!” you can sink into the depths of this amazing story. the hard truth of it is that sometimes, without understanding how or why  or whether things will turn out at all, we have to be willing to sacrifice the very thing that seemed the answer to not only our prayers, but god’s very promise ....  stories get us much farther into the life of god and the reality of the kingdom than mere facts. Maybe that’s why Jesus told parables and stories rather than answering questions....