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killing a first born son was a custom in the time of Abraham as a sacrifice to gods, those were man made laws, not Gods laws , you cannot compare the social norms or customs in old testament with todays times.

In that time Abraham was an old man, only thing he wanted was a son, an heir to his estate, in that time having a son was everything, similar to having carrier today or having fame , to be respected within society, it was a standard of happiness in that time. But he did not have a son, God promised him he will give him one and that he will become the father of a nation.

Abraham went to follow God, he had a big estate i think, lots of cattle, not something you want to leave behind, but he was desperate and he left all that . It take a long time for God to give him a son, but God waited. God wanted to drew him closer to Himself (and if you believe God is a benevolent and good creature thats a good thing ). Abraham was basically unhappy because he was distant from God and God wanted to change that.

But why did God not gave him his son right away? If God gave Abraham his son right away Abraham would not pay any more attention to God since he would have all he wanted, you might think he would be happy, well he would but he would still be disconnected from God and empty as he felt before. (Its that feeling of emptiness, when something is missing even when you have all the things you can think of that make you happy around you)

God gave him his son when he was very old, when he was ready, He wanted to make sure that Abraham wont make an idol out of his son.
An idol is something that disconnects us form God, something we put in our lives first ,or prior to God. Its not the problem that we dont place God in the first place ( and pay the due respect to that ego maniac :p) , this is an abstract term, the problem is we put things that cannot make us full or happy in the first place. Putting God in first place does not mean you need to believe in Him to do so, it means not to be a slave to the things of the world. Even religious people can make idol out of God, to be exact idol out of religion, you can recognize them by having many religious pictures or crucifixes around their house or neck. That is not what God wanted.

An example of idol today is our job for instance, we work all day , make a carer and we postpone our families for it. Many kids grow up like this not having a father at home while having one physically... Another example is making your children your idol, you put them in the first place. It sounds good, but its not. It happened to my mother and me, when you are kid its great but later it becomes suffocating to the kid and bad for the parent because one day that kid the parent knew is gone = grows up and then desperation comes for the parent, and the kid can also have consequences that manifest later in life... trust me i know

well back on topic

So God did not want for Izak to become an idol for Abraham, because he would disconnect himself from God and ultimately make himself unhappy. So God wanted to test this, He ordered Abraham to kill his son, as i said this was quite normal in the old times for a man to sacrifice his son to gods. Today it would be equivalent ( in my book) for a man to sacrifice his career to spend more time with his family.

One other interpretation is that God actually knew what is going to happen ( since he is all knowing ) but he wanted to show Abraham how much faith he has, faith that God gave Abraham.

Abraham went on the three day journey to kill his son, and did not disobey or even said a peep to God.
Well for that to happen you either need to be a nutcase or...
Abraham really had faith.

Faith that God is the one that knows what is best for him even if it means killing of his own son.
There is a difference when Abraham went from home when God commanded him in the start, then he was just desperate, and he was not ready , or you can say he did not want to receive faith from God for a long time, like 20-30 years and this is the reason why God waited. For the record i dont know what is the mechanism when God gives someone faith, because i dont have it, but im sure that you need to want it, i mean really want it, not just be desperate, or just want some things form God and some not, you either obey God or you don't, and this is not about you, this is not your effort, its possible because God makes it possible. Faith is not conscientious effort (like most people think) ,like finding of a prof of God, its a gift from God and him alone.

Ok so , after 30 years Abraham is finaly ready to receive faith, and in that time he receives his son, as a testament of that faith. For 30 years Abraham actually said NO to God, thats why he did not receive it, its a process witch takes some time.

And the moral lesion of the story is:
We rebel when bad things happen to us, when we lose the things and persons we love, when we dont get the things we deem we deserve. Faith is the ability, the gift from God to accept the bad things that happen along with the good, not to rebel against them, blame God or someone else. That is true happiness, not to search for more, but to be content with that what you own, with that what you are. This is not an effort of man, because no man can achieve this, we always want more more more more more more more more, it is never enough, never content, always on the hunt for better for higher for upgrades, but never truly content.
This is why God does not heal amputees, He makes them able to live with their disability.
Abraham did not rebel, he had the faith, the knowledge, the experience that whatever God does is right. He did not produce it alone, it was a gift.

How many people who are "Christians" do you see that can accept their destiny, that can live with their flaws, their disabilities , physical or mental. Its not that God does not want to give us this, we do not want to receive it, mainly because it would mean we would need to say bye bye to our sins and idols.

oh well i started to write and could not stop myself, sorry , this probably does not even answer the question, maybe its a hand of God that made me do this ( joke :p), and sorry if it looks im trying to convert you.

or maybe im just a nutcracker, oh well...