Abraham could have avoided the whole child abuse and attempted murder of his “only” son, Isaac, if he had paid a little more attention to god’s command. You see, multiple bible verses show that Abraham had more than one son. He had Isaac. And Ishmael (who was born before Isaac). And Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Abraham should have done nothing, since god’s request to kill Isaac was completely impossible. It is not possible to murder your only son when you have more than one.
The only way that believers can defend this contradiction is if they say that god does not recognize illegitimate children (as shown here). That’s messed up, god.
The Atheist Papers 
Unless Jacob was a twin the other brother was younger than Jacob.
That means that one biblical story was told before the younger brother was born.
I’m no Bible scholar, but somebody around here just isn’t thinking very hard.
Jacob is the son of Isaac. So I’m not following. If you mean Ishmael, he was born before Isaac (14 years earlier), which means Isaac was Abraham’s second son.
I’m not going to argue with you, but to help your understanding out I thought you should know that when the Bible calls Isaac Abraham’s only son, it’s talking about Isaac being Abraham’s only son born through promise; a promise that also said that the world would be blessed by the descendants of Abraham through Isaac’s descendants (Hebrews 11:17-19).
Thanks! That brings up something else entirely, which I will blog about at a later time.
No problem. Just wanted you to see how there’s no contradiction between the verses you referenced.
Isn’t it strange, that God who is Purely Good, would order Abraham to Kill his innocent son, Isaac?
Would our loving Father, God, play a “Trick” like this on His loyal servant?
Could it be that God NEVER told Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?
All of these questions are answered in this Teaching:
http://bibleofgod.org/did-god-tell-abraham-to-kill-isaac/
• The Common Understanding of this record
• Why is this “Test” Questionable?
• Did God Tempt Abraham?
• Burnt Offering vs. Sacrifice
• Satan’s Deception
• Not the first time Abraham Miscomprehended
• How old was Isaac?
• Other Important things to Note
-Andrew Davis
Why does God refer to Isaac as Abraham’s ONLY son, when Ishmael was also his son?
>>”(Genesis 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.”
Ishmael was born before Isaac, and was still alive at the time of this incident.
God uses the words “only son Isaac”, because in God’s eyes, Isaac was the “True” son of Abraham, by Covenant and by Promise.
On the other hand, Ishmael was more of a “mistake” on Abraham’s part, when he committed adultery with Hagar.
God agreed with Sarah’s decision of expelling Ishmael and Hagar from their home:
>>”(Genesis 21:10) Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
(Genesis 21:12) And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”
In God’s eyes, from that point onwards, Isaac was Abraham’s one and only true son.
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Here is my take on Bible Contradictions #12. Enjoy.
Oh Also, there was more to the event of expelling Ishmael from the camp then the Bible indicates. The biblically endorsed extra biblical text of Jasher Chapter 21:14 elaborates…
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/jasher/21.htm
I think you have the wrong citation for “Answer 2”. I look at Genesis 4:22 several times and couldn’t find any mention of Abraham.
So this goes to show that to believe the Bible you need to twist logic.
A son is a son. If God for some reason decides to not count one, he suddenly is not a son anymore?
No, not even God has the power to take away ones blood line.
A Jew here. Technically, if Hagar was Sarah’s (and Abraham’s) slave, their son would still be a slave. And that makes Isaac the only legitimate son. If we judge the Bible by its terms, if one (a Jew) buys a female servant and has children with her, they are his slaves and not his legitimate children. The full story is, however, more complicated: the problem here is with Hagar’s legal status, because pious Jews are forbidden to lay with slaves. So to square it with the Jewish law, Sarah needs to free Hagar to let Abraham impregnate her, and that does make Ishmael a legitimate son.