I've also heard commentary that it [Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac] was an object lesson.
I read somewhere that this was a test, but Abraham failed it. Fortunately for him, God loved and forgave him anyway.
Actually the two characters in the Bible (yes, I am continuing to treat it as a narrative) I have the most sympathy with are Lucifer Morningstar and Judas Iscariot.
There's a great book on Jesus's life that has an interesting and sympathetic portrayal of Judas, Testament, by Nino Ricci. I like his take so much, that I sometimes have to remind me, when it comes up in conversation, that it wasn't actually in the Bible. Hmm. [link]
Yeah, it's been sitting in my Amazon cart for a while, waiting for me to have a moment of weakness.
Weakness isn't necessary. Get it from your library for free! If your library doesn't have it, they may be willing to purchase it or to obtain it through interlibrary loan, and those options are often free as well.
I wish that I could understand why those people fail to turn away from this God in disgust. The God of the Old Testament is a petty tyrant: selfish, impulsive, and irritable. He’s a psychopath who torments, tortures and kills without the slightest guilt, if that is what is necessary to extend his influence. His claim to authority is that of a warlord: he is powerful and therefore you should bow down to him. I doubt that there is such a God, but if there is, the response of any moral person would be to oppose his influence with every force available. That there are people who worship this monster has never ceased to amaze me.
I called myself agnostic for years because of this. I guess I probably wasn't so much agnostic, as I believed that God existed, but didn't believe in God. From what I had been taught about God, He wasn't someone I could follow, even if I ended up in Hell over it. I literally walked around scared for my eternal soul for years. Then I had a conversation with a friend that completely changed my understanding of God and my life. She explained how God was far to vast for anyone to understand completely, how She was far too good and too powerful to be constrained by the boundaries that a literal Bible requires. I don't know if it was just the right time for me, or if she just explained things in a way I hadn't heard before, but I'm so glad for it.
Looking for a link for Testament, Amazon made me go three searches in before it gave me the advanced search option. This sucks. Do you know how many books have the word 'testament' in their titles? A lot.