260 JEAN LOUIS SKA These texts are unequivocal in attesting that the purpose of a test is “to know”. This fact has two consequences. First, we have one reason more to believe that there is only one divine actor in Genesis 22 where the pair “to test” and “to know” appear again together as the two key el- ements of the plot. The “character” that puts to the “test” (Gen 22,1 - hsn) must be the one that “knows” ([dy) in the end. It would be difficult to at- tribute these two narrative functions to two different characters. Second, the basic plot of Genesis 22 is a plot of discovery. In other words it de- scribes the passage from ignorance to knowledge, according to the long- established categories of Aristotle. We have in Gen 22,11-12 the anagnorisis, to use another term borrowed from Aristotle’s Poetics, i.e. the moment of recognition 7. This raises a further question, definitely, since the one that passes from ignorance to knowledge is, in this case, none but the otherwise omniscient divinity. The vexing question has received all kinds of answers, from Antiquity up to recent times 8. From the Renaissance on, exegetes explain it as an- thropomorphism, a point that would contradict — to a certain extent — the attribution of this text to the Elohist. Anyway, the God that is depicted in this narrative does not know at the beginning of the story how Abraham will answer the test. Otherwise there is no test and it would be difficult to understand why the angel of YHWH says in 22,12, “Now I know” 9. IV. God’s freedom and Abraham’s free will Let us come back just for a while to the basic question: why does God put Abraham to the test? We simply took it to mean that it is to “know” whether Abraham will obey his voice or not. But is this test useful, or even necessary? Was it not possible for God to know Abraham’s disposi- tion in a different, less cruel, way? A first possible answer is that God’s power and authority are unlimited in the Old Testament. The God of Genesis 22 behaves like any Ancient Near Eastern potentate. Nobody dares to challenge a monarch and, a for- tiori, nobody dares to challenge the biblical God’s authority. Everyone re- members Job’s sentence: “YHWH gave, and YHWH has taken away; blessed be the name of YHWH” (Job 1,21). This interpretation is possible, of course, Aristotle, Poetics, 11, 1452a30–32. 7 See J.L. SKA, “Et maintenant, je sais (Genèse 22,12)”, Palabra, Prodi- 8 gio, Poesía. In Memoriam Luis Alonso Schökel, S.J. (ed. V. COLLADO BERTOMEU) (Roma – Jávea [Alicante] 2003) 117-144 = “‘And Now I Know’ (Gen 22:12)”, ID., The Exegesis of the Pentateuch (FAT 66; Tübingen 2009) 111-138. See BLUM, Vätergeschichte, 322. 9 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati