God made Abraham all but sacrifice his son Isaac, as a test of faith
(Genesis 22)

This almost certainly is a literary fabrication, not something that really happened

In Genesis 22, we read how the Lord urges Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, as evidence of his unconditional submission to God. Just when Abraham is about to slay his only son, an angel intervenes and tells Abraham to sacrifice a ram instead. Killing Isaac was just a very sick practical joke to test Abraham's faith!

Scholars have pointed out that it is also a very 'unbiblical' story. Nowhere else in the bible, humans are sacrificed. In fact, the bible repeatedly and explicitly forbids human sacrifices (Lev 18:21, Deut 12:31).

But in Greek mythology, it is quite common. And this is probably where the story of Abraham comes from: it is a direct copy-paste of a well-known, classic theme from Greek mythology.

In Homer’s Ilias for example, the Greek Trojan hero Agamemnon is told to sacrifice his daughter to the god Artemis. Just when Agamemnon is about to do it, Artemis intervenes and offers Agamemnon a hind to sacrifice instead.

In another Greek myth, the gods order a king named Athamas to sacrifice his son. This too doesn’t happen. This time, a heavenly ram intervenes and in the end gets sacrificed instead.

So whoever wrote Genesis probably 'borrowed' a golden oldie from Greek mythology to 'pimp' the story of Abraham.

This adds to what theologists already know: it is very unlikely that Abraham really existed as a historical figure, as you can read elsewhere on this site.

There is a weird contradiction in the bible. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his 'only son' (Gen 22:2). But Abraham had two sons at the time, Ismael and Isaac.

This triggered a fierce debate between Muslims and Jews. In the Quran, the sacrificed son isn't mentioned by name. That's why many Muslims believe that Abraham put not Isaac, but Ishmael on the altar of sacrifice. The incident must have happened when Abraham had only one son, Muslims argue.

Jews on the other hand point out that Isaac was Abraham's only son of importance. After all, Isaac was the only heir to Abraham's pact with God.

Marcel Hulspas, "En de zee spleet in tweeen" (2006)

Sam Shamoun: "Abraham and the child of sacrifice: Isaac or Ishmael?"