What did Abraham do to please God?

Answer 1

A:

A famous story in Genesis tells of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, as commanded by God. Because of this, Abraham is universally seen as a great role model for his selfless willingness to make the greatest sacrifice a parent could ever make. However, it appears that in the context of the first half of the first millennium BCE, when the stories of the Patriarchs developed and were written down, the willingness to sacrifice one's son was not as unusual as it would appear.

Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God) says that not only did the Israelites perform child sacrifices during pre-Exilic times, they appear to have performed these sacrifices to God (YHWH - 'Yahweh'). He says that Ezekiel 20:25-26 provides a theological rationale for Yahweh causing child sacrifice: "Moreover I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not have life; and I defiled them through their very gifts in making them offer by fire all their first-born, that I might horrify, them; I did it that they might know that I am the Lord."

ANOTHER ANSWER:

According to God, Abraham pleased Him: "Because that Abraham OBEYED MY VOICE, and KEPT MY CHARGE, MY COMMANDMENTS, MY STATUTES, and MY LAWS." (Gen.26:5 KJV)

These are the things God has always commanded of His people... of ALL OF MANKIND, beginning with Adam and Eve.

This was the covenant He made with Abraham's descendants, centuries later: "Now therefore, IF YE WILL OBEY MY VOICE INDEED, and keep My covenant [agreement], then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of Priests, and an Holy Nation..." (Ex.19:5-6)

And it's what very few people have done down through the ages; OBEY GOD'S LAWS. Including Abraham's own descendants, as alluded to above in the first answer. However, God didn't MAKE them do what they did. It's what THEY WANTED... and He ALLOWED them to do what they wanted, to teach them the horrors of "sin" [disobedience to God's Laws - I John 3:4]:

" 'I AM the LORD your God,' I told them. 'Follow My Laws, pay attention to My instructions, and keep My Sabbath Days Holy, for they are a SIGN to remind you that I AM the LORD your God.' But their children, too, REBELLED AGAINST ME. They refused to keep My Laws and follow My instructions, even though obeying them would have GIVEN THEM LIFE. And they violated My Sabbath Days... But I took a solemn oath against them while they were in the wilderness. I vowed I would scatter them among all the nations BECAUSE THEY DID NOT OBEY MY LAWS. They scorned My instructions by violating My Sabbath Days and longing for the idols of their ancestors.' " (Ezek.20:19-24 NLT New Living Translation)

"I GAVE THEM OVER TO WORTHLESS CUSTOMS and LAWS that would not lead to life. I LET THEM pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them, and I ALLOWED them to give their firstborn children as offerings to THEIR GODS [the gods they preferred of the pagan nations around them] - so I might devastate them and show them that I alone AM the LORD." (verses 25-26)

But, Abraham "obeyed the voice of God," as Genesis 26:5 states. And this is what "pleases" God.

"...Jesus said... 'I do nothing on My own, but I speak what the Father taught Me. And the One who sent Me is with Me - He has not deserted Me. For I ALWAYS DO those things that are PLEASING to Him.'" (John 8:28-29 NLT)

"You are My friends IF YOU OBEY ME." (John 15:14 NLT)

"I COMMAND YOU TO LOVE EACH OTHER IN THE SAME WAY THAT I LOVE YOU." (verse 12)

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but LET GOD TRANSFORM YOU into a new person by CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how Good and PLEASING and Perfect His Will really is." (Rom.12:2 NLT)

God's command to His creation, mankind, is to OBEY HIS VOICE. This is what PLEASES Him. That's what Abraham did -- THROUGH FAITH.

Just "believing" something about God [as the religions of this world teach] isn't enough. You have to know WHAT to believe... and that is "believe what He SAYS!" And OBEY WHAT HE SAYS.

"Let this encourage God's Holy People to endure persecution patiently and remain firm to the end, OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS and TRUSTING in Jesus." (Rev.14:12 NLT)

"So you see, IT ISN'T ENOUGH JUST TO HAVE FAITH. Faith that doesn't show itself by GOOD DEEDS [obedience] is NO FAITH AT ALL - it is DEAD and USELESS." (James 2:17 NLT)

The two; Faith and Works, must WORK TOGETHER. And these two things came together in Abraham, who allowed God to "transform" him. This is what "pleased" God.

Jewish answer:

Let's look in some detail at how Abraham strove to please God:

Abraham (18th century BCE) came from ancestry that had been God-fearing a couple of centuries earlier but had afterwards slipped into idolatry (Joshua 24:2). Nimrod, the idolatrous tyrant, had brought Abraham's father (Terah) from the Semitic ancestral seat near the conjunction of the Balikh and the Euphrates, and instated him in a position of power in his army in the royal Babylonian city of Ur, where Abraham was born. Nimrod persecuted any who would question his idolatrous cult.
The Kuzari (Rabbi Judah HaLevi, 1075-1141) states that Abraham was gifted with high intelligence; and, as Maimonides (1135-1204) describes, Abraham didn't blindly accept the ubiquitous idolatry. The whole populace had been duped, but the young Abraham contemplated the matter relentlessly, finally arriving at the conclusion that there is One God and that this should be taught to others as well. This is what is meant by his "calling out in the name of the Lord" (Genesis ch.12). As a young man, he remonstrated with passersby in public, demonstrating to them the falsehood of their idols; and our tradition tells how he was threatened and endangered by Nimrod.
Subsequently, Terah relocated to Harran; and it is here that Abraham began to develop a circle of disciples (Rashi commentary, on Genesis 12:5).
Later, God told Abraham in prophecy to move to the Holy Land, which is where Abraham raised his family.
He continued his contemplations, eventually arriving at the attitudes and forms of behavior which God later incorporated into the Torah given to Moses.
Abraham, with God's help, singlehandedly trounced the supremacy of the evil Nimrod. He received God's promise of inheriting the Holy Land (Genesis 13). He strove to raise a family (Genesis ch.15, 17, and 24) which would serve God (Genesis 18:19); and God eventually blessed his efforts, granting him many children (ibid., ch.16, 21 and 25), as He had promised (Genesis ch.17). Abraham founded the Jewish people and lived to see his work live on in the persons of Isaac and Jacob; and he taught many other disciples as well (Talmud, Yoma 28b). He saved the population of the south of Canaan from invading foreign kings (Genesis 14); and he was feared by neighboring kings (ibid., ch.12 and 20). Abraham gave tithes (Genesis ch.14), entered into a covenant with God (Genesis ch.15 and 17), welcomed guests into his home (Genesis ch.18) unlike the inhospitable Sodomites (Genesis ch.19), prayed for people (Genesis ch.18), rebuked others when necessary (Genesis ch.20), eulogized and buried the deceased (Genesis ch.23), and fulfilled God's will unquestioningly (Genesis ch.22). He became renowned as a prince of God (Genesis 23:6).
All of these forms of behavior were based upon the ways of God, which Abraham comprehended through his contemplations. These, and similar personality traits, were the teachings of Abraham and his descendants (unlike idolatry, which had tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the idols were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior).
It is therefore clear why God expresses His love for Abraham (Isaiah 41:8) and calls Himself the God of Abraham (Genesis 26:24), and says that Abraham obeyed Him fully (Genesis 26:5). And this is why, according to our tradition, Abraham is credited with having begun the religion which became known as Judaism.