[Aquinasfan]

That was, of course, a human sacrifice, and fortunately (for Isaac) the Lord let Abraham off the hook..

The point is, He did let Abraham off the hook, in order to proove that He was not like the gods of other societies contemporary to the Jews.

[Billthedrill]

But He did accept the ram as a sacrifice, didn't He? And it was, after all, a rather common custom at the time.

[Marysecretary]

He was also testing Abraham's faith in Him. Abraham was willing to even sacrifice his son in order to be obedient to God. Naturally, God had other plans, but Abraham didn't know that.