Remember the story about Abraham and Isaac? How Sarai was barren and then has given a child when Abraham was a hundred years old.

And then…

Genesis 22.2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Kind of cold isn’t it? For one thing, there was no need to test Abraham as God can see everyone’s thoughts and knew his mind. Secondly, God gave Abraham all kinds of promises about his future. For example...

Genesis 12.2
.And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

or

Genesis 17.3
And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

or

Genesis 17.7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

So what was Abraham supposed to think? That God demands him to kill his “legitimate” son Isaac and all the burden of producing great nations will lay upon his bastard son Ishmael?

Or even worse, that the request to kill his son was a fake, for how could generations of Isaac “multiply exceedingly” if Abraham will slay him?

In either case, this was kind of cold of God. And if God herself is cold, what is to expect from people who are made in his image?