And it came to pass after these things
Recorded in the preceding chapter: according to the Talmudists
F2, the following affair was transacted
quickly after the weaning of Isaac, when he was about five years
old, which is the opinion of some, as Aben Ezra on ( Genesis 22:4
) ; makes mention of; but that is an age when it can hardly be
thought he should be able to carry such a load of wood as was
sufficient to make a fire to consume a burnt offering, ( Genesis 22:6
) ; the age of thirteen, which he fixes upon, is more likely:
Josephus F3 says, that Isaac was twenty five
years of age; and in this year of his age Bishop Usher
F4 places this transaction, twenty
years after the weaning of him, in A. M. 2133, and before Christ
1871; and near to this is the computation of a Jewish chronologer
F5, who makes Isaac to be at this time
twenty six years of age; but some make him much older: according
to the Targum of Jonathan, he was at this time thirty six years
old; and it is the more generally received opinion of the Jewish
writers F6 that he was and with whom the Arabic
writers F7 agree: so that this affair, after
related, was thirty years after the weaning of Isaac and the
expulsion of Ishmael, supposing Isaac to be then five years old.
But, however this be, what came to pass was after many promises
of a son had been given him, and those fulfilled; and after many
blessings had been bestowed upon him; and when he seemed to be
well settled in the land of the Philistines, having entered into
an alliance with the king of the country; his family in peace,
and his son Isaac, the son of the promise, grown up and a hopeful
youth; the first appearance of which seemed to threaten the
destruction of all his comforts, hopes, and expectations; and it
was so, that God did tempt Abraham;
not to sin, as Satan does, for God tempts no man, nor can he be
tempted in this sense; and, had Abraham slain his son, it would
have been no sin in him, it being by the order of God, who is the
Lord of life, and the sovereign disposer of it; but he tempted
him, that is, he tried him, to prove him, and to know his faith
in him, his fear of him, his love to him, and cheerful obedience
to his commands; not in order to know these himself, which he was
not ignorant of, but to make them known to others, and that
Abraham's faith might be strengthened yet more and more, as in
the issue it was. The Jewish writers F8 observe, that Abraham
was tempted ten times, and that this was the tenth and last
temptation: and said unto him, Abraham:
calling him by his name he well knew, and by that name he had
given him, to signify that he should be the father of many
nations, ( Genesis 17:5
) ; and yet was going to require of him to slay his only son, and
offer him a sacrifice to him: and he said, behold, [here] I
[am];
signifying that he heard his voice, and was ready to obey his
commands, be they what they would.