Genesis 22

1 And after that these things were done, God assayed Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! Abraham! He answered, I am present (I am here).

2 God said to him, Take thine one begotten son, whom thou lovest, Isaac; and go into the land of vision, and offer thou him there into burnt sacrifice on one of the hills which I shall show to thee. (And God said to him, Take Isaac, thy only son, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah; and there thou shalt offer him as a burnt sacrifice on one of the hills which I shall show to thee.)

3 Therefore Abraham rose by night, and saddled his ass, and led with him two young men, and Isaac his son; and when he had hewn trees into burnt sacrifice, he went to the place which God had commanded to him. (And so Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men, and his son Isaac; and when he had cut the wood for the burnt sacrifice, he went to the place to which God had commanded him to go.)

4 Forsooth in the third day (And on the third day), he raised [up] his eyes, and saw a place afar (off);

5 and he said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, I and the child shall go thither; and after that we have worshipped, we shall turn again to you. (and he said to his young men, Wait ye here with the donkey, while I and the boy go over there; and after we have worshipped, we shall return to you.)

6 And he took the wood of burnt sacrifice, and laid (it) on Isaac his son; forsooth he bare fire, and a sword in his hands. And when they twain went together, (And he took the wood for the burnt sacrifice, and laid it on his son Isaac; and he carried the fire, and a knife in his hands. And as the two of them went together,)

7 Isaac said to his father, My father! And he answered, What wilt thou, (my) son? (And) He said, Lo! fire and wood, where is the beast of burnt sacrifice? (but where is the beast for the burnt sacrifice?)

8 Abraham said, My son, God shall purvey to him the beast of burnt sacrifice. Therefore they went together, (And Abraham said, My son, God himself shall provide the beast for the burnt sacrifice. And so they went together,)

9 and came to the place which God had showed to him; in which place Abraham builded an altar, and dressed [the] wood above; and when he had bound (al)together Isaac, his son (and when he had bound up his son Isaac), he laid Isaac on the altar, upon the heap of wood.

10 And he held forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son. (And he stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to sacrifice his son.)

11 And lo! the angel of the Lord cried from heaven, and said, Abraham! Abraham! Which answered, I am present (I am here).

12 And the angel said to him, Hold thou not forth thine hand on the child, neither do thou anything (of harm) to him; now I know that thou dreadest God, and sparedest not thine one begotten son for me. (And the angel said to him, Do not thou raise thy hand against the boy, nor do thou any harm to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, for thou hast not withheld thy only son from me.)

13 Abraham raised [up] his eyes, and he saw behind him a ram cleaving by the horns among (the) briars, which he took, and offered (as a) burnt sacrifice for the son. (And Abraham raised up his eyes, and he saw behind him a ram caught by his horns among the briars, and he took the ram, and offered it as a burnt sacrifice in place of his son.)

14 And he called the name of that place The Lord seeth; wherefore it is said, till to this day, The Lord shall see in the hill. (And he called the name of that place Jehovahjireh; and so it is said, unto this day, In the hill of the Lord it shall be provided/it shall be seen.)

15 Forsooth the angel of the Lord called (to) Abraham the second time from heaven,

16 and said, The Lord saith, I have sworn by myself, for thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thine one begotten son for me, (and said, The Lord saith, I swear by myself, because thou hast done this thing, and thou hast not withheld thy only son from me,)

17 I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the gravel, either sand, which is in the brink of the sea; thy seed shall wield the gates of his enemies; (I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy descendants like the stars of the heavens, and like the gravel, or the sand, which is at the seashore; and thy descendants shall control the gates of their enemies;)

18 and all the folks of [the] earth shall be blessed in thy seed (and all the nations of the earth shall pray to be blessed as thy descendants be blessed/and through thy descendants I shall bless all the nations of the earth), for thou obeyedest to my voice.

19 Abraham turned again to his young men (And Abraham returned to his young men), and they went to Beersheba together, and he dwelled there.

20 And so when these things were done, it was told to Abraham that also Milcah had borne sons to Nahor his brother; (And after these things were done, it was told to Abraham that Milcah had borne sons to his brother Nahor;)

21 Huz the first begotten (Huz the first-born), and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel,

23 of whom Rebecca was born; Milcah childed these eight to Nahor, the brother of Abraham.

24 Forsooth his concubine, or secondary wife, Reumah by name, childed Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

Genesis 22 Commentary

Chapter 22

God commands Abraham to offer up Isaac. (1,2) Abraham's faith and obedience to the Divine command. (3-10) Another sacrifice is provided instead of Isaac. (11-14) The covenant with Abraham renewed. (15-19) The family of Nahor. (20-24)

Verses 1-2 We never are secure from trials In Hebrew, to tempt, and to try, or to prove, are expressed by the same word. Every trial is indeed a temptation, and tends to show the dispositions of the heart, whether holy or unholy. But God proved Abraham, not to draw him to sin, as Satan tempts. Strong faith is often exercised with strong trials, and put upon hard services. The command to offer up his son, is given in such language as makes the trial more grievous; every word here is a sword. Observe, 1. The person to be offered: Take thy son; not thy bullocks and thy lambs. How willingly would Abraham have parted with them all to redeem Isaac! Thy son; not thy servant. Thine only son; thine only son by Sarah. Take Isaac, that son whom thou lovest. 2. The place: three days' journey off; so that Abraham might have time to consider, and might deliberately obey. 3. The manner: Offer him fro a burnt-offering; not only kill his son, his Isaac, but kill him as a sacrifice; kill him with all that solemn pomp and ceremony, with which he used to offer his burnt-offerings.

Verses 3-10 Never was any gold tried in so hot a fire. Who but Abraham would not have argued with God? Such would have been the thought of a weak heart; but Abraham knew that he had to do with a God, even Jehovah. Faith had taught him not to argue, but to obey. He is sure that what God commands is good; that what he promises cannot be broken. In matters of God, whoever consults with flesh and blood, will never offer up his Isaac to God. The good patriarch rises early, and begins his sad journey. And now he travels three days, and Isaac still is in his sight! Misery is made worse when long continued. The expression, We will come again to you, shows that Abraham expected that Isaac, being raised from the dead, would return with him. It was a very affecting question that Isaac asked him, as they were going together: "My father," said Isaac; it was a melting word, which, one would think, should strike deeper in the heart of Abraham, than his knife could in the heart of Isaac. Yet he waits for his son's question. Then Abraham, where he meant not, prophesies: "My son, God will provide a lamb for a burnt-offering." The Holy Spirit, by his mouth, seems to predict the Lamb of God, which he has provided, and which taketh away the sin of the world. Abraham lays the wood in order for his Isaac's funeral pile, and now tells him the amazing news: Isaac, thou art the lamb which God has provided! Abraham, no doubt, comforting him with the same hopes with which he himself by faith was comforted. Yet it is necessary that the sacrifice be bound. The great Sacrifice, which, in the fulness of time, was to be offered up, must be bound, and so must Isaac. This being done, Abraham takes the knife, and stretches out his hand to give the fatal blow. Here is an act of faith and obedience, which deserves to be a spectacle to God, angels, and men. God, by his providence, calls us to part with an Isaac sometimes, and we must do it with ( 1 Samuel 18 )

Verses 11-14 It was not God's intention that Isaac should actually be sacrificed, yet nobler blood than that of animals, in due time, was to be shed for sin, even the blood of the only begotten Son of God. But in the mean while God would not in any case have human sacrifices used. Another sacrifice is provided. Reference must be had to the promised Messiah, the blessed Seed. Christ was sacrificed in our stead, as this ram instead of Isaac, and his death was our discharge. And observe, that the temple, the place of sacrifice, was afterwards built upon this same mount Moriah; and Calvary, where Christ was crucified, was near. A new name was given to that place, for the encouragement of all believers, to the end of the world, cheerfully to trust in God, and obey him. Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide; probably alluding to what Abraham had said, God will provide himself a lamb. The Lord will always have his eye upon his people, in their straits and distresses, that he may give them seasonable help.

Verses 15-19 There are high declarations of God's favour to Abraham in this confirmation of the covenant with him, exceeding any he had yet been blessed with. Those that are willing to part with any thing for God, shall have it made up to them with unspeakable advantage. The promise, ver. ( 18 ) , doubtless points at the Messiah, and the grace of the gospel. Hereby we know the loving-kindness of God our Saviour towards sinful man, in that he hath not withheld his Son, his only Son, from us. Hereby we perceive the love of Christ, in that he gave himself a sacrifice for our sins. Yet he lives, and calls to sinners to come to him, and partake of his blood-bought salvation. He calls to his redeemed people to rejoice in him, and to glorify him. What then shall we render for all his benefits? Let his love constrain us to live not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, and rose again. Admiring and adoring His grace, let us devote our all to his service, who laid down his life for our salvation. Whatever is dearest to us upon earth is our Isaac. And the only way for us to find comfort in an earthly thing, is to give it by faith into the hands of God. Yet remember that Abraham was not justified by his readiness to obey, but by the infinitely more noble obedience of Jesus Christ; his faith receiving this, relying on this, rejoicing in this, disposed and made him able for such wonderful self-denial and duty.

Verses 20-24 This chapter ends with some account of Nahor's family, who had settled at Haran. This seems to be given for the connexion which it had with the church of God. From thence Isaac and Jacob took wives; and before the account of those events this list is recorded. It shows that though Abraham saw his own family highly honoured with privileges, admitted into covenant, and blessed with the assurance of the promise, yet he did not look with disdain upon his relations, but was glad to hear of the increase and welfare of their families.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 22

In this chapter we have an account of an order given by God to Abraham to sacrifice his son, Ge 22:1,2; of his readiness to obey the will of God, he immediately preparing everything for that purpose, Ge 22:3-10, of the order being reversed, and another sacrifice substituted in its room, which occasioned the giving a new name to the place where it was done, Ge 22:11-14; upon which the promise of special blessings, of a numerous offspring, and of the seed in whom all nations should be blessed, is renewed, Ge 22:15-18; after this Abraham returns to Beersheba, where he is informed of the increase of his brother Nahor's family, Ge 22:19-24.