Or, A Test of Faith That Is No Laughing Matter
Scripture: Genesis 22:1-24
Date: July 31, 2016
Speaker: Sean Higgins
No scene in Abraham’s life is more tense than this one. He’s faced famine, an angry Pharaoh, four Eastern overlords, a haughty maid and a jealous mistress, an angry king, and driving away his first son and that son’s mother from his house. He’s endured decades of barrenness in hope of one day having a child with his wife, Sarah. He’s even supplicated before God on behalf of others in light of their impending judgment. None of those things, perhaps not even all of them considered together, test Abraham’s faith like this.
Moses records the peak of Abraham’s pilgrimage of faith and obedience that takes place on a mountain. Abraham and Isaac would never forget this mountaintop experience, they would never forget God’s provision, and we would probably talk about this story even more if we didn’t have a similar, but more significant story like it. We know another Father who actually went through with the sacrifice of His only Son.
In Genesis 21 Abraham celebrated the birth and weaning of Isaac. He and Sarah, and all who heard it, laughed in amazement and thankfulness to the LORD who caused it to happen. But when Ishmael mocked, whether he mocked his baby brother or the festive banquet, Sarah angrily told Abraham to banish Ishmael and Hagar. God confirmed this and affirmed that through Isaac Abraham’s offspring would be named. The small hiccup with Abimelech even worked out well, giving Abraham a place to put down roots for a while. God’s Word was unfolding before Abraham’s eyes.
And then he received another word from God, a word that appears to threaten God’s promise of and through Isaac. Now God commands Abraham to sacrifice the son of his love, the miracle boy, the fulfillment of promise of offspring. This test was no laughing matter.
In Genesis 22 we’ll see God provide a test, a substitute, an oath, and a future.
The readers learn up front the divine perspective on what is about to happen, unlike Abraham, who was in the dark similar to Job. Moses tells us to prepare us. After these things God tested Abraham . After the treaty (or two) with Abimelech, after losing Ishmael, God returns with His most difficult word to Abraham ever.
God said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” The extra interchange gets our attention just as God gets Abraham’s. ”Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and…” what? How many other great things could have finished this command? “Take him to Moriah and I will show him my glory.” Or, “Take him to Moriah and pass the covenant mantle.” ”Take your son…and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” How far out of Abraham’s imagination must this have been? It wasn’t just that Isaac was going to die, Abraham himself must kill his own son. Is such a command even right? Wasn’t it the god Molech who demanded child sacrifice from his followers? How much more awful a word could he get from God than this?
The description of Isaac is slow, detailed, and personal. This is father and son. This is the only son. This is the promised son of laughter; that’s what his name means. This is a (rightly) beloved son. This son, this most prized gift from God, must be sacrificed. Obedience to this command will be of greatest cost. A burnt offering was usually an animal that was killed, placed on the altar, and consumed by fire as a picture of the complete consecration of the worshipper. God tells Abraham, “Offer Issac.”
Abraham makes no argument, offers no supplication for himself or his son. He rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac . The last mention of an early rising was in chapter 21 when Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. He also prepares an animal to carry provision and servants to help, none of which he provided for Hagar. He even cut the wood for the burnt offering , which seems strange not only to do while still at home, far way from the destination, but also to do it after getting everyone ready to go. Was he trying to put off the worst part until the last moment?
Three days later Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. The only other mention of Moriah in the Old Testament is 2 Chronicles 3:1 which reveals that Solomon’s temple was built on a Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. If this is the same location, a journey from Beersheba to Jerusalem was roughly fifty miles, and the duration over such a distance gave Abraham a lot of time to think about his task, or even to turn back.
God does not require him to put his son immediately to death, but compels him to revolve this execution in his mind during three whole days, that in preparing to sacrifice his son, he may still more severely torture all his own senses. (Calvin)
Nothing is recorded about any talking on the trip until Abraham told his men to stay put while he and Isaac would go on. Why did these young men come at all? Most importantly, Abraham told them, ”I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Without the New Testament commentary, we would be left to guess why Abraham said this. Is he trying to deceive them? The author of Hebrews said that Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead (see Hebrews 11:19).
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife . Maybe the donkey couldn’t climb where they needed to go. Otherwise, they had almost everything they needed.
Isaac asked the obvious question. It appears that there had not been much conversation. He had to get his father’s attention, and the father replied very formally to his son. Then the question: ”Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham’s answer is full of faith, but it is interesting that Isaac doesn’t follow up. Abraham replied that ”God will provide for himself a lamb,” but wouldn’t it be reasonable for Isaac to say, “Great. Then why am I carrying all this wood? Couldn’t God provide that, too?” But all Moses tells us is that, for a second time, They went both of them together.
The time had come. They’ve arrived at the place and the detailed description of preparation prolongs the suspense.
Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood . “Wait a second, dad! Where is the lamb you said God would provide?” What did Isaac think when his dad started tying up his hands and feet?
The emphasis is not on Isaac, but Isaac submitted to the sacrifice. He was a willing victim. His dad must have told him more at some point. If Abraham had wanted to keep it a surprise, he could have slit Isaac’s throat from behind when Isaac wasn’t expecting anything. The Hebrew word for bound is used only here in the OT. Usually a burnt offering was killed and then laid on the altar. Isaac is still alive when put on the altar.
We don’t know exactly how old he was at this point, but if he was ten, or fifteen, and able to carry a pile of wood on his back, then he could have put up some resistance or at least outran his 110-115 year old father. But he accepted being bound.
Then the moment of finishing faith. Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son . He trusts God and the decision clicked in his heart. Abraham puts the promised son on the line, believing that obeying God is the way to blessing. He hadn’t always trusted like this. This is the ultimate test.
But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” What a welcome interruption! A moment later and no good for Isaac. A moment earlier and no good for Abraham, at least in terms of the test. For the third time in the chapter Abraham replies, ”Here am I.” And the angel of the LORD said, ”Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
God already knew what was in Abraham’s heart. He knew Abraham believed and He counted it as righteousness to Abraham. This obedience justified the belief in real time, justified in the sense of proving it. That’s how the apostle James understood this very act in his letter, James 2:21. Abraham demonstrated his obedience before God, and it also had benefit for Abraham’s own confidence. Isaac was a gift from God, not a replacement for God. He passed the test.
And God provided a substitute. As God opened Hagar’s eyes to see a well, Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns . It was a ram, not a lamb, and Abraham offered it as the burnt offering.
So Abraham called the name of that place, (Yahweh-yireh or) “The LORD will provide.” It could be translated “The LORD will see” with the implication that when God sees a need He will meet it. Abraham did not name the place according to his passing the test but according to the LORD’s provision. The LORD receives the praise.
Though some suggest that these verses must have been added later, these verses finish the scene on Mt. Moriah with a great affirmation. The test with Isaac will have ramifications for generations to come.
This is the final word of the promises from the LORD to Abraham in Genesis. It is the only time in Genesis, before or after here, that God swears by His own name. ”By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you.” Added to stars of heaven as a measuring unit, ”I will multiply your offspring…as the sand that is on the seashore.” Those offspring ”shall possess the gate of his enemies,” so they will possess the land by victory over enemies not just a peacefully moving in.
[H]is descendants will be numerous (v. 17a), victorious (v. 17b), and influential (v. 18). They shall prosper because Abraham was faithful. (Hamilton)
The obedience of Abraham did not earn the fulfillment, his obedience was part of the promise and the fulfillment a consequence of God’s plan.
Abraham and Isaac returned to the young men and then back to Beersheba. How soon did they start telling the story? What did Sarah think when she heard it?
The final paragraph in chapter 22 is a genealogy of Abraham’s brother Nahor. It’s an odd place for it, except to build on a key point in the previous paragraph, or at least foreshadow the building. It also starts with the same phrase that started verse 1: (and it came to pass) after these things .
In chapter 21, after God spared Ishmael from death and promised to make him into a nation, Hagar found a wife for him. Wives are an important part of culture building (in more ways than one). So now after Isaac’s life is spared and a reaffirmation of his offspring is given, he will need a wife.
The only woman mentioned among twelve brothers is Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel, making her the granddaughter of Nahor. We won’t actually meet her until chapter 24, but it was told to Abraham probably by some traveler that he had family. It is not obvious where the report ends; it seems to end after verse 22, so Abraham did not know about Rebekah specifically before he sent a servant to find a wife for his son. But he knew God had provided him family for a future.
There is a school of preaching that requires every sermon to point to Jesus. If a sermon doesn’t explicitly mention Christ, it isn’t a Christian sermon. I think that’s a misunderstanding of God’s revelation and, because of the other liturgical parts of our worship, we do not go any Lord’s Day without direct reference to Him and believing reverence for Him anyway. I do not “point to Jesus” from every verse in Genesis, though I do believe that Genesis begins to get us to Jesus.
This father-son-sacrifice-substitute story in Genesis 22 does, I think, prompt a bit more comment for those of us blessed with 66 book Bibles. The NT writers pick up on the description of “only son” and carrying wood, on a Father’s initiation and a Son’s submission. The greater offering is the gospel offering.
In Genesis the potential sacrifice of Isaac tests faith but in the Gospel the actual sacrifice of Jesus purchases faith, and the one sacrificed is the object of our faith. In Genesis Abraham sacrifices a ram instead of his son, in the Gospel God sacrifices His Son instead of rebels. God does provide. The love of the Father for the Son is infinite and eternal. And He went through with it. This was necessary so that we could be saved. Jesus was crucified on a mountain outside of Jerusalem and in Him all the nations are blessed.
Soul, then know thy full salvation
Rise o’er sin and fear and care
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
Think what Father’s smiles are thine,
Think that Jesus died to win thee,
Child of heaven, canst thou repine.