The First Book of Moses, called Genesis
Genesis 22
Chapter XXII · Vol. I, pp. 246–249
1 Abraham is tempted to offer Isaac. 3 He giveth proof of his faith and obedience. 11 The angel stayeth him. 13 Isaac is exchanged with a ram. 14 The place is called Jehovah-jireh. 15 Abraham is blessed again. 20 The generations of Nahor, from whom came Rebekah.
1 AND it came to pass after these things, that aGod did tempt3 Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Behold, here I am.4
B.C. 1872.
a He. 11.7. 2 Sa. 24.1, with Ja. 1.13.
3 'God,' says James, 1. 13, 'is not tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man.' How then does this consort with the statement that God tempted Abraham? God tempteth no man to evil; but God trieth the faith of his children by labours, difficulty, affliction, self-denial, and sacrifice.—C.——'Try' would be a more appropriate word here than 'tempt.' Temptation, as we understand it, implies 'inducement to sin.' Nothing of the kind is, or can be, implied here. Trial is often man's best teacher. He knows not his own weakness and want on the one hand, nor his own courage and faith on the other, until he has been tried. Trial therefore is a wholesome discipline to the person tried. Besides, God is pleased to instruct the world by examples as well as by direct precept. The example of Abraham's faith and devotion to God has cheered and instructed the universal church.—P.
4 Heb. behold me.
2 And he said, Take now bthy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of cMoriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
b ch. 21.12. Jn. 3.16. Ro. 5.8. 1 Jn. 4.9,10.
c 2 Ch. 3.1. Here the temple was afterward built.
3 And Abraham drose up early4 in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and ewent unto the place of which God had told him.
A.M. 2132. B.C. 1872.
d ch. 21.14. Ps. 119.60. Ec. 9.10. He. 11.19.
4 The early rising, the saddling of the ass and cleaving the wood, and continuing three days on the journey, are remarkable instances of the deliberate obedience of Abraham.—C.
e ver. 2. Mar. 10.28-34. De. 12.32. Jn. 8.29. He. 5.8. Phi. 2.8.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abideg ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.5
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and hlaid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife: and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb6 for a burnt-offering?
6 Or, kid.
8 And Abraham said, My son, iGod will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together.
i 2 Ch. 25.9. ch. 18.14. Mat. 19.26.
9 And they came to the kplace which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and llaid him on the altar upon the wood.
k ver. 2-4. Mat. xxi. xxvi. xxvii.
l Ja. 2.21-23. He. 11.17-19. Is. 53.4-6,10. Mat. 8.20; xxvi. xxvii. 2 Co. 5.21. Ga. 3.13. Phi. 2.7,8. He. 2.9,10; 9.28. 1 Pe. 2.24; 3.18.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the mangel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I.
m ch. 16.7; 21.17; ver. 16.
12 And he said, nLay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now oI know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.
n He. 11.19. 2 Co. 8.12. 1 Co. 10.13. Job 5.19.
o Mat. 5.16; 16.24; 10.37,38; 19.29. Jn. 2.18,21, with Jn 3.16. Ro. 5.8. 1 Jn. 4.9,10.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, pbehind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
A.M. 2132. B.C. 1872.
p Is. 30.21; ver. 8. Ps. 89.19,20. 1 Pe. 1.19. Pr. 8.23,31. Ps. 40.6-8. Je. 30.21.
14 And Abraham qcalled the name of that place Jehovah-jireh:7 as it is said to this day, rIn the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
q Ex. 17.15. Ju. 6.24. Eze. 48.35.
7 That is, the LORD will see or provide, ver. 8, 13. [Jehovah-jireh, the LORD will be seen, or the LORD will provide. He was seen in covenant mercy to Isaac, for whom he provided a substitute.—C.]
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, sBy myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son;
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying tI will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess uthe gate of his enemies:8
t ch. 12.2; 13.16; 15.5; 17.6; 26.4; 28.3,14, &c. Je. 32.22.
u Power over them, ch. 24.60. De. 21.19. Ps. 2.8,9. Da. 2.44,45. 1 Co. 15.57.
8 Every term most expressive of an incalculable multitude appears appropriated to the race saved in union with Abraham, through the virtue of the one Seed. Thus they were to be as the particles of dust covering the globe, ch. 13.16; and here, as the stars in the firmament, and the sand on the coasts of the oceans, lakes, or rivers.—Davidson.
18 Andx in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
x ch. 12.3; 18.18; 26.4. Ac. 3.25. Ga. 3.8,29. Ps. 72.17. Ep. 1.3. Ro. 8.17.
19 So Abraham returned unto his young men; and they rose up and went together to yBeersheba: and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
y See ch. 21.31. Jos. 15.28. Ju. 20.1.
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was ztold Abraham, saying, Behold, aMilcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
z Pr. 25.25.
a ch. 11.29; 24.15,24.
23 And Bethuel begat eRebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
e ch. 24.15,24,67. Ro. 9.10.
24 And his fconcubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
f Half-wife, ch. 16.3. with 25.6.
Notes
Ver. 1. God tempts no man by enticing him to sin, Ja. 1. 13; nor doth the word nissah here used ever signify any such thing, but to try exquisitely; nor doth God try men in order to promote or confirm his own knowledge of them, but to manifest what they are to themselves and to the world, that his rewarding or punishing them may appear the more wise and equal, or his blessing them the more gracious, De. 3. 2; 13. 3; Ju. 2. 22; 2 Ch. 32. 31; Ps. 139. 23, 24; 1 Co. 10. 13; Ex. 15. 25; 16. 4; Ja. 1. 12; 1 Sa. 3. 4, 6. By this command God tried the faith of Abraham with respect to his believing that in Isaac his seed should be called; and that through the death of the Messiah he and other believers should obtain everlasting salvation; and tried his obedience in the most tender point that could be conceived—his deliberate slaying of his darling, his only son by his wife, his only son now left in his own house, ch. 21. 1, 12, 14.
Ver. 2. [Moriah signifies 'the vision' or 'manifestation of Jehovah.' The name is here given to 'the land' on one of whose mountains the sacrifice was to be offered up; it is also given to the mountain on which the temple was built. The common belief is that these two places were identical, and we see no reason to doubt or question it. Mount Moriah is an oblong-shaped hill, or rather point of a ridge, having the deep glen of the Tyropœon on the west, and the Kidron on the east. The glens unite at the foot of the hill on the south. The elevation of the summit above the bottom of the glens is about 350 feet. Moriah is now crowned by the Great Mosque, and is one of the most venerated sanctuaries of the Mohammedans. P.]
Ver. 5. He firmly believed that God would restore his son to life from the ashes into which he expected he would be burned, and cause him to come back with him, He. 11. 19.
Ver. 6. As Isaac bore the wood, so Christ bore our sins and his cross, the cause and means of his suffering, Is. 53. 6; 1 Pe. 2. 24; Jn. 19. 17; and so we ought to bear our cross, Lu. 14. 27.
Ver. 9. Isaac, though able to resist, yielded up himself, as typical of Christ's voluntary oblation of himself for us, Phi. 2. 8; Ep. 5. 2; Ac. 8. 32.
Ver. 12. After lying under a sentence of death three days, Isaac was released by the orders of Heaven, as a figure of Christ's resurrection on the third day, 1 Co. 15. 3, 4; Mat. 16. 21; 17. 23; 20. 19; Lu. 13. 32.
Ver. 13. This ram was directed hither by divine providence, as a figure of Christ appointed of God, and engaged to make atonement for our sins, 1 Pe. 1. 19; Job 33. 24.
Ver. 14. In the extremities of distress God interposeth as an helper and deliverer, De. 32. 36; Mi. 4. 10; Mat. 15. 32. And on Mount Moriah in the temple God was long manifested in the symbols of his presence, 2 Ch. 3. 1; Ps. 76. 2; and there Jesus often appeared while in the flesh, Hag. 2. 7; Jn. ii. v. vii.-x.
Ver. 16-18. He. 6. 13-18, 'When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, &c.—an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife; wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, his word and oath, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.' The promises here solemnly confirmed by oath almost wholly related to his Hebrew and his spiritual seed, ch. 21. 12. To possess the gates of their enemies, is to obtain their country, or have dominion over them, and rule among them, ch. 24. 60; De. 21. 19; 22. 24; 25. 7. The Jews had temporal dominion over their enemies in the time of Joshua, David, &c., Jos. vi.-xix.; 2 Sa. viii. x. And Christ and his people have a spiritual dominion over theirs, Ps. 2. 8, 9; 22. 27-30; Da. 4. 34, 35; Col. 2. 15; 1 Co. 15. 25, 57; Ro. 8. 37.
Ver. 24. Concubines were women of a middle condition, between wives and harlots; a kind of half-wives, sharing in bed and board, but not in the government of the family, ch. 25. 1, 6; 30. 4; 35. 22; Ju. 19. 1; 1 Ki. 11. 3; 1 Ch. 1. 32. They served under the lawful wives, if alive, ch. 16. 6, 7; 32. 22; and their children had no title to the inheritance, ch. 25. 5, 6.
Reflections.—How necessary to count the cost when we enter upon a religious life! for who knows how many and how great our trials in it may be, since trials are increased in proportion to men's faith and spiritual comfort. Those trials are most afflicting to the believer which not only fly in the face of natural affection, or of outward honour and pleasure, but even threaten to frustrate the promises of God; yet thrice happy are they who, under the sorest trials, heartily acquiesce in the will of God, and firmly cleave to his promise, who, though he slay them, yet will still trust in him! For often when the nights of trial are at the very darkest, the Lord steps in, compasseth them about with songs of deliverance, and blesseth with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. But while I admire the faith and obedience of Abraham, and the cheerful submission of Isaac—while I place these bright examples before me—my faith directs me to more glorious objects: let me with astonishment think of Jehovah bringing his only begotten Son into this world, permitting him to be laid on the altar, and through his sacrifice forgiving our sins! Let me behold Jesus caught, seasonably caught, in the thickets of men's wilful transgressions of his own compassion, and of our transgressions resting on him, and borne in our stead! Let me listen to the new testament in his blood, in which Jehovah swears that men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed