Genesis 22:1-8

This incident took place some time after the events recorded in the chapters immediately preceding this one, evidently several years later.

God’s revelation to Abraham (His eighth recorded in Scripture) came to test Abraham’s faith (i.e., to prove its character and strength; cf. James 2:21-23).

"Life is a succession of tests, for character is only possible through discipline." [Note: Thomas, p. 195.]

God was testing Abraham’s love for Himself as well as his faith (Genesis 22:2). Such testing (Heb. nsh) shows what someone is really like, and it usually involves difficulty or hardship (cf. Exodus 15:25; Exodus 16:4; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; Deuteronomy 13:3; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:1; Judges 3:4; 1 Kings 10:1; Daniel 1:12; Daniel 1:14).

"This scene presents the radical nature of true faith: tremendous demands and incredible blessings." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 301.]

"The . . . best approach to the passage is that God commanded an actual human sacrifice and Abraham intended to obey Him fully." [Note: Davis, p. 217.]

The land of Moriah was the mountainous country around Jerusalem. It stood about 45 miles north of Beersheba. On these mountains God later appeared to David who built an altar to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:16-25). Here also Solomon built his temple (2 Chronicles 3:1) and Jesus Christ died. A mountain was a suitable place for Abraham to meet God (cf. Genesis 22:14). [Note: See Appendix 3 at the end of these notes for an article about Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.]

Genesis 22:1-2 relate another call God gave Abraham that parallels the one in Genesis 12:1-3 where God told him to leave where he was and go to another land.

"The repetition of these motifs forms an inclusio in the narrative structure of the Abrahamic narrative, pointing out the complete cycle in the patriarch’s experience. The allusion to the former call would also have prompted obedience to the present one, in many ways a more difficult journey in God’s direction." [Note: Ross, Creation and . . ., p. 394. Cf. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, p, 283.]

The Lord was not asking Abraham to make any greater sacrifices to Him, the true God, than his pagan neighbors were willing to make to their false gods. Canaanite religion involved child sacrifice, but we do not know for sure that the Canaanites practiced it as early as Abraham’s time. [Note: See Everyday Life in Bible Times, p. 91; and The New Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Canaan, Canaanite," p. 186.]

"The demand [to sacrifice Isaac] was indeed only made to prove that Abraham was not behind the heathen in the self-denying surrender of his dearest to his God, and that when the demand had been complied with in spirit, the external fulfillment might be rejected." [Note: Delitzsch, 2:91.]

The words used to describe Isaac in this chapter, as well as what Moses said of him, indicate that he was probably a young man at this time (Genesis 22:6). Josephus said he was 25 years old. [Note: Josephus, 1:13:43.]

"There are indications to suggest that the meaning of Abba in Mark 14:36 is to be found in the light of its whole context and Genesis 22. Jesus’ final trial in Gethsemane appears to be modelled on the supreme trial of Abraham and Isaac. Despite his horror and anguish before the prospect of an imminent sacrificial death, Isaac calls to Abraham his Abba and, as a faithful son, obeys the voice of God speaking through his father. Parallel to this, Jesus says Abba to God in the same way that Isaac does to Abraham. In this context, Abba has the meaning of ’father’ in the sense of a relationship to a devoted and obedient son. In Jesus’ supreme hour of trial, it is his trust and obedience to God as Abba that carries him through, even to the cross. This meaning of Abba may prompt further study of the significance of son in other NT texts to discover whether the obediential aspect may be more prominent than has been suspected. The father-son relationship in Genesis 22 may be a far-reaching New Testament model of that between Jesus and God." [Note: Joseph A. Grassi, "Abba, Father (Mark 14:36): Another Approach," Journal of the American Academy of Religion 50:3 (September 1982):455.]

Abraham referred to the sacrifice he would offer, supposedly Isaac, but really God’s substitute for Isaac, as "the lamb." This statement (Genesis 22:8), of course, proved prophetic of Jesus Christ as well (John 1:29). Abraham spoke better than he knew.