Genesis 22:20

Genesis 22:20. It was told Abraham, &c.— The chief intention of this genealogy seems to be, to give us an account of the family of Rebekah, whom Isaac married: it connects with the beginning of ch. 24: And it was in consequence of the information here given Abraham, that he thought of seeking a wife for his son from this family. Huz or Uz here mentioned, is supposed to have given its name to Job's country, see Job 1:1. Note; It is a great comfort to hear of the prosperity of our friends; their joy is our own.

Further Reflections on the offering of Isaac, considered as a type of the Messiah.

Who can forbear here to think of the adorable mystery of redemption by Jesus Christ? "For God so loved the world, as not to spare his own Son, but deliver him unto the death for us all." Methinks the language of this whole transaction was as if God had said, "Ye children of men, hear you what my faithful servant and friend has done upon this mountain, in cheerfully sacrificing his only Son to testify his love to me. By the same method I will declare my love to a perishing world, by giving my only-begotten Son to fall a sacrifice for sin. In this mountain shall the sword of justice awake against him by his own consent; and what has now been done only in a figure, shall be really transacted at the appointed time. Meanwhile let rams, and other beasts, be sacrificed as a memorial of this grand burnt-offering; but let no human blood smoke upon my altars."

But more particularly to enumerate the important predictions of this prophetical history: it contained, first of all, a lively intimation, that in the fulness of time a human sacrifice should be offered up. Indeed, it is but just and equal that the nature which sinned, should suffer: for how can the blood of harmless beasts atone for the sins of guilty men? And this might seem to have been confessed by the horrid custom which obtained in the Gentile world, of sacrificing men to appease the wrath of their deities. But the Living and True God prohibited such direful offerings under the severest penalties; not only for their evident barbarity, but because they encroached upon the plan of his infinite wisdom, and anticipated the great Propitiation, who was to be a human Sacrifice, although he was no ordinary person, as Isaac was no ordinary son. Like Isaac, he was a Son and Heir, the Son of God, and the Heir of all things.—A Beloved Son; for he was daily his delight, before the mountains were brought forth: and oftener than once it was declared by a voice from the excellent Glory, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matthew 17:5.—An only Son; for angels and saints, though stiled the sons of God, have no claim to such a sonship as the filial Godhead is possessed of. Isaac's birth was altogether extraordinary, both by the father's and mother's side, surpassing the ordinary course of nature; but still more amazing is the generation of our atoning sacrifice, whose Father as God was the All-glorious JEHOVAH, and whose mother was a virgin. The event of his birth, like Isaac's, was long foretold, and ardently expected before it happened; but though long delayed, the promise was punctually fulfilled at the appointed time. Isaac's name imported laughter. In Jesus, the true Isaac, our mouths shall be filled with laughter, and our tongues with melody, and our hearts shall leap for joy.

Ask you the manner of his death? Behold it in this lively type. For as Isaac carried the wood, so the Beloved Son of God carried his cross. O ye children of men, your iniquities were the heavy load he bore in his own body on the tree. These, like the wood which was intended to reduce Isaac to ashes, rendered him combustible to the fire of Divine wrath.

It was for no crime that Isaac was to suffer death in this tragical manner; yet such was his filial piety, such was his reverence of the high command, that he made no attempt to save his life, though he was able to have done it, being arrived at his manhood. Even so the innocent Redeemer, in whom was found no cause of death, no, not by his very judge, abhorred not the ignominious cross: he spared to employ all the legions of angels that were ready at his beck; he never attempted to make his escape when his time was come, which he had often done before. Though he had thoroughly digested in his mind the doleful circumstances of his crucifixion, he betrayed not the least unwillingness to submit to his Heavenly Father's will, even when his human heart shrinked at the bitter cup. "I lay down," says he, "my life: no man taketh it from me," John 10:17-18. "Father, not my will, but thine be done," Luke 22:42.

It was by a wound from the hand of his Father alone that Isaac was to breathe out his soul; and by him alone was the funeral pile to be lighted up. For these purposes, we are informed in the sacred history, Abraham carried the fire and the knife. It was not the envy of the Jews; it was not the covetousness of Judas; it was not the irresolution of the cowardly Roman judge, which chiefly consigned our Isaac over to the tormenting cross: but being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, these only proved the sinful (because voluntary) executioners of the high decree. Thy burning anger against the sins of men, O Heavenly Father, was the fire that preyed upon his holy soul. Thy justice, inflexibly severe, was the keen slashing sword which awaked against him, and drank his vital Blood. "It pleased the Father to bruise him: thou didst put him to grief," Isaiah 53:10. And truly many of the sufferings of our dying Redeemer were of such a nature, as none but God could inflict, and none but God could have endured.

It is a circumstance by no means unworthy of our careful attention, that the true Propitiation was offered up in the same place where the beloved son of Abraham was to expire upon the altar. Ye mountains of Moriah, your name may now be JEHOVAH-JIREH for better reasons than Abraham's offering up his Isaac, for in these mountains the Lord was seen putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It was not possible for a mortal creature to give a higher document of love to God, than by sacrificing for his sake a dearly beloved and only son. The whole history is so amazing, that we know not whether we should most admire the strange commandment or the unparalleled obedience. Even so it was not possible for the immortal God to give a nobler demonstration of love to men, than by delivering for their sake his only-begotten Son to die for their offences. The whole transaction, from first to last, is of so uncommon a nature, and so foreign to every human plan for acceptance with God, that to the wise Greeks it was mere foolishness, and to the Jews a stumbling-block. As Abraham could not without faith have acquiesced in the precept, no more can we without faith truly acquiesce in the Gospel-plan. He consulted not with Sarah, when he was called to obey; and when we are called to believe, we must not consult with vain philosophy. Though in the mystery of redemption there is a depth of wisdom; yet, thy line, O reason, is too short to sound its bottom. Reason, in its depraved state, may not unfitly be compared to the patriarch's ass, which staid at the foot of the hill, but ascended not with Isaac to the sacrifice. It is the province of faith alone to ascend this hill of the Lord, and comprehend the love of God which passeth knowledge.

Isaac, it is true, was not sacrificed; and there was no need that God should raise him from the dead, as the patriarch perhaps expected. But as he was in a manner a dead man during the three days which intervened betwixt the sentence being passed upon him, and the reversing of it by the heavenly voice, it may be truly said, that "in a figure he was received from the dead," Hebrews 11:19. Exactly so, our true Isaac was received on the third day from the dead, not in a figure only. Like Isaac, he received no harm; but, "O death, he was thy plagues; O grave, he was thy destruction," Hosea 13:14. Like Isaac, he returned to his Father's house from whence he came, and became a Father of many nations, who are begotten again to a lively hope by his resurrection from the dead: for thus the prophet Isaiah foretels, with admirable plainness and propriety, "When thou, (O Heavenly Father,) shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand," Isaiah 53:10.

Forbear, ye children of men, anxiously to inquire, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and how shall I bow myself before the high God? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, and the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? For lo, he has given his firstborn to atone for your transgression, and the Son of his love to expiate the sin of your souls by the sacrifice of himself. Thus hath he shewed you what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."