Genesis 22:1

1. After these things After all that has been narrated of Abraham before .

God did tempt Abraham The Hebrew for God is here האלהים , the God; emphatic, the same “everlasting God,” who is called Jehovah in Gen 22:33 of the previous chapter. The tempting is a key-word to the whole chapter. The Hebrew word נסה means to try, to test, to prove . Thus Gesenius ( Lex. under נסה ) observes: “God is said to try or prove men, that is, their virtue, Psalms 26:2; piety, Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; their faith and obedience, Exodus 15:25; Exodus 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:31. This is done by wonderful works, Exodus 20:20; by commands difficult to be executed, Genesis 22:1; Exodus 16:4; and by the infliction of calamities, Deuteronomy 33:8; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:1; Judges 3:4. ” Lange remarks that the word “denotes not simply to prove, or to put to the test, but to prove under circumstances which have originated from sin, and which increase the severity of the proof and make it a temptation . ” And this is an important point to note. Man’s life of probation is in a world of trial; and while the world lies in wickedness, many trials come from evil sources; the god of this world solicits to evil, and seeks whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8. All such solicitations to evil are among the offences which Jesus deplored, (Matthew 18:7; Luke 17:1,) and when thus viewed it is manifest that God tempts no man . James 1:13. But even such temptations, when resisted and overcome, will issue in good, and the godly discipline they thus subserve is to be recognised as God’s chastising . Hence the apostle says, in the same chapter, (James 1:2,) “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,” etc. God’s tempting Abraham was not a malicious solicitation to evil, but a testing commandment to prove the depth and strength of the patriarch’s faith. If now Abraham will, without questioning, obey a commandment that seems to subvert all the promises of the past, and even the words of prophecy touching Isaac, then will the evidence of his faith be perfected. And so it was, that he who before “against hope believed in hope,” (Romans 4:18,) now staggered not at this strange word, “accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead.” Hebrews 11:19.