Genesis 22:1-12
1AFTER THESE events, God tested and proved Abraham and said
to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. 2[God] said, Take now your
son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah; and
offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will
tell you. 3So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey,
and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood
for the burnt offering, and then began the trip to the place of which God had
told him. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in
the distance. 5And Abraham said to his servants, Settle down and
stay here with the donkey, and I and the young man will go yonder and worship
and [a]come again
to you. 6Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid
it on [the shoulders of ] Isaac his son, and he took the fire (the firepot) in
his own hand, and a knife; and the two of them went on together. 7And
Isaac said to Abraham, My father! And he said, Here I am, my son. [Isaac] said,
See, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt
sacrifice? 8Abraham said, My son, [b]God Himself
will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. So the two went on together. 9When
they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there;
then he laid the wood in order and [c]bound Isaac
his son and laid him on the altar on the wood. 10And Abraham
stretched forth his hand and took hold of the knife to slay his son. 11But
the [d]Angel of the
Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! He answered, Here I
am. 12And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to
him; for now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not held back
from Me or begrudged giving Me your son, your only son
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It seems so easy to read
this as if it is obvious that, of course, Abraham would do as God asked. I mean, look, he listened as God told him to
leave his home, his family, and his country and walk to where God leads him;
why wouldn’t he follow this? But is
actually so obvious; we have just heard the story so many times that we don’t
doubt Abraham’s faith.
The first verse states that
God tested and proved Abraham. God gave
Abraham the option of bowing out from this sacrifice. Abraham walked for three days. He had plenty of time to think of what God
wanted to do. He had lots of time to
come up with a reason for not doing it.
(Wouldn’t we?) He had people to
talk to about it and get their opinion and surely they would agree with Abraham
that he shouldn’t offer Isaac. Why would
God promise you descendents through your seed if He was going to ask for him as
a sacrifice? I can hear the servants’
reasoning and Abraham’s thoughts. Yet,
Abraham continued on in following God’s command to him. Even Isaac asked where was the ram or
ewe. I am sure that Isaac was scared,
too. Look, even though he was probably
frightened, the passage does not show that Isaac was fighting God’s
command. Did Abraham teach him to trust
God so much that he obeyed willingly?
Would that we taught our children so well that they trusted the Father
as much.
Abraham and Isaac reach Mt.
Moriah and prepare the altar, probably of earth and rocks. Abraham places the wood he personally chopped
in order on the altar to be Isaac’s funeral pyre. Nothing from God yet; God seems to really
want him to offer up his last hope. He
binds Isaac’s feet and hands and places him on the altar. Still God does not stop him. Could we do this or would we be pleading to
God with tears and continued prayer and reluctance that God not let this
happen? We do not see Abraham doing
that. We see him continuing with the
process of preparing the sacrifice.
There is only one further step in the process, the killing of the
offering. Abraham pulls out his knife
and poises it above Isaac to kill him.
And then…a voice from heaven, a voice that Abraham recognizes, not
something that he wonders if it is God.
It is God, the God who called him out of Ur and the God he worships
every day.
The question, would we have
wondered if we interpreted God’s telling us to offer our child as a sacrifice
and questioned again? Or, would we have
known his voice and followed His command?
Even further, would we actually know God’s voice? Abraham loved this child that God had given
him in his old age. He would not have
thought he heard wrong if the Lord told him to offer him as a sacrifice; look,
he proceeded immediately to offer the sacrifice. Abraham did not question if it was God speaking
to him; he knew God’s voice. Now our
question, do you know God’s voice intimately enough to know God speaking and
not doubting his calling you to action?
Would you prepare to do what He told you to do or would you question
it? (Moses questioned God and then he
was not allowed entrance to the promised land.)
A person’s character determines how he or she interprets God’s will.
God wanted to purify Abraham’s
faith. Based on Abraham’s belief, he
interpreted that he had to sacrifice Isaac.
For the point Abraham was at, God could only purify Abraham’s faith in
this way. Maybe this was the one big
thing, at this time, that stood between Abraham and God. Likewise, God purifies us for Him. God will take us through an ordeal that will
serve to bring us into a better knowledge of Himself. Are we like Abraham, are we willing to do
anything for God? He was willing to obey
God in this even though it was not a belief he held from his background. If his God required it, he would do it. If you will remain true to God, God will lead
you directly through every barrier and right into the inner chamber of the
knowledge of Himself but you must be willing to give up all of your own
convictions and beliefs to embrace God.
Abraham remained true to God and He purified him. We must remain true to God, even when the
thing He asks is not in our beliefs. If
we do that, God will purify us beyond our selves and our thinking. He will bring us closer to Himself and we
will know Him better and we will become more like Him. Now the question, what has God asked you to
do today; have you heard His voice?
(Thanks to Oswald Chamber for some of the commentary.)
