22 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy1 will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”;2 as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”3
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his4 enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
Section Overview
The binding and near sacrifice of Isaac holds a central place in both Jewish and Christian theology. It is the ultimate test of Abraham’s faith: Can he trust God’s promise that his descendants will be numbered through Isaac (17:19–21) while at the same time obeying God’s mysterious command to sacrifice him (22:2)? The readers are informed at the outset of the chapter that this is a test for Abraham (v. 1), lest they imagine that the Lord is a God who demands child sacrifices, but of course it is vital to the integrity of the test that Abraham himself be kept in the dark. Once again Abraham believes God, and it is reckoned to him as righteousness (15:6).
Yet the ultimate lesson to be drawn from this encounter is not about the strength of Abraham’s faith; otherwise the mountain would subsequently have been named “Abraham passed the test.” Rather, the point being driven home is that the Lord provides a ram to take the place of Abraham’s son as a sacrifice, enabling the boy to live. As a result the mountain is named “The Lord will provide” (22:14). This name highlights the fact that the episode was never meant to be complete in itself. It points forward to Jesus, the ultimate Lamb of God, whose death will take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). When Jesus claims that Abraham saw ahead of time the coming of Jesus (John 8:56), it is likely this passage that he has in mind.
Section Outline
VII. The Family History of Terah (11:27–25:11) . . .
P. The Binding of Isaac (22:1–19)
Response
According to Jesus, Abraham had a unique insight into the way of salvation that God would establish through Jesus Christ (John 8:56). Genesis 22 was surely pivotal in that understanding, as Abraham learned that God was the one who would provide the sacrificial lamb to suffer and die in our place for our sins. This lesson had already been played out in the lives of the first readers of this story, the generation that had gone into the wilderness with Moses. They too had seen their own beloved firstborn sons spared by the blood of the Passover lambs they had slaughtered, while the destroying angel struck down all the firstborn of Egypt (cf. Exodus 12). Subsequent generations of Abraham’s offspring would reenact the key elements of the storyline each time they brought their own lambs to the temple in Jerusalem, which was itself built on Mount Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1), not far from the place of this encounter between God and Abraham. As each sheep was slaughtered as a substitutionary atonement for sin, God’s people were reminded of God’s grace and mercy to them.
But all these numerous OT sacrifices were merely pictures of the ultimate reality, when God himself reenacted this scene on another mountain not far away, the mountain of Calvary (or Golgotha; Matt. 27:33). There God the Father himself filled the role of Abraham, bringing his Son, his only Son, the one whom he loved (Matt. 17:5), and laying him on the altar. Jesus Christ became both the willing Son and the willing sacrifice; he was, as John the Baptist put it, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), or, in the language of Isaiah, the sheep who before his shearers was silent (Isa. 53:7).
In this reenactment, however, there was no angelic voice from heaven at the crucial instant that said, “Stay your hand.” There was only the spreading darkness of God’s curse surrounding the cross and centering upon the mangled and twisted body of the dead Son. There was no substitute for Jesus, because he himself had come to be the substitute for us. The spotless Lamb was slain for our transgressions; his wounds were for our unbelief; his scars were for our sins (Isa. 53:4–6).
Jesus himself has already forged the path through the ultimate test of his faith and obedience. In the garden of Gethsemane two roads presented themselves to him. The soldiers had not yet come; his disciples around him slept (Matt. 26:36–46). Jesus could still have chosen to decline the cup and call down the angelic hosts in righteous judgment on sinful man, or he could have remained faithful to his calling and drunk the bitter cup of obedience. He trod the painful path up the hill, carrying his cross, as Isaac bore the wood for his own sacrificial pyre (Gen. 22:6). Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, silently acquiescing, just as Isaac allowed himself to be bound to the altar without a word. He looked up to heaven and saw the knife in the Father’s hand poised above him, all the while knowing that for him there would be no last-minute reprieve. Jesus had to drink the cup of God’s wrath to its dregs if God’s sworn promise of blessing to Abraham and his descendants was to become a reality. So the knife descended; the cup was drained. That was the cost of our redemption.
Yet, just as Abraham’s willing obedience demonstrated clearly his love for God, so too the Father’s willingness to take his Son’s obedience all the way to the agonies on the cross demonstrated the depth and reality of his love for us, beyond a shadow of a doubt. It was not just the Son who suffered for our sin on the cross; the Father also paid a profound cost for our sin as he laid it all on his beloved Son, bringing down the knife of his righteous judgment upon his Son’s defenseless head. As Paul puts it, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).Genesis 22:1–19