Genesis 22

Genesis 22:1-24

Genesis 22:1-24; Genesis 23:1-20; Genesis 24:1-67; Genesis 25:1-347. The Seventh Manifestation of God to Abraham (Genesis 22:1-24; Genesis 23:1-20; Genesis 24:1-67; Genesis 25:1-34) Three great facts are set before us in these chapters: First. The supreme test of Abraham’ s faith-the offering up of Isaac, the son in whom all the promises were to be fulfilled (Genesis 22:1-18). This was the supreme test of Abraham’ s faith. At all other times he had been given a promise to step out on, but no promise is connected with this incident. Abraham is told to take his son, his only son, the son in whom all the promises were to be fulfilled, and offer him for a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. This was really the last of the four great surrenders in Abraham’ s life, which he had been called upon to make. These surrenders were: The sacrifice of home and kindred (Genesis 12:1-20); the separation from Lot (Genesis 13:1-18); the giving up of his own plan of life (Genesis 19:1-38); and how the sacrifice of his only and well-beloved son Isaac. It was good for Abraham that this supreme test did not come at the beginning of his pilgrim life, but after years of communion and fellowship with God. This is a mark of God’ s goodness and kindly consideration. “ The valley of the shadow of death” is not at the beginning, but in the middle, of Psalms 23:1-6. Not until we have been well fed in green pastures, and satisfied to the full our thirst in still waters; not until we have had soul refreshment and the blessed experience of walking in the paths of righteousness with God as our Companion, are we called upon to pass through the valley of the shadow. How good God is! There will no temptation take you but such as man can bear, and “ God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). “ As thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25). Abraham got his greatest blessing through this the greatest of all surrenders. His servants observed the glory that shone on his face as he returned, and for this reason the proverb originated, “ In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen” (Genesis 22:14). There are some things in this narrative that need a word of explanation: First. There is the word “ tempt” -“ Now the Lord did tempt Abraham.” This word is used in the Scriptures in at least two senses. When used of Satan in his relations with mankind, it expresses an evil intent, and means to seduce or cause man to fall (Matthew 4:1; 1 Corinthians 11:3). In this sense, temptation cannot be attributed to God, for God never thus tempts any man (James 1:13-17). The word “ tempt” used of God is to be understood in the sense of testing or proving the good that is in man, separating the wheat from the chaff, the gold from the dross; but always in order that the wheat and the gold may be the prominent thing (Genesis 22:1; Matthew 6:13). Second. The command to offer up Isaac is to be understood literally. Abraham did not misunderstand the command of God, when, with uplifted hand, he was ready and willing to offer his son. Nor was Abraham feigning or misrepresenting when he said to his servants, “ Abide ye here … and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Genesis 22:5). When he used the pronoun “ we,” he was not using the language of dissimulation, but of victorious faith. This we are given to understand in Hebrews 11:17-19. Could Abraham believe in God now without his son, as he had believed before without him? Was he persuaded that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead if that was necessary in order for the fulfillment of His promise (Romans 4:16-17; Romans 4:21; Hebrews 11:17; Hebrews 11:19; Romans 4:24-25)? Third. It is apparent that Abraham did not think it wrong to thus sacrifice his son. A knowledge of the customs of the time leads us to believe that such a sacrifice was regarded as the highest virtue and the supreme test of religion. Had Abraham considered it to be wrong, he would not have done it, nor would he have considered such a voice to have been the voice of God. One sometimes wonders if this sacrifice was necessary because of the probable condition of Abraham’ s religious experience. Is it likely that he had entertained hard thoughts of God for sending Ishmael away, and that this led him to make compensation by the glad sacrifice of Isaac? However the command came to him, it became his conviction that God wanted him to offer up his only son. Fourth. It does seem, however, that although Abraham did not think the sacrifice of Isaac to be wrong, the actual slaying of Isaac would have been wrong in the sight of God. How, then, can this be reconciled with the direct command of God? May it not be sufficient to reply that God meant Abraham to offer Isaac in so far as he himself was concerned; that God intended that Abraham should offer Isaac in spirit only, and not in outward act, even though Abraham himself understood God to desire the literal sacrifice of Isaac; that what God desired of Abraham was an offering of the spirit, and not of blood? Does not the narrative bear out this view, inasmuch as Abraham is allowed to proceed as though God actually wanted him to offer up his son literally? In any event, it is clear that God would teach Abraham some important lessons. He would teach him the true meaning of sacrifice; that it lay in spirit more than in act; that the consecration of a living soul is far more important than the offering of a dead body (Romans 12:1). Beyond all question, God intended that Abraham should know that human sacrifice was now to receive a final blow. It is not going too far to say that God gave to the patriarch that day a lesson in substitution and vicarious sacrifice. May it not be that in the substitution of the ram for Isaac that the expression of the New Testament is fulfilled, “ Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56), and “ Preached before the gospel unto Abraham” (Galatians 3:8). In man’ s extremity, God’ s opportunity was manifest. Not until the hand of Abraham was uplifted, and, so far as father and son were concerned, the whole sacrifice complete, was the substitution provided. It must have seemed to Abraham as though to offer his son, to make that sacrifice, meant the end of all his hopes; that nothing more was left. But when Abraham had gone all the way with God, then we are told that the Lord provided. It was “ seen in the mount” that God doth provide Himself a sacrifice. Then came the greatest of all blessings to Abraham (Genesis 22:15-18). Is not this the way God deals with men today? Not until we have come to the end of ourselves and laid absolutely all we have on the altar of God; not until we come to the end of trust in all that is earthly, do we get the fullness of the blessing of God. Abraham’ s faith, so gloriously portrayed by Paul (Romans 4:9-25), was corroborated and witnessed to by his works, upon which James lays so much emphasis (James 2:14-24). Laid on Thine altar, O my Lord divine, Accept my gift this day, for Jesus’ sake. I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine, Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make, But here I bring, within my trembling hand, This heart of mine, a thing that seemeth small; And yet, Thou dost know, dear Lord, That when I yield Thee this, I yield my all; Hidden therein, Thy searching eye can see Struggles of passion, visions of delight, All that I am and fain would be. Now from Thy footstool, where it vanquished lies, The cry ascendeth, ‘ May Thy will be done,’ Take it, Lord, ere my courage fail, And merge it so in Thine own will That if, in some future day, my plea preveil, And Thou give back my will, it may so fair have grown, So changed, that I shall know it no longer as mine, but as Thine. Typical Teaching In this chapter (Genesis 22:1-24) many see in Abraham a type of the Father sparing not His own Son, but freely delivering Him up for us all (Romans 8:32; John 3:16); in Isaac, a type of Christ, who was obedient even unto death (Philippians 2:5-8); in the ram caught in the thicket, a type of Christ being offered as a substitute for the sinner (Hebrews 10:5-10); in the preservation of Isaac from death by sacrifice, which to Abraham was as a resurrection from the dead, a type of Christ’ s resurrection (cf. Hebrews 11:17-19; Romans 4:20-25).