Transcript Genesis 22

Genesis 22
Abraham’s Sacrifice of His Beloved Son, Isaac
Genesis 22:11 Some time later [‘After these things’ – KJV] God
tested Abraham.
He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom
you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I
will show you.”
Genesis 22:1Q: How old was Isaac when Abraham was told to offer
him up as a burnt offering on the altar at Moriah?
The Bible does not give a direct answer to the question
of Isaac’s age when he was about to be offered as a
sacrifice by his father. We therefore must conclude that
neither our understanding of the passage nor our grasp
of the points that God wants us to learn depend on
knowing his age. However, some linguistic facts are
available that shed some light on the matter by pointing
us in the direction of Isaac being older than we normally
think, i.e., 20+.
Genesis 22:1In the first place, consider the details pertaining to
chronology.
• Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 years
old (Genesis 17:17).
• She would have been 92 or 93, 95 at most, when
Isaac was weaned. Then ‘after these things…’
•
She died at age 127 (Genesis 23:1)—when Isaac
was 37 years old.
Genesis 22:1•
Following Isaac’s birth, the events of the rest of
Genesis chapter 21 (i.e., the driving out of Hagar and
Ishmael, and the incident with Abimelech), as well as
the events of chapter 22, all occurred during a 35-year
period (approximately).
• Notice the expression “many days” in Genesis 21:34,
as well as the phrase “after these things” in 22:1.
• These allusions would suggest that some time had
elapsed prior to the offering of Isaac.
Genesis 22:1In the second place, the term “lad” used to refer to Isaac
(21:5,12) is a flexible Hebrew term that does not
necessarily refer to what we ordinarily think of—i.e.,
a boy.
• Rather, the term encompasses a wide range of
meanings—from a baby (e.g., Exodus 2:6; 2 Samuel
12:16) to a young man (e.g., Absalom in 2 Samuel
14:21; 18:5). It even can refer to “servant” or
“attendant” (e.g., 2 Samuel 16:1) as well as
soldier/leader (1 Kings 20:14,15,17,19).
Genesis 22:1• Look closely at the context of the Isaac passage in
22:5 where the servants that accompanied Abraham
and Isaac are referred to as “young men” (22:3,5,19).
• The word “servants” is precisely the same term that
is used in verses 5 and 12 to refer to Isaac (cf. Genesus, 1979, p.
555; Wigram, 1980, p. 823; Harris, et al., 1980, 2:585-586).
• Were the servants that accompanied Abraham 5 to 7
year olds? Or were they older? Obviously older
Genesis 22:1Third, Isaac was given the task of carrying the wood for
the impending sacrifice (22:6).
• There would have been enough wood to consume a
human body when the wood was set on fire.
• Could a 5- to 7-year-old child carry such a burden? No
Genesis 22:1Commentaries
Leupold wrote: “He may by this time have arrived at
the age of some eighteen to twenty years” (1942, 1:625).
Josephus stated: “Now Isaac was twenty-five years
old” (1.13.2).
Adam Clarke said: “It is more probable that he was
now about thirty-three” (1:140, emp. in orig.).
Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown asserted that Isaac was
“then upwards of twenty years of age” (n.d., p. 29).
Genesis 22:1Commentaries
J. Curtis Manor described him as “a youth of
sufficient strength and agility to carry a load of
firewood up a mountainside” (1994, p. 103).
Keil & Delitzsch [K & D] affirmed that “this son had
grown into a young man” (1976, 1:248).
Morris added: “The meaning in Isaac’s case should
also be ‘young man’ ” (The Genesis Record, 1976, p. 373).
Genesis 22:11 Some time later [‘After these things’ – KJV] God
tested Abraham.
He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
Genesis 22:1Q: Has Jehovah God waited for 37 years to talk to
Abraham again?
A: Yes, apparently so.
“Abraham had not heard from God directly for many
long years. He seemed to have become silent.
Nevertheless, Abraham continued to love and trust Him,
knowing that He had wonderfully kept His promises”
(Morris, p. 373)
Genesis 22:1“For many years Abraham had waited for the promised
[son, Isaac], in which the divine promise was to be
fulfilled. At length the Lord had given him the desired
heir of his body by his wife Sarah, and directed him to
send away the son of the maid [Ishmael by Hagar]. And
now that this son had grown into a young man, the
word of God came to Abraham to offer up this very son,
who had been given to him as the heir of the promise,
for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which
should be shown him.” (K & D, p. 249)
Genesis 22:2
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom
you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah.
Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I
will show you.”
Genesis 22:1-2
Q: Where did the idea to sacrifice Isaac come from?
• From Abraham’s own heart?
• A thought suggested by the sight of the human
sacrifices of the Canaanites, that he would offer a
similar sacrifice to his God?
•
Did it originate with the one who tempts us to do
evil, Satan himself?
Genesis 22:1-2
“The word came from Elohim, the personal, true God,
who tried him, i.e. demanded the sacrifice of the only,
beloved son, as a proof and attestation of his faith. The
issue shows, that God did not desire the sacrifice of Isaac
by slaying and burning him upon the altar, but his
complete surrender, and a willingness to offer him up to
God even by death. Nevertheless the divine command
was given in such a form, that Abraham could not
understand it in any other way than as requiring an
outward burnt-offering, because there was no other
way in which Abraham could accomplish the complete
surrender of Isaac, than by an actual preparation for
really offering the desired sacrifice” (K & D, p. 248)
Genesis 22:1-2
Q: Doesn’t James 1:13 say God will never tempt us with
evil?
A: Yes. But the Hebrew word in Genesis 22 is nissah,
which means to ‘put to the test.’ It should not be
translated ‘as ‘tempt.’
God may with good motives allow us to be tested, but
He will never place inducements before us to lead us
into temptation above what we can bear (I Cor. 10:13).
God’s ultimate objective is what is good for us ---to
prove our faith and spiritual worth. (Key Word Study Bible, footnote,
pg. 31)
Genesis 22:1-2
I Cor. 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you but such
as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not
allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
with the temptation will provide the way of escape also,
that you may be able to endure it.”
Genesis 22:1-2
Q: Is Abraham being asked by God to bring his
REASONING MIND into mental and spiritual captivity to
demonstrate his faith in the Living God?
A: Yes. He did not question the truth of the Word of
God, which had been addressed to him in a mode that
was to his mind perfectly infallible (not in a vision of the
night, however, of which there is no mention in the
text), but he stood firm in his faith, ‘accounting that God
was able to raise him up, even from the dead” (Heb.
11:19).
Genesis 22:2
Q: What was going on in Abraham’s mind?
• “This doesn’t sound like you God!”
• It sounds like the pagan idols around the Negev
• You promised to make Isaac a great nation, and he
isn’t even married yet (at age 37)!
• What will happen to all of your promises if you make
me do this?
• What about your promises to Sarah! It will kill her!
Genesis 22:2
Q: Did Elohim actually tell Abraham to kill Isaac?
A: No. He told him to ‘offer’ him up as an offering.
Nothing is said about killing him, although Abraham
probably thought of no other possibilities at that time
Genesis 22:2
Q: Did Abraham and Sarah love their son too much?
Q: Was there a danger they might forget God by too
much attention to God’s promises?
A: God wanted Abraham’s full love and devotion, and
although He didn’t want Isaac to be killed, He still
wanted Abraham’s faith to be ‘tested’ to know what
was in Abraham’s heart
Genesis 22:2
Q: What does it mean to be ‘proved’ or ‘tested?’
Jesus was ‘tempted’ or tested or ‘proved’ – or
‘approved,’ so everyone could see that, in spite of the
greatest tests to which He could conceivably be
subjected, he would stand spotless and blameless
Ex: An Engineer may know his design will stand the
stress and strain to which it is subjected, because he
knows it is designed properly; but construction
specifications will require that it be tested---not to
assure the engineer, but to assure the public that it will
stand (Morris, p. 374)
Genesis 22:2
“The greatest test in the life of Abraham (God testing
him) came after he received the promised seed [Isaac]
following a long wait. The test was very real: he was to
give Isaac back to God. As a test it was designed to
prove faith. And for it to be a real test, it had to defy
logic; it had to be something Abraham wanted to resist.
God had told the patriarch to send Ishmael away (21:1213), and now He told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
Abraham had willingly sent Ishmael away, but he would
not want to kill Isaac”
(Walvoord, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, vol. 1, p. 64)
Genesis 22:2
“It is one thing to claim to trust God’s word when
waiting for something; it is quite another thing to trust
and obey His word after it is received. This was a test of
how much Abraham would obey God’s word. Would he
cling to the boy now that he had him, or would he still
obey and return him to the Lord? In other words how
far would Abraham go in obedience? Did he really
believe that God would still keep His word and raise the
seed of promise [from the dead]?”
(Walvoord, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, vol. 1, p. 64)
Genesis 22:2
There are obvious connections with God’s earlier
words to Abraham, and Abraham’s faith:
1. To leave Haran and go to the land God would show him
(12:1-3)
2. But in this subtle reminder of the original call God also
reminded him of the fulfillment, which made the test so
hard: Take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love”
3. The command to sacrifice his own son as a burnt offering
would have undoubtedly seemed totally unreasonable
(even though child sacrifice was known in Canaan).
4. How then could God fulfill the promises He made earlier
(12:1-3), to say nothing of Abraham’s emotional loss of his
only son, born to him so late in life? (Walvoord, The Bible Knowledge
Commentary, vol. 1, p. 64)
Genesis 22:2
Q: Is this the first time the word ‘love’ is mentioned in
the Bible? “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,
whom you love…”
A: Yes
Deut 6:5 “And you shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your
might”
I Cor. 13:13 says love is the greatest gift
I John 4:8 says God is love
Genesis 22:2
Q: Are there other uses of the word ‘love’ in Genesis?
Yes, several
1. Gen 24:67 – “and she [Rebekah] became his [Isaac]
wife and he loved her”
2. Gen 25:28 “Isaac loved Esau…but Rebekah loved
Jacob
3. Gen 27:4,9,14 – “make me a savory dish that I love”
4. Gen 29:18 “Jacob loved Rachel…more than Leah”…
Genesis 22:2
Q: If this is the case about love being mentioned for the
first time, why is it used in this way?
Why not as love for a husband/wife
Why not as love of a man for God
Q: Why is it used as the love of a father for a son?
“The deep love of a father for his only son (yet a father
who is willing to slay him) is thus inferred to be
representative of the most complete and meaningful
concept of the very word ‘love’ itself” (Morris, p. 375)
Genesis 22:2
Q: What is the first use of the word ‘love’ in the New
Testament? The baptism of Christ in the Synoptics
Matthew 3:17 – “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Mark 1:11 – “And there came a voice from heaven, saying,
Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:22 – “And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily
shape like a dove upon him, and a voice from heaven,
which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well
pleased”
Genesis 22:2
If Abraham loved his son, how much greater is God’s
love for His Son?
Q: What is the first verse mentioning love in the Gospel
of John?
John 3:16 – “For God so loved (past tense) the world,
that He gave (past tense) His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believes (present tense) in Him should not
perish (future tense), but have (present tense)
everlasting life”
Genesis 22:2
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, God shouts His love for His
son. But in John, He shouts His love for US so much that
He was willing to sacrifice His only and beloved Son, in
order that we might be saved.
I John 4:9-11 – “ 9 This is how God showed His love among
us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we
might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved
us, we also ought to love one another.”