Genesis 22

Abraham’s Obedience Tested

The Akedah (The binding of Isaac)

1 *Later on God (Elohim) **tested Abraham's faith and obedience. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."

*Later on – King James Version – “After these things”.

**tested- 1st occurrence of the Hebrew word “nasah”. Just as Jesus was “tested” or “proven” as well as Job. God knew what Abraham would do; but Abraham and Sarah and Isaac, and all around them must know, that the Lord Himself meant more to Abraham than even Isaac did.

God examines people not only to discover their true character but also to develop their character and faith. It is also to reveal to themselves where their faith stands. Notice when Abraham was tested – this is emphasized in Genesis 22:1 by saying, "Later on…" A double reference seems to be made in these words. First, a general one to all the preceding trials which Abraham had endured -- his journey to Canaan, his living there in tents, the long wait for the promised heir. Now that he had passed through a great fight of afflictions, he is called upon to suffer the hardest test yet. God teaches us step by step and as we mature, harder tasks are assigned us, and deeper waters are called upon to be passed through that so that our faith in God might grow.

A more specific reference is made in Genesis 22:1 to what is recorded in the previous chapter: the miraculous birth of Isaac, the great feast that Abraham made, when he was weaned, and the casting out of Ishmael. Abraham’s cup of joy was full. His outlook seemed most promising. Yet it was then that the most trying test of all came upon him! So it was also just after God had pronounced Job "a perfect man and an upright" that He delivered all that he had into Satan’s hands (Job 1:8, 12). If this should happen to us, how will we react? With anger? With abandonment of Him and His plan for us? We need to be prepared for severe trials.

We never have clearer proof of the reality of grace than when we are under hard trials. "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." (Romans 5:3-4). King James version: And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Trials (tribulation)  Endurance (patience)  strength of character (experience)  confident expectation (hope).

2 "Take your son, *your only son--yes, Isaac, whom you **love so much--and go to the land of ***Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a ****burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you."

*your only son – Literally, “your son, your only son” – repeated for emphasis. But, what about Ishamel? John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Matthew 10:37 - If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.

The sacrifice itself places emphasis on complete surrender to God. The son given to Abraham is to be given back to God without reservations of any sort.

Traditionally, Muslims believe that it was Ishmael rather than Isaac whom Abraham was told to sacrifice. The Koran itself does not specify which son he nearly sacrificed.

**love – 1st occurrence. John 17:24 - Father, I want these whom you've given me to be with me, so they can see my glory. You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began!

*** Moriah – About 50 miles.



2 Chronicles 3 - So Solomon began to build the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to Solomon's father, King David. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected. Mount Moriah is located in the “land of Moriah”.

God’s request that Abraham offer up Isaac as a sacrifice was Abraham’s hardest and final test. One reason for the request was that Abraham’s faith might be further tested. Another reason was that God was making a picture of what he would later do, that he would offer up his own Son in sacrifice for the sins of the world.

There is a veiled reminder of this in the expression, ‘only begotten.’ Later, as we know, this term appears in the Bible and is applied to God’s own Son. Abraham fathered Ishmael, and by his wife, Keturah, he had many children. But, as the record states, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” (Genesis 21:12) and because Isaac was the promised seed, he was also, in the Divine plan, Abraham’s ‘only begotten son.’

In calling upon Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering, the Lord submitted his faith to a fiery ordeal. Because God’s promises to Abraham concerning his "seed" or descendants centered in Isaac, and in telling him to kill his promised son, He appeared to contradict Himself. Ishmael had been cast out, and Isaac’s posterity alone was to be reckoned to Abraham as the promised seed. Isaac had been given to Abraham after he had long gone childless and when Sarah’s womb was dead, therefore there was no likelihood of his having any more sons by her. At the time, Isaac himself was childless, and to kill him looked like cutting off all his hopes. How then could Abraham reconcile the Divine command with the Divine promise? To sacrifice his son and heir was not only contrary to his natural affections, but opposed to reason as well.

Similarly, God tests our faith today. He calls upon us to sometimes do things which are contrary to our natural reason and plans. "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24).

****burnt offering – 1st occurrence. Hebrew – “olah”.

3 *The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go.

*The next morning – No hesitation. Abraham probably rose early because he couldn't sleep all night because of the dread and anxiety over what God asked him to do. He didn’t need to split the wood and saddle the donkey himself. He would have normally had his servants do this for him. He probably did this himself because he was "working out" his anxiety and dread.

Here we see in type the Father setting apart the Son for sacrifice.

4 On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance.

Just as we find the passover-lamb was separated from the flock four days before it was to be killed (Exodus 12:3), so here Isaac is taken by Abraham three days before he is to be offered upon the altar. The cross of Christ was according to …you followed God's prearranged plan… (Acts 2:23). God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, (1 Peter 1:20). Yes, the Lord Jesus was marked out for sacrifice from all eternity. He was, in the purpose of God, the Lamb who was killed before the world was made (Revelation 13:8).


5 "Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the young men. "The *boy and I will travel a little farther. We will **worship there, and then we will come right back."

*boy – Definitely under 37 years old. Not necessarily a “boy”, but probably the same age as Jesus (33). Very same word as the “young men” who were told to stay with the donkey.

**worship (shachah) - This is the first use of the word worship in reference to God in the Bible.
The Hebrew word "shachah" simply means, "to bow down" as in the Ten Commandments and as in Genesis 18:2.

6 Abraham *placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and the **fire. As the two of them went on ***together,

*placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders - Isaac carried the wood, as Jesus carried his own cross.

**fire - Here, as everywhere in Scripture, "fire" symbolizes Divine judgment. This was first symbolized by the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). And it will be finally exhibited in the Lake of fire. But, here pointed forward to the judgment which burst upon the head of the Sin-Bearer as He hung upon the Cross, for there it was that our sin was being dealt with.

***together – literally, in agreement with.

7 Isaac said, "Father?" "Yes, my son," Abraham replied. "We have the wood and the fire," said the boy, "but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"

8 "God will *provide (himself) a lamb, my son," Abraham answered. And they both went on together.

*provide – literally, “see”.

On this very spot, 2000 years later, the Father did offer His son!

Hebrews 11:17-19 - It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, though God had promised him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." Abraham assumed that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

If God could raise someone up from the dead by a miraculous birth to parents who were incapable, He was certainly able to raise Isaac from the death Abraham was now commanded to inflict. This much Abraham knew, and he seems to have believed that God would do this very thing.

9 When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he *tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood.

*tied Isaac up - This was merely a sacrificial custom. Isaac must have concluded that his father was in all this obeying the will of God. If Isaac was strong enough to carry up the wood, he was strong enough to resist and run away, so he must have decided to submit to being bound! According to Josephus, Isaac is twenty-five years old at the time of the sacrifice, while the Talmudic sages teach that Isaac is thirty-seven. In either case, Isaac is a fully grown man, strong enough to prevent the elderly Abraham (who is 125 or 137 years old) from tying him up had he wanted to resist. More likely, Isaac was 33.






Leviticus 1:11 - Slaughter the animal on the north side of the altar in the LORD's presence. Aaron's sons, the priests, will sprinkle its blood against the sides of the altar.

Leviticus 4:12 - must be carried away to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp, the place where the ashes are thrown. He will burn it all on a wood fire in the ash heap.

Golgotha is just “outside the camp” on the north side!

10 And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to the LORD.

11 At that moment the angel of the LORD shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Yes," he answered. "I'm listening."

12 "Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now *I know that you truly fear God (Elohim). You have not withheld even your beloved son from me."

*I know – Didn’t God already know?

Romans 8:32 - Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?

Abraham's faith was not limited to his mind - he was in the process of carrying out this act when stopped by God. Faith is what justifies, not the act it prompts; yet justifying faith will always be acting in obedience to God.

This was Abraham’s final test. Could he really trust God? Had he learned anything about God from his 25 year journey of faith? Could he give up what he can see and hold out for God’s promise? For the first time in 25 years, Abraham was willing to trust God for the future. It was a future that he could not manipulate or control, but a future that God had promised him and for which he was willing to trust God.

Finally, Abraham became the kind of person of faith that we read about in Hebrews 11. But it took him a long and failure strewn journey and a 25-year struggle to get there. It is easy to want everything that we think God has promised all at once and all up front. This story says that the future that God calls us to is not dependent on our efforts to make it happen. It’s dependent upon our willingness to have faith in God to make happen what we can’t make happen on our own. And it also tells us that God is faithful to those whom he has called in spite of their failures.

That leaves God’s grace at the center of the story - God’s willingness to work in the world with less than perfect people to help them grow and journey toward the promise that only he can bring to pass. That is why Abraham’s 25-year journey can be called a journey of faith.

13 Then Abraham *looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the altar **in place of his son.

*looked up – He’s still looking at Isaac.

**in place of – substitutionary sacrifice.

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year festival, the akedah is read and the shofar is blown to remind people of God's mercy which they hope to receive throughout the coming year. Some people believe that on the Day of the Lord, Elijah or the Lord will summon the exiles to Jerusalem and the dead to life by blowing a shofar made from one of the horns of the akedah ram (Isaiah 27:13).

Revelation 5:5-7 - …Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has conquered … I looked and I saw a Lamb that had been killed but was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that are sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne.

Isaac was received back as from the dead, as our Lord was in fact. In Isaac's place, God provided a ram for the sacrifice, caught in a thicket by his horns. Jesus Himself was the Lamb of God, but died with a crown of thorns on His head. Both events involve a test of faith. We are asked to place all hope of salvation in the crucified and risen Jesus, a proposition as troubling to human reason as the dilemma faced by Abraham.

Abraham’s faith did not waver when it was confronted with this test because, as Paul explains, he believed that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead; and he did receive him back, figuratively. This completed the illustration of the sacrifice of Isaac, and of his actual resurrection from death, as a type of Christ.

The word "offered up" is the same that is used for slaying and offering up sacrifices. Here then is the problem: how could Abraham "offer up" his son by faith, seeing that it was against both the law of nature and the law of God for a man to slay his own son? Genesis 22:2, however, shows that his faith had a sure foundation to rest upon, for the Lord Himself had commanded him so to do. But this only appears to remove the difficulty one stage farther back: God Himself had laid it down as a law that "Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God's image." (Genesis 9:6).

How could the Bible say that Abraham "offered up Isaac," when he did not actually kill him. He took the three days’ journey to the appointed place of sacrifice; he bound Isaac unto the altar, and took the knife into his hand to slay him. And God accepted the will for the deed. Where the heart truly desires to fully please Him in all things, and makes an honest and sincere effort to do so, God accepts the will for the deed.

14 Abraham named the place *"The LORD Will Provide." This name has now become a proverb: **"On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

*"The LORD Will Provide." - Hebrew “Yahweh Yir'eh” or “Jehovah-Jira”.

**On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided (or seen) – Future tense! Refers to Jesus. “It will be seen” in the King James Version. In other words, you WILL see God provide on this mountain a substitute or sin bearer.
Jacob's dream, according to Rabbinic Scholars, was on Mount Moriah - Genesis 28:10-22: Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone for a pillow and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down on it. At the top of the stairway stood the LORD, and he said, "I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I will give it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will cover the land from east to west and from north to south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What's more, I will be with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. I will someday bring you safely back to this land. I will be with you constantly until I have finished giving you everything I have promised." Then Jacob woke up and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn't even aware of it." He was afraid and said, "What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God--the gateway to heaven!" The next morning he got up very early. He took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. He named the place Bethel--"house of God"--though the name of the nearby village was Luz. Then Jacob made this vow: "If God will be with me and protect me on this journey and give me food and clothing, and if he will bring me back safely to my father, then I will make the LORD my God. This memorial pillar will become a place for worshiping God, and I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me."

There is sound archaeological evidence to suppose that the place of the crucifixion of Jesus was at the summit of Mt. Moriah, probably near the present-day Damascus Gate and the Garden Tomb which would of course be a literal fulfillment of Abraham's offering of Isaac when God said, "On the mount of the Lord it [the final offering for sin] will be provided."

15 Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven,

16 "This is what the LORD says: Because you have *obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I **swear by my own self that

*obeyed – First occurrence of “obey”

**swear by my own self - Hebrews 6:13-18: For example, there was God's promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: "I will certainly bless you richly, and I will multiply your descendants into countless millions." Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. When people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.

17 I will bless you richly. I will multiply your *descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies,

*descendants - Hebrew “seed” - singular

18 and through your *descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed--all because you have obeyed me."

*descendants - Hebrew “seed” - singular

19Then they returned to Abraham's young men and traveled home again to Beersheba, where Abraham lived for quite some time.

20 Soon after this, Abraham heard that *Milcah, his brother **Nahor's wife, had borne Nahor eight sons.

*Milcah was Nahor’s niece.

**Nahor - Genesis 11:26-27 When Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. He married Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran, and remained in the land of his nativity on the east of the river Euphrates at Haran. A correspondence was maintained between the family of Abraham in Canaan and the relatives in the old ancestral home at Haran till the time of Jacob. When Jacob fled from Haran all communication between the two branches of the family ceased (Genesis 31:55).

21 The oldest was named Uz, the next oldest was Buz, followed by Kemuel (the father of Aram),

22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.

24 In addition to his eight sons from Milcah, Nahor had four other children from his concubine Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.