Genesis 22
Trust and Obey

Genesis 22

The Offering of Isaac

Genesis 22 "1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 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 the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay 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 stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

15 Then 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 thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall 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.

20 Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram 22 and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Unpacking Genesis 22

Genesis 22 is the kind of chapter that, at first glance, is extremely distressing. It seems like the Lord is asking Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. What? This is a troubling idea to all godly people of all ages.

So, before we study this passage, let’s get a few things straight. First, the Lord never intended for Abraham to actually sacrifice his son. Second, Abraham knew the Lord well enough to know God would somehow protect Isaac. Third, Isaac was not a little kid here. We’ll talk about his age later, but this is definitely not child sacrifice.

Now, with those caveats in place, let’s start in verse 1, where the Lord calls “Abraham!”

In Genesis 17, the Lord changed Abraham’s name from “Abram,” meaning “Exalted Father,” to “Abraham,” meaning “Father of Multitudes.”

So, in verse 1, when the Lord called to Abraham, Abraham probably expected the Lord to give another set of promises. Instead, the Lord commands Abraham to do the hardest thing a father could imagine. The Lord said, “Take now your son whom you love… and offer him… as a burnt offering.”

A “burnt offering” was the highest and holiest sacrifice in the ancient system of worship. A “burnt offering” was where the worshipper would take an animal and burn the entire thing up to God. If you were making this offering to God, you would slaughter the animal, put it on the altar, and stay there while the whole thing burned up to the Lord. This ceremony reflected a person’s total consecration to the Lord. The entire sacrifice was dedicated to Him. Everything. Nothing was left for the worshiper. It would all be gone.

This was the kind of sacrifice God called Abraham to give, except this sacrifice wouldn’t be an animal. It would be Abraham’s son, Isaac. The miracle child. The only son in Abraham’s house because, at this point, Ishmael was gone.

Think about that. Isaac was Abraham’s only link to the nation Abraham was supposed to establish. He was Abraham’s only link to the Messiah that God had promised in Genesis 3:15. In fact, in Genesis 17:19, the Lord told Abraham His promises would only come through Isaac! Yet now, the Lord tells Abraham to sacrifice his only link to all these promises.

Why would God call Abraham to do this?

We see the answer in verse 18. In verse 18, after Abraham obeyed God, the Lord told him, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” In other words, God established a nation of people who would trust and obey Him. As the father of this nation, Abraham showed the kind of faith and obedience God calls us to have. That’s why God had Abraham do this. Not to sacrifice Isaac but to use Abraham’s obedience to show all people the kind of faith that characterizes the citizens of the nation which Abraham would establish. We see Abraham’s clear, pure faith in how this chapter unfolds.

Going back to verse 3, in faith, Abraham simply obeys the Lord without any debate. He wakes up the next morning, splits some wood, loads up the donkey, takes Isaac and two young men, and embarks upon a 50-mile journey from Beersheba to the land of Moriah.

When he gets there, he instructs his servants in verse 5 to stay back while he and Isaac go on ahead, and “we will worship and return to you.” Notice the words “we” and “return.” Those words indicate that Abraham fully believed that he and Isaac would return. This shows us that Abraham believed God would provide a solution to this predicament. Hebrews 11:19 refers to this event saying Abraham “…considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead….” Abraham is clearly walking by faith here.

In verse 6, Abraham places the wood on Isaac, and they head off into the hills. The fact that Isaac could carry the wood shows us Isaac wasn’t some little kid. In verse 5, Abraham calls him a “lad.” That term can be used for a variety of ages. In fact, Ishmael was called a “lad” (same word) in Genesis 21:17 when he was 16 or 17 years old.

In verse 7, while they’re walking, Isaac asks his father what they will use for the sacrifice. Abraham responds resolutely in verse 8, “God will provide.” Abraham has seen the Lord’s provision so many times in the past he has confident faith that God will provide something now.

In verse 9, they arrive at the place where the Lord had told Abraham to build an altar. Abraham builds the altar; Isaac probably helps. In all of this, Abraham had to explain to his son that the Lord had told him (Abraham) to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. Amazingly, Isaac agrees to go through with this and lays down on the altar, waiting for whatever comes next. We can infer that Isaac agrees with this because he lets Abraham put him on the altar and even raise the knife. There’s no way a 120-year-old man is going to overpower a lad who was fighting for his life! So, the fact that there is no scuffle shows that Isaac trusts the Lord too. Both have faith!

In verse 10, Abraham raises the knife. In verse 11, the Lord stops him. In verse 13, the Lord provides a ram caught in the thicket by its horns, and Abraham offers it in Isaac’s place. At some point, Abraham probably said to Isaac, “See, I told you the Lord would provide! Don’t forget what this means, son. Today, you and I are going home together because God provided an offering in your place.” Isaac was saved by the gracious provision of the Lord. This is a profound account of true, living faith in the substitute sacrifice provided by God.

Now let us look at verses 16 to 18 because these verses teach a vital lesson about Abraham’s descendants. After Abraham displays faith, the Lord gives him several promises regarding his “seed.” We need to know who this “seed” was and is.

·First, Isaac was obviously Abraham’s “seed” as he was Abraham’s son.

·Second, Galatians 3:16 says that Jesus is also Abraham’s “seed.” Through Jesus, all nations will be blessed.

·The third “seed” would be all of Abraham’s physical descendants who have inherited God’s physical promises regarding being a nation and having land to dwell in. This seed will inherit the physical promises as His covenant people, but they have not come to God with the faith of Abraham; therefore, they do not inherit the spiritual promises of the covenant.

·The fourth “seed” would be all of Abraham’s spiritual descendants who have joined the spiritual nation that Abraham is ultimately establishing. This is the seed that matters. If you are a follower of Christ, you are part of this “fourth Seed”! [1]

Now all of this might seem like some obscure theology, but trust me, this theological truth is like a Swiss Army knife that will help you work through all kinds of otherwise thorny passages. You might want to reread that paragraph and dog-ear this page for future reference. It’s that important.

Wrapping up this study in Genesis 22, we learn several important lessons about the faith of God’s people. First, like their spiritual father Abraham, God’s people trust and obey God’s Word. This is the call for all of God’s people. Second, our spiritual life exists because of “substitution.” Like Isaac, all of us need a “substitute.” Who can be that substitute? Only the One whom God has provided—His Son, Jesus. If we have trusted in Jesus to be our Savior, He has taken the penalty of our sin and given His righteous life in our place so that we now have the right to be part of the spiritual nation that the Lord has established. Third, God promised wonderful blessings to Abraham’s “seed.” If we come to God with the same faith as Abraham, we are part of his spiritual descendants!

With this in mind, let us always look to and remember the One Sacrifice our Heavenly Father provided in our place so that we might be among His people with Him forever.

Study and Discussion Questions

Listening to the Key Chapters Podcast on this chapter provides further insights into the following questions.

1. Using a Bible atlas or online atlas, locate Beersheba on the map to the right. Also, locate the Wilderness of Moriah on the map. What importance does each of these locations have in Genesis 22?

2. This chapter contains God’s command to Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. While we know how the story ends, this would be an unsettling command for anyone to hear. How does the miraculous origin of Isaac’s conception help us understand why Abraham was so calm in his obedience to the Lord? How do the words “we” and “return” in verse 5 give us a window into Abraham’s mindset as he obeyed the Lord?

3. In verse 8, Abraham assures Isaac that the Lord will provide a sacrifice. How has Abraham seen the provision of the Lord in his life before this? How have you seen the Lord provide in your life? How might dwelling upon God’s prior provision give us strength in times of present distress?

4. Think about Isaac’s age in this passage. Do you think a 120-year-old man could have physically put Isaac on the altar? What would have had to happen for Isaac to get on it? How does this likelihood help us understand Isaac’s role in this event?

5. Isaac was Abraham’s only link to something and someone. What and Who was Isaac the link to? What kind of faith did Abraham demonstrate by being willing to break this link if that was to be the Lord’s will?

6. This passage also gives us a picture of the substitutionary death of Christ. How? What did God’s substitute mean for Isaac? What does Christ’s substitute mean for us?

7. Verses 16 to 18 contain one of the most important promises in the Old Testament regarding who the offspring of Abraham are. Who are the “four seeds” suggested in the lesson? Which ones will be in God’s Eternal Kingdom? Why? Are you among the believing seed spoken of in these verses?

8. Genesis 22 shows the kind of faith that this new nation would be founded upon. How would you summarize Abraham’s faith and obedience from this event? Where does this kind of faith come from?

9. Are there any situations in your life where you simply need to trust and obey God as Abraham did here? Are you able to trust and obey Him? Why or why not?

10. Have you ever sung the children’s song, “Father Abraham”? It says that he had many sons. In light of what the lesson has taught about this passage, who are those sons? When the song says, “I am one of them, and so are you,” what does that mean? Is that true of you? Why or why not?

[1] Reisinger, John G. Abraham’s Four Seeds (Frederick, MD 1998) 11-12.