Now I Know*

Genesis 22:1–2 “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

Matthew 26:36 “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.”

Emotions of Abraham. Only son- The offense of withholding

Jesus / Isaac obedience

Cultural Context and Historical Background

After These Things

The call Abraham at Haran required him to leave his former circles of security;

The promisethe orientation of the promises is toward the future, emphasizing the birth of an heir.

Genesis 12:2–3 “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Genesis 13:14–16 “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.”

Genesis 15:4–5 “And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”

Genesis 16:10 “And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”

Genesis 17:2, 5–6, 16, Genesis 17:2“And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”

Genesis 21:18 “Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.” All of these promises this single event so as to make all of the past promises hang on Moriah’s test.

God provided, It is After these things

Genesis 22:1–2 “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

TEST

Conflict - God sometimes asks us to sacrifice the provision

Now the Lord requires Abraham to relinquish the future by offering Isaac as a sacrifice.

Similar to Job’s trial, the patriarch chooses the Giver over the gift, relying on the Lord to make good on his promise.

The Haran incident describes Abraham’s immediate obedience to the command “Leave” (12:1) by the verbal echo, “So Abram left” (12:4). In the matching story,

the author captures the same allegiance by Abraham’s departure for Moriah “early the next morning” (v. 3);

also his voluntary attitude is reflected by the repeated dialogue, “Here I am” (vv. 1, 7, 11).

Repetition of the family connection, “son,” “only son,” and “father,” heightens the pathos of the story. Isaac is in fact not the “only son,” but he is the “only son” who remains the potential heir; the patriarch expelled Ishmael, his firstborn, and now he faces sacrificing his “only” son.

Hebrews 6:13–14 “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.”

God asked him to give up something he loved

God Asked him to do something that sounded careless and unreasonable

God asked Him to give up something without any explanation of how he would reconcile his Promises

God Tests

That God “tests” (nissâ) his people is not exceptional;

it is a means for revealing their obedience (e.g., Exod 15:25; 16:4; Judg 2:22),

producing fear so as to engender piety (Exod 20:20; Ps 26:2),

discovering their authenticity (Deut 8:2; 13:3[4]; 2 Chr 32:31),

and producing their well-being (Deut 8:16).

In the present case, what is revealed is that the patriarch “fears” the Lord (v. 12). The object of the test is Abraham’s proper response, which entails obedience and trust. There is a sure verbal linkage involving “test” and “fear,” where the two words occur together in only two passages: Abraham’s experience at Moriah (22:1, 12) and Abraham’s descendants at another mount, Sinai (Exod 20:20). Abraham’s obedience is viewed as the archetype of God’s expectations for Israel’s loyalty to the Ten Words (Ten Commandments). R. W. L. Moberly identifies Abraham’s “fear of the Lord” as the Hebrew equivalent to what Christians mean when they refer to “faith.” He parallels the Akedah to Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus, who undergoes testing and responds obediently, refusing to seize power for his self-interests (cf. Phil 2:1–13).

What Jesus refused from Satan at the beginning he receives (“all authority”) from God after his supreme act of obedience (Matt 28:18). Abraham, too, resisted the human impulse to withhold his son for his own advantage, expressing a submissive spirit.

Now I Know - Abraham

The anthropomorphic portrayal of God (“Now I know,” v. 12) preserves the narrative tension of the account;

God wants to reveal what’s in your heart

by the test the Lord takes the road of “discovery” that leads to the climax of Abraham’s obedience (vv. 11–12). The chilling description of the command, the march up the mountain, and the raised knife have their denouement in the angel’s intervention.

God wants to release what he has already promised

The test is not born out of the necessity of divine knowledge but the requirement of human faith’s achievement. By presenting the challenge, the man could express his faith in a concrete way; now potential faith is realized, securing for the patriarch the promises God has all along ensured would come to pass (cf. Jas 2:21–23). Moreover, as Moberly observes, the phrase “now I know” conveyed a “deepened relationship” as God’s response to the obedient choice of Abraham, showing the Lord’s concern for Abraham.

Now I Know- God

Nevertheless, the test has a double meaning, for the outcome of the matter reveals as much about God as it does about Abraham.

Revealed about God

Throughout the Abraham narrative, we learn about the Lord’s gracious election and preservation of Israel’s father. This episode, however, appears discordant with what we know of Israel’s deity. Legal texts condemn child sacrifice (Deut 12:31; 18:10), especially the practice associated with the worship of Molech (Lev 18:21; 20:2–5). Later the practice appears in the Southern Kingdom (2 Kgs 16:3; 21:6) but is eliminated by Josiah (2 Kgs 23:10) and condemned by the prophets (e.g., Jer 7:31–32; Ezek 16:20–21). The conflict between orthodox Yahwism and the Akedah, however, is only apparent; the author alerts the reader that the story is a “test” (v. 1), and thus it must be evaluated provisionally. This divine request for human sacrifice is unique in Israel’s experience; the special circumstance of Abraham’s role as the father of the covenant requires a test without parallel. The rabbis argued that the testing of Abraham was not devious since God tests only those who can withstand, that is, the righteous (Ps 11:5). Similarly, God’s integrity is not questioned for his trying of Israel, and the test of Abraham is on the same level, for it is a prototype of later Israel’s trials (Gen. Rab. 55.1–3). Christian tradition, however, focuses on the fulfillment of the promises (Heb 11:17–19; Jas 2:21–23) since Isaac alone could fulfill the promises, as God himself stated (21:12), making it certain that the boy would somehow survive. Hence, the issue lay with the Lord, not Abraham, for he left it to God to resolve the theological and moral problems he himself created.

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 285.

Test-

Hebrews 11:17–19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”

Jehovah-Jireh

Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (The Offering of Isaac (22:1–19))

14. Jehovah-jireh is, apart from the name for God, the expression Abraham had used in 8. Provide is a secondary meaning of the simple verb ‘to see’ (cf. our ‘see to it’), as in 1 Samuel 16:1c. Both senses probably coexist in the little saying of 14b (which deserves to be better known), i.e. ‘In the mount … it will come clear’.

15–18. To obey is to find new assurance, as Abraham had discovered in 13:14ff.; note too the new promise in 17c. The best comment on God’s oath is in Hebrews 6:16–18.

Personal Illustration

The fear, the trust, the unanswered questions

It was too clear to shake, so severe was the call, that I could not concentrate on my Job. Until finally one day I got up and walked into my boss’ office and quit my job of 24 years.

Ramped up bible studies, prayer, study, personal development. Like Isaiah, the Lord revealed some woes in me as a better husband, so he could cleanse me for where He is bringing me.

Went back to the Old Open Door- Hugged the Pastor and pledged to fellowship.

Covenant confirmed.

I don’t know whats in the horizon, but we are being tested. Not to become stronger in Faith but to reveal the strength of the faith in us.

Genesis 22:12 “And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”