Genesis 22:1-19
The Ultimate Test of Faith
Bible Passage: Genesis 22:1–19
This passage is particularly rich and significant, and Scripture itself emphasizes its significance by referring to it in Heb 11:17–19 and Jas 2:21–24.
1. The Sacrifice Begins
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall 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 the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
tested = proved; Ps 26:2 uses the same word, rendered ‘prove.’
God is said to try or prove men by adversity, in order to prove their faith, Gen. 22:1;
Jerusalem is 46 miles north of Beersheba as the crow flies, 1,700 feet higher, and separated by broken terrain, so the journey would have taken about three days, the easiest and thus most likely route was along the coastal plain and then east to the mountain.
2. Trusting God’s Provision
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
Now Isaac becomes both the beast of burden, carrying the wood (v. 6), and the sacrificial lamb
The passage shows that there was ample occasion across the three days and during the scaling of the mount for Abraham to ponder retreat, but he steadfastly moved forward.
The Christian reader today sees the additional irony that God supplies his own Son for the sins of the world, whereas Abraham’s son escapes unharmed.
There is no hesitation or any intercession, as in the dialogue over Sodom (18:23–26); the father fully concedes to the divine will
The Akedah, as the story is popularly called—because of the Hebrew stem ʿ-k-d, “to bind,” in verse 9—is organically connected with the preceding chapter. Abraham has lost one son and now seems about to lose the other. In both narratives, the child is saved by divine intervention at the critical moment, the only two biblical instances of an angel calling from heaven to human beings. In both cases there is a fortuitous discovery: a well of water in the earlier story, a ram in the thicket here.
3. Divine Intervention and Provision
11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything 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 lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
4. Blessings Through Obedience
15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants 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 rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
