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Genesis 22

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God Tests Abraham 1–2

1
And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I. ​
2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, 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. ​

The Journey to Moriah 3–10

3
And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. ​
4
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ​
5
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. ​
6
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. ​
7
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? ​
8
And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son: so they went both of them together. ​
9
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ​
10
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

The Lord Provides 11–14

11
And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. ​
12
And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. ​
13
And Abraham lifted up 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 stead of his son. ​
14
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided. ​

Covenant Confirmed by Oath 15–19

15
And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven,
16
and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, ​
17
that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; ​
18
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. ​
19
So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

Nahor’s Descendants 20–24

20
And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor: ​
21
Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22
and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23
And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ​
24
And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bare Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 22

Verse 1

God did tempt Abraham — 'Tempt' is nasah, to test or prove, as in Ex 20:20, 'God is come to prove you'; it is not enticement to sin, for 'neither tempteth he any man' (James 1:13). Abraham's answer, 'Behold, here I am', becomes 'Here am I' to Isaac (v.7) and to the angel (v.11). Heb 11:17 says, 'when he was tried'.

Verse 2

thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest — The command piles up the descriptions. Yachid, 'only', is also the word of mourning 'as one mourneth for his only son' (Zech 12:10). 'Lovest' is ahav, its first use in Scripture. Moriah is where Solomon later built the house of the LORD (2 Chr 3:1). John 3:16 echoes 'his only begotten Son'.

Verse 3

rose up early in the morning — The verb shakam is used of Abraham at 21:14 as well. He saddles, takes two 'young men' (na'ar, the word later used of Isaac as 'the lad', vv.5, 12), splits the wood for the burnt offering, and goes 'unto the place of which God had told him'. Ps 119:60 says, 'I made haste, and delayed not'.

Verse 4

on the third day — Abraham 'lifted up his eyes' (nasa), the phrase that returns in v.13 when he sees the ram; 'the place' (maqom) is the word of vv.3, 9 and 14. Heb 11:19 says he accounted that God could raise Isaac 'even from the dead'; Paul says Christ rose 'the third day according to the scriptures' (1 Cor 15:4).

Verse 5

will go yonder and worship — Shachah, to bow down; this is the first 'worship' in the KJV, and Abraham gives it as the errand of 'I and the lad'. 'Come again' (shub) is to return, and is said of both: 'I and the lad will go… and come again to you'. Heb 11:19 gives the reason: 'God was able to raise him up, even from the dead'.

Verse 6

laid it upon Isaac his son — The wood is placed on Isaac, the fire and the knife in Abraham's hand. The line 'they went both of them together' closes this verse and v.8, and is found nowhere else. Many Christian readers have set Isaac with the wood beside Christ 'bearing his cross' (John 19:17).

Verse 7

where is the lamb for a burnt offering? — Seh, a lamb or kid of the flock, the word for the Passover lamb in Ex 12:3. Olah, 'burnt offering', means 'that which goes up', from the verb alah, rendered 'offer him up' in vv.2 and 13. Isaac says 'My father', and the answer is 'Here am I, my son': the same words of presence.

Verse 8

God will provide himself a lamb — 'Provide' is ra'ah, to see: God will see to the lamb for himself. The same verb is used when Abraham 'looked' and saw the ram (v.13), in 'Jehovahjireh' and in 'it shall be seen' (v.14). John the Baptist says 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world' (John 1:29).

Verse 9

bound Isaac his son — Aqad, to bind, found only here in the Bible. Abraham builds the altar, lays the wood in order, binds Isaac and lays him 'upon the wood'. Heb 11:17 says he 'offered up Isaac', and James 2:21 asks, 'Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?'

Verse 11

the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven — The call is doubled, 'Abraham, Abraham', as it is with 'Moses, Moses' (Ex 3:4); Abraham answers again 'Here am I'. The angel speaks as God: 'thou hast not withheld thy son… from me' (v.12), and in v.16 'saith the LORD', 'By myself have I sworn'.

Verse 12

now I know that thou fearest God — 'Fearest' is yare', the fear of God. 'Withheld' is chasak, to hold back, the verb repeated in v.16. Paul puts it as 'He that spared not his own Son' (Rom 8:32), and James reads the event as faith working with works: 'by works was faith made perfect' (James 2:22).

Verse 13

in the stead of his son — Tachath, in place of. 'Offered up' is alah, the verb of v.2, so the words of the command are carried out on the ram, which is 'caught in a thicket by his horns'. Abraham 'lifted up his eyes, and looked' (as in v.4) and sees it. The burnt offering is one 'accepted for him to make atonement' (Lev 1:4).

Verse 14

Jehovahjireh — 'Jehovah will see (to it)', from ra'ah, the verb of v.8. Other altars are named for the LORD in the same way: Jehovahnissi (Ex 17:15) and Jehovahshalom (Judg 6:24). 'In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen' keeps the same verb; Solomon's temple stood on 'mount Moriah' (2 Chr 3:1).

Verse 16

By myself have I sworn — Shaba, to swear; Hebrews says 'because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself' (Heb 6:13). 'Saith the LORD' is the speech of the angel in v.15. 'Withheld' is the verb of v.12. Luke 1:73 recalls it: 'The oath which he sware to our father Abraham'.

Verse 17

in blessing I will bless thee — The Hebrew doubles the verb, and so for 'multiplying I will multiply'; Heb 6:14 quotes it as 'Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.' The stars are the figure of 15:5; 'possess the gate of his enemies' is echoed in the blessing on Rebekah in 24:60, 'possess the gate of those which hate them'.

Verse 18

in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed — The promise first spoke of 'all families of the earth' (12:3), and returns to Isaac in 26:4 with 'nations'. Paul stresses the singular: 'He saith not, And to seeds… but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ' (Gal 3:16). Peter quotes it in Acts 3:25. The reason given is 'thou hast obeyed my voice'.

Verse 20

Milcah, she hath also born children — The report after Moriah turns to Abraham's brother Nahor, whose wife was 'Milcah, the daughter of Haran' (11:29). The sons are listed in vv.21–24, and among them is Bethuel (v.22), the father of Rebekah (v.23), who is named in 24:15 as 'born to Bethuel, son of Milcah'.

Verse 23

Bethuel begat Rebekah — Rebekah's name appears here first, as the daughter of Bethuel and so of the family of Nahor and Milcah, whose 'eight' sons are counted. Isaac takes her as wife in 24:67. Paul writes of 'Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac' (Rom 9:10).