Genesis 22:1-18 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.… I. WHAT THIS TRIAL WAS. 1. It came from God Himself. 2. It comprehended the loss of a child, and of a peculiarly dear and precious child. He was his Isaac too; and how much does that word comprehend! the son of his old age; his beloved Sarah's child; one who had been promised him and whom he had looked for with eager expectation, not months but years, before he came; a child of miracle, born out of due time, to be regarded as an almost immediate gift from heaven! 3. And he is to lose him, not as we generally lose our children, by sickness, but by a violent death, and that death to be inflicted by his own hand — Abraham is to slay him. And, moreover, he is to be a burnt-offering. This includes more than the slaying of him — a dismembering of him when slain and the consuming of his mangled body in the flames. 4. And the time, too, when this trial fell on Abraham must have made it worse. "After these things" — i.e., just after losing Ishmael, he is called upon to give up Isaac. II. His CONDUCT UNDER IT. 1. Prompt obedience. 2. Determined, unflinching obedience. 3. His obedience was also calm. III. Let us now see what lay at the bottom of all this; WHAT THAT MIGHTY PRINCIPLE WAS WHICH ACTUATED ABRAHAM IN IT. And we are not left in doubt of this point. It was faith. "By faith," says St. Paul, "Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac." And by faith, as we apply the term here to Abraham, we mean, not a belief in this or that great gospel-truth only, but a belief in the Divine character and word generally, a faith embracing all the glorious perfections of Jehovah and all the glorious promises and declarations of his lips. This led Abraham to sacrifice his son. There are three things which commonly actuate mankind in their conduct-reason, feeling, and interest. All these we find in this case put aside. Abraham did not act from either of them, but from a principle which was in opposition to them all. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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