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(E, J.)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">1–19.</span>&emsp;&emsp;The Sacrifice of Isaac. (E.)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">20–24.</span>&emsp;&emsp;The Genealogy of Nahor. (J.)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-1.htm">Genesis 22:1</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, <i>here</i> I <i>am</i>.</div><span class="bld">1</span>. <span class="ital">after these things</span>] An indefinite note of time referring to Isaac’s birth and the expulsion of Ishmael: cf. <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-20.htm" title="And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she has also born children to your brother Nahor;">Genesis 22:20</a></span>. See note on <a href="/genesis/15-1.htm" title="After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.">Genesis 15:1</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">God did prove Abraham</span>] “Prove” in the sense of “make trial of,” cf. <a href="/exodus/15-25.htm" title="And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,">Exodus 15:25</a>; <a href="/exodus/16-4.htm" title="Then said the LORD to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.">Exodus 16:4</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/8-2.htm" title="And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no.">Deuteronomy 8:2</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/8-16.htm" title="Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end;">Deuteronomy 8:16</a>; <a href="/psalms/66-10.htm" title="For you, O God, have proved us: you have tried us, as silver is tried.">Psalm 66:10</a>. The A.V. had “tempt,” in the old English sense of “put to the test” = Lat. <span class="ital">tentare</span>. On the test of faith and obedience, to which human nature is continually subjected, see the N.T. passages: <a href="/1_corinthians/10-13.htm" title="There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.">1 Corinthians 10:13</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-17.htm" title="By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,">Hebrews 11:17</a>; <a href="/context/james/1-12.htm" title="Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him....">James 1:12-13</a>; <a href="/context/1_peter/1-6.htm" title="Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations:...">1 Peter 1:6-7</a>. “Deus tentat, ut doceat: diabolus tentat, ut decipiat” (Augustine <span class="ital">in Joan. Tract</span>. 30, Serm. 2). It is instructive to compare the “proving” of Abraham, which is here referred directly to God Himself, with the “proving” of Job, which, in chaps. 1 2, is brought about by “the Satan.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and said unto him</span>] Presumably in a dream during the night; cf. <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-3.htm" title="And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.">Genesis 22:3</a></span>, “Abraham rose early”; compare <a href="/genesis/19-27.htm" title="And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:">Genesis 19:27</a>, <a href="/genesis/20-8.htm" title="Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.">Genesis 20:8</a>, <a href="/genesis/21-14.htm" title="And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.">Genesis 21:14</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Here am I</span>] The first instance of this response. Cf. 11, <a href="/genesis/27-1.htm" title="And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his oldest son, and said to him, My son: and he said to him, Behold, here am I.">Genesis 27:1</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">1–19</span>. From E; but <span class="ital"><a href="/context/genesis/22-15.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time,...">Genesis 22:15-18</a></span> are, probably, from another source, possibly R. As a piece of simple and vivid narrative, this passage from E’s narrative is unsurpassed.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">SPECIAL NOTE ON THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC<span class="p"><br /><br /></span></span>This episode occupies an important place in the religious teaching of Genesis. It is (1) the crowning test applied to the faith of the patriarch Abraham, and (2) the supreme example of the difference between the God who revealed Himself to the patriarchs, and the gods of the nature-religions of the Semitic peoples.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>It has, however, raised difficulties in the minds of many readers, who have been unable to reconcile the command to offer Isaac for a burnt-offering with their conception of a good God. The following points deserve, in this connexion, a careful consideration.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. <span class="ital">Human Sacrifice</span>. This was a religious custom widely prevalent among the ancient Semites.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">a</span>) <span class="ital">The Israelites</span>. Besides the present passage, there are to be found in the Pentateuch several passages strongly condemnatory of the usage (<a href="/leviticus/18-21.htm" title="And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.">Leviticus 18:21</a>; <a href="/leviticus/20-2.htm" title="Again, you shall say to the children of Israel, Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.">Leviticus 20:2</a>; <a href="/leviticus/20-5.htm" title="Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit prostitution with Molech, from among their people.">Leviticus 20:5</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/12-31.htm" title="You shall not do so to the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.">Deuteronomy 12:31</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/18-10.htm" title="There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.">Deuteronomy 18:10</a>). But it is evident from the instances of Jephthah’s daughter (<a href="/judges/11-29.htm" title="Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the children of Ammon.">Jdg 11:29</a> ff.), and of Hiel’s sons (<a href="/1_kings/16-34.htm" title="In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.">1 Kings 16:34</a>) that the practice was not easily eradicated. The prophets denounced it: “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (<a href="/micah/6-7.htm" title="Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?">Micah 6:7</a>). In the dark days of the later kings, and subsequently, we gather that the people shewed an evil tendency to revert to this barbarity (see <a href="/2_kings/16-3.htm" title="But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.">2 Kings 16:3</a>; <a href="/2_kings/21-6.htm" title="And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he worked much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">2 Kings 21:6</a>; <a href="/2_kings/23-10.htm" title="And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.">2 Kings 23:10</a>; <a href="/isaiah/57-5.htm" title="Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?">Isaiah 57:5</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/7-31.htm" title="And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.">Jeremiah 7:31</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/19-5.htm" title="They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:">Jeremiah 19:5</a>; <a href="/context/ezekiel/16-20.htm" title="Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Is this of your prostitutions a small matter,...">Ezekiel 16:20-21</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/20-26.htm" title="And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.">Ezekiel 20:26</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/23-37.htm" title="That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.">Ezekiel 23:37</a> : cf. <a href="/context/psalms/106-37.htm" title="Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils,...">Psalm 106:37-38</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>It hardly admits of doubt that the ancient laws of Israel, by which the firstborn were dedicated to God (<a href="/exodus/22-29.htm" title="You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe fruits, and of your liquors: the firstborn of your sons shall you give to me.">Exodus 22:29</a>), and by which an animal was to be sacrificed in order to redeem the firstborn son (<a href="/exodus/34-20.htm" title="But the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you redeem him not, then shall you break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.">Exodus 34:20</a>), point back to the custom of an earlier age, in which the primitive Hebrews had practised the sacrifice of the firstborn. The redemption of the firstborn with a lamb at the Feast of the Passover (<a href="/context/exodus/13-12.htm" title="That you shall set apart to the LORD all that opens the matrix, and every firstling that comes of a beast which you have; the males shall be the LORD's....">Exodus 13:12-15</a>) has been considered by some to be traceable to a similar origin.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>(<span class="ital">b</span>) <span class="ital">Other Nations</span>. Instances of the practice in connexion with Moloch worship are mentioned in passages quoted above from the O.T. Mesha, the king of Moab, in order to propitiate his god, Chemosh, and obtain the defeat of the Israelite invaders, sacrificed his eldest son (<a href="/2_kings/3-27.htm" title="Then he took his oldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.">2 Kings 3:27</a>). In <a href="/2_kings/17-31.htm" title="And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.">2 Kings 17:31</a> “the Sepharvites” are said to “have burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The excavations, carried out in recent years at Gezer, Megiddo, and Taanach, have shewn that the practice was followed by “the primitive Semitic inhabitants of Palestine, and even, at least at Megiddo, in the Israelite period” (Driver’s <span class="ital">Schweich Lectures</span>, pp. 68, 69).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>There is evidence to shew that human sacrifice prevailed from the earliest times in Egypt, though the victims may generally have been taken from the ranks of the enemy (cf. Handcock, p. 75, quoting Budge’s <span class="ital">Osiris</span>, pp. 197 ff.).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. <span class="ital">The Command to sacrifice Isaac</span>. We may assume, then, that in Abraham’s time the religious custom of human sacrifice prevailed among the peoples of the land. We have to think of the patriarch as he was, as a man of his own time and race. God spoke to him in language that he could understand. God proved his faith by a test, which, horrible as it sounds to our ears, was consonant with the feelings and traditions he had inherited from his forefathers. The command to sacrifice Isaac, in the year 2100 b.c., would not have suggested anything outrageous or abominable, as it does to our minds. We must remember that, startling as it may appear, it would have seemed to the ancient inhabitants of Palestine far more wonderful that Abraham’s God should have interposed to prevent the sacrifice, than that He should have given the order for its being offered. The command to sacrifice his son corresponded to the true religious instinct to offer up his best and highest.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">3.</span> <span class="ital">The Triumph of Abraham’s Faith</span>. We are told that “God did prove Abraham.” In the presence of the people of the land who practised this custom, would not conscience, the voice of God, again and again have whispered: “thou art not equal to the supremest surrender; thou art not prepared to give up ‘thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac’ ”? The command, then, to offer up Isaac came as a threefold test of faith: (i) did Abraham love and obey his God as sincerely as the heathen around him loved and obeyed their gods? (ii) did he, in the conflict of emotions, put his affection for his son before his love for his God? (iii) could he himself undertake to obey a command of his God, which was in direct conflict with that same God’s repeated promises that in Isaac should his name be called1[20]? It was this last which constituted the most acute trial of Abraham’s faith. But he stood the test; and in the surrender of everything, will, affections, hope, and reason, he simply obeyed, trusting, that, as a son had been granted to him in his old age, when he was as good as one dead, so, in God’s good providence, His promises would yet somehow be fulfilled, and Isaac would live.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>[20] Cf. “Nam quasi Deus secum ipse pugnet, puerum ad mortem postulat, in quo spem aeternae salutis proposuit. Itaque hoc posterius mandatum quidam erat fidei interitus” (Calvin).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The completeness of this faith was tested up to the moment when his hand was outstretched to commit the fatal act.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">4.</span> <span class="ital">The Nature of God</span>. The prohibition of the sacrifice of Isaac proclaimed a fundamental contrast between the God of Abraham and the gods of the nations round about. The knowledge of the God of Abraham was progressive: there was continually more to be learned of His Will and Nature. It was now shewn that human sacrifice could not any longer be thought to be acceptable to Him.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>There was a true element in sacrifice which in Abraham’s case had been tested to the uttermost. This was the surrender of the will and of the heart to God. The spirit of the offerer, not the material of the offering is the essence of sacrifice. This is the anticipation of Israelite prophecy (<a href="/1_samuel/15-22.htm" title="And Samuel said, Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.">1 Samuel 15:22</a>; <a href="/isaiah/1-11.htm" title="To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? said the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.">Isaiah 1:11</a> ff.; <a href="/jeremiah/6-20.htm" title="To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.">Jeremiah 6:20</a>; <a href="/amos/5-21.htm" title="I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.">Amos 5:21</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>There was a false element in the current conceptions of sacrifice, which tended to make its efficacy depend upon material quantity and cost. In the case of a human offering, the suffering, bereavement, and agony, mental and physical, seemed only to augment its value. The Deity that required to be propitiated with human life, was capricious, insatiable and savage. This hideous delusion about God’s Nature was finally to be dissipated. God had no pleasure in suffering or in death, in themselves. God was a God of love. Life should be dedicated unto Him, not in cruelty, but in service.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Sacrifice in the Chosen Family was to be free from the taint of this practice. The substitution of an animal for a human victim was to be the reminder of a transition to a higher phase of morality. The Revelation of the Law of Love was to be traced back by the devout Israelite to the Patriarchal Era, and to the religious experience of Abraham, the founder of the race. The Episode is a spiritual Parable.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>5. <span class="ital">The Rights of the Individual</span>. Among ancient Semitic peoples the rights of the individual were merged in those of the family or the tribe. Life and death were in the hands of the father. Isaac possessed no rights of his own. The same Revelation, that prohibited his sacrifice, proclaimed that every one born in the image of God had individual and inalienable rights and duties. Human personality had a sanctity and a freedom of its own. True sacrifice implied the surrender of self, not of another. The substitution of the ram was the memorial of the abrogation of an inhuman system, which disregarded mercy and outraged humanity.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>6. <span class="ital">References in O.T., Apocrypha, and N.T.</span> There appears to be no other mention in the O.T. of the sacrifice of Isaac. Some have needlessly supposed it is alluded to in <a href="/isaiah/41-8.htm" title="But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.">Isaiah 41:8</a>, “Abraham my friend”; cf. <a href="/2_chronicles/20-7.htm" title="Are not you our God, who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend for ever?">2 Chronicles 20:7</a>. There is probably a reference to it in <a href="//apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/44-20.htm" title="Therefore he assured him by an oath, that he would bless the nations in his seed, and that he would multiply him as the dust of the earth, and exalt his seed as the stars, and cause them to inherit from sea to sea, and from the river unto the utmost part of the land.">Sir 44:20</a>, “And when he was proved he was found faithful.” Cf. <a href="//apocrypha.org/wisdom_of_solomon/10-5.htm" title="Moreover, the nations in their wicked conspiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son.">Wis 10:5</a>, “Wisdom knew the righteous man … and kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child.” <a href="//apocrypha.org/1_maccabees/2-52.htm" title="Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness?">1Ma 2:52</a>, “Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation?” 4Ma 16:18-20, “Remember that for the sake of God ye have come into the world …; for whom also our father Abraham made haste to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation; and Isaac, seeing his father’s hand lifting the knife against him, did not shrink.” In the N.T. it is twice mentioned: <a href="/hebrews/11-17.htm" title="By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,">Hebrews 11:17</a> ff., “By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead; from whence he did also in a parable receive him back.” <a href="/james/2-21.htm" title="Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?">James 2:21</a>, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>7. <span class="ital">Jewish Tradition</span> found a fertile subject in the <span class="ital">‘aḳêdah</span>, or binding, of Isaac. The following passage from the Targum of Palestine is a good example of Haggadah (i.e. legend, or explanatory tradition): “And they came to the place of which the Lord had told him. And Abraham builded there the altar which Adam had built, which had been destroyed by the waters of the deluge, which Noah had again builded, and which had been destroyed in the age of divisions [i.e. the dispersion of the peoples]. And he set the wood in order upon it, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And Isaac answered and said to his father, Bind me properly, lest I tremble from the affliction of my soul, and be cast into the pit of destruction, and there be found profaneness in thy offering. Now the eyes of Abraham looked on the eyes of Isaac; but the eyes of Isaac looked towards the angels on high, and Isaac beheld them, but Abraham saw them not. And the angels answered on high, Come, behold how these solitary ones who are in the world kill the one the other; he who slays delays not; he who is to be slain reacheth forth his neck. And the Angel of the Lord called to him, &c.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>“According to Jose ben Zimra, the idea of tempting Abraham was suggested by Satan who said, ‘Lord of the Universe! Here is a man whom thou hast blessed with a son at the age of one hundred years, and yet, amidst all his feasts, he did not offer thee a single dove or young pigeon for a sacrifice’ (<span class="ital">Sanh</span>. 87<span class="ital">b</span>; <span class="ital">Gen. R</span>. lv.). In Jose ben Zimra’s opinion, the <span class="ital">‘aḳedah</span> took place immediately after Isaac’s weaning. This however is not the general opinion. According to the Rabbis, the <span class="ital">‘aḳedah</span> not only coincided with, but was the cause of the death of Sarah, who was informed of Abraham’s intention while he and Isaac were on the way to Mount Moriah. Therefore Isaac must then have been thirty-seven years old (<span class="ital">Seder ‘Olam Rabbah</span>, ed. Ratner, p. 6; <span class="ital">Pirke R. El</span>. xxxi.; <span class="ital">Tanna debe Eliyahu R</span>. xxvii.).” <span class="ital">Jewish Encycl</span>. s.v. Isaac.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>“The Jews implore the mercy of God by the sacrifice of Isaac, as Christians by the sacrifice of Christ” (Mayor, <span class="ital">Ep. James</span>, p. 97). The merits of Isaac’s submission were regarded as abounding to the credit of the whole race; e.g. “For the merit of Isaac who offered himself upon the altar, the Holy One, blessed be He, will hereafter raise the dead” (<span class="ital">Pesikta Rab. Kahana</span>, p. 200, ed. Buber).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>8. <span class="ital">Patristic References</span>. In the Fathers, the story was seized upon for purposes of Christian allegory. Isaac is the type of Christ who offers Himself a willing sacrifice. The ram caught in the thicket is the type of Christ fastened to the wood of the cross. Thus according to Procopius of Gaza, the words of the Angel, “seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,” imply, “neither will I spare my beloved Son for thy sake. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son … (<a href="/john/3-16.htm" title="For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.">John 3:16</a>). Wherefore also Paul did greatly marvel at His goodness, saying, ‘Who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all’ ” (<a href="/romans/8-32.htm" title="He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?">Romans 8:32</a>). His note on “the ram” is: “Aries mactatus ab interitu redemit Isaacum; sic Dominus occisus salvavit nos ab impendente aeterna morte” (ed. Migne, <span class="ital">P. G</span>. 87, <span class="ital">Pars</span> i. p. 391).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Primasius: “Occisus est Isaac quantum ad voluntatem patris pertinet. Deinde redonavit illum Deus patriarchae in parabola, id est, in figura et similitudine passionis Christi … Aries significabat carnem Christi. Isaac oblatus est et non est interfectus sed aries tantum; quia Christus in passione oblatus est, sed divinitas illius impassibilis mansit” (quoted by Westcott, <span class="ital">Ep. <a href="/hebrews/11-19.htm" title="Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from where also he received him in a figure.">Hebrews 11:19</a></span>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The earliest reference occurs in the <span class="ital">Epistle of Barnabas</span>: “Seeing that there is a commandment in scripture, Whosoever shall not observe the fast shall surely die, the Lord commanded, because He was in His own person about to offer the vessel of His Spirit a sacrifice for our sins, that the type also which was given in Isaac who was offered upon the altar should be fulfilled” (chap. 7). Lightfoot’s <span class="ital">Apostolic Fathers</span>. p. 251.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Irenaeus speaks of Abraham as “having with a willing mind yielded up his own only-begotten and beloved son as a sacrifice to God, in order that God also might be well pleased, on behalf of his seed, to grant His own only-begotten and beloved Son as a sacrifice with a view to our redemption” (ed. Stieren, i. p. 572).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>St Augustine compares Isaac bearing the wood for the sacrifice with Christ bearing His cross; while the ram, caught in the thicket, typifies Jesus crowned with thorns: “Propterea et Isaac, sicut Dominus crucem suam, ita sibi ligna ad victimae locum quibus fuerat imponendus ipse portavit … Postremo quia Isaac occidi non oportebat, posteaquam est pater ferire prohibitus, quis erat ille aries, quo immolato impletum est significativo sanguine sacrificium? Nempe quando eum vidit Abraham, cornibus in frutice tenebatur. Quis ergo illo figurabatur, nisi Jesus, antequam immolaretur, spinis Judaicis coronatus?” (Aug. <span class="ital">De Civ. Dei</span>, xvi. c. 32).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-2.htm">Genesis 22:2</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, Take now thy son, thine only <i>son</i> 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.</div><span class="bld">2</span>. <span class="ital">thy son</span>] Observe the cumulative force of the successive words, “thy son,” “only son,” “whom thou lovest,” “Isaac,” indicating the severity of the test about to be applied to Abraham’s faith.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">only son</span>] Ishmael is here disregarded, as in <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-12.htm" title="And he said, Lay not your hand on the lad, neither do you any thing to him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.">Genesis 22:12</a>; <a href="/genesis/22-16.htm" title="And said, By myself have I sworn, said the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son:">Genesis 22:16</a></span>. He is no longer considered one of the true family. The LXX <span class="greekheb">τὸν ἀγαπητόν</span> (Lat. <span class="ital">unigenitum</span>) is, however, perhaps due to the thought of Ishmael.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">into the land of Moriah</span>] Moriah is here the name of a country, containing mountains on one of which Abraham is to offer Isaac. The proper name “Moriah” is found elsewhere only in <a href="/2_chronicles/3-1.htm" title="Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.">2 Chronicles 3:1</a>, “in Mount Moriah,” i.e. the hill in Jerusalem, on which was the threshing-floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, where the Angel appeared to David. This was the site of the Temple of Solomon. Obviously the expression, “the land of Moriah,” and the reference to the mountains in it, cannot here denote Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a town in the days of the patriarchs (see <a href="/genesis/14-18.htm" title="And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.">Genesis 14:18</a>). More probably the Chronicler, in <a href="/2_chronicles/3-1.htm" title="Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.">2 Chronicles 3:1</a>, has recorded the popular tradition of his own time, according to which the scene of the appearance to David and the site of the temple at Jerusalem were identified with the place of Isaac’s sacrifice; and the name “Moriah,” occurring in this passage of Genesis was therefore popularly, although inaccurately, assigned to the Temple hill.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>What “the land of Moriah” was, we can no longer determine. Possibly the word “Moriah” is the Heb. adaptation of some earlier name, which was lost in the transmission of the story. The name Moriah probably contains a play upon the words meaning “to see” and “Jehovah,” cf. <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-14.htm" title="And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.">Genesis 22:14</a></span>. It provided a puzzle to the versions. Lat. <span class="ital">terra visionis</span>, Sym. <span class="greekheb">γῆ ὀπτασίας</span>, Aq. <span class="greekheb">τὴν γῆν τὴν καταφανῆ</span>, LXX <span class="greekheb">τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλήν</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The Syriac Peshitto renders, “the land of the Amorites,” with which agrees the conjecture of Dillmann and Ball. Tuch and Bleek conjectured “the land of Moreh,” cf. <a href="/genesis/12-6.htm" title="And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.">Genesis 12:6</a>; but the Hebron district of “the land of Moreh” would be much too close to Beer-sheba to suit the description in <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-4.htm" title="Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.">Genesis 22:4</a></span>. Hence Wellhausen’s conjecture “the land of the Hamorites” (i.e. Shechem: cf. Genesis 34 and <a href="/judges/9-28.htm" title="And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? is not he the son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his officer? serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem: for why should we serve him?">Jdg 9:28</a>). Probably the name is irrecoverable by conjecture. Rabbinic interpretations called it “the place of fear,” or “of worship.” Joseph. <span class="ital">Ant</span>. i. § 13, <span class="greekheb">τὸ Μόριον ὅρος</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">for a burnt offering</span>] A whole burnt-offering, viz. an offering of complete dedication to God. It was wholly consumed in the fire, as distinct from an offering in which the offerers themselves participated: see note on <a href="/genesis/8-20.htm" title="And Noah built an altar to the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.">Genesis 8:20</a>. It was a propitiatory offering: cf. <a href="/leviticus/1-4.htm" title="And he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.">Leviticus 1:4</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-3.htm">Genesis 22:3</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.</div><span class="bld">3</span>. <span class="ital">And Abraham rose early</span>, &c.] Abraham’s prompt unquestioning obedience is here depicted in the description of his successive acts. The mental struggle is passed over in silence. Calvin notes: “quasi oculis clausis pergit quo jubetur.” Cf. <a href="//apocrypha.org/wisdom_of_solomon/10-5.htm" title="Moreover, the nations in their wicked conspiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son.">Wis 10:5</a>, “wisdom knew the righteous man and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong when his heart yearned towards his child.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the wood</span>] Implying that the place of the sacrifice would be treeless.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the place</span>] See note on <a href="/genesis/12-6.htm" title="And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.">Genesis 12:6</a>. Was it a local sanctuary?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">of which God had told him</span>) Cf. <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-2.htm" title="And he said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and get you into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.">Genesis 22:2</a></span>, the narrative is condensed. The names of the “place” and the mountain spoken of by God are not recorded.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-4.htm">Genesis 22:4</a></div><div class="verse">Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.</div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">On the third day … afar off</span>] The “place” was on a lofty eminence visible at a distance. Presumably “the third day” indicates a journey of 30 or 40 miles. The journey from Beer-sheba to Jerusalem is computed to take less than 24 hours.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-5.htm">Genesis 22:5</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.</div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">I and the lad</span>] Abraham’s words are either intended to conceal his intention; or they imply hope, against all hope. “Come again,” i.e. come back to the young men. He will not let the servants know the nature of the expedition.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-6.htm">Genesis 22:6</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid <i>it</i> upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.</div><span class="bld">6</span>. <span class="ital">laid it upon Isaac</span>] Isaac carries the heavy weight of the wood; Abraham, the more dangerous burden of the fire (i.e. a brazier) and the knife.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-7.htm">Genesis 22:7</a></div><div class="verse">And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here <i>am</i> I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where <i>is</i> the lamb for a burnt offering?</div><span class="bld">7</span>. <span class="ital">And Isaac spake</span>] The pathos of the narrative reaches its climax in the simple expression of boyish curiosity, indicating a knowledge of his father’s regular usages of sacrifice.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>“Here am I, my son?” is a little formal as a rendering. It is equivalent to a father’s reply: “Well, boy, what is it?”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-8.htm">Genesis 22:8</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.</div><span class="bld">8</span>. <span class="ital">provide himself</span>] Heb. <span class="ital">see for himself</span>, cf. <a href="/genesis/41-33.htm" title="Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.">Genesis 41:33</a>. Abraham’s words express his self-control and his faith, and have a reference to <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-14.htm" title="And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.">Genesis 22:14</a></span>. The provision by God of a lamb for a burnt-offering lies at the root of the interpretation of the present passage in its typical application to the Sacrifice of Christ. Cf. the mention of the Lamb in <a href="/john/1-29.htm" title="The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.">John 1:29</a>; <a href="/john/1-36.htm" title="And looking on Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God!">John 1:36</a>; <a href="/1_peter/1-19.htm" title="But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:">1 Peter 1:19</a>; <a href="/revelation/5-12.htm" title="Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.">Revelation 5:12</a>. The present passage is the first Lesson for the morning of Good Friday.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">so they went … together</span>] In the brief words of this simple and moving description is compressed a world of intense feeling. Cf. a similar phrase in <a href="/2_kings/2-6.htm" title="And Elijah said to him, Tarry, I pray you, here; for the LORD has sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And they two went on.">2 Kings 2:6</a>; <a href="/2_kings/2-8.htm" title="And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided here and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.">2 Kings 2:8</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-9.htm">Genesis 22:9</a></div><div class="verse">And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.</div><span class="bld">9</span>. <span class="ital">which God had told him of</span>] See <span class="ital"><a href="/context/genesis/22-1.htm" title="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....">Genesis 22:1-2</a></span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">built the altar there</span>] Possibly referring to the altar of some well-known spot. Cf. note on the word “place,” <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-3.htm" title="And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.">Genesis 22:3</a></span>, <a href="/genesis/12-6.htm" title="And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.">Genesis 12:6</a>. For the definite article, see <a href="/genesis/8-7.htm" title="And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.">Genesis 8:7</a>. The altar needed rebuilding.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">laid the wood in order</span>] The technical phrase for arranging the wood on an altar of sacrifice. See <a href="/numbers/23-4.htm" title="And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.">Numbers 23:4</a>; <a href="/1_kings/18-33.htm" title="And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.">1 Kings 18:33</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">bound</span>] LXX <span class="greekheb">συμποδίσας</span>. Another technical word, for binding the limbs of the sacrificial animal, only found here in O.T. Amongst the Jews the sacrifice of Isaac was known as “the binding (<span class="ital">‘akêdah</span>) of Isaac.” See Special Note at <a href="/genesis/1-19.htm" title="And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.">Genesis 1:19</a>. The submission of Isaac is not expressed, but implied. Isaac’s age, according to the narrative of E in this chapter, appears to be that of a mere lad. Without the necessary recognition of the different sources from which the patriarchal narrative is derived, it has been supposed, on the strength of <a href="/genesis/21-34.htm" title="And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.">Genesis 21:34</a> and <a href="/genesis/22-1.htm" title="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.">Genesis 22:1</a>, that Isaac was now a young man. The note of Calvin, to whom the analysis of Genesis was unknown, is therefore justified: “atqui scimus tunc fuisse mediae aetatis, ut vel patre esset robustior, vel saltem par ad resistendum si viribus certandum esset.… Mira quidem est Mosis in narrando simplicitas, sed quae plus vehementiae continet quam si tragice omnia exaggeret.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-10.htm">Genesis 22:10</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.</div><span class="bld">10</span>. <span class="ital">slay</span>] The technical sacrificial word for killing the victim by cutting its throat.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-11.htm">Genesis 22:11</a></div><div class="verse">And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here <i>am</i> I.</div><span class="bld">11</span>. <span class="ital">the angel of the Lord</span>] See note on <a href="/genesis/16-11.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has heard your affliction.">Genesis 16:11</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Abraham, Abraham</span>] For the reiteration of the name, denoting special earnestness, compare <a href="/genesis/46-2.htm" title="And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.">Genesis 46:2</a>; <a href="/exodus/3-4.htm" title="And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.">Exodus 3:4</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/3-10.htm" title="And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for your servant hears.">1 Samuel 3:10</a>; <a href="/acts/9-4.htm" title="And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecute you me?">Acts 9:4</a>. Abraham’s act is arrested at the last possible moment. The sacrifice of Isaac was practically completed, when the hand of Abraham raised the knife over his son. The moral surrender had been complete.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-12.htm">Genesis 22:12</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>son</i> from me.</div><span class="bld">12</span>. <span class="ital">for now I know</span>] Abraham has stood the test. Actual experience has justified Divine foreknowledge. The Angel of the Lord is here identified with the Almighty. By the words “lay not thine hand, &c.,” Jehovah proclaims to Abraham and to his descendants His abhorrence of the cruelty of child sacrifice.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">hast not withheld</span>] The recollection of these words possibly underlies the phrase of St Paul in <a href="/romans/8-32.htm" title="He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?">Romans 8:32</a>, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-13.htm">Genesis 22:13</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind <i>him</i> a ram caught in a 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.</div><span class="bld">13</span>. <span class="ital">and behold, behind</span> him] The R.V. marginal note refers to a difference of reading, arising from the similarity of the two Heb. letters for <span class="ital">r</span> (<span class="greekheb">ר</span>) and (<span class="greekheb">ד</span>) <span class="ital">d</span>. The word, rendered “behind,” would, by the alteration of <span class="ital">r</span> into <span class="ital">d</span>, appear with the same consonants as the word meaning “one”: and this reading is found in the LXX, Sam., Peshitto, Targums, and many Heb. MSS. But the text, “behind <span class="ital">him</span>,” is to be preferred.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>For the sudden appearance of a ram, cf. the similar suddenness of appearance in <a href="/genesis/18-2.htm" title="And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, see, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,">Genesis 18:2</a>, <a href="/genesis/21-19.htm" title="And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.">Genesis 21:19</a>. God’s gifts may be near at hand, and not yet discerned; the recognition of God’s voice brings a sudden realization of His gifts.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a ram</span>] The conjecture that the word rendered “ram” (<span class="ital">ayil</span>) should, with different vowel points, be rendered a “hart” (<span class="ital">ayyâl</span>) is not to be approved. For (1) wild animals were not usually sacrificed by Hebrews; (2) <span class="ital"><a href="/context/genesis/22-7.htm" title="And Isaac spoke to 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?...">Genesis 22:7-8</a></span>, by the mention of “lamb,” prepare us for “a ram”; (3) the word “thicket” seems to imply the twisted horns of a ram being entangled in brushwood.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-14.htm">Genesis 22:14</a></div><div class="verse">And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said <i>to</i> this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.</div><span class="bld">14</span>. <span class="ital">Jehovah-jireh</span>] i.e. <span class="ital">the Lord will see</span>, or, <span class="ital">provide</span>. The name which Abraham here gives to the place combines the thought of Jehovah’s continual and constant watchfulness with that of His special response to Abraham’s utterance of faith, <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-8.htm" title="And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.">Genesis 22:8</a></span>, “God will provide himself the lamb,” in answer to Isaac’s question, “where is the lamb?”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">as it is said to this day</span>] That is, it became a proverbial expression, cf. <a href="/genesis/10-9.htm" title="He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: why it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.">Genesis 10:9</a>. What is meant by “to this day,” is uncertain: but very possibly it refers to a proverb current among the Israelites, in connexion with the hill on which the Temple stood.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">In the mount of the Lord</span>] This phrase is used of the Temple hill in <a href="/psalms/24-3.htm" title="Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?">Psalm 24:3</a>; <a href="/isaiah/2-3.htm" title="And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.">Isaiah 2:3</a>; <a href="/isaiah/30-29.htm" title="You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.">Isaiah 30:29</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">it shall be provided</span>] R.V. marg. <span class="ital">he shall be seen</span>. Presumably the proverb here mentioned combined two ideas: (1) that Jehovah was seen, or revealed Himself, in the mount; (2) that the lesson of Jehovah’s provision for those that love and trust Him was taught to Abraham, the father of the faithful, in this mount.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The text is not free from doubt. According to other punctuations, we have two possible alternative renderings: (1) “in the mountain Jehovah is seen, or is revealed,” so LXX (<span class="greekheb">ἐν τῷ ὄρει Κύριος ὤφθη</span>); (2) “in the mountain Jehovah seeth, or provideth.” With a slight alteration of text, Gunkel renders: “for he said, To-day, in this mountain, God provideth.” According to the same scholar the name of the mountain was <span class="ital">Jeruel</span>, or <span class="ital">Jeriel</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/20-16.htm" title="To morrow go you down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and you shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.">2 Chronicles 20:16</a>). This he compares with Ariel, an old name of Jerusalem mentioned in <a href="/isaiah/29-1.htm" title="Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelled! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices.">Isaiah 29:1</a>; <a href="/isaiah/29-7.htm" title="And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her fortification, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.">Isaiah 29:7</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-15.htm">Genesis 22:15</a></div><div class="verse">And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,</div><span class="bld">15</span>. <a href="/context/genesis/22-15.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time,...">Genesis 22:15-18</a> are probably taken from another version of the same story. They are inferior in literary excellence, and probably represent a later amplification.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a second time</span>] The renewal and ratification of the blessing to Abraham expresses the Divine recognition of the patriarch’s faith. The blessing, previously granted, is here renewed as a reward for obedience (<span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-18.htm" title="And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice.">Genesis 22:18</a></span>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-16.htm">Genesis 22:16</a></div><div class="verse">And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only <i>son</i>:</div><span class="bld">16</span>. <span class="ital">By myself have I sworn</span>] Cf. <a href="/exodus/32-13.htm" title="Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.">Exodus 32:13</a>; <a href="/isaiah/45-23.htm" title="I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.">Isaiah 45:23</a>; <a href="/context/hebrews/6-13.htm" title="For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,...">Hebrews 6:13-17</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The remembrance of this oath is frequently invoked, cf. <a href="/genesis/24-7.htm" title="The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spoke to me, and that swore to me, saying, To your seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife to my son from there.">Genesis 24:7</a>, <a href="/genesis/26-3.htm" title="Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you, and to your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father;">Genesis 26:3</a>, <a href="/genesis/50-24.htm" title="And Joseph said to his brothers, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.">Genesis 50:24</a>; <a href="/psalms/105-9.htm" title="Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac;">Psalm 105:9</a>, “the covenant which he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac”; <a href="/luke/1-73.htm" title="The oath which he swore to our father Abraham,">Luke 1:73</a>, “the oath which he sware unto Abraham our father.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">saith the Lord</span>] Lit. “the Oracle” or “revelation of Jehovah”; a rare expression in narrative, cf. <a href="/numbers/14-28.htm" title="Say to them, As truly as I live, said the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:">Numbers 14:28</a>, <a href="/1_samuel/2-30.htm" title="Why the LORD God of Israel said, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD said, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.">1 Samuel 2:30</a>; but common in the Prophets, e.g. <a href="/jeremiah/18-5.htm" title="Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,">Jeremiah 18:5</a>. The Angel, speaking in the first person, identifies Himself with Jehovah (cf. <a href="/genesis/16-10.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.">Genesis 16:10</a>, <a href="/genesis/21-18.htm" title="Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation.">Genesis 21:18</a>, <a href="/genesis/31-13.htm" title="I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar, and where you vowed a vow to me: now arise, get you out from this land, and return to the land of your kindred.">Genesis 31:13</a>). The introduction of the prophetic formula, “Oracle of Jehovah,” into the words spoken by the Angel impersonating Jehovah, is peculiar.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-17.htm">Genesis 22:17</a></div><div class="verse">That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which <i>is</i> upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;</div><span class="bld">17</span>. <span class="ital">that in blessing</span>, &c.] The language of this benediction combines the substance of previous blessings pronounced upon the patriarch, under three heads: (1) multiplication of seed; (2) victory over enemies; (3) universal happiness.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">bless</span>] Cf. <a href="/genesis/12-2.htm" title="And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing:">Genesis 12:2</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">as the stars of the heaven</span>] Cf. <a href="/genesis/15-5.htm" title="And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.">Genesis 15:5</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">as the sand</span>] Cf. <a href="/genesis/13-16.htm" title="And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered.">Genesis 13:16</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the gate of his enemies</span>] See note on <a href="/genesis/24-60.htm" title="And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, You are our sister, be you the mother of thousands of millions, and let your seed possess the gate of those which hate them.">Genesis 24:60</a>. The phrase denotes conquest. LXX reads <span class="greekheb">πόλεις</span>, both here and in <a href="/genesis/24-60.htm" title="And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, You are our sister, be you the mother of thousands of millions, and let your seed possess the gate of those which hate them.">Genesis 24:60</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-18.htm">Genesis 22:18</a></div><div class="verse">And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.</div><span class="bld">18</span>. <span class="ital">in thy seed</span>] See note on <a href="/genesis/12-3.htm" title="And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.">Genesis 12:3</a>. The words might be also rendered “by thy seed.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">be blessed</span>] Better, as R.V. marg., <span class="ital">bless themselves</span>. See notes on <a href="/genesis/12-3.htm" title="And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.">Genesis 12:3</a>, <a href="/genesis/18-18.htm" title="Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?">Genesis 18:18</a>, <a href="/genesis/26-4.htm" title="And I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;">Genesis 26:4</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">because thou hast obeyed</span>] Lit. “because thou hast heard,” or “listened to.” God’s word may be a sound which is not heard; or it may be a sound which is heard, but not listened to; or it may be a sound which is heard, listened to, and obeyed.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-19.htm">Genesis 22:19</a></div><div class="verse">So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.</div><span class="bld">19</span>. <span class="ital">returned unto his young men</span>] See <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-5.htm" title="And Abraham said to his young men, Abide you here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.">Genesis 22:5</a></span>. It is characteristic of the reserve of the writer, that no mention is made of joy or congratulation or relief.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Beer-sheba</span>] See <a href="/genesis/21-31.htm" title="Why he called that place Beersheba; because there they swore both of them.">Genesis 21:31</a>. Abraham was dwelling at Beer-sheba at the time when these things happened.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-20.htm">Genesis 22:20</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;</div><span class="bld">20</span>. <span class="ital">after these things</span>] Cf. <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-1.htm" title="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.">Genesis 22:1</a></span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Milcah</span>] See <a href="/genesis/11-27.htm" title="Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.">Genesis 11:27</a>; <a href="/genesis/11-29.htm" title="And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.">Genesis 11:29</a>. Nahor’s marriage with his niece probably represents the fusion of two tribes.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>20–24. The Genealogy of Nahor (J)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>In this genealogy it is to be noted, (1) that the home of Nahor and his sons is not Ur, but <span class="ital">Aram Naharaim</span>, as in <a href="/genesis/24-10.htm" title="And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.">Genesis 24:10</a>; (2) that the sons of Nahor, like those of Ishmael (<a href="/context/genesis/25-13.htm" title="And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,...">Genesis 25:13-16</a>), Esau (<a href="/context/genesis/36-15.htm" title="These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz,...">Genesis 36:15-19</a>), and Jacob, are twelve in number, of whom eight are born to his legitimate wife Milcah, and four to his concubine Reumah; (3) that the names of the sons represent tribes, or tribal dwelling-places, in the Aramaean, or Syrian, region on the N.E. of Palestine. The genealogy seems to represent a recollection of the traditional names of the prehistoric ancestors of the Hebrew immigrants. Probably the introduction of the genealogy at this point is due to the mention of Rebekah in <span class="ital"><a href="/genesis/22-23.htm" title="And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.">Genesis 22:23</a></span>, which prepares the way for the story in 24 (J).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-21.htm">Genesis 22:21</a></div><div class="verse">Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,</div><span class="bld">21</span>. <span class="ital">Uz his firstborn</span>] In <a href="/genesis/10-23.htm" title="And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.">Genesis 10:23</a> (P) Uz is the firstborn of Aram. Uz, as a locality in the Syrian region, is mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions. It may denote a branch of an Aramaean tribe, the <span class="ital">Uṣṣâ</span> of Shalmaneser II. It appears as the birthplace of Job (<a href="/genesis/1-1.htm" title="In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.">Genesis 1:1</a>). Whether it is the same Uz as is mentioned in <a href="/jeremiah/25-20.htm" title="And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,">Jeremiah 25:20</a>, <a href="/lamentations/4-21.htm" title="Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through to you: you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.">Lamentations 4:21</a>, is doubtful. Another, Edomite, Uz is mentioned in <a href="/genesis/36-28.htm" title="The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran.">Genesis 36:28</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Buz</span>] See <a href="/jeremiah/25-23.htm" title="Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,">Jeremiah 25:23</a>, where the mention of Buz with Dedan and Tema seems to point to the borders of the Arabian desert. Elihu, the friend of Job, is a native of Buz (<a href="/job/32-2.htm" title="Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.">Job 32:2</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Aram</span>] Here the son of Kemuel and nephew of Uz: in <a href="/genesis/10-23.htm" title="And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.">Genesis 10:23</a> (P), Aram, the son of Shem, is the father of Uz. Evidently the traditions embodying the relationship of the tribes of the desert were current in very various forms.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-22.htm">Genesis 22:22</a></div><div class="verse">And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.</div><span class="bld">22</span>. <span class="ital">Chesed</span>] Presumably, not to be confounded with the ancestor of the S. Babylonian people, the <span class="ital">Chasdim</span>, or “Chaldees,” mentioned in <a href="/genesis/11-31.htm" title="And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and dwelled there.">Genesis 11:31</a> (P). More probably, the Bedouin tribe, mentioned in <a href="/2_kings/24-2.htm" title="And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.">2 Kings 24:2</a>, <a href="/job/1-17.htm" title="While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell on the camels, and have carried them away, yes, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.">Job 1:17</a>, as “the Chaldeans,” quite distinct from the Chesed of Arpachshad (<a href="/genesis/10-22.htm" title="The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.">Genesis 10:22</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-23.htm">Genesis 22:23</a></div><div class="verse">And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.</div><span class="bld">23</span>. <span class="ital">Bethuel</span>] See <a href="/genesis/24-15.htm" title="And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder.">Genesis 24:15</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Rebekah</span>] See chap. 24. No place, or clan, of this name is mentioned in the O.T.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/genesis/22-24.htm">Genesis 22:24</a></div><div class="verse">And his concubine, whose name <i>was</i> Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.</div><span class="bld">24</span>. <span class="ital">Reumah</span>] The children of the concubine denote a less intimate tribal relationship than the children of the legal wife.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Maacah</span>] See <a href="/2_samuel/10-6.htm" title="And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethrehob and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men.">2 Samuel 10:6</a>. A region to the north of Mount Hermon; cf. the mention of the Maacathites in <a href="/joshua/13-11.htm" title="And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salcah;">Joshua 13:11</a>; <a href="/joshua/13-13.htm" title="Nevertheless the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.">Joshua 13:13</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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