July 7 – Offering of Isaac

Genesis 22 – The Sacrifice of Isaac

Vs. 1-19  Offering Isaac
Continuing to read the Genesis account, one is hardly given time to adequately celebrate the birth of Abraham and Sarah’s promised son before we hear a command from God that surely took Abraham aback. Though this comes upon us quickly in the Genesis narrative, it is helpful to remember that many years had passed since Isaac’s birth. Given no other information regarding the intervening years, our best conclusion is that Abraham and Sarah are watching their son grow, anticipating the time when he will be old enough to wed and fulfill his role in God’s plan. If this is the case, God’s command to Abraham in verse 2 surely came as a shock.

The biblical text does not explicitly give us Isaac’s age. Many conclude that he was a young man in his mid teens to early twenties. This is based on the Hebrew word na’ar found in verses 5 and 12. The usage of this word in the Bible covers a wide age range from a small child to an older teen, perhaps even beyond. Jewish teachers often consider Isaac to be older at this point, perhaps in his mid to late thirties. This would make the event connect more closely to the time of Sarah’s death (Genesis 23:1). The only clue we have is that he is able to carry whatever wood was necessary for the offertory fire, and he was able to carry on a reasonable conversation with his father. 

Abraham is instructed to offer Isaac as a “burnt offering.” This is an act already observed with Noah after the flood (Genesis 8:20), and possibly in the offering presented to God by Abel (Genesis 4:4). The term will resurface in Exodus 18 with Moses’ father-in-law, and then become codified in the Mosaic Law in Exodus 29. The idea connected to a burnt offering is total commitment. Whatever is being offered is completely consumed, rising as a pleasing aroma to God. It is for this that Abraham is called to give his son.

The location given to Abraham for this event is a place called Moriah. The word itself is found in only two places in the Bible: here and in 2 Chronicles 3:1. Jewish understanding of the Hebrew word is rather broad. One common interpretation of the word is instruction or Torah. Another is to see it as reference to the Amorites, thereby understanding God’s command to Abraham as “go to the land of the Amorites.” Whether these or other interpretations are the best, we can observe that the Bible intends to make a connection between what happens here with Abraham and another event that will happen in the life of King David. This event is recorded in both 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. While the details vary, the event is about David being instructed to make an offering to God. The writer of Chronicles will later indicate that this event in David’s life happened at Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1). 

If Abraham’s destination is to be understood as the eventual location of Jerusalem, his journey from Beersheba would be roughly 45 miles—indeed a three day journey. As they approach, Abraham instructs the young helpers with him to remain behind while he and Isaac “go and worship” (v. 5). Nothing about this would have seemed out of place, with the possible exception of the detail that Isaac will also notice: the absence of a sacrificial animal. It is this detail that Isaac raises as a question to his father. Abraham’s response is profoundly steeped in faith: “The Lord will provide.” If we choose to see this with skepticism, we could say that Abraham is avoiding for a few more moments what will all too soon become painfully obvious to the boy. In contrast, we could consider that Abraham has by now learned to trust God and to be obedient even when obedience doesn’t make sense. Either way, what we do know is that Abraham’s statement is one of truth. God would and God did provide the sacrifice.

Although little is mentioned in this text from Isaac’s perspective, there is still a witness to be considered. At some point Isaac becomes fully aware of what is happening. His father begins to bind him and to place him on the altar as a sacrificial animal would be placed. At no point are we told that Isaac resisted his father. He does not plead with his father, nor struggle to escape. Even facing fear greater than most of us could ever imagine, he trusted himself into the hands of his father. 

At the last possible moment, God intervenes to stop Abraham from killing his son. Abraham had sufficiently demonstrated his love for God through his obedience. Once again we find in Genesis a statement that seems curious to the modern reader: “…now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (v. 12). The language “now I know” makes it seem like God didn’t know beforehand, which shouldn’t be the case for a God who knows all things. We should be reminded that these references to God are not unusual in the Genesis narrative. We have already read that God had to go down to Sodom to see if things really were as bad as God had heard (Genesis 18:21). More importantly, we should not miss the importance of how truth is confirmed in deeds. For every saint mentioned in Hebrews 11, faith is confirmed by some action. Likewise, love is confirmed by actions. We know that God loves us because he demonstrated his love by sending his Son even while we are sinners (Romans 5:8). The apostle John instructs us to “not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Such examples are consistent throughout scripture. Even for God, the truest test of Abraham’s love for God was through an action of the deepest level of obedience.

The gospel allusions in this text are nearly impossible to miss. Abraham is told to take his only son, the beloved, to be sacrificed. Abraham’s statement of faith is, “God will provide.” The ram caught in the thicket became a substitutionary sacrifice. Jesus was identified as God’s beloved son at both his baptism and his transfiguration (Matthew 3:17; 17:5). He was given as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of humanity (Romans 3:25; 1 Peter 2:24). The late Ravi Zacharias powerfully connected the Abraham account to the gospel of Christ when sharing with a Muslim audience, who also revere the sacrifice offered by Abraham, though generally understanding the son being offered as Ishmael rather than Isaac. Zacharias recalled Abraham’s act of obedience, and how God had intervened just before the knife struck the son. Zacharias followed by saying that 2,000 years afterward God brought another son up to that same mountain, only this time God would not spare the knife. The essence of the gospel is the heart of Abraham’s statement of faith: God will provide the sacrifice.

Vs. 20-24  Children of Nahor
The chapter ends with a brief section naming the children of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. These children were born to Nahor through his wife Milcah, and through his concubine Reumah. Most of these names do not appear again in the Bible. The one thing our eyes quickly catch is the name of Nahor’s granddaughter through Bethuel (v. 23), the one who will eventually become the wife of Isaac. 

Genesis 23 – Death and Burial of Sarah

This chapter accounts for the death of Abraham’s “princess,” Sarah. She is said to have lived 127 years, which would be thirty seven years past the birth of Isaac. More than her death itself, the text centers on arranging a burial place for her and how Abraham negotiates that.

At the time of her death Sarah and Abraham are said to have been in Kiriath-arba, more familiarly known to us as Hebron, a town in the Judean hill country about half way between Beersheba and Jerusalem. Abraham is still a sojourner, without what we would call strong roots in any place. Certainly Abraham has had to arrange burial for others associated with his household, but this time is different. For Sarah, Abraham wants a burial location to which he could lay permanent claim. His conversation is with the “sons of Heth” (v. 3), who was a son of Canaan and great grandson of Noah. Heth is considered to be the forefather of those who would become the Hittites. It is they who appear to be the fixed residents of the area, and therefore with whom Abraham must negotiate.

The sons of Heth respond to Abraham with great respect and generosity. They call him “a mighty prince among us,” which seems to be a nod to Abraham’s military-like campaign of Genesis 14. Though Abraham’s main objective was to rescue his nephew from the invading armies, the benefits of his victory were felt broadly by people groups who were impacted by those eastern kings. In the region of the Negev, Abraham surely had a reputation that preceded him. The people here are willing to grant Abraham “the choicest of (their) graves” (v. 6) for burying Sarah. Rather than consenting to their offer, Abraham asks to negotiate with one named Ephron for a specific plot of land (v. 8-9). Abraham probably takes this approach with the intent of insuring a gravesite that would remain distinct from the burial places of the people of the region. 

The transaction that would take place was done in a culturally official manner. Twice in the text we are told of it happening “in the gate of the city” (v. 10 and 18). This is where people would gather and where official business was witnessed. Abraham and Ephron were making a deal that both could consider formal and accountable. At first Ephron offers to make the cave and the field where it was located a gift to Abraham (v. 11). Abraham counters by insisting on “the price of the field,” although a price hasn’t been mentioned yet. We cannot be absolutely certain whether we are witnessing a negotiation where both parties are trying to be generous or one that is following the usual contours of acceptable bargaining in that culture. Either way, Ephron follows with a not-so-subtle price suggestion (v. 15) with a comment that amounts to “Is that amount of money really a big deal for either of us?” If it was meant to be an offer, Abraham accepted it and paid Ephron the full amount of silver in the presence of witnesses. 

With the purchase, Abraham had for his princess (and Isaac for his mother) a permanent and family-designated burial place. Further, Abraham now could claim ownership to the first piece of property in the land of Canaan. Before the Genesis narrative concludes, the cave of the field at Machpelah will be visited as the burial place of other patriarchs and matriarchs.