Genesis 22

Abraham showed that he really trusted God

1A long time later, God tested Abraham. God wanted to see if Abraham trusted him properly, and if Abraham would do anything God told him to do.

God called out, “Abraham.”

And Abraham said, “Yes, God, I am listening to you.”

2Then God said, “I know that you love your son, Isaac, and he is your only son, but I want you to take him to the country called Moriah, to one of the mountains that I will show you. I want you to kill Isaac for me, and burn his body on a table made of stones, to show me that you respect me.”#2 Chronicles 3:1

3Abraham listened to God, so the next morning, Abraham chopped up some wood for the fire and tied the wood on to his donkey. Then, he got Isaac and 2 of his work-men, and they all started to go to the place God told him about.

4They walked for nearly 3 days, then Abraham looked up and saw the place God told him about. It was still a long way ahead of them. 5Abraham said to his work-men, “I want you to stay here with the donkey. And me and Isaac, we will go over there to show respect to God. After we do that, we will come back to you.”

6Abraham put the wood on to Isaac’s back for him to carry, and Abraham carried some fire and his knife.

As they walked along, 7Isaac said, “Dad.”

Abraham said, “Yes, son?”

And Isaac said, “We’ve got the wood, and the fire, but where is the sheep that we are going to burn to show respect to God?”

8Abraham said, “Son, God will give us the sheep, so that we can show him respect.” And they kept on walking together.

9Then they got to the place that God told Abraham about, and Abraham piled up some stones to make a table with a flat top, and he put the wood on top of it. Then he tied Isaac’s hands and feet together, and he put him on top of the wood.#Hebrews 11:17-19; James 2:21 10Then Abraham picked up his sharp knife, and he was just about to kill Isaac, 11but God’s angel messenger called out to him from heaven. He said, “Abraham, Abraham.”

Abraham stopped, and he said, “Yes?”

12The angel said, “Don’t kill that boy. Don’t hurt him in any way. Now I know that you respect God so much that you will do anything he tells you to do. You will even kill your only son for God.”

13Then Abraham looked behind him, and he saw a male sheep with its head stuck in a little tree. He quickly took Isaac off the wood and untied the ropes from him. Then Abraham grabbed that sheep, and he killed it instead of his son, and he burned it on that stone table, to show respect to God.

14And Abraham called that place, God will give you what you need. Even today, people say, “On God’s mountain, he will give you what you need.”

15Then God’s angel messenger called out again from heaven to Abraham. 16He said, “This is what God wants to tell you Abraham. He says, ‘You listened to me, and you were ready to give me your only son. So now I’m making this really strong promise to you. You can know that I will keep this promise, because I am God. 17I will do really good things for you. And I will give you a really big family. You see, lots of people will be born into your son’s family later on, and they will become a really big mob of people. There will be lots and lots of them, just like there are lots of stars in the sky, and lots of little bits of sand at the beaches beside the sea. And when other nations get up to fight against them, your family will win, and they will take the towns from those other nations.#Hebrews 11:12 18And I will use your family to do good things for all the nations in the world. I will do all this because you listened to me, and you did what I told you to do.’ ”#Acts 3:25

19Then Abraham and Isaac walked back to the place where Abraham’s work-men were waiting with the donkey, then they all went back to their camp at Beersheba.

Abraham and all his people camped there for a long time.

(We have not yet translated the rest of Genesis, or the books called Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. Some of the stories in those books tell us these things.

– Sarah died when she was 127 years old.

– Abraham died when he was 175 years old.

– Isaac had a son called Jacob.

– Jacob had 12 sons.

– God gave Jacob another name. He called him Israel.

– God took Jacob and his family to live in Egypt.

– They lived in Egypt for about 400 years, and became the nation called Israel. The families that came from his 12 sons became the 12 tribes in the Israel nation.

– Then God got an Israel man, called Moses, to take the Israel nation out of Egypt, into desert country, and God gave Moses his law for those people.

– After that, God gave them the country called Canaan. Today we call that country Israel. Sometimes we call the Israel people the Jewish people, or just the Jews.)

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Genesis 22

The Offering of Isaac

1Now after these things, God tested [the faith and commitment of] Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” 2God said, “Take now your son, your only son [of #Abraham also fathered Ishmael by Sarah’s slave, Hagar, but Isaac was his only son of promise, the legal heir of Abraham.promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of #This area later was to become Jerusalem and the site of Solomon’s temple.Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and then he got up and went to the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day [of travel] Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5Abraham said to his servants, “Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the #At this time Isaac would probably be about twenty years old.young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you.” 6Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it #As Jesus carried the crossbar for His own crucifixion, so here Isaac carried the wood for his own execution by fire, but God had mercy on him.on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the #I.e. a firepot filled with burning coals.fire (firepot) in his own hand and the [sacrificial] knife; and the two of them walked on together. 7And Isaac said to Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself #Abraham had complete faith and trust in God. Because God’s covenant with him depended on Isaac, Abraham may have anticipated that God would reveal to him an alternative to the sacrifice of Isaac, as He in fact did (vv 11-13). But Abraham was determined to carry out what God had commanded him to do, because of his faith in God’s promise.a lamb for the burnt offering.” So the two walked on together.

9When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood, and bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to #The Hebrew verb refers to a ritual procedure by which the blood flows straight to the ground.kill his son. 11But the #See note 16:7.Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” 12The Lord said, “Do not reach out [with the knife in] your hand against the boy, and do nothing to [harm] him; for now I know that you fear God [with reverence and profound respect], since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son [of promise].” 13Then Abraham looked up and glanced around, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering (ascending sacrifice) instead of his son. 14So Abraham named that place #Heb YHWH jireh. Lit the Lord will see (in the sense of “see to it”).The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it #This is a prophetic statement which looks ahead to the fact that the Messiah, the Son of God, would be the ultimate sacrifice, chosen and provided by the Father.will be seen and provided.”

15The #See note 16:7.Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16and said, “By Myself (on the basis of Who I Am) I have sworn [an oath], declares the Lord, that since you have done this thing and have not withheld [from Me] your son, your only son [of promise], 17indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of #Or his.their enemies [by conquering them]. 18Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.” 19So Abraham returned to his servants, and they got up and went with him to Beersheba; and Abraham settled in Beersheba.

20Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21Uz the firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight [children] Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24Nahor’s #I.e. a type of secondary or inferior “wife” (often a slave), much lower in rank than the official wife who managed the household and gave birth to the “legitimate” children. Concubines had marginal rights to financial support and recognition. Their children were usually acknowledged as offspring of the man, but were of lower status than the children born to the official wife.concubine, whose name was Reumah, gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

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