Genesis Chapter 22
Two important events are detailed in the 22nd chapter of Genesis. Both involve Isaac, the only son of Abraham and Sarah, and in whom God confirmed his covenant with Abraham.
The first event involves the Lord’s test of Abraham’s faith. It was a test most of us would surely fail, but it demonstrates the tremendous faith of Abraham in his Lord.
We recall in the last few chapters of Genesis the promise of the Lord to an elderly Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, even though both were well beyond child-bearing years.
The Lord made His covenant with Abraham in the long-promised birth of a son to Abraham and Sarah. The Lord promised that in that son, to be named Isaac, would He bless a nation of people. The Lord’s action as detailed in the 22nd chapter at first may appear inconsistent with His covenant, but is really a demonstration of faith in that covenant.
The action appears during the youth of Isaac. The Lord speaks to Abraham and tells him to "take thy son, thy only son Isaac" and offer him as a burnt offering sacrifice. The Lord directs Abraham to the general vicinity the offering is to take place (in the land of Moriah, generally believed to be near the location upon which Solomon would later build the temple in Jerusalem. See 2 Chronicles 3:1), promising to later reveal to Abraham an exact location for the offering.
This had to be a tremendous test of Abraham’s faith in the Lord. Abraham finally had the miracle of the birth of a promised son long after Sarah was otherwise capable of bearing children. A son through whom it had been promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation. Now Abraham was being told to offer up his son as a sacrifice to the Lord. This would involve Abraham first killing his son, and then burning Isaac as a part of the sacrificial offerings detailed in the Old Testament.
We are told that Abraham rose early and took two men with him to the land of Moriah, along with his son Isaac. On the third day the Lord revealed to Abraham the exact location in the mountains that the offering was to take place. Abraham instructed his to men to wait behind while he and Isaac went into the mountains to worship. He had Isaac carry the wood and Abraham carried the fire and knife as the father and son headed into the mountains.
As the two walked, Isaac questioned his father. Having knowledge of sacrifices to the Lord, Isaac asked his father where was the "lamb" for the burnt offering. To which Abraham responded: "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering".
This had to be a tremendous test for Abraham. It had to appear he was about to have to offer as a sacrifice the promised son, and had to respond to the natural questions of his son regarding the "offering" to be made.
At the appointed spot in the mountains, Abraham built and altar and stacked the wood in preparation for the sacrifice. Abraham then tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood in preparation for the sacrifice. We are told Abraham had drawn back the knife to kill Isaac when the Lord intervened.
An angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham, telling him to spare Isaac. Seeing Abraham was indeed prepared to spare his only son as a sacrifice to the Lord, the angel instructed Abraham to free Isaac. At the same time, Abraham looked up and a ram had caught its horns in nearby bushes. Abraham captured the ram and offered it on the altar in the place of Isaac, thus fulfilling Abraham’s earlier statement to Isaac that the Lord would provide the appropriate offering.
The Lord then confirms His covenant with Abraham, through Isaac. At Genesis 22:16-18 an angel speak to Abraham that because Abraham was willing to offer the promised son Isaac to the Lord, the Lord would bless in Abraham a great nation: "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 is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
The second major event in the 22nd chapter of Genesis involving the introduction of Rebekah, who will later become Isaac’s wife and in whom the Lord’s covenant of a great nation will be shared. Beginning with the 20th verse, we are provided details of Abraham’s relatives involving the children of Abraham’s brother, Nabor.
We are told of eight children of Nabor by his wife, including the child of Bethuel. Bethuel later had a daughter. Rebekah. Thus, Rebekah is introduced as a great niece of Abraham, and a second cousin of Isaac.