Genesis 22: The Sacrifice of Isaac

² "Take your son," He said, "your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Here, God is telling Abraham to give his son, Isaac, as an offering to the Lord. Isaac is referred to as Abraham's 'only son', but we know that Abraham also had another son, Ishmael. From this, we can infer that God only considers Isaac as Abraham's son. Now, this is a difficult situation. Abraham is told to sacrifice the son that the Lord gave him, the son that he waited so long for. But, anything the Lord commands should be done immediately, and it would be sinful to be so attached to the world that one defies the Lord.


Abraham, loyal to the Lord, wakes up early the next morning in order to fulfill God's wishes. In verse 3, Abraham prepares for what lies ahead. He brings with him a donkey, two servants, wood for burning the offering, and his son Isaac. Then they all head out to the land of Moriah, where God commanded him to go. In verse 4-5, we learn that on the third day, the land of Moriah was in view. Abraham told his servants to stay behind in verse 4, saying "The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we'll come back to you." He says 'we' instead of 'I', implying that both he and Isaac will return, because he had faith in the Lord. For the rest of the journey, Abraham brought only the fire and the sacrificial knife. 


Isaac, seeing that there was no animal for the burnt offering, asks his father where it is. Abraham replies in verse 8, "God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." When they got there, Abraham made all the preparations, then in verse 10, "reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son." At that moment, an angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, causing him to stop immediately. Abraham showed his great love and faith in the Lord by willingly offering his only son. This is just as later on, the Lord shows his great love for us and offers his one and only son, Jesus. So the Lord provided a ram for Abraham to offer, and he offered the ram instead of his son Isaac.


Once more the angel calls down from heaven, "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸ And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command."