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 cleaved the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
3. And Abraham rose early, &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. Wis 10:5 , “wisdom knew the righteous man and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong when his heart yearned towards his child.”
the wood ] Implying that the place of the sacrifice would be treeless.
the place ] See note on Gen 12:6. Was it a local sanctuary?
of which God had told him) Cf. Gen 22:2, the narrative is condensed. The names of the “place” and the mountain spoken of by God are not recorded.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. Two of his young men] Eliezer and Ishmael, according to the Targum.
Clave the wood] Small wood, fig and palm, proper for a burnt-offering. – Targum.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Abraham rose up early in the morning, that he might execute Gods command without doubt or delay;
and saddled his ass, for greater expedition, not waiting for his servant to do it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Abraham rose . . . early,&c.That there might be no appearance of delay or reluctance onhis part, he made every preparation for the sacrifice before settingoutthe materials, the knife, and the servants to convey them. FromBeer-sheba to Moriah, a journey of two days, he had the painfulsecret pent up in his bosom. So distant a place must have been chosenfor some important reason. It is generally thought that this was onethe hills of Jerusalem, on which the Great Sacrifice was afterwardsoffered.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Abraham rose up early in the morning,…. For it seems it was in a dream or vision of the night that the above orders were given; and as soon as it was morning he rose and prepared to execute them with all readiness, and without any hesitation and delay:
and saddled his ass; for his journey, not to carry the wood and provision on, which probably were carried by his servants, but to ride on; and this Jarchi thinks he did himself, and the words in their precise sense suggest this; but it does no, necessarily follow, because he may be said to do what he ordered his servant to do; of the Jews’ fabulous account of this ass, see Zec 9:9:
and took two of his young men with him; the Targum of Jonathan says, these were Ishmael his son, and Eliezer his servant; and so other Jewish writers r, who tell us, that just at this time Ishmael came out of the wilderness to visit his father, and he took him with him; but for this there is no foundation: they were two of his servants, of whom he had many:
and Isaac his son: who was the principal person to be taken, since he was to be the sacrifice: whether Abraham acquainted Sarah with the affairs and she consented to it, cannot be said with certainty; it is plain Isaac knew not what his father’s design was; and though Sarah and the whole family might know, by the preparation made, he was going to offer a sacrifice, yet they knew not where, nor what it was to be;
and clave the wood for the burnt offering; not knowing whether he should find wood sufficient on the mountain, where he was to go; and that he might not be unprovided when he came there, takes this method, which shows his full intention to obey the divine command:
and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him; that is, he mounted his ass, and rode towards the place God had spoken of to him, and who had directed him which way to steer his course.
r Pirke Eliezer, c. 31. Jarchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Abraham’s Obedience. | B. C. 1872. |
3 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. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 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. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spake unto 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? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 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. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
We have here Abraham’s obedience to this severe command. Being tried, he offered up Isaac, Heb. xi. 17. Observe,
I. The difficulties which he broke through in this act of obedience. Much might have been objected against it; as, 1. It seemed directly against an antecedent law of God, which forbids murder, under a severe penalty, Gen 9:5; Gen 9:6. Now can the unchangeable God contradict himself? He that hates robbery for burnt-offering (Isa. lxi. 8) cannot delight in murder for it. 2. How would it consist with natural affection to his own son? It would be not only murder, but the worst of murders. Cannot Abraham be obedient but he must be unnatural? If God insist upon a human sacrifice, is there none but Isaac to be the offering, and none but Abraham to be the offerer? Must the father of the faithful be the monster of all fathers? 3. God gave him no reason for it. When Ishmael was to be cast out, a just cause was assigned, which satisfied Abraham; but here Isaac must die, and Abraham must kill him, and neither the one nor the other must know why or wherefore. If Isaac had been to die a martyr for the truth, or his life had been the ransom of some other life more precious, it would have been another matter; of if he had died as a criminal, a rebel against God or his parents, as in the case of the idolater (Deu 13:8; Deu 13:9), or the stubborn son (Gen 21:18; Gen 21:19), it might have passed as a sacrifice to justice. But the case is not so: he is dutiful, obedient, hopeful, son. “Lord, what profit is there in his blood?” 4. How would this consist with the promise? Was it not said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called? But what comes of that seed, if this pregnant bud be broken off so soon? 5. How should he ever look Sarah in the face again? With what face can he return to her and his family with the blood of Isaac sprinkled on his garments and staining all his raiment? “Surely a bloody husband hast thou been to me” would Sarah say (as Exo 4:25; Exo 4:26), and it would be likely to alienate her affections for ever both from him and from his God. 6. What would the Egyptians say, and the Canaanites and the Perizzites who dwelt then in the land? It would be an eternal reproach to Abraham, and to his altars. “Welcome nature, if this be grace.” These and many similar objection might have been made; but he was infallibly assured that it was indeed a command of God and not a delusion, and this was sufficient to answer them all. Note, God’s commands must not be disputed, but obeyed; we must not consult with flesh and blood about them (Gal 1:15; Gal 1:16), but with a gracious obstinacy persist in our obedience to them.
II. The several steps of obedience, all which help to magnify it, and to show that he was guided by prudence, and governed by faith, in the whole transaction.
1. He rises early, v. 3. Probably the command was given in the visions of the night, and early the next morning he set himself about the execution of it–did not delay, did not demur, did not take time to deliberate; for the command was peremptory, and would not admit a debate. Note, Those that do the will of God heartily will do it speedily; while we delay, time is lost and the heart hardened.
2. He gets things ready for a sacrifice, and, as if he himself had been a Gibeonite, it should seem, with his own hands he cleaves the wood for the burnt-offering, that it might not be to seek when the sacrifice was to be offered. Spiritual sacrifices must thus be prepared for.
3. It is very probable that he said nothing about it to Sarah. This is a journey which she must know nothing of, lest she prevent it. There is so much in our own hearts to hinder our progress in duty that we have need, as much as may be, to keep out of the way of other hindrances.
4. He carefully looked about him, to discover the place appointed for this sacrifice, to which God had promised by some sign to direct him. Probably the direction was given by an appearance of the divine glory in the place, some pillar of fire reaching from heaven to earth, visible at a distance, and to which he pointed when he said (v. 5), “We will go yonder, where you see the light, and worship.”
5. He left his servants at some distance off (v. 5), lest they should interpose, and create him some disturbance in his strange oblation; for Isaac was, no doubt, the darling of the whole family. Thus, when Christ was entering upon his agony in the garden, he took only three of his disciples with him, and left the rest at the garden door. Note, It is our wisdom and duty, when we are going to worship God, to lay aside all those thoughts and cares which may divert us from the service, leave them at the bottom of the hill, that we may attend on the Lord without distraction.
6. He obliged Isaac to carry the wood (both to try his obedience in a smaller matter first, and that he might typify Christ, who carried his own cross, John xix. 17), while he himself, though he knew what he did, with a steady and undaunted resolution carried the fatal knife and fire, v. 6. Note, Those that through grace are resolved upon the substance of any service or suffering for God must overlook the little circumstances which make it doubly difficult to flesh and blood.
7. Without any ruffle or disorder, he talks it over with Isaac, as if it had been but a common sacrifice that he was going to offer, Gen 22:7; Gen 22:8.
(1.) It was a very affecting question that Isaac asked him, as they were going together: My father, said Isaac; it was a melting word, which, one would think, would strike deeper into the breast of Abraham than his knife could into the breast of Isaac. He might have said, or thought, at least, “Call me not thy father who am now to be thy murderer; can a father be so barbarous, so perfectly lost to all the tenderness of a father?” Yet he keeps his temper, and keeps his countenance, to admiration; he calmly waits for his son’s question, and this is it: Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? See how expert Isaac was in the law and custom of sacrifices. This it is to be well-catechised: this is, [1.] A trying question to Abraham. How could he endure to think that Isaac was himself the lamb? So it is, but Abraham, as yet, dares not tell him so. Where God knows the faith to be armour of proof, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent, Job ix. 23. [2.] It is a teaching question to us all, that, when we are going to worship God, we should seriously consider whether we have every thing ready, especially the lamb for a burnt-offering. Behold, the fire is ready, the Spirit’s assistance and God’s acceptance; the wood is ready, the instituted ordinances designed to kindle our affections (which indeed, without the Spirit, are but like wood without fire, but the Spirit works by them); all things are now ready, but where is the lamb? Where is the heart? Is that ready to be offered up to God, to ascend to him as a burnt-offering?
(2.) It was a very prudent answer which Abraham gave him: My son, God will provide himself a lamb. This was the language, either, [1.] Of his obedience. “We must offer the lamb which God has appointed now to be offered;” thus giving him this general rule of submission to the divine will, to prepare him for the application of it to himself very quickly. Or, [2.] Of his faith. Whether he meant it so or not, this proved to be the meaning of it; a sacrifice was provided instead of Isaac. Thus, First, Christ, the great sacrifice of atonement, was of God’s providing; when none in heaven or earth could have found a lamb for that burnt-offering, God himself found the ransom, Ps. lxxxix. 20. Secondly, All our sacrifices of acknowledgment are of God’s providing too. It is he that prepares the heart, Ps. x. 17. The broken and contrite spirit is a sacrifice of God (Ps. li. 17), of his providing.
8. With the same resolution and composedness of mind, after many thoughts of heart, he applies himself to the completing of this sacrifice, Gen 22:9; Gen 22:10. He goes on with a holy wilfulness, after many a weary step, and with a heavy heart he arrives at length at the fatal place, builds the altar (an altar of earth, we may suppose, the saddest that ever he built, and he had built many a one), lays the wood in order for his Isaac’s funeral pile, and now tells him the amazing news: “Isaac, thou art the lamb which God has provided.” Isaac, for aught that appears, is as willing as Abraham; we do not find that he raised any objection against it, that he petitioned for his life, that he attempted to make his escape, much less that he struggled with his aged father, or made any resistance: Abraham does it, God will have it done, and Isaac has learnt to submit to both, Abraham no doubt comforting him with the same hopes with which he himself by faith was comforted. Yet it is necessary that a sacrifice be bound. The great sacrifice, which in the fullness of time was to be offered up, must be bound, and therefore so must Isaac. But with what heart could tender Abraham tie those guiltless hands, which perhaps had often been lifted up to ask his blessing, and stretched out to embrace him, and were now the more straitly bound with the cords of love and duty! However, it must be done. Having bound him, he lays him upon the altar, and his hand upon the head of his sacrifice; and now, we may suppose, with floods of tears, he gives, and takes, the final farewell of a parting kiss: perhaps he takes another for Sarah from her dying son. This being done, he resolutely forgets the bowels of a father, and puts on the awful gravity of a sacrificer. With a fixed heart, and an eye lifted up to heaven, he takes the knife, and stretches out his hand to give a fatal cut to Isaac’s throat. Be astonished, O heavens! at this; and wonder, O earth! Here is an act of faith and obedience, which deserves to be a spectacle to God, angels, and men. Abraham’s darling, Sarah’s laughter, the church’s hope, the heir of promise, lies ready to bleed and die by his own father’s hand, who never shrinks at the doing of it. Now this obedience of Abraham in offering up Isaac is a lively representation, (1.) Of the love of God to us, in delivering up his only-begotten Son to suffer and die for us, as a sacrifice. It pleased the Lord himself to bruise him. See Isa 53:10; Zec 13:7. Abraham was obliged, both in duty and gratitude, to part with Isaac, and parted with him to a friend; but God was under no obligations to us, for we were enemies. (2.) Of our duty to God, in return for that love. We must tread in the steps of this faith of Abraham. God, by his word, calls us to part with all for Christ,–all our sins, though they have been as a right hand, or a right eye, or an Isaac–all those things that are competitors and rivals with Christ for the sovereignty of the heart (Luke xiv. 26); and we must cheerfully let them all go. God, by his providence, which is truly the voice of God, calls us to part with an Isaac sometimes, and we must do it with a cheerful resignation and submission to his holy will, 1 Sam. iii. 18.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 3-14:
Verses 1-8: Abraham, Isaac, and two men-servants made the journey from Beersheba to Moriah where God (the Elohim) had instructed him to go. Travelers from Beer-sheba are unable to see Mount Moriah until they are within about three miles of it. Before they reached the mountain, Abraham instructed his servants to remain behind with the ass, while he and Isaac proceeded to the place of worship. The reason: the sacrifice about to be made was too sacred for the eyes of any but God to see.
Abraham’s statement to the young men that he and Isaac would return is not a dissimulation. He fully expected this to be true. Even though God had commanded him to take Isaac’s life, such was Abraham’s faith that he believed God would raise him from the dead, in order to fulfill His promise that Isaac would become the father of many nations and the heir to the promises of the Covenant (Heb 11:17-19).
Abraham gave the wood for the sacrifice to Isaac, for him to carry to the altar site. This brings to mind that Abraham’s Seed (Christ, Ga 3:16) would one day bear the wooden cross upon which He would become the true Sacrifice. Abraham himself carried the instruments of death: the knife, and the fire (perhaps in a brazier). Apparently Abraham had not informed Isaac of the manner of the sacrifice, for Isaac asked about the lamb for the offering. Once more Abraham’s faith is evident in his reply, “God will provide.”
Verses 9-14: When they arrived at the site, Abraham prepared the altar, and laid the wood in order. Likely he had by this time informed Isaac that he was to be the sacrifice. He then bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. It is evident that Isaac must have fully agreed with what Abraham was doing. He was a fully grown young man, capable of successful resistance to any attempt to force him to submit. And Abraham was well over one hundred years of age, probably about one hundred thirty. He would not have had the strength to overpower Isaac had he resisted.
As Abraham stretched out his hand to plunge the sacrificial knife into Isaac, the “Angel of the Lord” (Maleach Jehovah, see Ge 16:7) spoke from heaven and interposed for Isaac’s deliverance. The urgency of his call is evident in the repetition of Abraham’s name.
Abraham had fully surrendered the most precious of all his possessions: his beloved son. He totally committed all he had to Jehovah God. There was no need for further trial. From this point on there would never be doubt as to the quality of his faith (Jas 2:21-23). This was the outward demonstration of his inner faith, a total and complete commitment.
The sacrifice must still be made. Abraham looked behind him and there, caught in a thicket by his horns, was a ram. Abraham offered this ram as a burnt offering in the place of Isaac. And he gave a new name to the place: Jehovah-jireh, “Jehovah will provide.” At the time of the writing of Genesis, this mount was still known by the proverb, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.”
There was deep spiritual significance in this event. Up to this point, Isaac was merely a natural blessing to Abraham. But in the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham received him “in a figure” from the dead (Heb 11:17-19). Now he was from thenceforth a spiritual blessing, the heir of God’s promises to Abraham. It is likely this event had a profound effect on Isaac, as well as on Abraham. It must have instilled a deeper conviction of his own faith.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning. This promptitude shows the greatness of Abraham’s faith. Innumerable thoughts might come into the mind of the holy man; each of which would have overwhelmed his spirit, unless he had fortified it by faith. And there is no doubt that Satan, during the darkness of the night, would heap upon him a vast mass of cares. Gradually to overcome them, by contending with them, was the part of heroical courage. But when they were overcome, then immediately to gird himself to the fulfillment of the command of God, and even to rise early in the morning to do it, was a remarkable effort. Other men, prostrated by a message so dire and terrible, would have fainted, and have lain torpid, as if deprived of life; but the first dawn of morning was scarcely early enough for Abraham’s haste. Therefore, in a few words, Moses highly extols his faith, when he declares that it surmounted, in so short a space of time, the very temptation which was attended with many labyrinths.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) And Abraham . . . Every preparation for the sacrifice is minutely detailed, as if to show the calmness with which Abraham girded up himself for obedience. He even took the wood ready cleft, not because there was no wood there (Gen. 22:13), but in order that on arriving at the destined place there might be nothing to distract their thoughts, and that so they might proceed at once to the sacrifice.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Rose up early An early start on a journey is all-important in the East . Thus would the traveller avoid the heat of the day in the open sun, by travelling before the sun was up, and resting in the heat of the day .
Saddled his ass The modern saddle was not then known, but pieces of cloth and garments (Mar 11:7) were bound ( ) on the back of the animal . The saddling also implied the binding on of whatever baggage the traveller would take along . The Oriental ass is a nobler animal than that which we of the West associate with that name . (See the Bible Dictionaries on the word . )
Took two of his young men An incident which shows the naturalness and accuracy of the narrative. A chief like Abraham would not travel far unattended.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.’
“Rose early in the morning”. Compare Gen 21:14. Is this a deliberate connection between the two tests to demonstrate their connection? Then he rose early in the morning to lose one son, now he does the same with the other. In both cases he obeys without question. The two men would accompany them both for safety reasons and to help with luggage.
“Went to the place of which God had told him.” Emphasis is laid on his obedience to God. The deliberate emphasis on ‘God’ as opposed to ‘Yahweh’ brings out the chill in the atmosphere. He obeys but his heart is frozen. What must have been his thoughts when at last he sees the place ‘afar off’, i.e in the distance.
“On the third day.” Abraham had had plenty of time to think over what he had to do. This was no momentary act based on a burst of enthusiasm and ecstasy, but a considered, thoughtful, heart-rending act about which, with a steady will, he was willing to proceed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
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.
That is a sweet scripture, to explain Abraham’s conduct. Gal 1:15-16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 22:3 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.
Ver. 3. And Abraham rose up early, &c. ] To show his prompt and present obedience. He neither consulted with his wife, nor with his own reason. She might have haply hung upon him and hindered him, as Zipporah did Moses to the hazarding of his life. Exo 4:24-26 He captivates all the powers of the soul to his Creator; goes after him without questioning, and so shows himself to be “renewed in the spirit of his mind”: that is, in his natural reason: for that, like an old beldam, is the mother and nurse of all our distempers and strayings. Cassianus tells us of a young man that had given himself up to a Christian life: and his parents, misliking that way, wrote letters to dissuade him from it; which when he knew, he would not once open them, but threw them in the fire. Let us do so by the suggestions of flesh and blood, and the counsel of carnal friends, or we shall never rest and feast in Abraham’s bosom. I know not by what reason, said Borthwick the Scotch martyr, they so called them my friends, which so greatly laboured to convert me, as they called it: neither will I more esteem them than the Midianites, which in time past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their idols. a
a Act. and Mon., fol. 1157.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton, emphasizing the calmness of Abraham’s deliberate faith. Each “and” is to be noted, and each act weighed.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Gen 17:23, Gen 21:14, Psa 119:60, Ecc 9:10, Isa 26:3, Isa 26:4, Mat 10:37, Mar 10:28-31, Luk 14:26, Gal 1:16, Heb 11:8, Heb 11:17-19
Reciprocal: Gen 17:26 – General Gen 22:18 – obeyed Gen 26:31 – betimes Gen 28:18 – rose up Jos 3:1 – rose early Jos 6:12 – Joshua rose Jos 7:16 – rose up Jdg 7:1 – rose up 1Ki 17:15 – did according 2Ch 29:20 – rose Job 1:5 – rose up Jer 25:3 – rising Jon 3:3 – arose Mat 1:24 – did
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Abraham Obeyed the Lord’s Command He went in exactly the manner God prescribed. “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him” ( Gen 22:3 ). Notice, he made sure to split the wood and take it for the fire. He went to the very place God had said. He had Isaac with him to sacrifice.
“Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you'” ( Gen 22:4-5 ). He did not ask a servant to make the sacrifice, but went alone with his son to the place of worship.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Gen 22:3. The several steps of this obedience all help to magnify it, and to show that he was guided by prudence, and governed by faith, in the whole transaction. 1st, He rises early Probably the command was given in the visions of the night, and early the next morning he sets himself about it, did not delay, did not demur. Those that do the will of God heartily, will do it speedily. 2d, He gets things ready for a sacrifice, and, it should seem, with his own hands cleaves the wood for the burnt-offering. 3d, He left his servants at some distance, lest they should have created him some disturbance in his strange oblation. Thus, when Christ was entering upon his agony in the garden, he took only three of his disciples with him.