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.
6. laid it upon Isaac ] Isaac carries the heavy weight of the wood; Abraham, the more dangerous burden of the fire (i.e. a brazier) and the knife.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 6. Took the wood – and laid it upon Isaac] Probably the mountain-top to which they were going was too difficult to be ascended by the ass; therefore either the father or the son must carry the wood, and it was most becoming in the latter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Isaac, though called a lad, Gen 22:5, was now a grown man, at least five and twenty years old, and therefore well able to bear that burden; and in this act he was an eminent type of Christ, who carried that wood upon which he was crucified.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering,…. Which Josephus a says was laid upon the ass, and carried by that; and if so, he took it from thence: but it is probable it was carried by his two servants, since it was not more than Isaac himself afterwards carried, as in the next clause:
and laid [it] upon Isaac his son: who was a grown man, and able to carry it: in this also he was a type of Christ, on whom the wood of his cross was laid, and which he bore when he went to be crucified,
Joh 19:17; and this wood may be also a figure of our sins laid on him by his Father, and which he bore in his body on the tree, 1Pe 2:24; and which were like wood to fire, fuel for the wrath of God, which came down upon him for them:
and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; a vessel in one hand, in which fire was to kindle the wood with, and a knife in the other hand to slay the sacrifice with; the one to slay his son with, and the other to burn him with; and to carry these for such purposes must be very trying. This is the first time we read in Scripture of fire for use, or of a knife. Some say the first inventor of fire was Prometheus, others Phoroneus b, from whence he seems to have his name; but according to Sanchoniatho c, the immediate posterity of Cain first invented it, whose names were light, fire, and flame; and these, he says, found out the way of generating fire, by rubbing pieces of wood against each other, and taught men the use of it. “Knife”, in the Hebrew language, has its name from eating and consuming, as Ben Melech observes; some render it a “sword” d, but wrongly, and which has led the painter into a mistake, to represent Abraham with a sword in his hand to slay his son:
and they went both of them together; from the place where they left the young men, to the place where the sacrifice was to be offered.
a Antiqu. l. 1. c. 13. sect. 2. b Pausan. Corinthiaca sive, l. 2. p. 119. c Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. c. 10. p. 34. d “gladium”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. The wood upon Isaac How does this suggest the only-begotten Son of God bearing his wooden cross to Calvary! Joh 19:17. Fire in his hand Either a stick of wood that would long endure as a burning ember, or coals in a firepot .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they went both of them together.’
Isaac carries the wood. Abraham has to carry the fire and knife, both dangerous to a young lad, the former at least requiring great care. This does demonstrate that Isaac has grown somewhat and is now a lad of some strength.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 22:6. Abraham took the wood, and laid it upon Isaac Hence it appears, among other circumstances, that Isaac must have been full-grown at this time. Josephus reports him to have been twenty-five. It appears probable that he was more: there were about thirty-seven years from his birth to the death of Sarah; so that it is not unlikely, that in age, as well as in bearing the wood, on which he was to be sacrificed, he represented Christ, who bore his own cross, and was above thirty years old. It is also observed, that Isaac, being of this age, must have voluntarily submitted to be bound and sacrificed by his father, as so old a man could not have had strength sufficient, had Isaac resisted. Josephus puts a pathetic speech into Abraham’s mouth on the occasion, and describes Isaac’s submission as the result. But nothing can be conceived more pathetic and affecting than the plain narrative here given by Moses; the natural and melting inquiries of Isaac; the resolved, yet tender replies of the father. Here too we may discern in this willing oblation of Isaac, a figure of His oblation who freely gave himself to die for the salvation of sinners.
REFLECTIONS.With silent awe the patriarch hears, and hesitates not to obey. A thousand arguments, no doubt, arose (notwithstanding all we have urged). Can God enjoin what he hath forbidden? Must Abraham become an unnatural monster? Can human sacrifices please him? and must a father murder his son? Can such an unreasonable as well as unnatural command come from God? What and where then is the promised Seed? Sprinkled with the blood of her son, how shall I meet the upbraiding mother? and what will the nations think, when shuddering with horror they hear the dreadful tale? Thus flesh objected: but faith consults not with flesh and blood: convinced, beyond the possibility of doubt, that he had God’s warrant, he hastes to fulfil the dire command.
1. Early in the morning he rose. Neither deliberation nor delay is admitted. Note; In difficult trials of faith, what we do we must do quickly.
2. He makes the needful preparations, cleaves the wood, where each stroke must have hewed his heart with pangs; saddles his beast for dispatch, and, probably unknown to Sarah, hastes away. Note; The distress of others for him, is apt to melt down the martyr, more than his approaching suffering.
3. After three long days’ journey, where every step must have been anguish, the place appears. Abraham undaunted sees it afar off, and dismisses his servants, lest they intrude and hinder him: alone he must bear the shock. Note; When we approach God in worship, intruding thoughts and cares should be shut out.
4. Isaac, the darling son, now bears the wood on which he must be extended a breathless corpse; Abraham the fire to consume him, the knife to slay him. Who can abide it? What faith can stand? Grace is omnipotent.
5. No stranger to the wonted rites of sacrifice, the lovely Isaac with innocence demands, My Father,a melting word! a piercing remembrancer!where is the Lamb? Ah, hapless boy! might Abraham bleeding with tenderness say: it cannot be; thou must not lie down weltering in blood beneath my hand, my cruel hand.No, unmoved, unshaken, he replies, My son, God will provide himself a lamb. Thou art the sacrifice; he gave thee me, and he demands thee back again.
6. The spot is fixed, the altar rises, the wood is laid. Stupendous faith! The son, the seed, the Isaac, the darling, is bound, is laid; the knife is drawn, the arm extended, the point descending into the shivering flesh. Who can regard the attitude, and not be struck with sacred dread, with holy horror, and deep amazement at such determined obedience. God sees well pleased, and stays the descending stroke.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 34
ISAAC A TYPE OF CHRIST
Gen 22:6-10. 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. 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? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering. So they went both of them together. 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. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
MANY and wonderful are the instances of faith and obedience recorded in the Scriptures. But no action whatever (those only of our Lord himself excepted) has at any time surpassed or equaled that related in the text. It justly obtained for him who performed it, the honourable title of The Father of the Faithful, and, The Friend of God [Note: Jam 2:21; Jam 2:23.]. We shall find it profitable to consider,
I.
The history itself
Abraham had often enjoyed intimate and immediate communion with the Deity. But now he heard the command which was of a most singular and afflictive nature
[God in some way clearly intimated to Abraham his will: nor left him to doubt one moment, whether it were his voice or not. He commanded Abraham to take his only, his beloved son, Isaac, and to offer him up as a burnt-offering in a place that should afterwards be pointed out. How strange the order! How difficult to be complied with! How well might Abraham have said, Would God I might die for thee, O Isaac, my son, my son!]
Instantly, however, and without reluctance, he arose to execute the will of God
[Had he presumed to reason with God, what specious arguments might he have adduced for declining the way of duty! The certainty of his being reproached by Sarah, A bloody husband art thou to me [Note: Exo 4:25-26.]: the offence that would be taken by all the neighbouring nations against him, his religion, and his God: the counteracting and defeating of all the promises which had been made by God himself, and which were to be accomplished solely in and through his son Isaac [Note: Gen 17:19.]: all this, with much more, might have been offered in excuse for his backwardness, if indeed he had been backward, to accomplish the will of God. But he conferred not with flesh and blood [Note: Gal 1:16.].]
Nor was he diverted from his purpose during the whole of his journey
[Having prepared the wood, he proceeded instantly, with Isaac and his servants, towards the place that God had pointed out. Nor did he open his intentions to Sarah, lest she should labour to dissuade him from his purpose. But what must have been his thoughts every time that he looked on Isaac? Yet never for one moment did he relax his determination to execute the divine command. Having come in sight of the mountain, he ordered his servants to abide in their place, lest they should officiously interpose to prevent the intended offering. He put the wood on his son, and carried the fire and the knife in his own hands. Affecting as these preparations must have been to a fathers heart, how must their poignancy have been heightened by that pertinent question, which was put to him by his son ! His answer, like many other prophetical expressions, conveyed more than he himself probably was aware of at the moment. Without giving a premature disclosure of his intention, he declares the advent of Jesus, that Lamb of God, who in due time should come to take away the sin of the world [Note: ; Joh 1:29.]. Thus for three successive days did he maintain his resolution firm and unshaken.]
Having arrived at the spot determined by God, he with much firmness and composure proceeded to execute his purpose
[He built the altar, and laid the wood upon it in due order. Then with inexpressible tenderness announced to Isaac the command of God. Doubtless he would remind his son of his preternatural birth; and declare to him Gods right to take away, in any manner he pleased, the gift he bestowed [Note: Job 1:21.]. He would exhort him to confide in God as a faithful and unchangeable God; and to rest assured, that he should, in some way or other, be restored, after he was reduced to ashes, and have every promise fulfilled to him. Having thus gained the consent of his son, he binds him hand and foot, and lays him on the altar; and, with a confidence unshaken, and obedience unparalleled, holds up the knife to slay the victim. Whether shall we more admire the resolution of the father, or the submission of the son? O that there were in all of us a similar determination to sacrifice our dearest interests for God; and a similar readiness to yield up our very lives in obedience to his will!]
Nothing but the interposition of God himself prevented the completion of this extraordinary sacrifice
[God had sufficiently tried the faith of his servant. He therefore, by a voice from heaven, stopped him from giving the fatal blow; ordered him to substitute a ram in the place of Isaac; renewed to him with an oath his former promises; rendered him a pattern to all succeeding generations; and, no doubt, is at this instant rewarding him with a weight of glory, proportioned to his exalted piety.]
Almost every circumstance in this narrative deserves to be considered in,
II.
Its typical reference
Waving many less important points, we may observe that Isaac was a type of Christ:
1.
In his appointment to be a sacrifice
[Isaac was a child of promise, born in a preternatural way, of a disposition eminently pious; yet him did God require for a burnt-offering: it must not be Abrahams cattle, or his son Ishmael, but his beloved Isaac. Thus was Jesus also, the promised seed, named, like Isaac, before he was conceived in the womb: he was born, not after the manner of other men, but of a pure virgin: He was that only, that beloved Son, in whom the Father was well pleased: yet him did God appoint to be a sacrifice. A body was given him for this very purpose [Note: Heb 10:4-5.]. He was ordained from eternity to be a propitiation for sin [Note: Rom 3:25.]: nor did the Father recede from his purpose for four thousand years. Having set apart his Son for this end, he changed not: and Jesus, at the appointed time, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross [Note: Php 2:8.].]
2.
In the manner of being offered
[Isaac bore the wood on which he was afterwards to be lifted up; and voluntarily yielded up his body to be bound, and his life to be destroyed in Gods appointed way. Thus did Jesus bear his cross to the place of his crucifixion; and, having been bound, was lifted up upon it. On the very spot where Isaac had been laid upon the altar, was Jesus (most probably) offered in sacrifice to God [Note: Mount Calvary was one of the mountains in that small tract of country called the land of Moriah: and from it can scarcely be doubted, but that it was the very spot pointed out by God. It could not possibly be far from the spot; and therefore, when the place for the sacrifice of Isaac was so accurately marked, it can scarcely he thought to be any other, than the very place where Jesus was offered two thousand years afterwards.]. And by whose hand was Isaac to bleed, but by that of his own Father? By whom too did Jesus suffer, but by Jehovahs sword [Note: Zec 13:7; Isa 53:10.] ? It was not man, who made him so to agonize in the garden; nor was it man, that caused that bitter complaint upon the cross [Note: Luk 22:44; Mar 15:34.]. Nevertheless it was with the perfect concurrence of his own will that he died upon the cross; He gave himself an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour [Note: Eph 5:2.].]
There is one point, however, wherein the resemblance does not appear
[For Isaac was found a substitute; for Jesus none. Neither the cattle on a thousand hills, nor all the angels in heaven, could have stood in his place. None but Jesus could have made a full atonement for our sins. He therefore saved not himself, because He was determined to save us.]
Infer
1.
How marvellous is the love of God to man!
[We admire the obedience of Abraham: but God had a right to demand it: and Abraham knew, that he was about to give his son to his best and dearest friend. But what claim had we on God? Yet did he give up his Son for us, for us sinners, rebels, enemies; nor merely to a common death, but to the agonies of crucifixion, and to endure the wrath due to our iniquities [Note: Isa 53:6.]. What stupendous love! Shall any soul be affected with a pathetic story, and remain insensible of the love of God? Let every heart praise him, trust him, serve him: and rest assured, that He, who delivered up his Son for us, will never deny us any other thing that we can ask [Note: Rom 8:32.] ]
2.
What an admirable grace is faith!
[The faith of Abraham certainly had respect to Christ, the promised seed [Note: Heb 11:17-19.]. And, behold how it operated! So will it operate in all who have it. It will keep us from staggering at any promise, however dark or improbable; and will lead us to obey every precept, however difficult or self-denying. Let us seek his faith: and, while we are justified by it from the guilt of sin, let us manifest its excellence by a life of holiness.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
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.
So Jesus carried his cross. Joh 19:17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 22:6 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.
Ver. 6. And laid it upon Isaac his son. ] Who was herein a lively type of Christ, bearing the cross whereon he was offered up. T , , saith Plutarch, speaking of the Roman fashion of crucifying malefactors. And surely it was by a wonderful providence of God that the Jews brought our Saviour to Pilate to be put to death; since they hated nothing more than to confirm or countenance the Roman tyranny among them by any means. Hence Gamaliel gave counsel to dismiss the apostles. Act 5:38 And hence the chief priests and rulers took it as so exceedingly heinous that Paul was taken out of their hands by the chief captain. Act 23:10 But God had a hand in it, that this and other types and scriptures might be fulfilled, that foretold the very manner of his death on a tree. Let the Jews stumble now at the cross, and fall backward. Let the Gentiles jeer us, as Lucian a doth, for that we deny the multitude of their gods, and yet believe in a crucified God, b Let us desire to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified; and if ever we desire to be kings in heaven, – and every man must be aut Caesar, aut nullus , a king or a captive, – let us seek by the eye of faith to see the Sun of Righteousness in the west (as Strato’s servant taught him): let us look upon Christ hanging on the cross, dying on that altar, and we shall live for ever.
a A ( horreo dicere ) – In Vita Peregr.
b Omnis homo aut est cum Christo regnaturus, aut cum diabolo crucianduv . – Aug. Justin, lib. 18.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
laid. Compare Joh 19:17.
fire. Without doubt fire from Abraham’s own altar (Gen 12:7; Gen 13:4, Gen 13:18; and see note on Gen 21:33), for God accepted a sacrifice only by fire from heaven. See on Gen 4:4.
both of them together. Compare the Father and the Son in the antitype. Emph. by repetition in Gen 22:8. Joh 10:30; Joh 14:10, Joh 14:11; Joh 16:33. The sinner is not seen in the type; his part is subsequent to this, viz. to believe what the Father and the Son have done for him in substitution. See also Rom 8:32.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
laid it: Isa 53:6, Mat 8:17, Luk 24:26, Luk 24:27, Joh 19:17, 1Pe 2:24
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
“God Will Provide” Perhaps no one answer portrays the faith of Abraham as well as the one he gave to Isaac. They took the wood, knife and fire with them as they went toward the mountain. Isaac asked, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering” ( Gen 22:6-8 ). The two of them went on up together to the very place God had told Abraham. The father of the faithful then built the altar and placed wood on it in order. He bound Isaac and laid him on the wood. Finally, he raised the knife and stretched out his hand to slay his son ( Gen 22:9-10 ).
The Hebrew writer explains how he could have done such a thing. He says Abraham was, “accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense” (11:19).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Gen 22:6. Isaacs carrying the wood was a type of Christ, who carried his own cross, while Abraham, with a steady and undaunted resolution, carried the fatal knife and fire.