Episode 281 - "God will provide for himself the sacrifice" - Genesis 22:1-19

Gen. 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 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. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

Gen. 22:9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, 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 as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Gen. 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

As strange as it may sound, this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Why? Well, I’ll get to that. For now, I want to invite you to set aside tendencies to think, “How can a loving God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son?” or something like that. The reason is that I don’t think that was the intended response this story was supposed to evoke from the original audience.

If we examine this story in light of the greater story that’s happening, we recall that the primary problem that needs to be solved is the problem of sin, the curse, and death. God wanted his creatures to have life in fellowship with him. In light of Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God and bring the curse into the world and death, the LORD provided hope for a restoration to the way the LORD intended it. That hope was to be found in the “seed of the woman” who would crush the head of the serpent (Satan). There have been a series of characters revealed throughout Genesis that appear to be qualifiers, but none of them completely fit the bill. The story leads us forward to Abraham and a promised son through whom he would have innumerable descendants. As Abraham and his wife Sarah advanced into old age with no biological son, they came up with ideas on how to help the LORD fulfill that promise. What we notice is that the LORD let them make these choices to show them his power and to build their faith.

Finally, when Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah is 90, the LORD gives them a miracle son, Isaac. Clearly, Isaac is either the seed, or the seed will come through him since through him, Abraham’s descendants will be innumerable “like the stars.” This context brings us to the shock component of this story. Our response, as I think what was likely for the original audience would have had, should be, “What is God doing? How can there be multiple descendants through Isaac, if he has not yet married and had children and is dead?”

Our next question might be, “How is Abraham going to worm out of this or will he really do it?” That question is answered rather quickly. Notice that Moses didn’t record Abraham questioning or arguing with God. Instead, he set out for the destination God gave him for this sacrifice. As many times as I’ve read this or thought about it, I get uncomfortable at this point. I can’t believe he’s going through with this.

Perhaps the most important thing about this story is revealed when Isaac, making a logical observation, asks Abraham, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7) Abraham responded, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Stop there. Did Abraham just lie to Isaac, or is it possible that Abraham heard something come out of his mouth and thought to himself, “Where did that come from?” The fact of the matter is that God did provide Isaac as a miracle son. So, technically, Abraham’s answer is correct while not revealing the details to Isaac. This answer, though, will be fulfilled by what appears to be a prophetic utterance by Abraham. It will also have a more significant fulfillment in the future.

The plot of this story moves quickly. They arrived, Abraham bound Isaac and was about to slay him on the altar. Then the LORD stopped him at the last second. What happened next was that Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Many Bible teachers have observed that this was an important detail to the Jewish audience because a sacrificial animal could not have any deformities or blemishes. This detail suggests that the animal was perfectly fine and acceptable. So, God provided a sacrifice for himself, and Isaac lived. This is a picture of what God actually did with his own Son Jesus many years later. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Paul infers the comparison in Romans 8:31-32: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” When we look at this story in hindsight, we see a patient God who needed to develop Abraham’s complete trust in him, and this was the final test that he passed with flying colors. We see a loving God who provided a substitute so that Isaac could live, and later, he provided a substitute so that the world might live.

The last part of this story in Genesis 22:15-19 is the message from the angel of the LORD affirming how he is undoubtedly going to bless Abraham. “And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” This is an affirmation that the promised seed is yet to come and will bless the nations of the earth. That’s Jesus. That is the good news.