Lessons
from the History of the 12 Tribes of Israel Genesis 22 Abraham’s Faith is Tested
Dr. Jerry A. Collins
In this chapter is the single greatest test in the life of Abraham
which came after he had finally received the promise. He was to give his son back to God through
sacrifice. This test was designed to see to what extent Abraham would obey God.
In the final analysis Isaac would be brought twice from the dead, once from
Sarah’s dead womb and once again from the high altar. Afterward, God reiterated
the promised blessings adding a solemn oath.
The 12 tribes would note that
God would also test their willingness to obey God. The wilderness wanderings,
the entry into and conquering the land of promise, and the extent of their
obedience as they settled there, would test their faith as God had their
founding father, Abraham. The significant question for Abraham’s posterity was
would they, too, pass the test?
Abraham Prepares to Sacrifice
His Son of Promise
Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and
said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take now your
son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will
tell you" (Genesis 22:1-2).
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"
And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and
do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me." Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by
his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt
offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that
place The Lord Will
Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided." Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because
you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your
seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and
your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because
you have obeyed My voice" (Genesis 22:10-18).
Verse 10—Abraham stretched out his hand
and took the knife to slay
[slaughter] his son. —At the moment of truth
Abraham did not look around for an animal or wait hesitatingly for God to
intervene. He raised his hand to slay his son, the heir to the promise. The
divine intervention came when the sacrifice was made—in the mind of Abraham, if
not in fact. Hebrews 11:19 suggests that Abraham concluded that God was able to
raise Isaac from the dead. He
[Abraham] considered that God is able to
raise people even from the dead.
Abraham’s explanation to Isaac that "God will
provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son" (v. 8),
in response to Isaacs question as to the whereabouts of the sacrifie,
was ambiguous enough to allow for this act. Whether Abraham had actually worked
out the details of a bodily resurrection is difficult to conclude. But Abraham
had deferred the answer to his son’s question to God and so gave God a way of
resolution.
This example of Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice has been used in moral/ethical discussions all through history. The point of the author is that Abraham’s faith allowed him to go beyond sacrificing Isaac to apparently what Abraham assumed would be God raising Isaac from the dead. However God was going to do it, Abraham believed the promise of God for his future generations through Isaac. Therefore, he could go further than he could see physically (like when making an instrument approach in an airplane through the fog) because of the advantage offered him by his faith.
Verse
11—But
the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" —This call from heaven
reflected the initial call of verse 1 God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he
said, "Here I am." Unlike verse 1 there is a tone of intensity by
the repetition of the name. Abraham was to do no harm to the lad. Abraham did
not know this entire episode was a test. It surely was unimaginable and its
unpredictability made it a staggering test for Abraham. The long
awaited son would suddenly not become a victim of sacrifice. God’s
immediate intervention would make it clear that this was a test after all.
·
And
he said, “Here I am.”—When
Abraham said here I am, in Genesis 22:1, his life was
full of God’s blessings. His dreams and promises had been received. It was a
time when he was enjoying the blessings of the Lord.
·
But when he said here I am in Genesis 22:11, he had offered his son, his only son,
his love. His only son represented his only hope and influence over his future,
and his love represented all his soul and mind. But amazingly Abraham was still
responsive to whatever the Lord had to say to him.
An Application—There is something you should know about God. He tests people. He tests His own people. He tests the faithful, the saints, those who are following Him closely, those who are in the center of His will. Why does He test His own faithful people? James says it’s to demonstrate their faith (James 1:2-4; 2:21-24). Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31-32). How does God test people? By bringing them to the edge, then seemingly over the edge, where there is no return, no rescue, no reasonable hope, seemingly no hope at all. Then in the midst of what would appear to be a situation of despair, at the last minute, God delivers.
Verse 12—He said, "Do not stretch out your hand
against the lad, and do nothing to him—Now
the divine instructions unambiguously prevented Abraham from doing any harm to
the child. In essence, God was saying “do not extend your hand toward the boy.”
PT—God
called on Abraham to make five great sacrifices: his native country, his
extended family, his nephew Lot, his son Ishmael, and his son Isaac. Each
sacrifice involved something naturally dear to Abraham, but each resulted in
greater blessings from God.
Application—When and where might we have
to sacrifice what is dearest to us—that for which we had already trusted God
for and now must be released, given back to him. We do not know what will
happen, but we act on our trust in God. Parents will have to do so with their
children.
·
for
now, I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only
son, from Me."—The joyful knowledge God
gained through this test was that Abraham feared God. He did not withhold his son, your only son, from Me. Truly
fearing the Lord was demonstrated by Abraham’s compliance with the Word of God,
no matter the cost. He was not commended for obeying, but for fearing.
Apparently, obeying God is a component of fearing God.
An Application—The primary reason we should fear God is because we are commanded to. Yet there is a logical reason why God wants us to fear Him. Fear inspires obedience. And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil (Proverbs 16:6, see also Exodus 20:20). It is when we do not live in the fear of the Lord that our hearts envy sinners (Proverbs 23:17), which is why Solomon says, after extensively evaluating life, the conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
Verse 13—Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and
behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns—God had provided an alternative sacrifice in place of Abraham’
son, Isaac. Abraham noticed a ram caught
in the thicket by his horns.
·
And
Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the
place of his son—Abraham eventually offered a
sacrifice, an act of devotion, in the form of a burnt offering in the place of his son. Its apparent that Abraham
was cognizant of the fact that it was his
son who was to have been sacrificed.
Verse 14—Abraham
called the name of that place The Lord Will
Provide—The commemorative naming of the place by Abraham indicated that
the discovery of the sacrificial ram was not interpreted by the patriarch as
mere chance, but that the Lord had provided the animal for sacrifice. The
motivation for the name came from verse 8 God
will provide and now Isaac had his answer. By
so naming the place Abraham preserved in the memory of God’s people the amazing
event that took place there.
·
As
it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided."—The saying connected with these events has some
ambiguity, which was probably intended. If the
mount refers to the Temple Mount later in the nations history, then the point of the epitaph would
be “the Lord provides” just as he did for Abraham with the sacrificial ram. So the acts of worship in Jerusalem at the holy mount would
be perpetual experiences of the Lord’s provision for His people. The Lord would
see their needs, answer their prayers, and provide. In turn, the people would
bring sacrifice, praise, and worship in response to Gods faithful provision.
Verses
15-18—Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven—This could possibly be a Christophony (an Old Testament
pre-incarnate appearance of Christ) where the
Lord himself appeared to Abraham with this instruction.
· And said, "By Myself I have sworn,
declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your
son, your only son— The reassurance of the
promises was given, but only after the sacrifice of the substitute. The angel of the Lord reiterated the
promised blessings, but now added a solemn oath by Myself I have sworn. The fullness of provision was based upon
Abraham’s obedience because you have done
this. Again, notice the repeated acknowledgement of the test of obedience
Abraham offered and have not withheld
your son, your only son! God took notice of such a great sacrifice.
· Indeed, I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply
your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore—The blessing of the Lord is reiterated. Abraham can expect bounty
and fertility. The Lord promised that
Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars and the sand.
Whether he gazed into the night sky or reflected on the Mediterranean shore, he
would be reminded of the promise.
· and your seed shall possess the gate of their
enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed—Here is prophecy
related to Abrahams descendants, the 12 tribes of Israel. Not only would they
be numerous, they would possess the gate of their enemies. To break through the gate complex would be to
conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense. In practical terms for the nation, Abraham’s seed would dispossess
the Canaanites.
·
because
you have obeyed My voice."— Abraham’s
obedience brought God’s ratification of the earlier conditional promise that had
become unconditional by his obedience to depart his homeland and enter the
unfamiliar land of Canaan. Again, we can note the relationship between
Abraham’s faith and his obedience.
An Application—What you do is what you
believe. No one can say ‘just do what I say, not what I do’ as if that settles
what it is one believes. That is an oxymoron—it is self-contradictory. Your
belief is expressed by your actions. James says even so faith, if it has
no works, is dead, being by itself (James 2:17). Abraham proved his faith
by his obedience.
Implications for the 12 tribes
·
If our goal is to learn to fear God, the first
step is to hear His words, which, for us, means studying the Bible, since these
are the only words from God which we have today. Solomon said in Proverbs
2:1-5, IF you: 1. will receive
my sayings, And 2. treasure my commandments within you, 3. Make your ear attentive to wisdom, 4. Incline your heart to
understanding; For if you 5. cry for discernment, 6. Lift your voice for
understanding; If you 7. seek her as silver, And 8. search for her as for hidden treasures; THEN you will
discern the fear of the LORD, and discover the knowledge of God.
· Naming specific sacred places would preserve
in the memory of the 12 tribes the incident that had occurred there, and establish it as a shrine to the faith
and the faithfulness of God.
PT—God is
nostalgic wanting us to remember the past so we can have hope for the present
and future. Its good to remember what God has done,
to review it, reflect upon it, and pray over it.
· That the 12
tribes could expect to be tested by God to prove their faith. The expectation
would be that they, too, would recognize that God was the Lord of the promise.
·
That the
12 tribes would learn that God would not ask true worshipers to give him that
which they do not treasure or that which they no longer care for or need.
Rather, God would require they offer him the best they have, even their
firstborn in sacrifice.