Hebrews 11:17-22

The Faith of the Fathers

God asked Abraham to take that son of promise, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice (Hebrews 11:17; Genesis 22:1-14), thus causing his faith to be tested to its fullest. Yet, Abraham was ready to obey God completely, even to the sacrificing of this son of promise. Remember, Isaac was the only son of his kind (Genesis 17:14-21) and only through him could the promises of God be kept.

Lightfoot writes, "The word translated offered is in the perfect tense, while the expression was ready to offer up is in the imperfect. The imperfect tense vividly portrays unfinished action: Abraham was in the act of offering Isaac when God intervened. The perfect tense expresses the idea that the demands in the sacrifice were fully met, and that, from an ideal standpoint and as far as Abraham was concerned, the offering was a completed action." Though Abraham had other children, God had decreed Isaac would be the only one considered as being from the regular line of descent (Genesis 21:12; Genesis 25:4-5).

The greatness of Abraham's faith is seen in his belief that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Milligan suggests, in agreement with other commentators, that Abraham did receive Isaac figuratively raised from the dead and this is that of which the end of the verse speaks (Hebrews 11:18-19). In Abraham's mind, or figuratively, Isaac was already dead, so he figuratively received him back alive. I would say that Jesus Christ was very much like Isaac and could very well serve as the antitype of Isaac who was thus raised up.

Isaac did indeed bless his sons through faith (Genesis 27:27-40), since he could not see the way his sons' lives would be lived. It was also in faith that Jacob blessed Joseph's sons (Genesis 48:1-20) setting Ephraim, the youngest, before Manasseh. He also worshipped, believing that Joseph would bury him as promised (Genesis 47:29-31). Joseph died in faith, just as his father had. He believed that God would deliver His people as promised and, because of that belief, made his relatives promise to carry his bones with them (Hebrews 11:20-22; Genesis 50:22-26).