CHAPTER XXII _The faith and obedience of Abraham put to a most extraordinary_ _test_, 1. _He is commanded to offer his beloved son Isaac for a burnt-offering_, 2. _He prepares, with the utmost promptitude, to accomplish the will_ _of God_, 3-6. _Affecting speech of Isaac_, 7; _and Abraham's a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:2. _TAKE NOW THY SON_] Bishop Warburton's observations on this passage are weighty and important. "The order in which the words are placed in the original gradually increases the sense, and raises the passions higher and higher: _Take now thy son_, (rather, take I _beseech thee_ נא... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:3. _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_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:4. _THE THIRD DAY_] "As the number SEVEN," says Mr. Ainsworth, "is of especial use in Scripture because of the _Sabbath_ day, Genesis 2:2, so THREE is a mystical number because of Christ's rising from the dead the _third_ day, Matthew 17:23; 1 Corinthians 15:4; as he was crucified... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:5. _I AND THE LAD WILL GO AND COME AGAIN_] How could Abraham consistently with truth say this, when he knew he was going to make his son a _burnt-offering_? The apostle answers for him: _By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up_ _Isaac - accounting that God was able to raise... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:6. _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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:7. _BEHOLD THE FIRE AND THE WOOD: BUT WHERE IS THE LAMB_] Nothing can be conceived more tender, affectionate, and affecting, than the question of the son and the reply of the father on this occasion. A paraphrase would spoil it; nothing can be added without injuring those expression... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:8. _MY SON, GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF A LAMB_] Here we find the same obedient unshaken faith for which this pattern of practical piety was ever remarkable. But we must not suppose that this was the language merely of faith and obedience; the patriarch spoke prophetically, and referre... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:9. _AND BOUND ISAAC HIS SON_] If the patriarch had not been upheld by the conviction that he was doing the _will_ of God, and had he not felt the most perfect confidence that his son should be _restored_ even _from the dead_, what agony must his heart have felt at every step of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:11. _THE ANGEL OF THE LORD_] The very person who was represented by this offering; the Lord Jesus, who calls himself Jehovah, Genesis 22:16, and on his own authority renews the promises of the covenant. HE was ever the great Mediator between God and man. See this point proved, Genes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:12. _LAY NOT THINE HAND UPON THE LAD_] As Isaac was to be the _representative_ of Jesus Christ's _real_ sacrifice, it was sufficient for this purpose that in his _own will_, and the _will_ of his _father_, the _purpose_ of the immolation was complete. Isaac was now fully offered bo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:14. _JEHOVAH-JIREH_] יהוה יראה _Yehovah-yireh_, literally interpreted in the margin, _The Lord will see_; that is, God will take care that every thing shall be done that is necessary for the comfort and support of them who trust in him: hence the words are usually translated, _The... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:16. _BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN_] So we find that the person who was called the _angel of the Lord_ is here called _Jehovah_; Genesis 22:2, Genesis 22:2. An oath or an appeal to God is, among men, an end to strife; _as God could swear by no greater_, _he sware by_ _himself_: being _wil... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:17. _SHALL POSSESS THE GATE OF HIS ENEMIES_] Instead of _gate_ the Septuagint have πολεις, cities; but as there is a very near resemblance between πολεισ, _cities_, and πυλασ, _gates_, the latter might have been the original reading in the Septuagint, though none of the MSS. now ack... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:18. _AND IN THY SEED, C._] We have the authority of St. Paul, Galatians 3:8 Galatians 3:16; Galatians 3:18, to restrain this to our blessed Lord, who was THE SEED through whom alone all God's blessings of providence, mercy, grace, and glory, should be conveyed to the nations of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:20. _BEHOLD, MILCAH, SHE HATH ALSO BORNE CHILDREN UNTO THY_ _BROTHER_] This short history seems introduced solely for the purpose of preparing the reader for the transactions related Genesis 24:1, and to show that the providence of God was preparing, in one of the branches of the fa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:21. _HUZ_] He is supposed to have peopled the land of _Uz_ or _Ausitis_, in Arabia Deserta, the country of Job. _BUZ HIS BROTHER_] From this person _Elihu_ the _Buzite_, one of the friends of Job, is thought to have descended. _KEMUEL THE FATHER OF ARAM_] _Kamouel_ πατερα Συρων, _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:23. _BETHUEL BEGAT REBEKAH_] Who afterward became the wife of Isaac.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 22:24. _HIS CONCUBINE_] We borrow this word from the Latin compound _concubina_, from _con_, together, and _cubo_, to lie, and apply it solely to a woman cohabiting with a man without being _legally_ married. The Hebrew word is פילגש _pilegesh_, which is also a compound term, contract... [ Continue Reading ]