9 And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built the altar there, and piled the wood; and he bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again. I have received this commandment of my Father.
By faith Abraham, [when] tried, offered up Isaac, and he who had received to himself the promises offered up his only begotten [son], as to whom it had been said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: counting that God [was] able to raise [him] even from among [the] dead, whence also he received him in a figure.
thus the Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear to those that look for him the second time without sin for salvation.
and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.
Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree,)
And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar.
And immediately in the morning the chief priests, having taken counsel with the elders and scribes and the whole sanhedrim, bound Jesus and carried [him] away, and delivered [him] up to Pilate.
And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, Ye know that after two days the passover takes place, and the Son of man is delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together to the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas, and took counsel together in order that they might seize Jesus by subtlety and kill him; but they said, Not in the feast, that there be not a tumult among the people. But Jesus being in Bethany, in Simon the leper's house, a woman, having an alabaster flask of very precious ointment, came to him and poured it out upon his head as he lay at table. But the disciples seeing it became indignant, saying, To what end [was] this waste? for this might have been sold for much and been given to the poor. But Jesus knowing [it] said to them, Why do ye trouble the woman? for she has wrought a good work toward me. For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For in pouring out this ointment on my body, she has done it for my burying. Verily I say to you, Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, that also which this [woman] has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. Then one of the twelve, he who was called Judas Iscariote, went to the chief priests and said, What are ye willing to give me, and *I* will deliver him up to you? And they appointed to him thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought a good opportunity that he might deliver him up. Now on the first [day] of [the feast of] unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city unto such a one, and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is near, I will keep the passover in thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the passover. And when the evening was come he lay down at table with the twelve. And as they were eating he said, Verily I say to you, that one of you shall deliver me up. And being exceedingly grieved they began to say to him, each of them, Is it *I*, Lord? But he answering said, He that dips his hand with me in the dish, *he* it is who shall deliver me up. The Son of man goes indeed, according as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is delivered up; it were good for that man if he had not been born. And Judas, who delivered him up, answering said, Is it *I*, Rabbi? He says to him, *Thou* hast said. And as they were eating, Jesus, having taken [the] bread and blessed, broke [it] and gave [it] to the disciples, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And having taken [the] cup and given thanks, he gave [it] to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.
And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village over against you, and immediately ye will find an ass tied, and a colt with it; loose [them] and lead [them] to me. And if any one say anything to you, ye shall say, The Lord has need of them, and straightway he will send them. But all this came to pass, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh to thee, meek, and mounted upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. But the disciples, having gone and done as Jesus had ordered them, brought the ass and the colt and put their garments upon them, and he sat on them. But a very great crowd strewed their own garments on the way, and others kept cutting down branches from the trees and strewing them on the way. And the crowds who went before him and who followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed [be] he who comes in the name of [the] Lord; hosanna in the highest. And as he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the crowds said, This is Jesus the prophet who is from Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus entered into the temple [of God], and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those that sold the doves. And he says to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but *ye* have made it a den of robbers. And blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders which he wrought, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant, and said to him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus says to them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And leaving them he went forth out of the city to Bethany, and there he passed the night. But early in the morning, as he came back into the city, he hungered. And seeing one fig-tree in the way, he came to it and found on it nothing but leaves only. And he says to it, Let there be never more fruit of thee for ever. And the fig-tree was immediately dried up. And when the disciples saw [it], they wondered, saying, How immediately is the fig-tree dried up! And Jesus answering said to them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and do not doubt, not only shall ye do what [is done] to the fig-tree, but even if ye should say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea, it shall come to pass. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him [as he was] teaching, saying, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answering said to them, *I* also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, *I* also will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John, whence was it? of heaven or of men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say to us, Why then have ye not believed him? but if we should say, Of men, we fear the crowd, for all hold John for a prophet. And answering Jesus they said, We do not know. *He* also said to them, Neither do *I* tell you by what authority I do these things. But what think ye? A man had two children, and coming to the first he said, Child, go to-day, work in [my] vineyard. And he answering said, I will not; but afterwards repenting himself he went. And coming to the second he said likewise; and he answering said, *I* [go], sir, and went not. Which of the two did the will of the father? They say [to him], The first. Jesus says to them, Verily I say unto you that the tax-gatherers and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the tax-gatherers and the harlots believed him; but *ye* when ye saw [it] repented not yourselves afterwards to believe him. Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country. But when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his bondmen to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his bondmen, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other bondmen more than the first, and they did to them in like manner. And at last he sent to them his son, saying, They will have respect for my son. But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what shall he do to those husbandmen? They say to him, He will miserably destroy those evil [men], and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus says to them, Have ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which they that builded rejected, this has become the corner-stone: this is of [the] Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. And he that falls on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the Pharisees, having heard his parables, knew that he spoke about them. And seeking to lay hold of him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they held him for a prophet.
Surely *he* hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; and we, we did regard him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, but he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth. He was taken from oppression and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And [men] appointed his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was there guile in his mouth. Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath subjected [him] to suffering. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see a seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand.
Jehovah is ùGod, and he hath given us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, -- up to the horns of the altar.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son], whom thou lovest, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and there offer him up for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up and went to the place that God had told him of. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 22
Commentary on Genesis 22 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 22
Ge 22:1-19. Offering Isaac.
1. God did tempt Abraham—not incite to sin (Jas 1:13), but try, prove—give occasion for the development of his faith (1Pe 1:7).
and he said, … Here I am—ready at a moment's warning for God's service.
2. Take now thy son, &c.—Every circumstance mentioned was calculated to give a deeper stab to the parental bosom. To lose his only son, and by an act of his own hand, too!—what a host of conflicting feelings must the order have raised! But he heard and obeyed without a murmur (Ga 1:16; Lu 14:26).
3. Abraham rose … early, &c.—That there might be no appearance of delay or reluctance on his part, he made every preparation for the sacrifice before setting out—the materials, the knife, and the servants to convey them. From Beer-sheba to Moriah, a journey of two days, he had the painful secret pent up in his bosom. So distant a place must have been chosen for some important reason. It is generally thought that this was one the hills of Jerusalem, on which the Great Sacrifice was afterwards offered.
4. on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, &c.—Leaving the servants at the foot [Ge 22:5], the father and son ascended the hill, the one bearing the knife, and the other the wood for consuming the sacrifice [Ge 22:6]. But there was no victim; and to the question so naturally put by Isaac [Ge 22:7], Abraham contented himself by replying, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." It has been supposed that the design of this extraordinary transaction was to show him, by action instead of words, the way in which all the families of the earth should be blessed; and that in his answer to Isaac, he anticipated some substitution. It is more likely that his words were spoken evasively to his son in ignorance of the issue, yet in unbounded confidence that that son, though sacrificed, would, in some miraculous way, be restored (Heb 11:19).
9. Abraham built an altar, &c.—Had not the patriarch been sustained by the full consciousness of acting in obedience to God's will, the effort would have been too great for human endurance; and had not Isaac, then upwards of twenty years of age displayed equal faith in submitting, this great trial could not have gone through.
11, 12. the angel … called, &c.—The sacrifice was virtually offered—the intention, the purpose to do it, was shown in all sincerity and fulness. The Omniscient witness likewise declared His acceptance in the highest terms of approval; and the apostle speaks of it as actually made (Heb 11:17; Jas 2:21).
13-19. Abraham lifted up his eyes … and behold … a ram, &c.—No method was more admirably calculated to give the patriarch a distinct idea of the purpose of grace than this scenic representation: and hence our Lord's allusion to it (Joh 8:56).