17 that blessing I bless thee, and multiplying I multiply thy seed as stars of the heavens, and as sand which `is' on the sea-shore; and thy seed doth possess the gate of his enemies;
`Blessed `is' the Lord, the God of Israel, Because He did look upon, And wrought redemption for His people, And did raise an horn of salvation to us, In the house of David His servant, As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, Which have been from the age; Salvation from our enemies, And out of the hand of all hating us, To do kindness with our fathers, And to be mindful of His holy covenant, An oath that He sware to Abraham our father, To give to us, without fear, Out of the hand of our enemies having been delivered, To serve Him, in holiness and righteousness Before Him, all the days of our life.
`And in the days of these kings raise up doth the God of the heavens a kingdom that is not destroyed -- to the age, and its kingdom to another people is not left: it beateth small and endeth all these kingdoms, and it standeth to the age. Because that thou hast seen that out of the mountain cut hath been a stone without hands, and it hath beaten small the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king that which `is' to be after this; and the dream `is' true, and its interpretation stedfast.
Ask of Me and I give nations -- thy inheritance, And thy possession -- the ends of earth. Thou dost rule them with a sceptre of iron, As a vessel of a potter Thou dost crush them.'
And it cometh to pass afterwards, that the king of the Bene-Ammon dieth, and Hanun his son reigneth in his stead, and David saith, `I do kindness with Hanun son of Nahash, as his father did with me kindness;' and David sendeth to comfort him by the hand of his servants concerning his father, and the servants of David come in to the land of the Bene-Ammon. And the heads of the Bene-Ammon say unto Hanun their lord, `Is David honouring thy father in thine eyes because he hath sent to thee comforters? for to search the city, and to spy it, and to overthrow it, hath not David sent his servants unto thee?' And Hanun taketh the servants of David, and shaveth off the half of their beard, and cutteth off their long robes in the midst -- unto their buttocks, and sendeth them away; and they declare `it' to David, and he sendeth to meet them, for the men have been greatly ashamed, and the king saith, `Abide in Jericho till your beard doth spring up -- then ye have returned.' And the Bene-Ammon see that they have been abhorred by David, and the Bene-Ammon send and hire Aram of Beth-Rehob, and Aram of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah `with' a thousand men, and Ish-Tob `with' twelve thousand men; and David heareth, and sendeth Joab, and all the host -- the mighty men. And the Bene-Ammon come out, and set battle in array, at the opening of the gate, and Aram of Zoba, and Rehob, and Ish-Tob, and Maacah, `are' by themselves in the field; and Joab seeth that the front of the battle hath been unto him before and behind, and he chooseth of all the chosen in Israel, and setteth in array to meet Aram, and the rest of the people he hath given into the hand of Abishai his brother, and setteth in array to meet the Bene-Ammon. And he saith, `If Aram be stronger than I, then thou hast been to me for salvation, and if the Bene-Ammon be stronger than thou, then I have come to give salvation to thee; be strong and strengthen thyself for our people, and for the cities of our God, and Jehovah doth that which is good in His eyes.' And Joab draweth nigh, and the people who `are' with him, to battle against Aram, and they flee from his presence; and the Bene-Ammon have seen that Aram hath fled, and they flee from the presence of Abishai, and go in to the city; and Joab turneth back from the Bene-Ammon, and cometh in to Jerusalem. And Aram seeth that it is smitten before Israel, and they are gathered together; and Hadadezer sendeth, and bringeth out Aram which `is' beyond the River, and they come in to Helam, and Shobach head of the host of Hadadezer `is' before them. And it is declared to David, and he gathereth all Israel, and passeth over the Jordan, and cometh in to Helam, and Aram setteth itself in array to meet David, and they fight with him; and Aram fleeth from the presence of Israel, and David slayeth of Aram seven hundred charioteers, and forty thousand horsemen, and Shobach head of its host he hath smitten, and he dieth there. And all the kings -- servants of Hadadezer -- see that they have been smitten before Israel, and make peace with Israel, and serve them; and Aram is afraid to help any more the Bene-Ammon.
And it cometh to pass afterwards that David smiteth the Philistines, and humbleth them, and David taketh the bridle of the metropolis out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smiteth Moab, and measureth them with a line, causing them to lie down on the earth, and he measureth two lines to put to death, and the fulness of the line to keep alive, and the Moabites are to David for servants, bearers of a present. And David smiteth Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, in his going to bring back his power by the River `Euphrates;' and David captureth from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen, and David destroyeth utterly the whole of the charioteers, only he leaveth of them a hundred charioteers. And Aram of Damascus cometh to give help to Hadadezer king of Zobah, and David smiteth of Aram twenty and two thousand men; and David putteth garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and Aram is to David for a servant, bearing a present; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone; and David taketh the shields of gold which were on the servants of Hadadezer, and bringeth them to Jerusalem; and from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, hath king David taken very much brass. And Toi king of Hamath heareth that David hath smitten all the force of Hadadezer, and Toi sendeth Joram his son unto king David to ask of him of welfare, and to bless him, (because that he hath fought against Hadadezer, and smiteth him, for a man of wars `with' Toi had Hadadezer been), and in his hand have been vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass, also them did king David sanctify to Jehovah, with the silver and the gold which he sanctified of all the nations which he subdued: of Aram, and of Moab, and of the Bene-Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer son of Rehob king of Zobah. And David maketh a name in his turning back from his smiting Aram in the valley of Salt -- eighteen thousand; and he putteth in Edom garrisons -- in all Edom he hath put garrisons, and all Edom are servants to David; and Jehovah saveth David whithersoever he hath gone. And David reigneth over all Israel, and David is doing judgment and righteousness to all his people, and Joab son of Zeruiah `is' over the host, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud `is' remembrancer, and Zadok son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, `are' priests, and Seraiah `is' scribe, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada `is over' both the Cherethite and the Pelethite, and the sons of David have been ministers.
And it cometh to pass after the death of Moses, servant of Jehovah, that Jehovah speaketh unto Joshua son of Nun, minister of Moses, saying, `Moses my servant is dead, and now, rise, pass over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. `Every place on which the sole of your foot treadeth, to you I have given it, as I have spoken unto Moses. From this wilderness and Lebanon, and unto the great river, the river Phrath, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great Sea -- the going in of the sun -- is your border. `No man doth station himself before thee all days of thy life; as I have been with Moses, I am with thee, I do not fail thee, nor forsake thee; be strong and courageous, for thou -- thou dost cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn to their fathers to give to them. `Only, be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee; thou dost not turn aside from it right or left, so that thou dost act wisely in every `place' whither thou goest; the book of this law doth not depart out of thy mouth, and thou hast meditated in it by day and by night, so that thou dost observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then thou dost cause thy way to prosper, and then thou dost act wisely. `Have not I commanded thee? be strong and courageous; be not terrified nor affrighted, for with thee `is' Jehovah thy God in every `place' whither thou goest.' And Joshua commandeth the authorities of the people, saying,
and all these blessings have come upon thee, and overtaken thee, because thou dost hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God: `Blessed `art' thou in the city, and blessed `art' thou in the field. `Blessed `is' the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, increase of thine oxen, and wealth of thy flock. `Blessed `is' thy basket and thy kneading-trough. `Blessed `art' thou in thy coming in, and blessed `art' thou in thy going out. `Jehovah giveth thine enemies, who are rising up against thee -- smitten before thy face; in one way they come out unto thee, and in seven ways they flee before thee. `Jehovah commandeth with thee the blessing in thy storehouses, and in every putting forth of thy hand, and hath blessed thee in the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee. `Jehovah doth establish thee to Himself for a holy people, as He hath sworn to thee, when thou keepest the commands of Jehovah thy God, and hast walked in His ways; and all the peoples of the land have seen that the name of Jehovah is called upon thee, and they have been afraid of thee. `And Jehovah hath made thee abundant in good, in the fruit of the womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to thy fathers to give to thee. `Jehovah doth open to thee his good treasure -- the heavens -- to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand, and thou hast lent to many nations, and thou -- thou dost not borrow. `And Jehovah hath given thee for head, and not for tail; and thou hast been only above, and art not beneath, for thou dost hearken unto the commands of Jehovah thy God, which I am commanding thee to-day, to keep and to do,
I see it, but not now; I behold it, but not near; A star hath proceeded from Jacob, And a sceptre hath risen from Israel, And hath smitten corners of Moab, And hath destroyed all sons of Sheth. And Edom hath been a possession, And Seir hath been a possession, `for' its enemies, And Israel is doing valiantly; And `one' doth rule out of Jacob, And hath destroyed a remnant from Ar.'
By the God of thy father who helpeth thee, And the Mighty One who blesseth thee, Blessings of the heavens from above, Blessings of the deep lying under, Blessings of breasts and womb; -- Thy father's blessings have been mighty Above the blessings of my progenitors, Unto the limit of the heights age-during They are for the head of Joseph, And for the crown of the one Separate `from' his brethren.
and thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed. `And lo, I `am' with thee, and have kept thee whithersoever thou goest, and have caused thee to turn back unto this ground; for I leave thee not till that I have surely done that which I have spoken to thee.' And Jacob awaketh out of his sleep, and saith, `Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew not;' and he feareth, and saith, `How fearful `is' this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens.' And Jacob riseth early in the morning, and taketh the stone which he hath made his pillows, and maketh it a standing pillar, and poureth oil upon its top, and he calleth the name of that place Bethel, `house of God,' and yet, Luz `is' the name of the city at the first. And Jacob voweth a vow, saying, `Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put on -- when I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath become my God, then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all that Thou dost give to me -- tithing I tithe to Thee.'
and God doth give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of corn and wine; peoples serve thee, and nations bow themselves to thee, be thou mighty over thy brethren, and the sons of thy mother bow themselves to thee; those who curse thee `are' cursed, and those who bless thee `are' blessed.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 22
Commentary on Genesis 22 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Offering Up of Isaac. - For many years had Abraham waited to be fulfilled. At length the Lord had given him the desired heir of his body by his wife Sarah, and directed him to send away the son of the maid. And now that this son had grown into a young man, the word of God came to Abraham to offer up this very son, who had been given to him as the heir of the promise, for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which should be shown him. This word did not come from his own heart, - was not a thought suggested by the sight of the human sacrifices of the Canaanites, that he would offer a similar sacrifice to his God; nor did it originate with the tempter to evil. The word came from Ha-Elohim , the personal, true God, who tried him ( נסּה ), i.e., demanded the sacrifice of the only, beloved son, as a proof and attestation of his faith. The issue shows, that God did not desire the sacrifice of Isaac by slaying and burning him upon the altar, but his complete surrender, and a willingness to offer him up to God even by death.
Nevertheless the divine command was given in such a form, that Abraham could not understand it in any other way than as requiring an outward burnt-offering, because there was no other way in which Abraham could accomplish the complete surrender of Isaac, than by an actual preparation for really offering the desired sacrifice. This constituted the trial, which necessarily produced a severe internal conflict in his mind. Ratio humana simpliciter concluderet aut mentiri promissionem aut mandatum non esse Dei sed Diaboli; est enim contradictio manifesta. Si enim debet occidi Isaac, irrita est promissio; sin rata est promissio, impossibile est hoc esse Dei mandatum ( Luther ). But Abraham brought his reason into captivity to the obedience of faith. He did not question the truth of the word of God, which had been addressed to him in a mode that was to his mind perfectly infallible (not in a vision of the night, however, of which there is not a syllable in the text), but he stood firm in his faith, “accounting that god was able to raise him up, even from the dead” Hebrews 11:19). Without taking counsel with flesh and blood, Abraham started early in the morning (Genesis 22:3, Genesis 22:4), with his son Isaac and two servants, to obey the divine command; and on the third day (for the distance from Beersheba to Jerusalem is about 20 1/2 hours; Rob. Pal. iii. App. 66, 67) he saw in the distance the place mentioned by God, the land of Moriah, i.e., the mountainous country round about Jerusalem. The name מריּה , composed of the Hophal partic. of ראה and the divine name יה , an abbreviation of יהוה (lit., “the shown of Jehovah ,” equivalent to the manifestation of Jehovah ), is no doubt used proleptically in Genesis 22:2, and given to the mountain upon which the sacrifice was to be made, with direct reference to this event and the appearance of Jehovah to Abraham there. This is confirmed by Genesis 22:14, where the name is connected with the event, and explained in the fuller expression Jehovah-jireh . On the ground of this passage the mountain upon which Solomon built the temple is called המּריּה with reference to the appearance of the angel of the Lord to David on that mountain at the threshing-floor of Araunah (2 Samuel 24:16-17), the old name being revived by this appearance.
When in sight of the distant mountain, Abraham left the servants behind with the ass, that he might perform the last and hardest part of the journey alone with Isaac, and, as he said to the servants, “ worship yonder and then return .” The servants were not to see what would take place there; for they could not understand this “worship,” and the issue even to him, notwithstanding his saying “we will come again to you,” was still involved in the deepest obscurity. This last part of the journey is circumstantially described in Genesis 22:6-8, to show how strong a conflict every step produced in the paternal heart of the patriarch. They go both together, he with the fire and the knife in his hand, and his son with the wood for the sacrifice upon his shoulder. Isaac asks his father, where is the lamb for the burnt-offering; and the father replies, not “Thou wilt be it, my son,” but “God ( Elohim without the article - God as the all-pervading supreme power) will provide it;” for he will not and cannot yet communicate the divine command to his son. Non vult filium macerare longa cruce et tentatione ( Luther ).
Having arrived at the appointed place, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood upon it, bound his son and laid him upon the wood of the altar, and then stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
In this eventful moment, when Isaac lay bound like a lamb upon the altar, about to receive the fatal stroke, the angel of the Lord called down from heaven to Abraham to stop, and do his son no harm. For the Lord now knew that Abraham was אלהים ירא God-fearing, and that his obedience of faith did extend even to the sacrifice of his own beloved son. The sacrifice was already accomplished in his heart, and he had fully satisfied the requirements of God. He was not to slay his son: therefore God prevented the outward fulfilment of the sacrifice by an immediate interposition, and showed him a ram, which he saw, probably being led to look round through a rustling behind him, with its horns fast in a thicket ( אחר adv . behind, in the background); and as an offering provided by God Himself, he sacrificed it instead of his son.
From this interposition of God, Abraham called the place Jehovah-jireh , “ Jehovah sees,” i.e., according to Genesis 22:8, provides, providet ; so that ( אשׁר , as in Genesis 13:16, is equivalent to כּן על , Genesis 10:9) men are still accustomed to say, “ On the mountain where Jehovah appears ” ( יראה ), from which the name Moriah arose. The rendering “on the mount of Jehovah it is provided” is not allowable, for the Niphal of the verb does not mean provideri , but “appear.” Moreover, in this case the medium of God's seeing or interposition was His appearing.
After Abraham had offered the ram, the angel of the Lord called to him a second time from heaven, and with a solemn oath renewed the former promises, as a reward for this proof of his obedience of faith (cf. Genesis 12:2-3). To confirm their unchangeableness, Jehovah swore by Himself (cf. Hebrews 6:13.), a thing which never occurs again in His intercourse with the patriarchs; so that subsequently not only do we find repeated references to this oath (Genesis 24:7; Genesis 26:3; Genesis 50:24; Exodus 13:5, Exodus 13:11; Exodus 33:1, etc.), but, as Luther observes, all that is said in Psalms 89:36; Psalms 132:11; Psalms 110:4 respecting the oath given to David, is founded upon this. Sicut enim promissio seminis Abrahae derivata est in semen Davidis, ita Scriptura S. jusjurandum Abrahae datum in personam Davidis transfert . For in the promise upon which these psalms are based nothing is said about an oath (cf. 2 Sam 7; 1 Chronicles 17:1). The declaration on oath is still further confirmed by the addition of יהוה נאם “ edict ( Ausspruch ) of Jehovah, ” which, frequently as it occurs in the prophets, is met with in the Pentateuch only in Numbers 14:28, and (without Jehovah ) in the oracles of Balaam, Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:15-16. As the promise was intensified in form, so was it also in substance. To express the innumerable multiplication of the seed in the strongest possible way, a comparison with the sand of the sea-shore is added to the previous simile of the stars. And this seed is also promised the possession of the gate of its enemies, i.e., the conquest of the enemy and the capture of his cities (cf. Genesis 24:60).
This glorious result of the test so victoriously stood by Abraham, not only sustains the historical character of the event itself, but shows in the clearest manner that the trial was necessary to the patriarch's life of faith, and of fundamental importance to his position in relation to the history of salvation. The question, whether the true God could demand a human sacrifice, was settled by the fact that God Himself prevented the completion of the sacrifice; and the difficulty, that at any rate God contradicted Himself, if He first of all demanded a sacrifice and then prevented it from being offered, is met by the significant interchange of the names of God, since God, who commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac, is called Ha-Elohim , whilst the actual completion of the sacrifice is prevented by “the angel of Jehovah ,” who is identical with Jehovah Himself. The sacrifice of the heir, who had been both promised and bestowed, was demanded neither by Jehovah , the God of salvation or covenant God, who had given Abraham this only son as the heir of the promise, nor by Elohim , God as creator, who has the power to give life and take it away, but by He-Elohim , the true God, whom Abraham had acknowledged and adored as his personal God, and with whom he had entered into a personal relation. Coming from the true God whom Abraham served, the demand could have no other object than to purify and sanctify the feelings of the patriarch's heart towards his son and towards his God, in accordance with the great purpose of his call. It was designed to purify his love to the son of his body from all the dross of carnal self-love and natural selfishness which might still adhere to it, and so to transform it into love to God, from whom he had received him, that he should no longer love the beloved son as his flesh and blood, but simply and solely as a gift of grace, as belonging to his God-a trust committed to him, which he should be ready at any moment to give back to God. As he had left his country, kindred, and father's house at the call of God (Genesis 12:1), so was he in his walk with God cheerfully to offer up even his only son, the object of all his longing, the hope of his life, the joy of his old age. And still more than this, not only did he possess and love in Isaac the heir of his possessions (Genesis 15:2), but it was upon him that all the promises of God rested: in Isaac should his seed be called (Genesis 21:12). By the demand that he should sacrifice to God this only son of his wife Sarah, in whom his seed was to grow into a multitude of nations (Genesis 17:4, Genesis 17:6, Genesis 17:16), the divine promise itself seemed to be cancelled, and the fulfilment not only of the desires of his heart, but also of the repeated promises of his God, to be frustrated. And by this demand his faith was to be perfected into unconditional trust in God, into the firm assurance that God could even raise him up from the dead. - But this trial was not only one of significance to Abraham, by perfecting him, through the conquest of flesh and blood, to be the father of the faithful, the progenitor of the Church of God; Isaac also was to be prepared and sanctified by it for his vocation in connection with the history of salvation. In permitting himself to be bound and laid upon the altar without resistance, he gave up his natural life to death, to rise to a new life through the grace of God. On the altar he was sanctified to God, dedicated as the first beginning of the holy Church of God, and thus “the dedication of the first-born, which was afterwards enjoined in the law, was perfectly fulfilled in him.” If therefore the divine command exhibits in the most impressive way the earnestness of the demand of God upon His people to sacrifice all to Him, not excepting the dearest of their possessions (cf. Matthew 10:37, and Luke 14:26); the issue of the trial teaches that the true God does not demand a literal human sacrifice from His worshippers, but the spiritual sacrifice of an unconditional denial of the natural life, even to submission to death itself. By the sacrifice of a ram as a burnt-offering in the place of his son, under divine direction, not only was animal sacrifice substituted for human, and sanctioned as an acceptable symbol of spiritual self-sacrifice, but the offering of human sacrifices by the heathen was condemned and rejected as an ungodly ἐθελοθρησεία . And this was done by Jehovah , the God of salvation, who prevented the outward completion of the sacrifice. By this the event acquires prophetic importance for the Church of the Lord, to which the place of sacrifice points with peculiar clearness, viz., Mount Moriah, upon which under the legal economy all the typical sacrifices were offered to Jehovah ; upon which also, in the fulness of time, God the Father gave up His only-begotten Son as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, that by this one true sacrifice the shadows of the typical sacrifices might be rendered both real and true. If therefore the appointment of Moriah as the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac, and the offering of a ram in his stead, were primarily only typical in relation to the significance and intent of the Old Testament institution of sacrifice; this type already pointed to the antitype to appear in the future, when the eternal love of the heavenly Father would perform what it had demanded of Abraham; that is to say, when God would not spare His only Son, but give Him up to the real death, which Isaac suffered only in spirit, that we also might die with Christ spiritually, and rise with Him to everlasting life (Romans 8:32; Romans 6:5, etc.).
Descendants of Nahor. - With the sacrifice of Isaac the test of Abraham's faith was now complete, and the purpose of his divine calling answered: the history of his life, therefore, now hastens to its termination. But first of all there is introduced quite appropriately an account of the family of his brother Nahor, which is so far in place immediately after the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, that it prepares the way for the history of the marriage of the heir of the promise. The connection is pointed out in Genesis 22:20, as compared with Genesis 11:29, in the expression, “ she also .” Nahor, like Ishmael and Jacob, had twelve sons, eight by his wife Milcah and four by his concubine; whereas Jacob had his by two wives and two maids, and Ishmael apparently all by one wife. This difference with regard to the mothers proves that the agreement as to the number twelve rests upon a good historical tradition, and is no product of a later myth, which traced to Nahor the same number of tribes as to Ishmael and Jacob. For it is a perfectly groundless assertion or assumption, that Nahor's twelve sons were the fathers of as many tribes. There are only a few names, of which it is probable that their bearers were the founders of tribes of the same name. On Uz , see Genesis 10:23. Buz is mentioned in Jeremiah 25:23 along with Dedan and Tema as an Arabian tribe; and Elihu was a Buzite of the family of Ram (Job 32:2). Kemuel, the father of Aram, was not the founder of the Aramaeans, but the forefather of the family of Ram, to which the Buzite Elihu belonged, - Aram being written for Ram, like Arammim in 2 Kings 8:29 for Rammim in 2 Chronicles 22:5. Chesed again was not the father of the Chasdim (Chaldeans), for they were older than Chesed; at the most he was only the founder of one branch of the Chasdim , possibly those who stole Job's camels ( Knobel ; vid., Job 1:17). Of the remaining names, Bethuel was not the founder of a tribe, but the father of Laban and Rebekah (Genesis 25:20). The others are never met with again, with the exception of Maachach , from whom probably the Maachites (Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 12:5) in the land of Maacah, a small Arabian kingdom in the time of David (2 Samuel 10:6, 2 Samuel 10:8; 1 Chronicles 19:6), derived their origin and name; though Maachah frequently occurs as the name of a person (1 Kings 2:39; 1 Chronicles 11:43; 1 Chronicles 27:16).