Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Genesis
Book: Genesis
Chapter: 22
Overview:
God commands
Abraham to offer up
Isaac.
(1,2) Abraham's
Faith
and obedience to the Divine command.
(3-10) Another
Sacrifice is
provided instead of
Isaac.
(11-14) The
Covenant with
Abraham
renewed.
(15-19) The family of
Nahor.
(20-24)
1,2 We never are secure from trials. In
Hebrew, to tempt, and to
try, or to prove, are expressed
By the same
Word. Every trial is
indeed a
Temptation, and tends to show the dispositions of the
Heart, whether holy or unholy. But
God proved
Abraham, not to
draw him to
Sin, as
Satan tempts. Strong
Faith is often
exercised with strong trials, and
Put upon hard services. The
command to offer up his son, is given in such language as makes
the trial more grievous; every
Word here is a
Sword. Observe, 1.
The person to be offered: Take thy son; not thy bullocks and thy
lambs. How willingly would
Abraham have parted with them all to
redeem
Isaac! Thy son; not thy servant. Thine only son; thine
only son
By Sarah. Take
Isaac, that son whom thou lovest. 2. The
place: three days'
Journey off;
So that
Abraham might have time
to consider, and might deliberately obey. 3. The manner: Offer
him for a burnt-
Offering; not only kill his son, his
Isaac, but
kill him as a
Sacrifice; kill him with all that solemn pomp and
ceremony, with which he used to offer his burnt-offerings.
3-10 Never was any
Gold tried in
So hot a
Fire. Who but
Abraham
would not have argued with
God? Such would have been the thought
of a weak
Heart; but
Abraham knew that he had to do with a
God,
even
Jehovah.
Faith had taught him not to argue, but to obey. He
is sure that what
God commands is good; that what he promises
cannot be broken. In matters of
God, whoever consults with
Flesh
and
Blood, will never offer up his
Isaac to
God. The good
Patriarch rises early, and begins his sad
Journey. And now he
travels three days, and
Isaac still is in his sight! Misery is
made worse when long continued. The expression, We will come
again to you, shows that
Abraham expected that
Isaac, being
raised from the dead, would return with him. It was a very
affecting question that
Isaac asked him, as they were going
together: "My
Father," said
Isaac; it was a melting
Word, which,
one would think, should strike deeper in the
Heart of
Abraham,
than his
Knife could in the
Heart of
Isaac. Yet he waits for his
son's question. Then
Abraham, where he meant not, prophesies:
"My son,
God will provide a
Lamb for a burnt-
Offering." The Holy
Spirit,
By his mouth, seems to predict the
Lamb of
God, which he
has provided, and which taketh away the
Sin of the world.
Abraham lays the
Wood in order for his
Isaac's
Funeral pile, and
now tells him the amazing news:
Isaac, thou art the
Lamb which
God has provided!
Abraham,
No doubt, comforting him with the
same hopes with which he himself
By Faith was comforted. Yet it
is necessary that the
Sacrifice be bound. The great
Sacrifice,
which, in the
Fulness of time, was to be offered up, must be
bound, and
So must
Isaac. This being done,
Abraham takes the
Knife, and stretches out his
Hand to give the fatal blow. Here
is an act of
Faith and obedience, which deserves to be a
spectacle to
God, angels, and men.
God,
By his
Providence, calls
us to part with an
Isaac sometimes, and we must do it with
cheerful submission to his holy will, 1Sa 3:18.
11-14 It was not
God's intention that
Isaac should actually be
sacrificed, yet nobler
Blood than that of animals, in due time,
was to be shed for
Sin, even the
Blood of the only begotten Son
of
God. But in the mean while
God would not in any case have
human sacrifices used. Another
Sacrifice is provided. Reference
must be had to the promised
Messiah, the blessed Seed.
Christ
was sacrificed in our stead, as this
Ram instead of
Isaac, and
his
Death was our discharge. And observe, that the
Temple, the
place of
Sacrifice, was afterwards built upon this same
Mount
Moriah; and
Calvary, where
Christ was crucified, was near. A new
name was given to that place, for the encouragement of all
believers, to the
End of the world, cheerfully to trust in
God,
and obey him.
Jehovah-jireh, the
Lord will provide; probably
alluding to what
Abraham had said,
God will provide himself a
Lamb. The
Lord will always have his
Eye upon his people, in
their straits and distresses, that he may give them seasonable
help.
15-19 There are high declarations of
God's favour to
Abraham in
this confirmation of the
Covenant with him, exceeding any he had
yet been blessed with. Those that are willing to part with any
thing for
God, shall have it made up to them with unspeakable
advantage. The promise, ver. 18, doubtless points at the
Messiah, and the
Grace of the
Gospel. Hereby we know the
loving-kindness of
God our
Saviour towards sinful
Man, in that
he hath not withheld his Son, his only Son, from us. Hereby we
perceive the
Love of
Christ, in that he gave himself a
Sacrifice
for our sins. Yet he lives, and calls to sinners to come to him,
and partake of his
Blood-bought
Salvation. He calls to his
redeemed people to rejoice in him, and to
Glorify him. What then
shall we render for all his benefits? Let his
Love constrain us
to live not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, and
Rose
again. Admiring and adoring His
Grace, let us devote our all to
his service, who laid down his
Life for our
Salvation. Whatever
is dearest to us upon
Earth is our
Isaac. And the only way for
us to find comfort in an earthly thing, is to give it
By Faith
into the hands of
God. Yet remember that
Abraham was not
justified
By his readiness to obey, but
By the infinitely more
noble obedience of
Jesus Christ; his
Faith receiving this,
relying
On this, rejoicing in this, disposed and made him able
for such wonderful self-denial and duty.
20-24 This
Chapter ends with some account of
Nahor's family,
who had settled at
Haran. This seems to be given for the
connection which it had with the
Church of
God. From thence
Isaac
and
Jacob took wives; and before the account of those events
this list is recorded. It shows that though
Abraham saw his own
family highly honoured with privileges, admitted into
Covenant,
and blessed with the
Assurance of the promise, yet he did not
look with disdain upon his relations, but was glad to hear of
the increase and welfare of their families.