Genesis 22:1  And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
 2  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4  Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9  And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13  And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
15  And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16  And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18   And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Hebrews 11:17  By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
 18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
19  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

MEMORY VERSE:  He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.  Romans 4:20, 21

CENTRAL THOUGHT:   Abraham did not draw back from obeying God when God told him to go to the distant land and offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering.  He went as far as to put Isaac bound upon the wood on the altar and took the knife and was about to kill Isaac when God stopped him.  His obedience going that far was accepted by God, and Abraham was richly blessed and rewarded forever.

WORD DEFINITIONS

Genesis 22:1,  “tempt”:  Put to the test.
Verse 3,  “clave”:  Split up in smaller pieces.
Verse 9,  “bound”:  Tied up with cords.
Verse 17,  “in blessing I will bless thee”:  Surely I will bless thee.  “in multiplying I will multiply thee”:  Surely I will multiply thy seed.  “thy seed”:  Thy offspring and descendants of all who follow the example of thy faith. “possess the gate of his enemies”:  Overcome all his foes with victory.
Verse 18,  “be blessed”:  Be benefited with heavenly blessings.
Hebrews 11:17,  “tried”:  Put to the test.
Verse 19,  “received him in a figure”:  It was like receiving Isaac from the dead to be relieved of having to slay him as a burnt offering.
Romans 4:20,  “staggered not”:  Did not hesitate or draw back.

LESSON BACKGROUND

From the writings of Josephus in his volume entitled “Antiquities of the Jews” is found the account of Abraham’s offering of Isaac in more detail that I really believe is true.  I felt inspired to include this in our lesson.  In chapter XIII part 3 we find this account.  “As soon as the altar was prepared, and Abraham had laid on the wood, and all things were entirely ready, he said to his son, “O son, I poured out a vast number of prayers that I might have thee for my son; when thou wast come into the world, there was nothing that could contribute to thy support for which I was not greatly solicitous, nor any thing wherein I thought myself happier than to see thee grown up to man’s estate, and that I might leave thee at my death the successor to my dominion; but since it was by God’s will that I became thy father, and it is now his will that I relinquish thee, bear this consecration to God with a generous mind; for I resign thee up to God who has thought fit now to require this testimony of honour to himself, on account of the favours he has conferred on me, in being to me a supporter and defender.  Accordingly thou, my son wilt now die, not in any common way of going out of the world, but sent to God, the Father of all men, before hand, by thy own father, in the nature of a sacrifice.  I suppose he thinks thee worthy to get clear of this world neither by disease, neither by war, nor by any other severe way, by which death usually comes upon men, but so that he will receive thy soul with prayers and holy offices of religion, and will place thee near to himself, and thou wilt there be to me a succourer and supporter in my old age; on which account I principally brought thee up, and thou wilt thereby procure me God for my Comforter instead of thyself.”

Now Isaac was of such a generous disposition as became the son of such a father, and was pleased with this discourse; and said,  ‘That he was not worthy to be born at first, if he should reject the determination of God and of his father, and should not resign himself up readily to both their pleasures; since it would have been unjust if he had not obeyed, even if his father had so resolved.’  So he went immediately to the altar to be sacrificed.”   Then Josephus related how God intervened and expressed how pleased He was with Isaac’s proposal and with Abraham’s willingness to obey.  I really am blessed with what Josephus reveals and felt that it would be wholesome and beneficial with our lesson.       —Bro. Leslie Busbee

QUESTIONS:

  1. What did God command Abraham to do with his son, Isaac?
  2. What was Abraham’s faithful response to what God commanded?
  3. How far did Abraham go in obeying God’s command?
  4. What did God do to stop Abraham from carrying it all out?
  5. What kind of future did God promise to Abraham and his seed?

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

In James 2:14-26 we have a very good word of counsel concerning faith.  He first asked the question in verse 14: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?”  And part of his words in verses 21-23 applies this thought to Abraham and how he was justified by works “…when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”  This declares to us that there is action and works to be carried out in our faith.  Abraham obeyed God and took his son Isaac up and placed him bound upon the altar and took the knife to slay his son as a sacrifice.  So it is with us.  We must follow Abraham and all the faithful through the ages by obeying our God’s will and good pleasure as proof and perfection of our faith.     —Bro. Leslie Busbee

REFLECTIONS

As the caravan of ox carts, wagons and animals were parading down the road in the city of UR, the citizens of that town were witnessing more than just a man and his family moving to another town.

When the dust settled, something had happened as never before in that city.  It was much more than a young man who was disgruntled with life seeking pleasures and wealth in another city.  Truly few, if anyone, recognized what was going on with Abraham, who had a call from God.  There were a lot of family and friends asking him questions, “Why do you want to leave?”  “How long will you be gone?”  “Is this some kind of secret?” We can readily see Abram’s faith tested as he left his home looking for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker was God.  He may have been ridiculed when kin folks and neighbors probably looked out their windows and said, “He’s just restless; he‘ll be back in a few weeks; he can’t survive on his own.”    I am sure he left them with a lot of unanswered questions.

We know that Abram was following that still small voice from God as he journeyed away from his home town.  I’m sure he had been lonely and tired as he made all the preparations to leave, loaded the ox carts, checked the wheels, repaired harnesses, and mended the tents.  However, the excitement of doing God’s will gave him special strength.  The first few days were probably familiar territory.  At first, they could look back for several miles and possibly see their home, but as their days grew into weeks and their months into years, the territory continued to be different.  He was beginning to feel his great dependence on God to direct him. Now there were no familiar faces nor places.  It makes one appreciate his blind obedience to the call of God.

This move was very historic, unusual, and has great spiritual meaning for us today.  God had a big plan!  Abraham was following a skilled navigator who specializes in leading and guiding His children who put their faith in Him.  His decision to heed the call of God would be affecting people till the end of time.  This was an ordinary man following an unordinary call of God.  We find Abraham, the father of faith, being tested on many lines; but the supreme test in offering up His only son would have been almost impossible for any parent.  Isaac questioned his father about the sacrifice and asked, “Where is the lamb to offer?”  Abram’s reply was, “God will provide.” This kind of faith comes with years of trusting his heavenly father and walking with Him through all the difficulties of  life.  Abraham’s faith in God shows us that we too can trust him to take us through unknown and difficult places. Abraham will be forever remembered as the “Father of Faith.”   Let us be faithful to God.                   —Bro. James Bell