Abraham, Isaac, and the sacrifice.
Over the years, I have often had the experience of the more I study, the more questions I have - rather than the more I know. This has been my experience again during this year as I have been reading through the Bible with other members of our congregation, starting, of course, with Genesis.
One of these times is with the story, or rather historical account, of Abraham and Isaac going up to Mount Moriah to sacrifice, as recorded in Genesis 22. This account is nothing short of amazing to me and raises many questions.
I have heard this story all my life, of Abraham going with his son (a young boy) to the mountain to sacrifice. On the way, Isaac recognized that they had with them the wood and the fire, but were missing the sacrifice. For Isaac to become aware of this problem, I had envisioned him to be a boy of eight or ten years old.
However, with some research, it seems certain that Isaac was not a young boy but an adult - various authors place him at least in his twenties and one, as old as thirty seven. I have tried to verify this in scripture but apparently have to go back to an original language to do so. (Writings of Josephus, Talmudic, and David Wilkerson in “Knowing God by Name”, p. 24) .
We usually concentrate on Abraham’s faith that God would provide the sacrifice. In Hebrews 11:17, we read, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son”.
But what about Isaac’s faith - we don’t think much about his faith. But I am of the assumption that this was really a test for Isaac; after all, he would have had to comply to his father’s wishes and placed himself on the altar. His father was an old man by this time and could not have lifted him and bound him unless he had obliged his father – Abraham certainly would not have been able to do this if Isaac had decided to resist.
So, with this new information in this story, what a different picture we get. Isaac would have had to have total trust of his father. He would have had to "give" himself as the sacrifice. This seems to be a wonderful picture of Jesus.
Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice and complied with the Father’s wishes - even though He questioned in the Garden if there were any other way.
Then we should look for a moment at Isaac’s mother. Surely his mother was not part of this decision - so similar as when Jesus went to the cross. I wonder if Sarah knew that her son was about to be offered in sacrifice to God. I wonder, too, if Mary knew, really understood, that Jesus was about to die on the cross - a sacrifice for our sins.
Do you see what I mean? The more I study, the more questions I have. I guess that is part of the process of learning. Maybe this is part of the “seeing through a glass, darkly”, as mentioned in 1 Cor. 13:12 (possibly taken out of context).
Blessings on all those who are “studying” His Word along with us. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who has more questions when I have finished than I have answers.
Submitted by Naida
Over the years, I have often had the experience of the more I study, the more questions I have - rather than the more I know. This has been my experience again during this year as I have been reading through the Bible with other members of our congregation, starting, of course, with Genesis.
One of these times is with the story, or rather historical account, of Abraham and Isaac going up to Mount Moriah to sacrifice, as recorded in Genesis 22. This account is nothing short of amazing to me and raises many questions.
I have heard this story all my life, of Abraham going with his son (a young boy) to the mountain to sacrifice. On the way, Isaac recognized that they had with them the wood and the fire, but were missing the sacrifice. For Isaac to become aware of this problem, I had envisioned him to be a boy of eight or ten years old.
However, with some research, it seems certain that Isaac was not a young boy but an adult - various authors place him at least in his twenties and one, as old as thirty seven. I have tried to verify this in scripture but apparently have to go back to an original language to do so. (Writings of Josephus, Talmudic, and David Wilkerson in “Knowing God by Name”, p. 24) .
We usually concentrate on Abraham’s faith that God would provide the sacrifice. In Hebrews 11:17, we read, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son”.
But what about Isaac’s faith - we don’t think much about his faith. But I am of the assumption that this was really a test for Isaac; after all, he would have had to comply to his father’s wishes and placed himself on the altar. His father was an old man by this time and could not have lifted him and bound him unless he had obliged his father – Abraham certainly would not have been able to do this if Isaac had decided to resist.
So, with this new information in this story, what a different picture we get. Isaac would have had to have total trust of his father. He would have had to "give" himself as the sacrifice. This seems to be a wonderful picture of Jesus.
Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice and complied with the Father’s wishes - even though He questioned in the Garden if there were any other way.
Then we should look for a moment at Isaac’s mother. Surely his mother was not part of this decision - so similar as when Jesus went to the cross. I wonder if Sarah knew that her son was about to be offered in sacrifice to God. I wonder, too, if Mary knew, really understood, that Jesus was about to die on the cross - a sacrifice for our sins.
Do you see what I mean? The more I study, the more questions I have. I guess that is part of the process of learning. Maybe this is part of the “seeing through a glass, darkly”, as mentioned in 1 Cor. 13:12 (possibly taken out of context).
Blessings on all those who are “studying” His Word along with us. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who has more questions when I have finished than I have answers.
Submitted by Naida
posted by Randall | 9:35 p.m.
3 Comments:
It's just not our place to question God's will,just trust and obey.
Coffee
NAIDA
I never through about how much Isaac had in common with Jesus.Each trusted his father without question. Isaac's sacrifice would not have saved us as Jesus's did, but it took alot of faith for Isaac to go with his father knowing that he would be the sacrifice to God. Your right about more questions, you wonder about what each one was thinking that day. A mother,father and a son all thinking that this would be their last day together. What faith they all had in God,trusting Him completely. I pray that we could have faith like that.
C.M.
This whole process of sacrificing Isaac was to prove to God the faith of Abraham. But in this whole scenario you have pointed out quite distinctly the fact that there are many other issues as there always are. Our lives are not lived just unto ourselves. Every action seen or unseen has an opposite and equal reaction. I think, if memory serves correctly this is a law of physics...but it is true also in the spiritual realm. I'm thinking today that there are far greater consequences to our actions, farther reaching than we can ever imagine. What can be said years from now about the kind of life that I have lived? Have I proven to God that I have been found ...faithful?
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