Commentary - Genesis 22:1-19

Bird's-eye view

Genesis 22 is one of the high water marks of redemptive history, a stark and stunning pinnacle of faith. Here we have the testing of Abraham, a trial that goes to the very heart of the covenant promises God had made to him. God commands Abraham to offer up Isaac, the son of promise, as a burnt offering. This is not a test to see if Abraham is strong enough, but rather a test designed to reveal the kind of faith God Himself had given to Abraham. It is a faith that believes God, even when God's commands appear to contradict His promises. The entire event is a magnificent typological drama, pointing forward with breathtaking clarity to the sacrifice of God's own Son, Jesus Christ. The location, the son carrying the wood, the father's willingness to sacrifice his beloved son, and the provision of a substitute all shout the gospel. This is not just a story about the personal piety of a great patriarch; it is a foundational revelation of God's plan of salvation.

The narrative is lean, taut, and filled with holy tension. From the simple, terrifying command of God, to the quiet obedience of Abraham, to the poignant question of Isaac, to the climactic moment with the knife raised, every detail serves the central point. And that point is that God provides the sacrifice. Abraham's faith was not in his own ability to obey, but in God's ability to raise the dead (Heb. 11:19). The chapter concludes with a powerful reaffirmation of the covenant promises, now sealed by this ultimate act of obedient faith. The seed of Abraham will be multiplied, his enemies will be defeated, and through his seed, ultimately Christ, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Outline

Commentary

Gen. 22:1

Now it happened after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

The narrative opens with a simple statement that sets the stage for everything to follow: "God tested Abraham." The Hebrew word for "test" (nasah) does not mean to tempt to sin, which James tells us God does not do (James 1:13). Rather, it means to prove, to refine, to reveal the quality of something. God was not trying to discover something He did not know about Abraham's faith. He was orchestrating events so that the quality of the faith He had given Abraham would be demonstrated for all time. This is a test for the sake of revelation, not information. Abraham's immediate reply, "Here I am," is the response of a servant ready to hear and obey. It is a posture of availability before he even knows what will be asked.

Gen. 22:2

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

The command is delivered with a series of blows, each one heightening the horror and the cost. "Take now your son." Which son? "Your only one." Though Ishmael was his son, Isaac was the unique son of the covenant, the sole heir of the promise. "Whom you love." God acknowledges the deep affection, making it clear He is not ignorant of the pain this will cause. "Isaac." The name itself means laughter, a name born of joy and miraculous promise, now to be associated with this dreadful command. He is to go to the land of Moriah, which tradition and 2 Chronicles 3:1 identify as the future site of the Temple in Jerusalem. And what is he to do there? "Offer him there as a burnt offering." This was the most complete and costly of all the sacrifices, where the offering was entirely consumed by fire. God is asking for everything.

Gen. 22:3

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

There is no argument, no pleading, no delay. Abraham's obedience is immediate and decisive. He "rose early in the morning." This is the action of a man who has resolved to obey during the night and does not linger when the sun comes up. He doesn't just delegate the preparations; he himself splits the wood for the offering. Every swing of the axe must have been an act of agonizing faith. His actions are methodical, not frantic. He is not being stoic; he is walking by faith. He is trusting the God who gave the promise, even when that same God gives a command that seems to destroy the promise.

Gen. 22:4

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

The journey takes three days. This is a significant detail. It was not a decision made in a moment of heated emotion. For three days, Abraham walked with his son, every step a reaffirmation of his decision to obey God. Every glance at Isaac was a fresh test. The "third day" is also freighted with biblical significance, echoing the resurrection of Christ. Abraham was, in a sense, walking toward the death of his son, and in his heart, he believed in a "third day" deliverance, a resurrection (Heb. 11:19).

Gen. 22:5

And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there; and we will worship, and we will return to you.”

Here we have one of the most remarkable statements of faith in all of Scripture. He tells the servants, "we will return to you." Not "I will return," but "we." Abraham fully intended to go through with the sacrifice, yet he believed that both he and Isaac would come back down the mountain. How? The author of Hebrews tells us his reasoning: "he considered that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead." This is not a lie to his servants; it is a profound prophecy born of unwavering faith in the God who brings life from death. He also calls the act "worship." This is the first use of the word "worship" in the Bible, and it is defined for us as costly, radical obedience to the word of God.

Gen. 22:6

Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

The typology here is almost too bright to look at. The beloved son, Isaac, carries the wood for his own sacrifice up the hill. Centuries later, another beloved Son, Jesus, would carry the wood of His own cross up a hill in this same region. Abraham carries the instruments of death, the fire and the knife, just as the Father ordained the death of His Son. The repeated phrase, "the two of them walked on together," underscores the unity and pathos of the moment. There is a terrible harmony in their steps as they approach the place of sacrifice.

Gen. 22:7

Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

The silence is broken by Isaac's innocent, trusting question. He sees all the elements for the sacrifice except the most crucial one. His question, "where is the lamb," is the central question of the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. It hangs in the air over every altar from Abel to Caiaphas. It is the question that only God can answer. Abraham's response, "Here I am, my son," is tender, but the question forces the issue to the forefront.

Gen. 22:8

And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Abraham's answer is a magnificent prophecy. "God will provide for Himself the lamb." In Hebrew, the word order is emphatic: "God will see to it for Himself, the lamb." He is not just saying God will supply a lamb; he is saying God will provide Himself as the lamb, or that the lamb is God's own business, His own provision. This is precisely what happened at Calvary. God the Father provided His own Son, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world. After this profound exchange, the narrative repeats the solemn refrain: "So the two of them walked on together."

Gen. 22:9

Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood.

The actions are described in a series of deliberate, sequential steps. Building the altar, arranging the wood, these were familiar tasks for Abraham. But then the unthinkable happens. He binds Isaac. Isaac, who by this point was likely a strong young man, clearly submits. This is not a struggle; it is a cooperative act of submission to his father, and ultimately to his father's God. He is laid on the altar, on top of the wood he himself carried. The promised seed is now bound on the altar of sacrifice.

Gen. 22:10

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

This is the climax. The hand is stretched out. The knife is in it. In Abraham's heart and mind, the sacrifice is complete. He has held nothing back. He has obeyed God to the uttermost limit. This is the point of no return. Faith has been tested to its breaking point and has held fast, not because of Abraham's grit, but because of God's grace.

Gen. 22:11-12

But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.”

The intervention is dramatic and comes from heaven itself. The "angel of Yahweh" is often a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, and His words carry divine authority. The double call, "Abraham, Abraham!" conveys urgency. The command is clear: "Do not stretch out your hand." The test is over. The reason is given: "for now I know that you fear God." Again, this is not God gaining new information. It is a legal, covenantal declaration. The evidence has been presented, the verdict is in, and Abraham's faith has been publicly demonstrated. The fear of God is not terror, but a holy reverence that results in radical obedience. The proof was that he did not withhold his most precious possession, his "only one."

Gen. 22:13

Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

Just as Abraham had prophesied, God provided. He lifts his eyes, a posture of receiving revelation, and sees the substitute. A ram, a male sheep, caught in a thicket. This was no accident. God had prepared this animal. The ram caught by its horns is a picture of a sacrifice entangled in the curse of the world (the thorns of the thicket) on our behalf. Abraham takes this divinely provided substitute and offers it "in the place of his son." Here is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement in living color. One dies so that another may live.

Gen. 22:14

And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.”

Abraham memorializes the event by naming the place. "Yahweh Yireh," which means "The LORD will see to it" or "The LORD will provide." This name becomes a proverb in Israel: "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided." This proverb points directly to the future, to another sacrifice on that same mountain range, where God would make His ultimate provision for sin. The provision on Mount Moriah was a ram. The ultimate provision on Mount Calvary was the Lamb of God.

Gen. 22:15-18

Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.”

The covenant promises, previously given, are now reaffirmed and sealed with God's own oath. The author of Hebrews comments on this, saying that because God could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself (Heb. 6:13-14). The basis for this sworn oath is Abraham's obedience: "because you have done this thing." This is not Abraham earning the blessing; it is his faith being the God-appointed instrument through which the covenant blessings flow. The promises are expansive: innumerable descendants, victory over enemies, and the universal blessing of all nations through his seed. This points directly to Christ, the ultimate seed of Abraham, through whom the blessing of salvation comes to the whole world. The foundation of it all is stated at the end: "because you have listened to My voice." True faith listens and obeys.

Gen. 22:19

So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and walked together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

The chapter concludes with a simple return. The high drama is over. Abraham, and we must assume Isaac with him, returns to the servants, fulfilling his prophetic word that "we will return." Life goes on, but it is a life now lived on the other side of the altar. The covenant has been confirmed in the most dramatic way possible, and the patriarch returns to his home in Beersheba, having seen the day of Christ and been glad (John 8:56).