John Gill Commentary Genesis 22

And it came to pass after these things Recorded in the preceding chapter: according to the Talmudists ^F2, the following affair was transacted quickly after the weaning of Isaac, when he was about five years old, which is the opinion of some, as Aben Ezra on (Genesis 22:4); makes mention of; but that is an age when it can hardly be thought he should be able to carry such a load of wood as was sufficient to make a fire to consume a burnt offering, (Genesis 22:6); the age of thirteen, which he fixes upon, is more likely.

Josephus ^F3 says, that Isaac was twenty five years of age; and in this year of his age Bishop Usher ^F4 places this transaction, twenty years after the weaning of him, in A. M. 2133, and before Christ 1871; and near to this is the computation of a Jewish chronologer ^F5, who makes Isaac to be at this time twenty six years of age; but some make him much older.

According to the Targum of Jonathan, he was at this time thirty six years old; and it is the more generally received opinion of the Jewish writers ^F6 that he was and with whom the Arabic writers ^F7 agree: so that this affair, after related, was thirty years after the weaning of Isaac and the expulsion of Ishmael, supposing Isaac to be then five years old.

But, however this be, what came to pass was after many promises of a son had been given him, and those fulfilled; and after many blessings had been bestowed upon him; and when he seemed to be well settled in the land of the Philistines, having entered into an alliance with the king of the country; his family in peace, and his son Isaac, the son of the promise, grown up and a hopeful youth; the first appearance of which seemed to threaten the destruction of all his comforts, hopes, and expectations; and it was so, that God did tempt Abraham;

not to sin, as Satan does, for God tempts no man, nor can he be tempted in this sense; and, had Abraham slain his son, it would have been no sin in him, it being by the order of God, who is the Lord of life, and the sovereign disposer of it; but he tempted him, that is, he tried him, to prove him, and to know his faith in him, his fear of him, his love to him, and cheerful obedience to his commands; not in order to know these himself, which he was not ignorant of, but to make them known to others, and that Abraham's faith might be strengthened yet more and more, as in the issue it was.

The Jewish writers ^F8 observe, that Abraham was tempted ten times, and that this was the tenth and last temptation: and said unto him, Abraham: Calling him by his name he well knew, and by that name he had given him, to signify that he should be the father of many nations, (Genesis 17:5); and yet was going to require of him to slay his only son, and offer him a sacrifice to him: and he said, behold, [here] I [am]; Signifying that he heard his voice, and was ready to obey his commands, be they what they would.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: T. Bab. Sanhedrin: fol. 89. 2.
• F3: Antiqu. l. 1. c. 13. sect. 2.
• F4: Annales Vet. Test. p. 10.
• F5: Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 6. 1.
• F6: Zohar in Gen. fol. 68. 2. & 74. 4. & 76. 2. Targ. Hieros. in Exod. xii. 42. Praefat. Echa Rabbat. fol. 40. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 31. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 1. p. 3. Juchasin, fol. 9. 1. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 3. 1.
• F7: Patricides, p. 19. Elmacinus, p. 34. Apud Hottinger. Smegma, p. 327
• F8: Targum. Hieros. in loc. Pirke Eliezer, c. 31.

And he said, take now your son
Directly, immediately; not your ox, nor your sheep, nor your ram, nor your lamb, nor your servant, but your son: your only [son] Isaac ;
for, though Ishmael was his son, he was a son by his maid, by his concubine, and not by his wife; Isaac was his only legitimate son, his only son by his lawful wife Sarah; the only son of the promise, his only son, in whom his seed was to be called: whom you love ;
on whom his affections were strongly set, being a lovely youth, a dutiful son, and the child of promise; on whom all his hope and expectation of a numerous offspring promised him was built, and in whose line the Messiah was to spring from him; even Isaac, which stands last in the original text.

So that, if what had been said was not sufficient to describe him, he is expressed by name. The description is gradually given, and the name of his son reserved to the last, that he might be by degrees prepared to receive the shocking order; every word is emphatic and striking, and enough to pierce any tender heart, and especially when told what was to be done to him. The Jews ^F9 represent God and Abraham in a discourse together upon this head: God said, take now your son; says Abraham, I have two sons; take your only son; says he, they are both only sons to their mothers; take him whom you love; I love them both, replied he; then take Isaac; thus ended the debate:

and get you into the land of Moriah ;
so called by anticipation, from a mountain of that name in it; the Septuagint render it, "the high land", the hill country of the land of Canaan, particularly that part of it where Jerusalem afterwards stood, which was surrounded with hills: hence Aquila, another Greek interpreter, renders it, "conspicuous", as hills and mountains are, and a mountainous country is; Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it, "a land of worship", of religious worship; for in this country afterwards the people of God dwelt, the city of the living God was built, and in it the temple for divine service, and that upon Mount Moriah; and the Targum of Jerusalem has it here, ``to Mount Moriah;''

The Jews are divided about the reason of this name, some deriving it from a word ^F11 which signifies to "teach", and think it is so called, because doctrine or instruction came forth from thence to Israel; others from a word ^F12 which signifies "fear", and so had its name because fear or terror went from thence to the nations of the world {m}; but its derivation is from another word ^F14 , which signifies to "see", and which is confirmed by what is said (Genesis 22:14) :

and offer him there for a burnt offering ;
this was dreadful work he was called to, and must be exceeding trying to him as a man, and much more as a parent, and a professor of the true religion, to commit such an action; for by this order he was to cut the throat of his son, then to rip him up, and cut up his quarters, and then to lay every piece in order upon the wood, and then burn all to ashes; and this he was to do as a religious action, with deliberation, seriousness, and devotion:

upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of ;
for there were several of them adjoining to, or pretty near each other, which afterwards went by different names, as Mount Sion, (Deuteronomy 4:48) ; the hill Acra; Mount Calvary, (Luke 23:33) ; and Mount Moriah, (2 Chronicles 3:1) ; supposed to be the mount intended; and so Aben Ezra says it was the place where the temple was built, and where was the threshing floor of Araunah, (2 Chronicles 3:1) .

Some learned men are of opinion, that the account which Sanchoniatho ^F15 gives of Cronus or Saturn sacrificing his own son, refers to this affair of Abraham's; his words are, ``there being a pestilence and a mortality, Cronus offered up his only son a whole burnt offering to his father Ouranus;'' which Porphyry ^F16 , from the same historian, thus relates; Cronus, whom the Phoenicians call Israel, (a grandson of Abraham's, thought, through mistake, to be put for Abraham himself,) having an only son of a nymph of that country called Anobret, (which according to Bochart ^F17 signifies one that conceived by grace, see (Hebrews 11:11) ;) whom therefore they called Jeoud (the same with Jehid here, an only once); so an only one is called by the Phoenicians; when the country was in great danger through war, this son, dressed in a royal habit, he offered up on an altar he had prepared.

But others ^F18 are of a different sentiment, and cannot perceive any likeness between the two cases: however, Isaac may well be thought, in the whole of this, to be a type of the Messiah, the true and proper Son of God, his only begotten Son, the dear Son of his love, in whom all the promises are yea and amen; whom God out of his great love to men gave to be an offering and a sacrifice for their sins, and who suffered near Jerusalem, on Mount Calvary, which very probably was a part of Mount Moriah; and which, with other mountains joining in their root, though having different tops, went by that common name.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 89. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 31. Jarchi in loc.
• F11: (hry) "docuit".
• F12: (ary) "timuit".
• F14: (har) "vidit".
• F15: Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praeparat. p. 38.
• F16: Apud ib. p. 40. & l. 4. c. 15. p. 156.
• F17: Canaan, l. 2. c. 2. col. 711, 712.
• F18: See Cumberland's Sanchoniatho, p. 37, 38, 134

And Abraham rose up early in the morning
For it seems it was in a dream or vision of the night that the above orders were given; and as soon as it wasmorning he rose and prepared to execute them with all readiness, and without any hesitation and delay:

and saddled his ass ;
for his journey, not to carry the wood and provision on, which probably were carried by his servants, but toride on; and this Jarchi thinks he did himself, and the words in their precise sense suggest this; but itdoes not necessarily follow, because he may be said to do what he ordered his servant to do; of the Jews'fabulous account of this ass, see (Zechariah 9:9) :

and took two of his young men with him ;
the Targum of Jonathan says, these were Ishmael his son, and Eliezer his servant; and so other Jewish writers^F18 , who tell us, that just at this time Ishmael came out of the wilderness to visit his father,and he took him with him; but for this there is no foundation: they were two of his servants, of whom he hadmany:

and Isaac his son :
who was the principal person to be taken, since he was to be the sacrifice: whether Abraham acquainted Sarahwith the matter and she consented to it, cannot be said with certainty; it is plain Isaac did not know what hisfather's design was; and though Sarah and the whole family might know, by the preparation made, he was goingto offer a sacrifice, yet they did not know where, nor what it was to be;

and clave the wood for the burnt offering ;
not knowing whether he should find wood sufficient on the mountain, where he was to go; and that he might notbe unprovided when he came there, he takes this method, which shows his full intention to obey the divinecommand:

and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him ;
that is, he mounted his ass, and rode towards the place God had spoken of to him, and who had directed himwhich way to steer his course.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: Pirke Eliezer, c. 31. Jarchi in loc.

Then on the third day
After he had received the command from God, and from his setting out on his journey; for he had now travelled two days, Mount Moriah being forty miles from Beersheba, where Abraham dwelt ^F19 ; or, as others compute it, forty: Hebron ^F20 was twenty miles from Beersheba, and Jerusalem twenty two from Hebron; and to travel twenty miles a day on foot, as Isaac and the servants seem to have done, there being but one ass among them, was far enough in those hot countries.

Now all this while Abraham had time to reconsider things in his mind, and deliberate thoroughly what he was going about; and by proceeding in it, after he had such leisure to revolve things in his mind, it appears that he was satisfied it was not an illusion, but an oracle of God he was going to obey; and that he did not do this rashly and hastily, and that his faith and obedience were sufficiently tried, and found genuine.

The Jews ^F21 take great notice of this third day, and compare the passage with (Hosea 6:2) ; and which they interpret of the third day of the resurrection; and the deliverance of Isaac on this third day was doubtless typical of Christ's resurrection from the dead on the third day; for from the time that Abraham has the command to offer up his son, he was reckoned no other by him than as one dead, from whence he received him in a figure on this third day, (Hebrews 11:19) :

Abraham lift up his eyes, and saw the place afar off ;
where he was to offer his Son. Baal Hatturim says, the word "place", by gematry, signifies Jerusalem: it seems by this, that as God had signified to Abraham that he would tell him of the place, and show it to him, where he was to sacrifice, so that he gave him a signal by which he might know it, which some of the Jewish writers ^F23 say was a cloud upon the mount; with which agrees the Targum of Jonathan,

And others say ^F24 , he saw the glory of the divine Majesty standing upon the mount, in a pillar of fire, reaching from earth to heaven; and they further observe, that the place where he was, when he saw this, was Zophim, a place not far from Jerusalem; and from hence, when the city and temple were built, a full view might be taken of them ^F25 , from whence it had its name.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Bunting's Travels, p. 57.
• F20: Reland. Palestina illustrata, tom. 2. p. 620.
• F21: Bereshit Rabba, sect. 56. fol. 49. 3.
• F23: Bereshit Rabba, sect. 56. fol. 49. 3. Jarchi in loc.
• F24: Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 31.)
• F25: Gloss. in T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 49. 2. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. Crach Chayim, c. 3. sect. 6.

And Abraham said to the young men, abide you here with the
ass
At the place from where he had his first sight of Mount Moriah: he chose not to take his two servants with him, lest when they saw him binding his son, and going about to sacrifice him, they should lay hold upon him, and restrain him from doing it; and to prevent this he takes this precaution, which shows how fully intent he was to yield obedience to the divine precept.

and I and the lad will go yonder and worship ;
pointing to the place where the signal was, but whether they saw it or no is not certain: the Jews say ^F26 Isaac did see it, but they did not; however, Abraham made them to understand that he was going to one of the mountains which were in sight, and there worship God by offering sacrifice to him. Isaac is here called a "lad"; of what age he was at this time, (See Gill on Genesis 22:2); and he might be at the largest number of years there mentioned, and yet be so called, since Joshua the son of Nun has this appellation when he was fifty six years of age, (Exodus 33:11) :

and come again to you ,
both he and Isaac; this he said under a spirit of prophecy, as Jarchi thinks, or in the faith of Isaac's resurrection from the dead, (Hebrews 11:19) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: Bereshit Rabba (sect. 56. fol. 49. 2, 3.) and Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 31.)