Genesis 22 explained
God will provide
Genesis 22:1-24 · World English Bible
“Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.”
In short
God tested Abraham by asking for Isaac, the son he loved, in the Bible's first use of the word love. Abraham went, told Isaac "God will provide himself the lamb", and was stopped by the angel of the LORD. A ram was offered instead of his son, and God swore by himself that all the nations would be blessed by Abraham's offspring.
What's really going on
God tested Abraham
The chapter tells the reader first what Abraham doesn't know: "God tested Abraham" (22:1). Then God says, "Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering" (22:2). Abraham rises early the next morning and goes (22:3). On the third day he tells his young men, "The boy and I will go over there. We will worship, and come back to you" (22:4-5).
Easily missed
The Bible's first "love"
The Hebrew verb for love, ahav, first appears in the Bible in 22:2: "your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love". It is a father's love for his son, spoken by God in the command to offer him.
Genesis 22:2
Where it leads to Jesus
He swore by himself
Genesis 22:16leads toHebrews 6:13-18
"I have sworn by myself" (22:16). Hebrews says God "swore by himself" when he made this promise to Abraham, quotes it, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you" (Hebrews 6:14, quoting 22:17), and calls it "a strong encouragement" for all "who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us".
The Hebrew word behind it
רָאָהra'ahsay ra-AH
The verb is ra'ah, "see" (Brown-Driver-Briggs). "God will provide himself the lamb" (22:8) is in Hebrew "God will see for himself the lamb", and the name "The LORD Will Provide" (22:14) is the LORD's name followed by yir'eh, for which Strong's gives "will see (to it)" (H3070): the LORD will see to it. The saying "On the LORD’s mountain, it will be provided" uses the same verb in a passive form (22:14). The chapter keeps using it: Abraham "saw the place far off" (22:4) and "looked, and saw" the ram (22:13).
Talk about it
God asked Abraham for "your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love". Why do you think God tests the people he loves?
Read all of Genesis 22 with Favor
This is a taste. In Favor, the whole chapter explains itself as you read: 9 questions along the way, 7 more Hebrew words, 9 more sections on what's really going on and the honest questions, and a short check at the end. Alone, or with your people.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe