Abraham’s Test – Genesis 22:1-24
Bethel Baptist Church – David Rising
Genesis 22:1-19; August 30, 2026 Sunday PM
Abraham’s Test
We come to one of the amazing chapters of the OT. This is the account of God’s test of Abraham. God has made a promise, and yet we find in this chapter the most amazing command of the Lord.
In the end we can marvel at Abraham, but we should give glory to the Lord who is the ultimate provider of all that we need. Pray.
22:1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
After all has been said and done, after all the waiting and the conflict and tension, now the Lord tests Abraham. We might say from the human perspective: why now?
God testing Abraham is an interesting concept. We face tests in our life – literal ones, in college, in school – and other tests also, in our lives, in our walk with the Lord.
What does it mean here that the Lord (Elohim) tested Abraham? This word (נִסָּ֖ה < נָסָה) can mean a few related things. To test something is to show the true nature of something. Manufacturers test their products to see if they work. Testing often involves adding adverse circumstances to stress the product to see how it will respond.
As this story progresses, we see that God is testing Abraham to see how he will respond to instruction that by any human standards seems ridiculous.
Remember again, this test did not come when he was a mere 75-years old. He is now over 100 and has seen the Lord prove Himself many times to be a covenant-keeping God.
God brought into existence the impossible with the birth of Isaac.
But still, even by the measure of a mature servant of the Lord, this request by God – this test – seems over the top.
God calls to Abraham and he responds with a ready ear. God says in verse 2 that he should take Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering.
The language God uses is instructive. This is Isaac, his son, his only one, the one he loved. This is not extra wording just to fill up the page. This is God reminding Abraham of the unique standing that Isaac had with him.
Isaac was that one and only, unique son (אֶת־בִּנְךָ֙ אֶת־יְחִֽידְךָ֤). Since Abraham did have another son, Ishmael, this was not God dismissing Hagar’s son. This highlighted the unique place of Isaac in this family, in God’s promise to Abraham.
God will use this very same specific language two more times in this passage, and thus we are to remember this unique nature of Isaac to Abraham.
Isaac is the son whom Abraham loves. That almost goes without saying, but God makes it clear in His request.
This request by God on the surface, or as a human would readily hear this, does not make sense.
Abraham was to go to the land of Moriah and offer Isaac as a burnt offering on a mountain that God would specify eventually.
To offer your son as a burnt offering sounds pagan at first read. A burnt offering was a whole offering.
Later Levitical ritual (see Lev. 1) designated this particular offering as the only one to be completely consumed (except for the hide) on the altar, and hence the appropriate and normal Greek translation for Heb. ʿōlá is holokáutōma, “holocaust.”[1]
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1995). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50 (p. 104). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Many have written about the ethics of this request of God to Abraham, as if we are the arbiter of what God should and should not do. Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish existential philosopher, theologian, who wrote about Abraham in his 1843 book Fear and Trembling.
Kierkegaard has Abraham say to Isaac as father and son climb Moriah: “Stupid boy, do you think I am your father? I am an idolater. Do you think it is God’s command? No, it is my desire.” Subsequent to a cry to God by Isaac, Abraham says to himself softly, “Lord God in heaven, I thank you; it is better that he believes me a monster human than that he should lose faith in you.” For Kierkegaard there are two Abrahams. One is the ethical Abraham for whom the moral law is universal and has a categorical claim to obedience. The other Abraham is “the knight of faith” who knows of a higher obedience than even that to universal moral law, and this may lead to the taking of the life of another, “the teleological suspension of the ethical.” Thus, for Kierkegaard, Abraham is torn between his obligation to obey God and whether the command he accepts is really from God. Accordingly, he proceeds “in fear and trembling.”[2]
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1995). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50 (p. 104). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
He was not the only one to raise objections to what we see here.
Early Jewish tradition also made some emphatic objections. For example, the Talmud (see Taʿan. 4a) expands on the phrase in Jer. 19:6 about those who burned their sons as burnt offerings to Baal that God “did not command, decree, nor did it come into his mind” as follows: “ ‘which I did not command’: this refers to the sacrifice of the son of Mesha, the king of Moab: ‘nor decree it’: this refers to the daughter of Jephthah: ‘nor did it come into my mind’: this refers to the sacrifice of Isaac, the son of Abraham.”[3]
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1995). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50 (p. 104). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
We also have other instances in the OT where there were child sacrifices.
For example, the curse pronounced by Joshua on anyone who would rebuild Jericho (Josh. 6:26) is fulfilled in 1 K. 16:34 when Hiel buried two of his sons under the foundations of rebuilt Jericho, possibly to bring good luck or the blessing of the deity to his building project. Judg. 11:30ff. describes Jephthah’s vowing to God a (human) sacrifice, which in this case is his daughter. The practice obtained also in neighboring Moab, whose king offered up his oldest son on the wall of a city while he was under siege (2 K. 3:27).
But one cannot draw conclusions about standard Israelite ritual on the basis of the practices of a Moabite king or instances in Israel itself that border on the extraordinary, if not on the aberrant.[4]
[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1995). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50 (p. 104). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
If the narrative stopped short of what we see at the end, this would all seem rather cruel. The human mind defaults to comparing the actions of God with what we think is best. But let us proceed through the narrative as we know how this ultimately turns out. God is testing Abraham, and we see these details unfold here by God’s perfect plan.
Remember, they are living in Gerar in that place where the well was named Beersheba. Where is Moriah? This was a three-day journey from Beersheba as we learn in verse 4. In the OT, the only other mention of Moriah is in 2 Chronicles 3:1 which is connected to the temple mount and many make the connection as one and the same place. Others are not so sure as the Chronicle account does not mention this connection, though it would not have to do so. Genesis does speak about the land of Moriah, while Chronicles speaks about Mount Moriah.
The point is not necessarily to locate the precise place, but rather to see what God did at this place.
This call to Abraham here is also reminiscent of God’s call to Abraham earlier as he would send him off to a land that he would show him (12:1).
And so as Abraham digested this incredible command of God, he prepares to go as God had said.
We should understand that it does not appear that God had told Abraham at the start He was testing him; this is Moses telling us after the fact what God was doing.
Now, to be honest with you, I am not sure how I would have responded to God’s request in my life. I would hope that I too would be the example that Abraham will be, but I just don’t know. God’s grace surely would have to be in full swing for any of us willingly to do what God asked here.
And so Abraham has heard the call and has responded with an open ear. But what about Isaac? What about Sarah? His obedience here also meant that he had to explain some things. Notice how this unfolds, verse 3:
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 the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
As God had told him, so Abraham did. This is the language of obedience, and language we have already seen in his life. Remember, this was not the first time we have seen Abraham exercise his faith. But this will be unlike any other command of God.
Abraham and his son, along with two helpers, pack up and head out. They bring with them wood for the offering and they head toward the land of Moriah. Verse 4:
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
On day three Abraham sees his destination at a distance, and so he parks his donkey and tells his two helpers to stay put. Abraham explains that he and Isaac are going to go to the distant place afar off and worship, and then he said they would both come back.
We’ve all been through this verse before and we see the assumptions noted in what Abraham says. It would seem clear that up to this point, what God had specifically told Abraham, he had not explained every detail in full to all.
The wood that was split and brought along was understood to be needed for the worship that would take place. But the grand scheme of offering up Isaac – that does not seem to be in the conversation at this point.
As we think about them worshipping, we see the connection between the altar and worship. This is nothing new. After the flood, Noah built an altar to the LORD and offered clean animals and birds (Genesis 8:20). When God first made His promise to Abraham, he responded by building an altar to the Lord (Genesis 12:7). In the next verse he moves between Bethel and Ai and there built an altar to the LORD.
The message we observe is that coming before God requires the shedding of blood and death. No doubt, this has everything to do with the condition of mankind after the fall. A holy and perfect God cannot be approached without cleansing.. Up to this point, it has always been an animal.
Before we explore that a bit more, notice the final statement of verse 5: “we will come back to you”. Abraham was not deceiving here. He truly believed that they both would return. The time-frame for this return must not have been very long since Abraham is about to leave behind for a while those who came along.
We can guess all day long what we think this means, but remember what Hebrews says:
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
The example of faith in Abraham was such that whatever would have happened in the offering, Abraham was convinced that God would bring the boy back to life and the two of them would indeed return to the servants just as Abraham had said. The writer of Hebrews also writes that Abraham did offer up his only begotten son, as we will see.
And so back to Genesis 22:6:
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Off they both go, carrying the wood, fire, and knife. These verses are written as if this is the conversation they have as they walk toward the place of sacrifice. Isaac is very observant as he recognizes that the key ingredient to the sacrifice is missing: the animal for the burnt offering.
Notice the comparison here between Abraham calling out to Isaac and God calling out to Abraham. In both cases we have God and Abraham calling out, and we have the response of the son or Abraham responding affirmatively. Abraham said also in 22:1 “here I am”.
You wonder at what point Abraham wondered when this question would arise. It seems perfectly normal to assume in reading this story that Abraham was not deceiving his son, but rather was trusting in the Lord conclusively that he did not feel it necessary to tell him that in fact God said that Isaac was to offer him as a burnt offering.
Abraham now was facing the difficult reality of responding to that question. Notice that he responds with these words we have ready dozens of times:
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Could the “young” 75-year old Abram who departed Haran and left for the land of Canaan say this? Did Abraham flinch when he said this? Did this just roll of Abraham’s lips in real time, or did he show normal emotions and wonder deep in his mind how in the world this would all turn out?
Speculations are all fun and interesting, but the text simply tells it as it is. Abraham believed that God would take care of it, that He would provide for this sacrifice and notice that it was to be a lamb.
Since worship is to focus on the Lord, this was God providing for Himself what Abraham and Isaac needed to come before Him in worship.
And so you can picture the two of them having this conversation, perhaps pausing for a little while during this critical part of the conversation. And then after Abraham convincingly answered by his statement of faith in God providing, they resumed their walk to the location.
God will provide (אֱלֹהִ֞ים יִרְאֶה) is a statement of faith by Abraham. The verb comes from a root that can mean ‘to see’ (רָאָה) and thus to see the need and provide what is necessary.
This is a preview of what transpires shortly in this account. Verse 9:
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
Now the text makes clear that indeed Isaac now understood the plan. Abraham prepares the altar and wood and then puts his son, bound, on the wood. Abraham prepares to strike his son with a knife, to kill him.
This is an unthinkable for both Abraham and Isaac. It is incomprehensible by any human standard. But this was what God had asked Abraham to do, and he is about ready to do it.
I won’t labor this point, suspending the story to make points that the text may not make. Notice how God does respond:
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
As before, so now again – God calls to Abraham. One wonders if Abraham was expecting to hear something like this. In any case, the Angel of the LORD calls to him twice “Abraham, Abraham!”. In 22:1, it was just one “Abraham”. Not that this is a major point, but it is something to notice. There seems to be some added urgency here as Abraham was ready to thrust the knife into his son.
Abraham responds in the same way “Here I am” and then the Angel tells him to put down the knife. Do him no harm. He had passed the test.
Now the Angel of the LORD, now God knows that Abraham fears God since he did obey the LORD. He did offer up Isaac on the altar.
As we think about this test and what it revealed, it reminds me of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. As the men left Abraham after receiving hospitality, we read this:
Genesis 18:17–21 (NKJV) 17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” 20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
Does God knows all things? Of course. Then why these tests and missions to observe, we might ask? In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, the messengers are sent to see whether or not the city is as bad as the cries to heaven are indicating. After the visit, then the LORD would know what was taking place.
In the case of Abraham, God asked Abraham to do an incredibly difficult task, but Abraham showed in a complete way that he was willing to obey, even if it did not make any sense. Just before the devastating blow, the Lord called it off and confirmed that indeed Abraham feared God because he did not hold back his son, his only son.
Two different stories, but both highlight this idea of God knowing something now. I don’t know how to explain this much more than the words and language we see in the text. I think very often in scripture we see the Lord accommodate language to humans so that we can grasp in some part what is happening.
If Abraham had killed Isaac, then indeed the Lord would have to have resurrected him because of His promise. Abraham was simply the one God called and empowered to carry out the steps in the promise. God was the one all along who was providing, and Abraham and Isaac surely saw this very powerfully on that day.
God provided, verse 13:
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
God opened his eyes to see something that perhaps he did not see before, like with Hagar and the well in the desert. Here Abraham sees a ram entangled in a bush and sees that it was God’s provision for the burnt offering.
We have here of course that wonderful early picture of the substitutionary sacrifice that would come in the ultimate seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t think it is improper to mention this so early in the bible. How can we not see this, having read the NT and taught it as we have?
But of course, Abraham did not know all of this. He was simply operating based upon what God had told him. His faith in God was strengthened through this amazing incident in his life.
God provided, and notice now the name:
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
This is named precisely what Abraham said earlier. God provides, God sees/will provide. It is Jehovah-Jirah or Yahweh-yireh. This name draws attention to the Lord, and not to Abraham.
Notice that when Moses wrote this – ‘as it is said to this day’ – that location still had that same memory. This last phrase is translated a few ways in different versions due to textual complications, but the point remains the same – it is the place where God saw and God provided.
That is the main part of the story that we tend to emphasize, but notice the final few verses in the chapter that tie together what God is doing in all of this:
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
This is the promise of God stated again. Given the details of this narrative, we see here that the ultimate purpose of this test was not to see that Isaac was spared but to show that God’s man, Abraham, was a man of faith as God had given Him the provision He needed. Because he had obeyed, not sparing His only son, God would see that His promise would indeed come to pass.
Did the promise hinge simply on Abraham’s obedience? We could look at it and say that, but this is much bigger than just this one incident. God had promised this would take place, and so we see once again the intersection of God’s perfect plan, His amazing sovereignty in His promise, and yet the contingent obedience here on Abraham.
Could Abraham have failed the test and God still keep His promise? Well, if Abraham had withheld his son, then he would not have potentially died. But then what about his faith?
Those roads are available to the mind, but according to scripture we do not have to travel those roads.
God has made a promise, Abraham has shown himself to be a man who believes and obeys the Lord, and so God’s promise presses forward.
What do we see here? This is a great illustration of God’s promise and man’s obedience come together. Can we sort it all out? Who receives the glory when all is said and done? Abraham? No, the Lord God who keeps His promise.
God provides, and of all the many lessons we can glean from this text, may our minds think of the ultimate provision that God granted to us, the ultimate seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This story leads us to see the work of Christ so clearly stated in the NT. May He be glorified through this amazing story.