Genesis 22:10

Gen 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Ver. 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, &c,] What painter in the world can possibly express the affection of Abraham, when thus he bound his son, and bent his sword? Surely that painter that set forth the sacrificing of Iphigenia, would also have drawn Abraham, as he did Agamemnon, with his face veiled; as not able to delineate his inconceivable grief. {a} But a man in Christ is more than a man, and can do that which other men cannot reach unto. It was a matter of blame to the carnal Corinthians, that "they walked as men". {1Co 3:3} And our Saviour looks for some singular thing to be done to those that pretend to him. {Mat 5:47} Abraham had denied himself in his beloved Isaac, and therefore went an end with his work, hard though it were. Another that hath not done so, shall find a heavy business of it, an unsupportable burden. Sozomon {b} tells of a certain merchant, whose two sons being taken captives and adjudged to die, he offered himself to die for them; and with this promised to give the soldiers all the gold he had. They, pitying the poor man’s calamity, allowed his request for one of his sons (which he would); but let them both escape they could not, because such a number must be put to death. The miserable man, therefore, looking at and lamenting both his sons, could not find in his heart to make choice of either, as overcome with an equal love to them both, but stood doubting and deliberating till they were both slain. At the siege of Buda in Hungary, there was among the German captains a nobleman, called Erkius Raschachius, whose son, a valiant young gentleman, being got out of the army without his father’s knowledge, bore himself so gallantly in fight against the enemy, in the sight of his father and the army, that he was highly commended of all men, and especially of his father that knew him not at all. Yet before he could clear himself, he was compassed in with the enemy, and, valiantly fighting, slain. Raschachius exceedingly moved with the death of so brave a man, ignorant how near he touched himself, turning about to the other captains, said, This noble gentleman, whosoever he be, is worthy of eternal commendation, and to be most honourably buried by the whole army. As the rest of the captains were with like compassion approving his speech, the dead body of the unfortunate son rescued, was presented to the most miserable father; which caused all them that were there present to shed tears. But such a sudden and inward grief surprised the aged father, and struck so to his heart, that after he had stood a while speechless with his eyes set in his head, he suddenly fell down dead, Anno Dom. 1541. {c}

And took the knife to slay his son.] The apostle with, he did offer him up a slain sacrifice. {Heb 11:17} God took it in as good part as if indeed he had done it, because he would have done it. Every man is so good before God, as he truly desires to be. In vitae libro scribuntur omnes, qui quod possunt faciunt, etsi quod debent, non possunt , saith one father. {d} And another, {e} Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est. Ambulas, si amas. Non enim passibus ad Deum sed affectibus currimus. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccuret, saith a third. {f}

{a} Aspice vultus Ecce meos, utinamoque oculos in pectora posses Inserere . - Sol Phaetonti, apud Ovid.

{b} Sozomon, 1. c. 24.

{c} Turkish Hist.

{d} Bernard.

{e} Augustine.

{f} Basil.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen_22:10

Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son

Abrahams sacrifice of Isaac

I.

That we may properly ascertain the extent of Abrahams virtue, we must consider THE RELATIVE SITUATION IN WHICH HE IS PLACED AT THIS CRITICAL PERIOD. Two Abrahams combated one against the other; but divine and heavenly principles raise him far above those which are carnal and terrestial. Grace triumphs over nature. Abraham makes a double sacrifice to God; an exterior sacrifice upon the mountain, and an interior sacrifice in the secret of his soul. In the one he takes his son and binds him; in the other he immolates to God the sentiments of his soul. Outwardly it is Isaac who is offered up, inwardly it is Abraham who suffers and who sacrifices himself. Abraham goes out of himself, and rises indeed to God. Never did the Deity regard the sacrifice with so much pleasure--never did heaven behold so delightful a spectacle.

II. In fact, the sacrifice of Abraham has been handed down to us as A GREAT AND SPLENDID TYPE OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS. Abraham immolates his only son. God also sacrifices His own Son. Behold the agreement which subsists between these two sacrifices, and which obliges us to consider one of these objects in the other as in the most perfect type; but behold the difference which distinguishes them, and which discovers to us how much the image sinks below the original. Go to Moriah, and you will there find a victim who follows the priest without knowing at first whither he is going, and who asks his father, where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? Turn your eye towards Calvary, and you will see Jesus Christ who exposes himself voluntarily to the sword of His Father, and who perfectly acquainted with His destiny, says to Him, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. There angels are sent from heaven to arrest the arm of Abraham; here devils issue from hell to hasten the death of Jesus Christ. In the sacrifice of Isaac, the fire, the knife, the sacrificer, are visible, but the victim does not at first appear; in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the victim appears first, but the knife, which is the sword of divine justice, and the fire, which consists in the ardour of his wrath and judgments, are invisible, are only seen by the eyes of faith. Upon the mountain of Moriah Abraham sacrifices his son to his Master, to his Benefactor, to his Creator, to his God; upon the mount of Calvary, God immolates his Son for the salvation of men, who are nothing but meanness, misery, and corruption. (Abbadie.)

The perfection of Abrahams friendship with God

God is to this man a friend to be trusted, even though He slay; to be loved better than an only son; to be obeyed where reason refuses its light to justify the command, and nature with all her voices can only exclaim against it. It is the perfection of a mans friendship with God to be thus loyal. It puts the all-perfect Lord, Whose name is Love, in His just place. It pays Him such honour as is His due. Irreligious minds, it is true, cannot rise so high as to comprehend this. To them, such an absolute sacrifice of everything to the Supreme must sound both unreasonable and unnatural. Even religious men are apt to find the air upon this height of sacrifice too rare for them to breath with comfort. It is only at moments of somewhat similar trial, when the Christian is lifted above his usual self-indulgent level, that he can taste a similar blessedness, or feel his heart at one with that ancient saint upon Moriah. None the less does this act of Abraham express the kind of self-surrender which must be natural to any one who perfectly knows God, and is in close friendship with Him, and therefore can repose in Him an unfaltering trust that He will act like God. To souls made perfect and set free from the shadows of earth into that vision of the Eternal Face for which it is our present blessedness to long, such a temper of sacrifice as Abraham attained may prove to be not natural only, but easy, and even rapturous. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)

A typical transaction

Isaac was eminently a type of Christ; but throughout the whole of this instance how beautiful and striking! Look at the father; can anything be more analogous than Abrahams conduct and our heavenly Fathers? Why did God say to Abraham, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah: and offer him there for a burnt-offering? Why did He make Abraham himself prepare all the materials? Why did He make him take the knife himself, and the fire in his hand? Because it was exactly what our heavenly Father Himself has done, and because it was to be an appeal to our feelings, that we might have some understanding of what our Father has done. Did not our Father take His Son, His only Son, whom He loved, and offer him up upon a Mount, as a burnt-offering for us? Did He not take the knife? Did He not say, Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd? Did He not Himself bruise that Son? It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Did He not Himself lay on that Son all those afflictions, and Himself literally cause that death, that His own demands and justice might be satisfied for your transgressions and mine? The parallel runs entirely through the deed. Thus He prepared the Son; He prepared a body for Him; He sent Him into the world, sent afflictions on Him, bruised Him, grieved Him, unsheathed the sword against Him, and made Him a burnt-offering in the furnace of His own wrath. Where shall we find the Lamb? This is what perplexed Isaac, and what perplexed the whole universe. My son, said Abraham, God will provide Himself a Lamb. So He did. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son; and therefore, when He came, Behold the Lamb of God. said his precursor, that taketh away the sin of the world. (C. Molyneux, B. A.)

Prohibition of human sacrifice

Several Greek myths have been compared with this narrative; but the similarity exists but remotely in some external circumstances. Iphigenia, Agamemnons daughter, was to be sacrificed to Diana, and the priest Calchas was on the point of performing the fearful ceremony, when the virgin was carried away by the goddess in a cloud, and an animal offering was presented in her stead. But the motive for the intended sacrifice was perverse and barbarous; Agamemnon had killed a stag sacred to Diana; and the incensed goddess would only be reconciled if the kings eldest and dearest daughter were offered to her. The future fate of Iphigenia was enveloped in mystery; it was only many years later that her abode was accidentally discovered by her wandering brother Creates. Thus, the cruel command, devoid of purpose or moral end, was the result of divine wrath and caprice. But the trial of Abraham was as important as regards the doctrine which it involved, as it was pure in the motive from which it arose. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. slay] The technical sacrificial word for killing the victim by cutting its throat.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand,.... All things being ready for execution, the altar built, the wood laid on it, the sacrifice bound and laid on that, nothing remained but to cut the throat of the sacrifice; and in order to that, the instrument for it laying by him, he put forth his hand, one would think in a trembling manner, for it is enough to make one tremble to think of it:

and took the knife to slay his son; with a full intention to do it, which was carrying his obedience to the divine will to the last extremity, and shows he was sincere in it, and really designed to complete it; and this was taken by the Lord as if it was actually done. He had his knife in his hand, and was near the throat of his son, and just ready to give the fatal thrust; in another moment, as it were, it would have been all over; but in the nick of time God appeared and prevented it, as follows:

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To sacrifice; a thing hitherto unprecedented, and which God would never suffer to be done in his honour, though he was pleased to try the obedience of his servant so far. The pagans afterwards took occasion, perhaps, from this history, to suppose, that human victims would be the most agreeable to their false deities: (Calmet) but in this misconception they were inexcusable, since God prevented the sacrifice from being really offered to him, in the most earnest manner, saying, Abraham, Abraham, as if there were danger lest the holy man should not hear the first call. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son who even in the last moment offers no resistance, but behaves like a type of him who was led like a lamb to the slaughter. (Isa_53:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

וישלח...לשחוט את בנו, to first slaughter him before the fire would burn up the body. This is the usual procedure when meat offerings are brought on the altar.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.