Genesis 22:5

Gen 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Ver. 5. Abide ye here with the ass.] This, the Hebrews use for a proverb, against such as are dull and uncapable. Zophar saith, that "man is born as a wild ass’s colt". {Job 11:12} As an "ass’s foal" for rudeness, and "a wild ass’s" for unruliness. It imports that he is untamed and untractable, till a new heart be put into him. Agur had not the understanding of a man, till he spake to Ithiel and Ucal for it. {Pro 30:1-2} He wants the whole man, totum hominis , that doth not fear God and keep his commandments. {Ecc 12:13} Tu et asinus unum estote , will not do it; which was the counsel given to a young novice entering a monastery {a}

And come again to you.] Nesciens formam rei futurae, prophetavit sciens de eventu, prophetavit quod ignoravit , saith Ambrose. {b}

{a} Alex. Cook’s Abatement of Popish Brags.

{b} Epist.

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_22:5

Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship

Helps and hindrances of a Christian life

I.

In the path of faith, HUMAN HELP IS PROFITABLE.

II. In the path of faith, HUMAN HELP IS LIMITED.

III. In the path of faith, HUMAN HELP MUST RECEIVE A TIMELY DISMISSAL.

IV. In the path of faith, THE GRANDEST TRIUMPHS HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED ALONE. (H. T. Miller.)

Lessons

1. Saints bent to the work of God will turn anything back that may trouble them in it.

2. Inferior things may and must be inhibited by souls above them in case of hindering from God.

3. Saints freed from incumbrances do speed to duties.

4. Humble submission to the hardest part of worship will Gods servants readily yield. Both Abraham and Isaac.

5. Return to relations, and relation duties is just after the worship of God.

6. Better events come after believing worship sometimes than saints are aware of. (G. Hughes, B. D.)

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

22:5 We will worship there, and then we will come (or We will worship there so that we may come back): Abraham’s amazing statement makes us wonder what he was thinking. Abraham knew that God had planned the future of the covenant around Isaac and that God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac. He could not reconcile these things in his mind; he could only do what God commanded him to do, and leave the future to God (cp. Heb 11:17-19).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He doubted not, but God would accomplish his promise, though he should sacrifice his son.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 5. I and the lad will go and come again] How could Abraham consistently with truth say this, when he knew he was going to make his son a burnt-offering? The apostle answers for him: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac - accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure, Heb 11:17; Heb 11:19. He knew that previously to the birth of Isaac both he and his wife were dead to all the purposes of procreation; that his birth was a kind of life from the dead; that the promise of God was most positive, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, Ge 21:12; that this promise could not fail; that it was his duty to obey the command of his Maker; and that it was as easy for God to restore him to life after he had been a burnt-offering, as it was for him to give him life in the beginning. Therefore he went fully purposed to offer his son, and yet confidently expecting to have him restored to life again. We will go yonder and worship - perform a solemn act of devotion which God requires, and come again to you.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) I and the lad will . . . come again to you.—In these words Abraham gives utterance to the hope ascribed to him in Heb_11:19. The belief in the resurrection of the body was no new thing with Abraham, as it was part of the creed both of Chaldea and Egypt (Tomkins, Studies, p. 127).

God will provide himself a lamb.—Heb., the lamb. We learn from Heb_11:17-19, that Abraham expected that he was to consummate the sacrifice, but that Isaac would be restored to him from the dead, and the promise that his seed was to be born of him so fulfilled. The bestowal of Isaac had been so extraordinary, that Abraham would not feel staggered at what otherwise would have seemed incredible. Apparently, therefore, he meant Isaac by the lamb, thus showing that it was not he who chose the victim, but God. The few words that passed between father and son, the notice by the latter that amid such careful preparation no victim had been provided, the father’s answer that that matter was left to God, the resolute faith of the one, and the trusting submission of the other, as “they went both of them together,” form a picture full not merely of interest, but even of tragical pathos.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. I and the lad] Abraham’s words are either intended to conceal his intention; or they imply hope, against all hope. “Come again,” i.e. come back to the young men. He will not let the servants know the nature of the expedition.

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 said unto the young men, abide you here with the ass,.... At the place from whence 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 (z) 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 Gen 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, Exo 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, Heb 11:19.

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

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

Will return. He hoped, perhaps, that God would restore Isaac to life: (Hebrews xi. 19.) and he could not well express himself otherwise to the men, who were not acquainted with the divine decree. (Calmet)

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).

Abraham said this, lest they should hinder him in the execution of his design.

I and the lad will come again to you; for he knew that God both could and would for his promise sake, either preserve Isaac from being sacrificed, or afterward raise him from the dead, as it is intimated, Heb 11:19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. I and the lad will go yonder — Abraham doubtless took the ass and his servants to the foot of the mountain, so as to carry the wood and the fire no unnecessary distance. From the junction of the valleys Hinnon and Kedron the heights of Moriah would seem afar off, and be properly spoken of as yonder.

And come again to you — These words may have been designed to conceal from his servants the purpose of his heart; but according to Heb_11:17, he had confidence that God would raise up his son from the dead. By faith he spoke, in this verse and Gen_22:8, more wisely than he knew, and his words were a true prophecy.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye (for similar forms of expression (cf. Gen_12:1 Gen_21:6 Gen_22:2) here with the ass; partly because the beast required watching, though chiefly because the contemplated sacrifice was too solemn for any eyes but God"s to witnessand I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. An act of dissimulation on the part of Abraham (Knobel, Kalisch, Murphy); an unconscious prophecy (Lyra, Junius, Rashi); the expression of a hopeful wish (Lange); a somewhat confused utterance (Calvin, Keil); the voice of his all-conquering faith (Augustine, Calvin, Wordsworth, Bush, "Speaker"s Commentary," Inglis), which last seems the teaching of Heb_11:19.

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

When in sight of the distant mountain, Abraham left the servants behind with the ass, that he might perform the last and hardest part of the journey alone with Isaac, and, as he said to the servants, "worship yonder and then return." The servants were not to see what would take place there; for they could not understand this "worship," and the issue even to him, notwithstanding his saying "we will come again to you," was still involved in the deepest obscurity. This last part of the journey is circumstantially described in Gen 22:6-8, to show how strong a conflict every step produced in the paternal heart of the patriarch. They go both together, he with the fire and the knife in his hand, and his son with the wood for the sacrifice upon his shoulder. Isaac asks his father, where is the lamb for the burnt-offering; and the father replies, not "Thou wilt be it, my son," but "God (Elohim without the article - God as the all-pervading supreme power) will provide it;" for he will not and cannot yet communicate the divine command to his son. Non vult filium macerare longa cruce et tentatione (Luther).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

עד כה YONDER — meaning a short distance: to the place in front of us. The Midrashic explanation (based upon the meaning of כה “thus”) is: I will see where will be (i.e. what will happen to) the promise which God made to me, (Genesis 15:5) “Thus (כה) shall thy seed be” (Genesis Rabbah 56:2).

ונשובה AND WE WILL COME BACK — He prophesied that they would both return (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ויאמר...ונשתחוה, from these words the lads understood that Avraham would not only prostrate himself there in prayer but would offer an animal as part of such prayer. They reasoned this way, having observed that Avraham took kindling and a knife when going up the mountain. Normally, a reference to השתחויה includes slaughtering a sacrificial animal, as we know from Samuel I 1.3, describing Elkanah’s habits.

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.