Genesis 22:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 22:2
And he said, 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 upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
tell
אֹמַ֥ר'o.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life…
Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
1 John 4:9-10 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him…
Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for…
Genesis 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not…
Genesis 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
Judges 11:39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 22:1-2
Here is the trial of Abraham's faith, whether it continued so strong, so vigorous, so victorious, after a long settlement in communion with God, as it was at first, when by it he left his country: then it was made to appear that he loved God better than his father; now that he loved him better than his son. Observe here,
I. The time when Abraham was thus tried (Gen 22:1): After these things, after all the other exercises he had had, all the hardships and difficulties he had gone through. Now, perhaps, he was beginning to think the storms had all blown over; but, after all, this encounter comes, which is sharper than any yet. Note, Many former trials will not supersede nor secure us from furt…
Take now thy son, &c.--Every circumstance mentioned was calculated to give a deeper stab to the parental bosom. To lose his only son, and by an act of his own hand, too!--what a host of conflicting feelings must the order have raised! But he heard and obeyed without a murmur (Gal 1:16; Luk 14:26).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 22:2
Take now thy son - Bishop Warburton's observations on this passage are weighty and important. "The order in which the words are placed in the original gradually increases the sense, and raises the passions higher and higher: Take now thy son, (rather, take I beseech thee נא na), thine only son whom thou lovest, even Isaac. Jarchi imagines this minuteness was to preclude any doubt in Abraham. Abraham desired earnestly to be let into the mystery of redemption; and God, to instruct him in the infinite extent of the Divine goodness to mankind, who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, let Abraham feel by experience what it was to lose a beloved son, the son born miraculously w…
And he said, take now thy son,.... Directly, immediately; not thine ox, nor thy sheep, nor thy ram, nor thy lamb, nor thy servant, but thy son:
thine 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 thou lovest; 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 st…
The Church Fathers
When Abraham offered his son Isaac, he was a type of God the Father, while Isaac prefigured our Lord and Savior.
(Chapter 22, Verse 2.) And God said to him: Take your beloved son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the high land, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you. It is difficult to translate the Hebrew language into Latin. Where it is now said, go to the high land, in Hebrew it has Moriah, which Aquila translated as 'the visible', that is, clear, and Symmachus, 'the vision', that is, sight. Therefore the Hebrews say that this mountain is the one on which the temple was later built, in the area of Ornan the Jebusite, as it is also written in the Chronicles: 'And they began to build the temple in the second month, on the second day of the month, in the mountain of Moriah' (2 Chronicles 3:1). This is interpreted as "illuminating" and "shining" because there is the Dabir, that is, the oracle of God: both the Law and the Holy Spirit, who teaches people the truth and inspires prophecies.
But now meanwhile "God was tempting," it says, "Abraham, and He says to him: take your most beloved son, whom you love." For it had not been enough to say "son," but "most beloved" is also added. Let this be so too: why is "whom you love" still added further? But see the weight of the temptation. By dear and sweet appellations repeated again and often, the paternal affections are aroused, so that, with the memory of love awakening, the paternal right hand might be delayed from immolating the son, and the whole warfare of the flesh might fight back against the resolve of the mind. "Take," therefore, He says, "your most beloved son, whom you love, Isaac." Be it so, Lord, that You remind the father of his son; You add also "most beloved," the one You command to be slain. Let this suffice for the father's torment; You add again also "whom you love." Let there be for the parent in this too a threefold torment. What need is there yet that You should also mention "Isaac"? Did Abraham not know that this most beloved son of his, the one whom he loved, was called Isaac? But why is this added at this moment? So that Abraham might recall that You had said to him: "that in Isaac shall your seed be called and that in Isaac shall be your promises." A mention is made also of the name, so that the despair of the promises too, which were made under this name, might come upon him. But all these things, because God was tempting Abraham.
Dictionary and topics
Burnt offering — Hebrew olah; i.e., “ascending,” the whole being consumed by fire, and regarded as ascending to God while being consumed. Part of every offering was burnt in the sacred fire, but this was wholly…
Gerizim — A mountain of Samaria, about 3,000 feet above the Mediterranean. It was on the left of the valley containing the ancient town of Shechem (q.v.), on the way to Jerusalem. It stood over against Mount…
Isaac — Laughter. (1) Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes (Amos 7:9, 16). (2.) The only son of Abraham by Sarah. He was the longest lived of the three patriarchs (Gen. 21:1-3). He was circumcised when…
Moriah — The chosen of Jehovah. Some contend that Mount Gerizim is meant, but most probably we are to regard this as one of the hills of Jerusalem. Here Solomon’s temple was built, on the spot that had been…
Sacrifice — The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine institution. It did not originate with man. God himself appointed it as the mode in which acceptable worship was to be offered to him by…
Temple, Solomon’s — Before his death David had “with all his might” provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the…
Temptation — (1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God “tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., ‘did prove’] Abraham;” and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their…
Afflictions Made Beneficial · In trying our faith and obedience — In trying our faith and obedience
Take now thy son. Abraham is commanded to immolate his son. If God had said nothing more than that his son should die, even this message would have most grievously wounded his mind; because, whatever favor he could hope for from God, was included in this single promise, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Whence he necessarily inferred, that his own salvation, and that of the whole human race, would perish, unless Isaac remained in safety. For he was taught, by that word, that God would not be propitious to man without a Mediator. For although the declaration of Paul, that all the promises of God in Christ are yea and Amen,' was not yet written, (2 Corinthians 1:20,) it was nevertheless engra…
Offering Up of Isaac. - For many years had Abraham waited to be fulfilled. At length the Lord had given him the desired heir of his body by his wife Sarah, and directed him to send away the son of the maid. And now that this son had grown into a young man, the word of God came to Abraham to offer up this very son, who had been given to him as the heir of the promise, for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which should be shown him. This word did not come from his own heart, - was not a thought suggested by the sight of the human sacrifices of the Canaanites, that he would offer a similar sacrifice to his God; nor did it originate with the tempter to evil. The word came from Ha-Elohi…
Obedience to God’s earlier call (12:1-3) was rewarded with great blessing; now Abraham had the opportunity to show even greater obedience. • Take your son . . . Isaac, whom you love so much: By this detailed description of Isaac, God reminded Abraham that the young man was his beloved son, and intensified his awareness of the cost of the sacrifice. • The name Moriah is explained by the Chronicler (2 Chr 3:1) as the place of the later Temple Mount in Jerusalem. • Go: By wording the command in this way, God helped Abraham to obey by recalling his former call (cp. 12:1-3).
Rashi on Genesis 22:2
קח נא TAKE NOW — The word נא is used as a request: God said to him, “I beg of you, stand firm for me in this trial, so that people may not say that the previous trials were no real tests” (Sanhedrin 89b).
את בנך THY SON — Abraham said to God, “I have two sons”. “He answered him, “Thine only son”. Abraham said, “This one is the only son of his mother and the other is the only son of his mother”. God then said, “the one whom thou lovest”. Abraham replied, “I love both of them”. Whereupon God said “even Isaac”. Why did He not disclose this to him at the very first? So as not to confuse him suddenly lest his mind become distracted and bewildered and in his confused state he would involuntarily…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
· The most ancient of all sacrifices
— The most ancient of all sacrifices
Communion · .Abraham — .Abraham
Courage · .In offering — .In offering
High Places · A term used to — A term used to
Isaac · .Offered in sacrifice by his father — .Offered in sacrifice by his father
Moriah · The land of — The land of
Mountain · Zion, the site of the temple (later in the time of — Zion, the site of the temple (later in the time of
Mountains · Mentioned in scripture: Moriah — Mentioned in scripture: Moriah
Sacrifices · Were offered: By the patriarchs — Were offered: By the patriarchs
Self-Denial · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Temptation · A TEST — A TEST
Types Of Christ · Isaac — Isaac
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
