Genesis 22:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 22:3
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
saddled
וַֽיַּחֲבֹשׁ֙vai.ya.cha.Vosh
H2280
to wrap firmly (especially a turban · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ass
חֲמֹר֔וֹcha.mo.Ro
H2543
a male ass (from its dun red) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
took
וַיִּקַּ֞חvai.yi.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
two
שְׁנֵ֤יshe.Nei
H8147
two · cardinal number, both genders dual construct
men
נְעָרָיו֙ne.'a.Rav
H5288
(concretely) a boy (as active) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Isaac
יִצְחָ֣קyitz.Chak
H3327
Jitschak (or Isaac) · proper noun, a man's name
son
בְּנ֑וֹbe.No
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
clave
וַיְבַקַּע֙vay.va.Ka'
H1234
to cleave · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wood
עֲצֵ֣י'a.Tzei
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine plural construct
offering
עֹלָ֔ה'o.Lah
H5930
a step or (collectively · noun, common feminine singular absolute
up
וַיָּ֣קָםvai.Ya.kom
H6965
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
place
הַמָּק֖וֹםha.ma.Kom
H4725
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
God
הָאֱלֹהִֽיםha.'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
told
אָֽמַר'a.mar-
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine 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
Psalms 119:60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, h…
Genesis 17:23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of…
Genesis 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the…
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither…
Isaiah 26:3-4 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Galatians 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 22:3-10
We have here Abraham's obedience to this severe command. Being tried, he offered up Isaac, Heb 11:17. Observe,
I. The difficulties which he broke through in this act of obedience. Much might have been objected against it; as, 1. It seemed directly against an antecedent law of God, which forbids murder, under a severe penalty, Gen 9:5, Gen 9:6. Now can the unchangeable God contradict himself? He that hates robbery for burnt-offering (Isa 61:8) cannot delight in murder for it. 2. How would it consist with natural affection to his own son? It would be not only murder, but the worst of murders. Cannot Abraham be obedient but he must be unnatural? If God insist upon a human sacrifice, is there no…
Abraham rose . . . early, &c.--That there might be no appearance of delay or reluctance on his part, he made every preparation for the sacrifice before setting out--the materials, the knife, and the servants to convey them. From Beer-sheba to Moriah, a journey of two days, he had the painful secret pent up in his bosom. So distant a place must have been chosen for some important reason. It is generally thought that this was one the hills of Jerusalem, on which the Great Sacrifice was afterwards offered.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 22:3
Two of his young men - Eliezer and Ishmael, according to the Targum.
Clave the wood - Small wood, fig and palm, proper for a burnt-offering - Targum.
John Gill on Genesis 22:3
And Abraham rose up early in the morning,.... For it seems it was in a dream or vision of the night that the above orders were given; and as soon as it was morning he rose and prepared to execute them with all readiness, and without any hesitation and delay:
and saddled his ass; for his journey, not to carry the wood and provision on, which probably were carried by his servants, but to ride on; and this Jarchi thinks he did himself, and the words in their precise sense suggest this; but it does no, necessarily follow, because he may be said to do what he ordered his servant to do; of the Jews' fabulous account of this ass, see Zechariah 9:9,
and took two of his young men with him; the Targ…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 3) And he went to the place which God had told him about, on the third day. It should be noted that from Gerar to Mount Moriah, that is, the site of the temple, is a three-day journey, and consequently it is said that he arrived there on the third day. Therefore, some people mistakenly think that Abraham lived at the oak tree in Mamre during that time, when in fact the journey from there to Mount Moriah is barely a full day's journey.
"Abraham therefore rose in the morning, and saddled his she-ass, and cut wood for the burnt offering. And he took his son Isaac and two servants, and came to the place that God had told him, on the third day." Abraham rose in the morning (in that he added "in the morning," he wished perhaps to show that the beginning of light was shining in his heart), saddled his she-ass, prepared the wood, took his son. He does not deliberate, he does not reconsider, he does not share his counsel with any of men, but at once he sets out on the journey. "And he came," it says, "to the place that the Lord had told him, on the third day." I pass over now what sacred meaning "the third day" contains; I look at the wisdom and counsel of the One who was tempting. Was there thus no mountain nearby, since the whole thing was being done among the mountains, but the journey is drawn out over three days, and through the whole three days the paternal heart is tortured by cares that keep coming back, so that through all this space so prolonged the father might gaze upon his son, take food with him, and for so many nights the boy might hang in the embraces of his father, cling to his breast, lie in his lap? See to how great a degree the temptation is heaped up.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ass — Frequently mentioned throughout Scripture. Of the domesticated species we read of, (1.) The she ass (Heb. ‘athon), so named from its slowness (Gen. 12:16; 45:23; Num. 22:23; 1 Sam. 9:3). (2.) The…
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…
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…
Ass (Donkey) · .Used for riding — .Used for riding
Ass, The Domestic · Was used: For riding — Was used: For riding
B · Unclean: Ass — Unclean: Ass
Burnt Offering, The · Abraham tried by the command to offer Isaac as — Abraham tried by the command to offer Isaac as
And Abraham rose up early in the morning. This promptitude shows the greatness of Abraham's faith. Innumerable thoughts might come into the mind of the holy man; each of which would have overwhelmed his spirit, unless he had fortified it by faith. And there is no doubt that Satan, during the darkness of the night, would heap upon him a vast mass of cares. Gradually to overcome them, by contending with them, was the part of heroical courage. But when they were overcome, then immediately to gird himself to the fulfillment of the command of God, and even to rise early in the morning to do it, was a remarkable effort. Other men, prostrated by a message so dire and terrible, would have fainted, a…
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…
Abraham’s immediate, unquestioning obedience is almost as astounding as the test.
Rashi on Genesis 22:3
וישכם AND HE ROSE EARLY — He was alert to fulfil the command (Pesachim 4a)
ויחבוש AND HE SADDLED [HIS ASS]—He himself: he did not order one of his servants to do so, for love disregards the rule imposed on one by his exalted position in life. (“Love” here means Love of God as displayed in obedience to His command.) (Genesis Rabbah 55:8)
את שני נעריו HIS TWO LADS — Ishmael and Eliezer. For a man of high standing should not travel without two men as attendants (Leviticus Rabbah 26:7) so that if one needs to ease himself and goes aside for this purpose the other will still remain with him (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 8)
ויבקע AND HE CLEAVED [THE WOOD] — Its rendering in the Targum וצלח has the s…
Isaac · .Offered in sacrifice by his father — .Offered in sacrifice by his father
Morning · The Jews: Began their journeys in — The Jews: Began their journeys in
Obedience To God · Exemplified: Abram — Exemplified: Abram
Rising · .Abraham — .Abraham
Self-Denial · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Temptation · A TEST — A TEST
Travellers · Of distinction: Rode on asses, camels, &c — Of distinction: Rode on asses, camels, &c
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).
