Genesis 22

1. 1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, 2. 2 Abraham; and he said, Here am I. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt 3. 3 offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which 4. 4 God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go 6. 6 yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; 7. 7 and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood; 8. 8 but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide himself 9. 9 the lamb for a burnt offering, my son: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the 10. 10 wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And 11. 11 Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from 13. 13 me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a 14. 14 burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah- 15. 15 jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be provided. And the angel 16. 16 of the LORD called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine 17. 17 only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall pos-

18 sess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 19 because thou hast obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

The plan of the sacred narrative passes over every detail that does not bear upon the history of the covenant itself, and carries us on to a period when Isaac had reached the age of intelligence. A tradition preserved by Josephus makes Isaac twenty-five years old at the time of the crowning trial of Abraham’s faith; and we certainly gather from the Scripture narrative that he was an intelligent and willing party to the sacrifice of his life at the command of God. P. S.—The whole history of Abram may be arranged into four stages, each commencing with a personal revelation of Jehovah. The first, when the patriarch was called to his work and mission; the second, when he received the promise of an heir, and the covenant was made with him; the third, when that covenant was established in the change of his name from Abram to Abraham, and in circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant; the fourth, when his faith was tried, proved, and perfected in the offering up of Isaac. These are the high points in Abram’s history, which the patriarch successively climbed, and to which all the other events of his life may be regarded as the ascent. A. E.

“Highest blessings,” says Ewald, “bring highest trials.” After many years of unbroken rest and satisfied desire, there burst on Abraham, like a bolt out of the clear sky, the supreme crisis of his discipline. Yet for such a crisis the whole of his career had been one long preparation. Men do not grow to be heroes in self-denial without practice. The abandonment of his original home in Ur had initiated for this man a series of sacrifices. On that there followed first the forsaking of his kindred in Haran; then separation from Lot at Ai, and homeless wanderings in Canaan. Next came the hopes he built on Ishmael, his first-born, only to see them crossed with disappointment. Already he had virtually sacrificed one son of his heart—the lad who went forth into the wilderness like a scapegoat, to return no more. What has he left now but another son, younger and still dearer, in whom are gathered up and incarnated, as it were, the most sacred memories of the past, and his most radiant hopes for the future? This treasure only he has received from God which he has never been asked to give up for God. Can faith—can self-surrender be entire, till it has accomplished its perfect work? Dykes.—Looking at the whole chapter as we should at any merely human composition, we must admit that for profound pathos, for tragic force of description, it has never been surpassed. Each time that we hear it, says Augustine truly, it thrills us afresh. Compare it even with that exquisitely touching passage in the Agamemnon of Æschylus, which describes in words of such wonderful beauty the anguish of the father constrained to sacrifice his child, and it will not suffer by the comparison. Peroene.

Our Lord stated to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” There is in Christ’s statement reference to some definite occurrence in Abraham’s history. This was unquestionably the transaction of Moriah. In the interposition which stayed his hand when about to slay his son Isaac and in the substitute found, the patriarch saw his own prophecy receive its fulfilment in a way which gave pre-intimation of the appearance of Jehovah himself. Nor should it be overlooked, that in the promise renewed to Abraham on this occasion the spiritual element was more distinctly brought out than at any time since his call, and in the very words then employed. D. M.

The moment man went wrong and went down under the temptation of his self-will and the sorcery of his senses, the love of God in Christ began to move for his restoration. The ages of sacred history were but the steady steps in the mighty march of that Christly Providence. The books of the Bible are the record of the process, growing clearer and brighter as it works out to its perfect consummation. The Lord, becoming man, born of a woman, dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory; even we, men, with these eyes that passion had clouded, we “beheld His glory full of grace and truth.” Holy living, miracles of mercy, wonderful teaching, words such as man never spake, heavenly disinterestedness, not having where to lay his head, Satan visibly conquered—all these accomplished no redemption. The race was too far gone, the sin was too deep-struck for that. All they did was to gather to the Son of Man a little band of interested, believing, timid disciples, ready to flee from him as soon as the cross came in sight. At last, when the world’s “hour” is full come, the two great further acts are done. First, the Sacrifice, then, the victory. Both have been foretold in that living figure, or that acted prophecy, far back in the very morning of man’s history. Abraham binds his only son on the altar. Here is the typical sacrifice. The son’s life is given back, and he is loosed from the altar. Here is the typical resurrection. So the Epistle to the Hebrews opens that mystical transaction: “Abraham offered up Isaac, his only-begotten son, accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.” First, the cross; then, the breaking of the sepulchre. “For if we have been planted in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” First, a full, perfect, sufficient propitiation, by such suffering as only a divine humanity, having God entered into it, could suffer; then, the raising up and enfranchisement of the rescued soul in the resurrection. First, pardon, then life eternal; but both by the same inward-working power, received through faith; not merely by outward and past events in history, but by these transferred through this appropriating energy of faith into the heart—the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus making us free from the law of sin and death. F. D. H.

1. The words “after these things,” refer us to all that had been passing before. Abraham, after long wanderings and many trials, is presented to us in the last chapter as eminently comforted and in a condition of peaceful prosperity. The promised, longed-for son has been given to him; his other son Ishmael, though no longer in his household, is growing up and prospering, Abraham is in treaty and at peace with his neighbors the Philistines, he sojourns for many days at Beersheba and its neighborhood, with abundance of cattle, in a place well watered and fertile. Thus it appears to have been with him till now, when his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved, is growing up to early manhood, his chief comfort and stay and hope in this world. But times of prosperity are often times when trial is needed for us, and so we find it here. E. H. B.

Prove. The A. V. reads God did tempt Abraham. Hebrew, nissah, tried, proved. This literal rendering of the term, given in the old Geneva version, “God did prove Abraham,” goes at once to correct the erroneous impression that might possibly be received from our English word “tempt,” which usually has the sense of exciting to sin. But in this sense we are expressly assured (James 1: 13) that “God is not tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man;” he neither deceives any man’s judgment nor perverts his will, nor seduces his affections, nor does anything else that can subject him to the blame of men’s sins. Temptation in this bad sense always proceeds from the malice of Satan working on the corruptions of our own hearts. God may, however, consistently with all his perfections, by his providence, bring his creatures into circumstances of special probation, not for the purpose of giving him information, but in order to manifest to themselves and to others the prevailing dispositions of their hearts. In this sense of trying, putting to the proof, bringing to the test, the original term in many other instances is used in reference to the Most High, and always in such a way as to leave his attributes unimpeached. Deut. 13: 3, “For the Lord your God (nissah) proveth you, to know (i.e. to make known) whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.” Bush.—The Arabic version renders it very correctly, “God did prove Abraham.” Words having the sense of “try” may generally be used either in a good or a bad sense. This particular word has generally a good sense, except where men are said to try or tempt God, e.g. (Ex. 17: 2; Nu. 14: 22; De. 6: 16). The whole history of Abraham is a history of his moral and spiritual education by the teaching of God himself. He was to be the head of the chosen seed, the father of the faithful, himself the type of justifying faith. Here then, after long schooling and training, in which already there had been many trials, one great test of his now matured and strengthened faith is ordained by God. E. H. B.—The same word occurs in 1 Kings 10: 1, where it is said the Queen of Sheba came to “prove” Solomon. So also in Deut. 4: 34; where the word is represented by “assayed,” and likewise “temptation.” The same word occurs in several other passages also, in which God is represented, either in fact or in explicit terms, as tempting, i.e., trying or proving His servants. Lorraine.

If we believe at all in God’s oversight of our life—in other words, in His guiding and “leading” hand—we must feel that there are times and, as it were, places of “exploration” to which we do come under His direction; circumstances of trial, opportunities, in other words, of choosing between good and evil, which we cannot avoid, which confront us without our seeking. Vaughan.—According to the simplest notion of temptation, as merely equivalent to trial, God does so tempt man as to put before him special circumstances which may try or prove him, and so bring out that good or evil within him which, though known to God, is perhaps unknown to the man himself, and still more to his fellow-men. In this way God was said to tempt Abraham, where the true nature of the temptation is well expressed in one of the old Greek versions, that of Symmachus, who paraphrases it “God glorified Abraham,” i.e., gave him a special opportunity of showing his entire trust in God, and thus of obtaining the glorious title of the “father of the faithful” to all times. In this sense then, first, God is said to tempt men when He specially tries them, in order either to bring out the good which is in them, or else give them and others by their example, a warning of the evil which lurks unsuspected within their hearts, this being wholly for man’s good. Karslake.—What God often does, what He did in the case of Abraham, of Job, and especially of our Lord himself, is to expose a man in a very critical and precarious position, to bring him in the course of his life into circumstances where sin is very easy, holiness very difficult. We read that it was “of the Spirit” that “Jesus was led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil;” a very instructive intimation, giving us in one view all the parties concerned. The human nature, with its liability to temptation, its capability to suffer and to enjoy; the Divine nature, ordering the circumstances which may permit the temptation to take place; and the diabolical nature, the tempter. Dods.

This was not the first time that God tried Abraham. He had tried him all his life. But here it is said, in marked phrase, that God did try Abraham because it is the crucial instance of his life, the hardest trial, perhaps, of all history. Temptation, trial, is the very workshop of God. On that anvil all his saints have been hammered; in that fire they have all been purified. But here the hammer smites most heavily, here the flame of the fire has been most searching. . . . This command was fitted to purify Abraham’s faith. God had been training him from the first to live only by his promise. At length, when Isaac was born, he welcomed him as the child of promise. But years pass on. The child had grown up before him and twined himself about his heart, till at last he has almost forgotten the promise in the child of promise. “Isaac,” it has been strikingly said, “the precious late-won gift, is still for Abraham too exclusively a merely natural blessing, a child like other children though born of the true mother, Abraham’s son only because he has been born to him and brought up in his house. Pangs, the pangs of a soul wrestling in faith, he has not felt for him since his birth, and yet that is the only spiritual, and therefore the only really abiding, blessing which we are able to make our own through the fightings and wrestlings of the believing heart. Therefore, now that in Isaac the supreme blessing has been won, there must also take place the supreme trial of Abraham’s faith and obedience.” (Ecaid.) Perowne.

2. And He said.** The command proceeded immediately from God Himself; but how, and in what manner, it was conveyed to Abraham, we are nowhere told. But Abraham had sufficient proof (whatever that proof was) that the several revelations, respecting both God’s former promises and the present severe command, did really proceed from God. Bp. Conybeare.—Each designation mounts upward in climax after the other: thy son, thine only one,—whom thou lovest, Isaac, the personal designation coming last, and clenching as it were the identification of the very heir of the promise himself. There was in the command no softening, but rather all aggravation, of the trial. Alf.—In more ways than one Isaac might be called his “only son.” He was the only son by his wife Sarah: he was the only son of promise, and to whom the promises were given and assured: by the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael he was the only son left to his father’s house. The words, emphatic as they are, “Thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest,” are all calculated to impress and enhance the sacrifice which Abraham is called on to make. E. H. B.

The words in which God’s command was couched were those of accumulated keenness. God said, Take now thy son, long expected and waited for, thine heir, full of promise and so dear to thee! To subdue the father in the heart, that a Roman has done, and calmly signed his son’s death-warrant; but to subdue it not with Roman hardness, but with deep trust in God and faith in his providence, saying, It is not hate, but love, that requires this,—this was the nobleness, this the fierce difficulty, of Abraham’s sacrifice. Robertson.—It is characteristic of the severe and noble reserve of Scripture, that it lays no stress upon this side of the trial. Save for certain endearing expressions piled up by the divine voice when it required the sacrifice, there is nothing in the narrative to hint how much obedience must have cost the father. What is brought into relief is rather the test which was applied to Abraham’s confidence in the promises of God’s covenant. To slay Isaac, the unripe, the childless—was it not to slay the future of the covenant and the blessing for mankind? Dykes.

Abraham had not only to contend with natural affection, but with reason; not only with reason.

but with faith! He was, in offering up Isaac, to destroy all his hopes. And all this was to be done by himself; with his own hand he was at one stroke to cut off all his comforts. The execution of such a sentence was as harsh and bitter to flesh and blood, as to be his own executioner. Manton.—It was, therefore, a trial in the strongest sense, a trial of Abraham’s faith, whether it was capable of such implicit confidence in God, such profound regard to His will, and such self-denial in His service, as at the divine bidding to give up the best and dearest—what in the circumstances must even have been dearer to him than his own life. Not that God really intended the surrender of Isaac to death, but only the proof of such a surrender in the heart of His servant; and such a proof could only have been found in an unconditional command to sacrifice, and an unresisting compliance with the command up to the final step in the process. This, however, was not all. In the command to perform such a sacrifice, there was a tempting as well as a trying of Abraham; since the thing required at his hands seemed to be an enacting of the most revolving rite of heathenism; and at the same time to war with the oracle already given concerning Isaac, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” According to this word, God’s purpose to bless was destined to have its accomplishment especially and peculiarly through Isaac; so that to slay such a son appeared like slaying the very word of God, and extinguishing the hope of the world. And yet, in heart and purpose at least, it must be done. It was no freak of arbitrary power to command the sacrifice. It had for its object the outward and palpable exhibition of the great truth, that God’s method of working in the covenant of grace must have its counterpart in man’s. The one must be the reflex of the other. God, in blessing Abraham, triumphs over nature; and Abraham triumphs after the same manner in proportion as he is blessed. He receives a special gift from the grace of God, and he freely surrenders it again to Him who gave it. He is pre-eminently honored by God’s word of promise, and he is ready in turn to hazard all for its honor. And Isaac, the child of promise—the type in his outward history of all who should be proper subjects or channels of blessing—also must concur in the act: on the altar he must sanctify himself to God, as a sign to all who would possess the higher life of grace, how it implies and carries along with it a devout surrender of the natural life to the service and glory of Him who has redeemed it. P. F.

Moriah. The view almost universally acaccepted is that the Mount Moriah of the Chronicles is identical with the mountain in the land of Moriah in this chapter, and that the spot on which Jehovah appeared to David, and on which the Temple was built, is the very spot of the sacrifice of Isaac. Knobel observes (1) that this greatest of all religious acts points to a more important sanctuary than Shechem; (2) that the name “mountain of Jehovah” denotes everywhere else either Jerusalem or Sinai, the latter being here of course out of the question; and (3) that the journey from Beersheba by way of Hebron and Jerusalem to Shechem, according to Robinson’s “Itinerary,” occupies about thirty-five hours, which would make the distance too great for Abraham and Isaac to traverse in three days on foot. Perowne.—No sufficient reason has been alleged against this identification except that in v. 4 it is said that “Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off,” whereas Mount Zion is said not to be conspicuous from a great distance. Thence Bleek, De Wette, Tuch, Stanley, and Grove, have referred to Moreh (Gen. 12: 6), and attempted to identify the site of the sacrifice with “the natural altar on the summit of Mount Gerizim,” which the Samaritans assert to be the scene of the sacrifice. Really, however, the words in v. 4 mean nothing more than this, that Abraham saw the spot to which he had been directed at some little distance off. E. H. B.

Travelling at the ordinary rate of the country, Jerusalem would just be reached on the third day (as required by this narrative) from Beersheba; to reach Nablous (Moreh) in the same time is impossible, at the pace of fellahin with their asses. H. B. T.—As the name itself (land of Moriah), so the distance mentioned leads us to suppose that it was in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. From Bir es-Seba Robinson took twenty hours and twenty-five minutes to Jerusalem, travelling by the straight way and with camels—a distance, therefore, which Abraham could easily have made in three days. Robinson took fourteen hours and thirty minutes to travel with mules by the straight road from Jerusalem to Sychem (Nabulus), so that the entire distance from Beersheba amounted to thirty-five hours, which Abraham could not have made in three days. But even the name points to the neighborhood of Jerusalem. The designation Moriah, applied in verse 2 to the whole district, was at a later period confined to that particular mountain where this remarkable event had taken place. There afterward the temple was built. K.

Offer him for a burnt-offering. The sacrifice of a child by its parent in honor of the

Deity was by no means foreign either to the religious conceptions amid which Abraham was living, or to the worship which probably prevailed around him. Few readers have sufficiently realized how ancient or widespread among primitive religions was a custom which has come to be associated only with the lowest type of barbarism. Even the milder faiths of early Greece sprang out of, or were grafted on, the same original idolatry of the generative and productive forces in nature which found favor among older races in Babylon, Phoenicia, and Canaan. Wherever the influence of that dark religion stretched, it bore of necessity two ghastly fruits—cruelty and lust; the orgies of the grove and the sacrifice of human blood. As Abraham had always lived among neighbors whose religion was saturated with those feelings and beliefs out of which the practice of sacrificing children originated, and whose actual worship demanded at its highest moments such an expression, it is quite conceivable how the command to slay his son failed to strike him as, on the face of it, irreconcilable with true religion. And no such prohibition of human sacrifice as was subsequently given to Moses had been given to Abraham. Further, the stage of religious teaching at which mankind then stood, and the religious atmosphere in which men moved, makes it intelligible how Abraham could accept such a voice from Heaven in the simplicity of a faith which did not stumble, where the saints of any later time would certainly have stumbled. Dykes.

3. We must not detract from the trial by importing into the circumstances our knowledge of the issue. Abraham had absolutely no assurance and no knowledge beyond that of his present duty. All he had to lay hold upon was the previous promise, and the character and faithfulness of the covenant God, who now bade him offer this sacrifice. Sharp as the contest must have been, it was brief. It lasted just one night; and next morning, without having taken “counsel with flesh and blood,” Abraham, with his son Isaac and two servants, were on their way to “the land of Moriah.” A. E.—As Abraham is the pattern of believing, so he is of obeying. He received the promises, as a figure of our faith; he offered up his son, as a figure of our obedience. He obeyed readily and willingly. “Abraham rose early in the morning.” He obeyed, also, resolutely. He conceals it from his wife, from his servants, nay, from Isaac himself, that so he might not be diverted from his purpose. Manton.

Few passages in literature carry a deeper pathos than the words which tell how, in the fresh dawn, the aged lord of that camp crept away on foot out of the midst of his retainers’ tents. Not to a single soul did the old man dare to confide his purpose. The entreaties of a mother less resolute than himself might have overborne his firmness. The quieter anguish of a young and gentle heart, shrinking from too early death, might have proved more than he could endure. Two slow days of walking along rugged paths, and two still slower nights spent in sleepless thought, must have brought such tortures of delay as principle alone, and not impulse, could sustain. Dykes.—Never any gold was tried in so hot a fire. Who but Abraham would not have expostulated with God? But God knew that he spake to an Abraham, and Abraham knew that he had to do with a God: faith taught him not to argue, but obey. In a holy wilfulness he either forgets nature, or despises her; he is sure that what God commands, is good; that what he promises, is infallible; and therefore is careless of the means, and trusts to the end. In matters of God, whosoever consults with flesh and blood shall never offer up his Isaac to God: there needs no counsellor when we know God is the commander: here is neither grudging, nor deliberating, nor delaying: his faith would not suffer him so much as to be sorry for that he must do. Sarah herself may not know of God’s charge and her husband’s purpose, lest her affection should have overcome her faith. Bp. II.

4. On the third day.** From Beersheba to the Salem of Melchizedek, near which this hill is supposed to have been, is about forty-five miles. If they proceeded fifteen miles on the first broken day, twenty on the second, and ten on the third, they would come within sight of the place early on the third day. M.

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. He knew 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,—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. A. C.

Abraham’s faith had stood all former tests. It had been strong enough to break the ties that bound him to country, home, and kindred. It had pardently endured the many and long delays in the fulfilling of the promises. It had risen above all the obstacles, physical and moral, that stood in the way of their accomplishment. It had accepted Isaac, and given up Ishmael. Would it stand the last demand, to give up to God the best loved thing on earth; to do what appeared not only alien to God’s own character, but contrary to his own word and promise? For herein lay the peculiarity and severity of the trial as a test of faith. The command and the promise were in conflict. If he obeyed the command he frustrated the promise; if he kept by the promise he must break the command. But one way of reconciling them could be even fancied, and, dim though it was, the quick eye of faith discerned it. “He accounted that God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead.” W. H.

Observe that the apostle magnifies the greatness of the trial on the one hand, and of the heroic faith of Abraham on the other. He speaks of him as actually having offered up Isaac; for he had gone through all the agony of heart just as completely as though he had slain his son. Moreover, he brings into view the fact that it was a case not only to try the heart, but to astound and bewilder the reason. For “he that had received the promises,” promises that seemed all bound up in the life of Isaac, and in his life all the promises depended; and yet, in spite both of the revolt of his heart and the dictates of reason to the contrary, he was ready at the command of God to offer him up. Thus the apostle, instead of any attempt to mitigate and explain away the old record, aims to bring out the views of it which to reason magnify the difficulties. The strength and beauty of his faith is in this, that somehow God will provide for all these difficulties, though he sees not how. Somehow God will work out all the contradictions. It is faith strengthened by experience. God has given Isaac after all my doubts and sinful efforts to aid God in working out his plans. God has given him in the first place as if by miracle; and why may I not by miracle receive him from the dead? Of course again he will in some way bring out the plans of his grace. This is obviously the aspect in which this story of Abraham’s offering Isaac presented itself to the mind of the inspired apostle. And for this reason he twice cites Abraham—first as illustrating the faith that is unto salvation—as in leaving all to follow Jehovah. Then the second as an illustration of the heroism of a faith that has strengthened by experience of the faithfulness of Jehovah. S. R.

7,8. Listen to the brief dialogue:—“My father, behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?” “My son, God will provide Himself the lamb for the burnt-offering.” The heart’s deepest grief was never more eloquently portrayed. No sobs, no tears, no words telling of the struggle within. The anguish lies too deep for utterance. The sculptor, when he would express a grief that he could not express, bowed and veiled the face of the mourner; and the veiling of the agony here is, in fact, its most pathetic expression. Perowne.—The repetition of “his father, my father, my son”; the artlessness of Isaac’s question,—the high resignation of Abraham’s answer, and then the result, repeated from before, and (notwithstanding,—still) they went both of them together, the father in his noble resolve, the son in his trusting simplicity, these mark the sacred narrative as standing in the very first place for truth and for power. This whole incident is to the Christian mind full of type and suggestion of the most sacred kind. Alf.

9. Bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar. The love of God the Father cannot be better expressed than by this instance. Abraham readily gives his only, his beloved son, to be sacrificed: so God gave His only Son. Bp. Wilson.—O holy emulation of faith! O blessed agreement of the sacrificer and oblation! Abraham is as ready to take, as Isaac to give; he binds those dear hands, which are more straits bound with the cords of duty and resolution: he lays his sacrifice upon the wood, which now beforehand burnt inwardly with the heavenly fire of zeal and devotion. Bp. H.—“Abraham offered Isaac,” says the Apostle James. He purposed it; and if God had not interfered to prevent it, he would actually have done it. God counts that to be done which is about to be done; and takes notice of what is in the heart, though it be not brought into practice and actual accomplishment. Hence we learn that purposes of obedience, if, like Abraham’s, serious and resolved, are accepted for obedience. Manton.

Abraham’s ambiguous reply that “God would provide,” though it spoke an unconscious prophecy, betrays no anticipation of any escape from the awful task which oppressed him. What it does reveal is, how hard he found it to be to break the dreadful secret. By what means at last he contrived to break it, or how Isaac received the heavy tidings; with what surprising sweetness and courage he also bowed to the supreme will, and with a child’s love laid his life upon the altar of a parent’s duty—all this is left for each one of us to picture for himself. Dykes.—What passed then between father and son, as Abraham told him of the Divine command, and inculcated the great duty of submission, remains untold. But there was no attempt at escape—no remonstrance, no resistance. He gave himself willingly to be bound and to be laid upon the altar. That moment, when his father grasped the knife and the flash of its cold glittering blade fell upon his eye, could he ever forget; or could there ever pass from his memory the sudden sound of the arresting voice, the sight of the lamb caught in the thicket, followed up by the oath and blessing pronounced upon Abraham and his seed? If ever any one in early life had the benefit and blessedness of self-sacrifice and entire submission to the will of God imprinted sensibly upon the heart, it was Isaac in that hour. His heroic act, second only to that of his father, showed how fully he had imbibed his father’s spirit—the one near the close of his career, the other at its beginning—revealing how ready they both were to give all up to God. No higher evidence of the simplicity and strength of Isaac’s faith in God could have been given. W. H.—For when he resisted not his father, and allowed himself to be bound and laid on the altar, he entered into the spirit of Abraham, he took upon himself his faith, and thus showed himself truly the heir to the promises. Nor can we forget how this surrender of the firstborn was the first of that dedication of all the firstborn unto God, which afterward the law demanded, and which meant that in the firstborn we should consecrate all and everything unto the Lord. A. E.

His sacrifice on Moriah was the requisite condition of his succession to Abraham’s place; it was the only suitable celebration of his majority. Abraham himself had been able to enter into covenant with God only by sacrifice; and sacrifice not of a dead and external kind, but vivified by an actual surrender of himself to God, and by a true perception of God’s holiness and requirements. A true resignation of self, in whatever outward form this resignation may appear, is required that we may become one with God in His holy purposes and in His eternal blessedness. There could be no doubt that Abraham had found a true heir, when Isaac laid himself on the altar and steadied his heart to receive the knife. Dearer to God, and of immeasurably greater value than any service, was this surrender of himself into the hand of his Father and his God. In this was promise of all service and all loving fellowship. Dads.

9,10. The erection of a rude stone altar; the arrangement upon it of the fagots; the binding of Isaac; the solemn act which laid his helpless figure for an offering to Heaven upon the rude sticks; nay, even that final gesture of the officiating priest which raised his sacrificial knife to strike,—everything is pictured to the eye, in order that the heart of the reader may well understand and ponder how unreserved was the surrender which this father had made of this son to die, how complete was the triumph of his faith! In that triumph Abraham’s religious experience attained its summit. What other men have done through fear of the Almighty, he did for love. 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 man’s 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 honor as is His due. Dykes.

The self-sacrifice in the act is obvious from the history. The Patriarch had through life felt himself the minister and instrument of a great Divine design with respect to mankind. He had lived with a gigantic prospect before him, with an immense expanding blessing which was one day to include all nations and be the restoration of the world. This vast plan, his part in which had been the work of his life and had filled his mind with immeasurable hopes, as it had been sown in his son, would perish with his son. Then all was over and his life had come to nothing. More, the child himself upon whom such a promise hung, such boundless hope and vast calculation, who was loved all the more with a father’s love because he was the harbinger of the prophet’s greatness and the symbol of life’s purpose answered, he was to be surrendered too. But in the mind of the Patriarch rose boundless hope also upon an Almighty Being. It is hope cherished while all is dark around us that exhibits the principle in its greatness and in its true energy; hope resting upon that ultimate Power at the very root of things which can reverse every catastrophe and rectify all mistakes. To hold on to this root is hope withdrawn into its last fastness; without aid from any sight, grasping with an iron force the rock itself, the foundation of Sovereign Will upon which the universe stands, and saying to itself, “The whole may shake, if this foundation remaineth sure.” This was the infinite hope of Abraham. Doubtless while he lifted up the knife to slay his son, the sun was turned to darkness to him, the stars left their places, and heaven and earth vanished from his sight; to the eye of sense all was gone that life had built up, and the promise had come actually to an end forevermore. But to the friend of God all was still as certain as ever, all absolutely sure and fixed; the end, the promise, nay even the son of promise, even he in the fire of the burnt-offering was not gone, because that was near and close at hand which could restore; the great Power which could reverse everything. A voice within said, All this can be undone and pass away like a dream of the night; and the heir was safe in the strong hope of him who “accounted that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.” Mosley.

Thus the sublimest heights of holiness were reached, simply because faith had struck its roots so deeply within, and had so closely united the soul of the patriarch to the will and perfections of Jehovah. This high surrender of the human to the divine, and holy self-consecration to the will and service of God, was beyond all doubt, like the other things recorded in Abraham’s life, of the nature of a revelation. It was not intended to terminate in the patriarch and his son, but in them, as the sacred roots of the covenant people, to show in outward and corporeal representation what in spirit ought to be perpetually repeating itself in their individual and collective history. It proclaimed to them through all their generations, that the covenant required of its members lives of unshrinking and devoted application to the service of God—yielding to no weak misgivings or corrupt solicitations of the flesh—staggering at no difficulties presented by the world; and also that it rendered such a course possible by the ground and scope it afforded for the exercise of faith in the sustaining grace and might of Jehovah. P. F.

11. The Angel of the Lord called unto him.** A moment more, and the victim would have been smitten; but in that moment the awful mandate is countermanded. A voice too familiar to Abraham not to be at once recognized as that of God himself addresses him out of heaven. Though termed an Angel, yet it is evident from the manner in which he here speaks of himself, and from what is said (v. 12,

16), that he was not a created being, but was no other than the divine personage so often introduced into the sacred narrative under the title of the Angel Jehovah, the Angel of the Covenant. Bush.

Lay not thine hand upon the lad. The voice of God was never so welcome, never so sweet, never so seasonable as now; it was the trial, that God intended, not the fact; Isaac is sacrificed, and is yet alive: and now both of them are more happy in that they would have done, than they could have been distressed if they had done it. God’s charges are ofttimes harsh in the beginnings and proceeding, but in the conclusion always comfortable: true spiritual comforts are commonly late and sudden: God defers on purpose that our trials may be perfect, our deliverance welcome, our recompense glorious; Isaac had never been so precious to his father, if he had not been recovered from death; if he had not been as miraculously restored as given: Abraham had never been so blessed in his seed, if he had not neglected Isaac for God. The only way to find comfort in any earthly thing, is to surrender it, in a faithful carelessness, into the hands of God. Bp. H.—God did try Abraham; there is the key to the command. The object was to test obedience to the uttermost. He demanded this the very hardest conceivable proof of obedience because He would teach his servant, and, through him, teach the world at large, the moral majesty, the all-conquering might of faith. But God did not intend that Isaac should be put to death. At the decisive moment by a voice from heaven He interferes to prevent the sacrifice, He forbids the deed of murder. Perowne.—The obedience of Abraham was pleasing in the sight of God, and therefore the command was given. The actual death of Isaac would not have been pleasing to Him, and therefore the act was stopped. Human sacrifice finds no real sanction here. Jellett.

For once a command was issued, which, while it perfectly tested in the first instance the willingness and thoroughness of Abraham’s loyalty without doing outrage to his previous knowledge of God, served also in the end to teach, in a far more memorable and impressive fashion than any verbal lesson could have done, that the true God is one Who has no pleasure in such unnatural offerings. The issue of the transaction ought to have been the banishment of cruelty forever from the worship of Jehovah. These words: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him,” contained a virtual condemnation, not merely of human sacrifice, but also of every analogous barbarity in the mode of worship. Dykes.—The sacrifice, the resignation of the will, in the father and the son, was accepted; the literal sacrifice of the act was repelled. On the one hand, the great principle was proclaimed, that mercy is better than sacrifice,—that the sacrifice of self is the highest and holiest offering that God can receive. On the other hand, the inhuman superstitions, toward which the ancient ceremonial of sacrifice was perpetually tending, were condemned. A. P. S.—By the substitution of Abraham’s ram “in the stead of his son,” a fresh sanction was put upon the primeval practice of animal sacrifice, in order to express the redemption of a forfeited life, or the dedication of a grateful heart. Dykes.

Now I know that thou fearest God. God tried Abraham, not that He might learn what He knew already, but that He might show to others, with how great justice He loved the patriarch. Theodoret.—It is common for men to say that they know that which they have found out by special trial, which they have learned as the result of experiment; and the Most High is here pleased to adopt the same language. Thus Ps. 139 : 23, it is said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart;” though the psalmist had just before said (v. 2), “Thou understandest my thoughts afar off.” For himself he needed not the patriarch’s obedience to discover to him the state of his mind; but for our sakes he made the exhibition of Abraham’s obedience a ground for acknowledging the existence of the inward principle from which it sprang. It is by a holy and obedient deference to the divine authority that faith and fear are made manifest. As a sinner, Abraham was justified by faith only; but as a professing believer, he was justified by the works which his faith produced. This view will reconcile the apparent discrepancy of Paul and James in regard to Abraham’s justification. They both allege his case as an example of what they are teaching, but the one respects him as ungodly, the other as godly. In the first instance he is justified by faith exclusive of works; in the last by faith, as producing works, and thereby proving him the friend of God. Bush.

God delights to call forth his champions to meet with great temptations, to make them bear crosses of more than ordinary weight; as commanders in war put men of most valor and skill upon the hardest services. God sets some strong trial upon a strong Christian, made strong by his own grace; and by his victory makes it appear to the world that though there is a great deal of the counterfeit coin of profession in religion yet some there are that have the power, the reality of it, and that it is not an invention, but there is truth in it, that the invincible grace, the very Spirit of God, dwells in the hearts of true believers. Leighton.

13. Took the ram and offered him for a burnt-offering.** The offering of Isaac was neither piacular nor propitiatory; Abraham had committed no guilt, and apprehended no danger; the immolation of his only son seemed forever to deprive him of that blessing which was nearest to his heart, the parentage of a numerous and powerful tribe. It was a simple act of unhesitating obedience to the divine command; the last proof of perfect reliance on the certain accomplishment of the divine promises. Milman.—The human sacrifices of the ancient world were in atonement for public crimes, and were offered up in great national emergencies. They were at any rate propitiatory, and supposed bloodshed, or sacrilege, or some heinous crime, as the occasion of them. But here is no crime mentioned for which propitiation is wanted. The trial upon which the life of the Patriarch turns is clear and conspicuous; it demands a sacrifice which is not propitiatory, but which is simply a trial of faith. Yet it was designed that it should at the same time be a type and figure of the great Propitiation. In the sacrifice of Abraham and in the sacrifice on the Cross the difference of scope and design in regard to atonement leaves still a common external ground of surrender; and the outward action or representation contained in the former, of a father offering up his only son upon the altar of wood, fulfils all the outward requirements of a type. Mozley.—Of all the Prophetic Types, this one, in the commanded sacrifice of Isaac, appears to be among the most significant. It stands at the head of the dispensation of Revealed Religion, as reduced into covenant with the people of God in the person of their Founder and Progenitor. Being thus displayed in the history of the Father of the Faithful, it seems to be wrought into the foundations of Faith. In the surrender to sacrifice of a beloved son the Patriarchal Church begins with an adumbration of the Christian reality. Davison.

The fathers recognize the double type in this whole history. The father with full deliberate purpose offering up his dearly beloved, only-begotten son, the son willingly obedient unto death, the wood for the sacrifice carried by the victim up the hill, the sacrifice fulfilled in purpose though not in act, and then the father receiving his son in a figure from the dead after three days of death in the father’s purpose and belief; all this is as much an actual prophecy of the sacrifice and resurrection of the Son of God as was possible without a true slaying of Isaac, for which was substituted the slaying of the ram. That which Isaac’s sacrifice wanted to make it perfect as a type was actual death and the notion of substitution. These therefore were supplied by the death of the ram, and his substitution for a human life. Not only was Isaac thus made the most memorable type of the Redeemer of the world (Isaac, who otherwise seems less noticeable than either Abraham or Jacob), but also that Abraham had the singular honor of representing the highest, holiest God and Father, who “spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all.” E. H. B.

We leap, as by a natural instinct, from the sacrifice in the land of Moriah to the sacrifice of Calvary. There are many differences; there is a danger of exaggerating the resemblance, or of confounding in either case what is subordinate with what is essential. But the general feeling of Christendom has in this respect not gone far astray. Each event, if we look at it well and understand it rightly, will serve to explain the other. Human sacrifice, as we have seen, which was in outward form nearest to the offering of Isaac, was in fact and in spirit most entirely condemned and repudiated by it. The union of parental love with the total denial of self, is held up in both cases as the highest model of human, and therefore as the shadow of divine love; “sacrifice” is rejected, but “to do thy will, O God,” is accepted. In the moral significance of this history the Jew and the Christian are agreed. Even to this present day the Jew, though he has rejected the true propitiation, sees in the binding of Isaac on the altar a meritorious deed, which still pleads on behalf of Israel with God. And while the Christian Church prays to God for pardon and blessing for the merits and death of Jesus Christ, the Jewish synagogue beseeches Him to have compassion upon it for the sake of the binding of Isaac. Viewed in this light as a part of the divine teaching of the world, we find in this history the wisdom of God. We find an answer to that first and deepest of questions which the human heart can ask, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?” We do not find it indeed in doctrine, or even in words at all. But we do find it in fact. We find it just in that mode of revelation which was best suited to the wants and capacities of those to whom it was addressed. Precisely as we ourselves first teach children by pictures, whose meaning, however, they cannot themselves fully understand, so God taught the childhood of the world. Not till the great act had itself been accomplished on Calvary could all its interpretation be given. First came the picture; then, so to speak, the comment on the picture in the mouth of prophets and holy men of old; then the great fact itself was exhibited; and then from the hallowed lips of the Apostles of the Lord came the eloquent interpretation of the fact. It is one truth throughout. Christ Jesus came to do the Father’s will, and to give his life a ransom for many; by his obedience we are made righteous. He hath redeemed us by his blood—what are words like these but the filling in, so to speak, of the fainter lines of that ancient picture? Peroense.

At this point the wonderful story begins to burn inwardly with the fire of prophecy. It grows prophetic of the transcendent sacrifice on the cross because at its very core it was an inspiration of the same self-subduing love which inspired and glorified the offering of Golgotha. With perfect justice, therefore, has the Christian Church delighted since the beginning of her history to place the sacrifice of Isaac over against the mysterious and adorable sacrifice of her Lord, as its most splendid Old Testament prefiguration. What a man was found to do for God his Friend, no less, but more, God did to reconcile the world again unto himself. The will was not taken, as in Isaac’s case, for the deed. No ram displaced the Son of God. Rather that substitution on Moriah of a symbolical animal in the room of human life, while it taught that no man could redeem himself or propitiate Heaven in heathen fashion by “giving the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul,” did also contain an obscure hint that after all human life must bleed for human guilt. The representative blood of sheep or oxen could not be forever accepted instead of that better sacrifice for which it was substituted. Only by a willing and personal surrender of human life could man’s covenant of peace with Heaven be finally sealed. That truth underlay the arrested sacrifice on Mount Moriah. When Jehovah set aside the offered Isaac, and with him set aside as unacceptable or inadequate the best and costliest expiation man could bring, did he not in some dim way pledge himself to lay upon the altar of his covenant a better and more prevailing Victim,—a Son of Man who should be also the Son of God? Is it possible that a vague anticipation of this future Victim, this better Isaac, one day to take Isaac’s place as God’s provided Lamb, may have visited the seer at that exalted moment when on the mount Jehovah stood revealed as the “Provider”? Then, when the shadows of death had by Heaven’s interposition been turned into a joy like the joy of resurrection, might Abraham see afar off the day of God’s Messiah and be glad! Dykes.

14. When Isaac had asked, “where is the Lamb?” Abraham answered, Elohim jireh, “God will see,” or “provide a lamb for himself.” Now he perceives that he had uttered an unconscious prophecy, and that the God (Elohim) in whom he trusted had shown Himself indeed Jehovah, the Eternal Truth and the covenanted Saviour of his servants, and so he names the place Jehovah-jireh. E. H. B.

This was the obedience of faith! The wonderful illustration stands out before all the ages with God’s seal of approbation broadly stamped upon it. When the trial had fully reached its culminating point and no room remained for doubt that Abraham would obey God at every cost, fearless of consequences, or rather committing all consequences to his God, then God’s angel interposed! A ram was provided for the sacrifice and the son of promise went back to a more happy home with a more happy father, doubly blessed in the renewed approbation of his covenant-keeping God. No wonder that God proceeded then to make that covenant stronger and broader and richer than ever before! No wonder Abraham stamped into the very name of this ever-memorable locality one of the grand moral lessons of the scene—“Jehovah Jireh”—In the mount of the Lord, himself will provide! When you come to the mount of last and utmost emergency, the Lord will have salvation ready! His angel will appear; the ram of sacrifice will be there; and Isaac may go in peace! H. C.—Let it be recorded for generations to come. 1. That the Lord will see; he will always have his eye upon his people in their straits and distresses, that he may come in with seasonable succor in the critical juncture. 2. That he will be seen in the greatest perplexities of his people; he will not only manifest but magnify his wisdom, power, and goodness in their deliverance; where God sees and provides, he should be seen and praised. H.

If we follow the Lord’s bidding, he will see to it that we shall not be ashamed or confounded. If we come into great need by following his command, he will see to it that the loss shall be recompensed. If our difficulties multiply and increase so that our way seems completely blocked up, Jehovah will see to it that the road shall be cleared. The Lord will see us through in the way of holiness if we are only willing to be thorough in it, and dare to follow wheresoever he leads the way. We need not wonder that Abraham should utter this truth, and attach it to the spot which was to be forever famous: for his whole heart was saturated with it, and had been sustained by it. His trials had taught him more of God,—had given him a new name for his God; and this he would not have forgotten, but he would keep it before the minds of the generations following by naming the place Jehovah-jireh. True faith not only speaks the language of prophecy, but, when she sees her prophecy fulfilled, faith is always delighted to raise memorials to the God of truth. The stones which were set up of old were not to the memory of dead men, but they were memorials of the deeds of the living God: they abundantly uttered the memory of God’s great goodness. Abraham on this occasion did not choose a name which recorded what he had done, but a name which spoke of what Jehovah had done. Fall back on this eternal verity, that if God has provided his own Well-beloved Son to meet the most awful of all necessities, then he will provide for us in everything else. In the mount it shall be seen, in the place of the trial, in the heat of the furnace, in the last extremity Jehovah will be seen, for he will see to it, and it shall become a proverb with you,—“In the mount Jehovah shall be seen.” That is to say, when you cannot see, the Lord will see you and see to your need; for his eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. You will not need to explain to God your difficulties and the intricacies of your position, he will see it all. And then his provision shall be seen. Spurgeon.

15,16. It was when the quality of Abraham’s faith had been verified by so unparalleled a strain that he was enriched by an appropriate reward. For reward is ever the divine answer to such virtue in man as can abide the tests of God. Once again, and for the last time, with accents of even higher solemnity than on any previous occasion, there came to Abraham, after this trial was past, the voice, now grown familiar, of his august Friend. It came to reiterate, in terms of unusual fulness, all the promises of His great covenant. It did something more. “Often before had God promised,” says Augustine, “but never sworn.” Now, for the first time, the divine Covenanter stooped to sustain human infirmity by the human expedient of “an oath for confirmation.” “Willing more abundantly to show to this heir of promise the immutability of His counsel, God confirmed it by an oath." True to the ruling principle of condescension, this self-manifestation of the Deity assumed a form characteristically human. Men are accustomed to attest their word by an appeal to Him who is the greatest; he, because He could swear by no greater, swore by Himself. The pledge that His word is true is His own existence. It was in recognition of the evidence which had just been afforded of His servant’s stanch loyalty to the covenant, that the Eternal was pleased in this unexampled manner to reduplicate securities for His own faithfulness. Previous to this oath, Abraham had the word of God, and no more, on which to build his confidence. He trusted the All-truthful and Almighty to keep faith with His friend in His own way. For that very reason did a generous promise: vouchsafe to the man something more than a naked word. “To him that hath shall be given.” “Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, from Me, therefore by Myself have I sworn that in blessing I will bless thee.” Thenceforth, as the New Testament explains, the believer possessed, not one, but “two immutable things” on which to rest. Through Abraham’s obedience have we all obtained this “strong consolation.” Dykes.

In his intercourse with the patriarchs God never swore by himself but in this one case. The uniqueness and importance of the oath appears from its being quoted afterward upon important occasions by Abraham himself, by Joseph, by Moses, by Zacharias, by Stephen, and by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and frequently referred to by God himself. Its utterance was the last that fell from the lips of God upon the ear of Abraham. He lived for fifty years and more thereafter in peaceful, undisturbed repose. W. H.

God is pleased to make mention of Abraham’s obedience as the consideration of the covenant; and he speaks of it with an encomium, Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; he lays a strong emphasis upon that, and (v. 18) praises it as an act of obedience; in it thou hast obeyed my voice, and to obey is better than sacrifice. H.

17. In this and several other passages, the gate is emblematic of authority and dominion; as in Europe the delivery of the keys of a town is a formal act of submission to a conquering or superior power. We speak of the Turkish power as “the Porte,” “the Sublime Porte,” “the Ottoman Porte,” from the principal gate or “porte” of the Turkish Sultan’s palace at

Constantinople. The mention of the gate involves the idea of the palace, and of the power which resides there. Pict. Bible.

17. 18. The same promise (chap. 12:3; 18:18), now repeated for the third time. Having been on the two first occasions spontaneously vouchsafed as a free gift, it is here the reward for Abraham’s victorious faith and obedience. This being also the last of the revelations of God to Abraham of which Scripture makes mention, was designed as a strong consolation to him during the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage. Isaac, whom he had at first received from the grace of God in the natural way, he had now in a higher and spiritual way obtained afresh as a special child of grace and of promise, in recompense of his obedience. By works had his faith been made perfect (James 2:22). Abraham began with faith, and the longer his life flowed on in the exercise of it the more solid were the evidences which he was enabled to give of his faith, until that greatest act of it which he achieved upon Mount Moriah. Every new trial of faith successfully endured raises it to a higher degree of strength; and the fruits that it bears serve again for its nourishment. This affords the true reconciliation of the apparently contradictory statements of Paul and James, when the one says (Rom. 4:22), Abraham was justified by faith, and the other (James 2:21), Abraham was justified by works. C. G. B.

The blessings are too great, too broad, too far-reaching to admit any supposable interpretation short of the Messiah and the gospel age. In Christ and in him only can this prediction be fulfilled. And to crown all, our Lord himself testifies: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad” (Jno. 8:56). Not me, my person; but “my day”—the gospel age; the great events of it; the wonderful results of my coming—which is no doubt the exact truth. It was what was to be achieved by Christ in the way of blessings upon all the nations that Abraham prophetically saw. Paul adds his testimony that these words refer to Christ (Gal. 3:8): “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations [‘heathen’] through faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham, saying, ‘In thee shall all nations be blessed.’’ “Preached before” is simply predicted, revealed by prophecy, with the accessory idea that the thing revealed was the gospel, the news of salvation. To show that in his view the burden and fulness of this prophecy are Christ and nothing less or other than Christ, he says in this connection (v. 16): “Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not—And to seeds as of many, but as of one—And to thy seed, which is Christ.” H. C.

19. So Abraham returned.** With what different feelings did Abraham now descend from Jehovah jigah! His Isaac lives, and yet his sacrifice is offered. He came to yield his dearest earthly delight at the call of God, and he goes away, not only accompanied by his son, whom he had virtually resigned, but enriched with new blessings and fresh promises! So true is it that God is ever better to his people than their fears, yea, than their hopes. No sacrifice was ever yet sincerely made for him but it finally redounded a hundred-fold to the gain and the consolation of the offerer. Bush.

This most exalted appearance of God to Abraham is the last recorded in the narrative. God spake and confirmed his last word, after Abraham had endured his last trial. He who possessed such faith can life-long walk in it, without any more seeing or hearing aught unusual. Van O.—Manifestly the trial and its issue marked the highest stage in all the leadings, trials, or triumphs in the life of Abraham, and the fullest manifestation of his faith. The remainder of his life passes quietly and undisturbed, till in a good old age he is gathered to his fathers. K.

Suggestive Lessons.

All the world’s faith is not historic. To-day has its chronicles of trust and patience, and hope, quite as instructive and thrilling as those which are recorded in the Bible. It is too early to read them through, or to comprehend all their sad, yet glorious meaning; but every syllable is accepted and honored of God. J. P.

If men must have a reconciliation for all conflicting truths before they will believe any; if they must see how the promises of God are to be fulfilled before they will obey His commands; if duty is to hang suspended upon the satisfying of the understanding instead of the submission of the will,—then the greater number of us will find both the road of faith and the road of duty blocked at the outset. To us no more than to Abraham has the Most High vouchsafed such an explanation of His counsels as would make it possible to walk by intellectual sight, or dispense us from the task of walking by trust. Dykes.

The supreme lesson of this history is that Almighty God, in the just exercise of his sovereign and paternal authority, demands the complete subjugation of our will to his own. This is a hard lesson for man to learn. Man loves his own will. He clings to it long. It is just here that the great battle must be fought. We are not called upon to give up one pursuit out of many; one wish out of many; we are distinctly called upon to sink our will in God’s; to sum up every prayer with “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” If God strip your vines, and take away the one ewe lamb; if he bark your fig tree, and cause the herd to die in the field—you are to say—“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” And never can we say this with the heart’s full consent until we are crucified with Christ. We must say our greatest lesson after him. He speaks first, we speak second. He is the Master, we are the scholars. Lord, if thou wilt break the last link, break it; “though thou slay me, I will trust in thee.” J. P.

God’s stern providence must step in to test the latent capabilities of the soul. No scrutiny of our own, however honest, will ascertain what is really in us. When he takes in hand to try us, because He loves us, it is that He may discover, not to Himself Who sees all hearts, but to us and to our brethren, that which His grace has planted deep within. Moreover, He designs by lending to our unfledged virtue scope, and a call to exercise itself, to train its strength of wing for bolder flights to follow. With safety, then, may it always be presumed, not only that the wise Lord Who guides earthly discipline tries men’s virtue for their own profit, but also that He graduates such trials to the strength of virtue which is to be found in each. It concerns His faithfulness to “tempt,” indeed, in this beneficent sense of the word, yet at the same time to provide that no servant of His be tempted “above that he is able.” With a task so delicate, who could trust any hand less firm or skilful or tender than His own? It is the highest proof we possess of the exceptional nobleness which lived in Abraham, that on no other man of whom we read—save One—was ever imposed a test of trustful obedience so severe to abide, so far above the average power of human nature, so almost godlike in its demand, as this last and worst trial of Isaac’s sacrifice. It was designed to reveal to posterity the fitness of this man for the unparalleled honor to which God had summoned him,—the honor of entering first into friendly alliance with Heaven of receiving in the name of the universal Church of all faithful souls Heaven’s promise of eternal blessing, and of becoming to after ages the exemplar of that trust in God to which it has pleased Him to attach His favor and forgiveness. The issue of that probation was to justify the confidence reposed in Abraham by Abraham’s almighty Friend. Dykes.

The patriarchal dispensation assumes a definite form in the Abrahamic covenant. God appeared to Abraham, and established the Church in his family. The covenant was substantially that Jehovah would be a God to Abraham and to his seed; that in his seed all nations should be blessed; that circumcision should be the sign of the covenant, and that this sign should be administered to the child on the eighth day after his birth. This covenant became the basis of the Mosaic dispensation. The Church in the house of Abraham became a nation under Moses, but the nation was a hierarchy, a Church-State, in which God became at once civil and ecclesiastical ruler. In the fulness of time the Jewish dispensation gives place to the Christian; but the Church is still the same, that is, the Abrahamic Church. Paul argues this point elaborately in the eleventh chapter of Romans, where he represents the Church under the figure of an olive-tree, from which the Jews have been broken off, and on to which the Gentile Christians have been grafted. The root and the trunk are still the same; the identity of the tree, that is, of the Church, is completely preserved. But the Apostle in the third chapter of Galatians goes still further. He takes particular care to demonstrate that the repeal of the Mosaic law does not touch the covenant with Abraham; that remains in all its original force. He says, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” Here, then, is an express declaration by the Apostle, not only that the Abrahamic Church still remains, but that the Abrahamic covenant has not been repealed, and cannot be repealed, and that this covenant was to find its highest, its prophetic fulfilment in Christ. Nadal.

1. In the outset of Abraham’s history is that eventful call which brought him out from “Ur of the Chaldees,” the narrative of which stands (Gen. 12:1-3). In the promise made to him then the leading points were—“I will make thy name great;” “I will make of thee a great nation;” “thou shalt be a blessing and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed;” I will stand by thee to bless all who bless thee and to curse whosoever may curse thee. This must have raised in Abram’s mind large expectations and assured him that Jehovah was indeed his own God.

2. Immediately after Abram’s arrival in Canaan (Gen. 12:7) the Lord appeared to him specially to identify that as the land which he had promised (Gen. 12:1) to show him and to give to his posterity. There, as afterward in each new home, Abram built an altar and in devout worship called on the name of the Lord who had thus appeared to him.

3. Next, after his magnanimous bearing toward Lot (13:7-9, 14-18) in which he seemed ready to waive all claim to any territory Lot might choose to occupy, the Lord bade him lift up his eyes toward every point of the compass, and reiterated his grant of the whole—“All the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever.” Also, that his seed should be as the dust of the earth.

4. A yet richer scene of divine manifestation followed Abram’s rescue of Lot from the plundering horde of the great Eastern kings (Gen. 15). The first words were significant and precious: “Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.” Those warlike kings might return any day with more military force than his household could muster. It was therefore at once timely and kind in the Lord to meet him at this point with this comforting assurance: “Fear not; I am thy shield;” I stand between thee and those vengeful foes. Moreover Abram had nobly refused to appropriate to his personal use even a shoe-latchet of the booty brought back from his routed enemies, whereupon the Lord said, “I will be thine exceeding great reward.” On this reappearance the Lord promised him a son more distinctly than before, and posterity as the stars in number. Here it is said definitely—“Abraham believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness.” His faith pleased God, and because of it, God accepted him and he stood as one who is “all right before God.” Remarkably the Lord at this time identified himself to Abraham as the same God who had appeared to him in his fatherland and called him forth into Canaan and said, This is the very land I then promised to give thee; to which Abraham replied (v. 8), “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” At once the Lord proceeded to ratify his covenant in the usual Oriental manner. A heifer, a she-goat and a ram—one from each species commonly used in sacrifice—are

brought forward; each is cut into two parts; the parts are laid asunder; a turtle-dove and a young pigeon, also used for sacrifice in certain contingencies, were added but not cut in two. Then when night came on, a deep steep fell upon Abraham, and the Lord gave him in vision certain prophetic views of his posterity; and ratified the covenant by passing (in the symbol of fire and smoke) between the severed parts of the sacrificial animals.

22 : 20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Mil- 21 cah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor ; Uz his firstborn, and Buz his 22 brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram ; and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jid- 23 laph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah : these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, 24 Abraham’s brother. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bare Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.24 : 1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age : and the LORD had blessed Abraham 2 in all things And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled 3 over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh : and I will make thee 4 swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take 5 a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell : but thou 6 shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac. And 7 the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto 8 this land : must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest ? 9 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. 10 The LORD, the God of heaven, that took me from my father’s house, and from the land of 11 my nativity, and that spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will 12 I give this land ; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife for my 13 son from thence. And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear 14 from this my oath ; only thou shalt not bring my son thither again. And the servant put 15 his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning this matter. 16 And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed ; having all 17 goodly things of his master’s in his hand : and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto 18 the city of Nahor. And he made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well 19 of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. And he 20 said, O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray thee, good speed this day, 21 and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand by the fountain of water ; 22 and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water : and let it come to pass, 23 that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink ; 24 and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also : let the same be she that 25 thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac ; and thereby shall I know that thou hast 26 shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, 27 that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of 28 Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was 29 very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her : and she went down to 30 the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and

18 said, Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord : and she hastened, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. 19 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw for thy camels also, until 20 they have done drinking. And she hastened, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and 21 ran again unto the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. And the man looked sted- fastly on her ; holding his peace, to know whether the LORD had made his journey pros- 22 perous or not. And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took 23 a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight 24 of gold ; and said, Whose daughter art thou ? tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy 25 father’s house for us to lodge in ? And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel 26 the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. She said moreover unto him, We have 27 both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. And the man bowed his head, 28 and worshipped the LORD. And he said, Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who hath not forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my master : as for me, 29 the LORD hath led me in the way to the house of my master’s brethren. And the damsel 30 ran, and told her mother’s house according to these words. And Rebekah had a brother, 31 and his name was Laban : and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the fountain. And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me ; that he 32 came unto the man ; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the fountain. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD ; wherefore standest thou without ? for I have pre- 33 pared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels ; and he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash 34 his feet and the men’s feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to 35 eat : but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. 36 And he said, I am Abraham’s servant. And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly ; and he is become great : and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, 37 and menservants and maidservants, and camels and asses. And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old : and unto him hath he given all that he hath. 38 And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the 39 daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell : but thou shalt go unto my father’s 40 house, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son. And I said unto my master, Per- 41 adventure the woman will not follow me. And he said unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way ; and thou shalt take a wife 42 for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house : then shalt thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my kindred ; and if they give her not to thee, thou shalt be 43 clear from my oath. And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go : behold, I stand by the fountain of water ; and let it come to pass, that the maiden which cometh forth to draw, to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink ; 44 and she shall say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels : let the same be the woman whom the LORD hath appointed for my master’s son. And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder ; and she went down unto the fountain, and drew : and I said unto her, Let me 45 drink, I pray thee. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also : so I drank, and she made the 47 camels drink also. And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou ? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him : and I put the ring 48 upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands. And I bowed my head, and worship- ped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, which had led me 49 in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me : and if not, tell me : that I may turn 50 to the right hand, or to the left. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing 51 proceedeth from the LORD : we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the LORD hath 52 spoken. And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he 53 bowed himself down to the earth unto the LORD. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah : he gave also to her

54 brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, 55 Send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel 56 abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may 57 go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. 58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she 59 said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s 60 servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Our sister, be thou 61 the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which 62 hate them. And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and 63 followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came 64 from the way of Beer-lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the land of the South. And Isaac went 65 out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, be- 66 hold, there were camels coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw 67 Isaac, she lighted off the camel. And she said unto the servant, What man is this that 68 walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my master: and she took her 69 veil, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 70 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became 71 his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

It is characteristic of the Bible, that while it never loses sight of its one great interest, which is the development of revealed religion, as little does it divorce religion from the ordinary events of human history. Wherever God has entered into friendly contact with mankind, whether under the old covenant or the new, there He has hallowed with His touch everything human. Nothing that affects the life of man lies outside. As the sacred record stretches itself along the course of what we call secular history, it counts nothing in it to be common or unclean. Births, weddings and funerals in the family; politics, legislation, wars, in the state; the origin, migration, or decline of races—all are absorbed into a narrative which has for its aim the spiritual education of the race. How a grave was bought for dead Sarah is told as minutely as how Abraham sacrificed his son. The courtship of Isaac’s wife fills a greater number of verses than the ratification of Jehovah’s covenant. Dykes.—A whole chapter—one of the longest chapters too in the Pentateuch—is devoted entirely to a minute detail of all the circumstances of Isaac’s marriage, while two great revolutions of the world—the rise and the overthrow of secular kingdoms—are passed by in silence. But it is important to illustrate the operations of God’s grace, to show the workings out of His Providence in the most ordinary affairs of human life, and above all to exhibit the minute care with which provision is made for accomplishing in due time the great scheme of redemption. And therefore it is that we have this detailed account. S. R.

The narrative of the bridal embassy and its results offers to the eye one of the minutest, liveliest, most varied pictures of Oriental manners and customs in that primitive patriarchal time. The large outfit for the journey—ten camels, and “all the best belonging to his master in his hand;” the evening meeting by the well-side outside the city; the coming forth of Rebekah, pitcher on shoulder; her emptying the water into the trough to give the camels to drink; the costly nose-ring and bracelets given; the reception by Laban; the ungirding of the camels, and the bringing them into the house; the water for Eliezer’s feet-washing, and the “men’s feet that were with him;” the jewels and raiment for the bride; the rich presents for her relatives; the meeting with Isaac on return; the lighting off the camel; the putting on the veil—so unchangeable are Eastern manners, that there is not a single one of all these incidents to which an exact parallel has not been produced in the customs of the Bedouin of our own day. But there is one feature—the most marked of all in the narrative—to which no such parallel can be produced—the common faith of master and servant in the overruling providence of God. W. H.—Full of such touches of nature as speak to men’s hearts in every age, this narrative breathes none the less the peculiar innocence and simple grace of primitive and pastoral life. For the first time since the sinless loves of Eden were blasted, it shows us wedlock receiving a fresh consecration from His hand Who had once more become the Friend of man. Within the shelter of God’s covenant love grows pure again, and puts on a symbolic, almost sacramental character. The wooing of Rebekah and her betrothal to Isaac are the earliest in a happy series of Bible passages devoted to the elevation of the marriage bond; a series which includes the romantic service of Jacob, the espousals of Ruth, the fidelity of the tempted Bride in the Canticles, and the wedding feast at Cana. Dykes.

The choice of a wife for Isaac was no casual incident; it was not something standing apart from the main line of his history, and something therefore which might be left to Isaac’s unassisted thought and arrangement; it stood as a part of a promise; it was a clause in a solemn covenant; it was as sacred as prayer, and as joyous as a morning psalm. Why should we diminish our own sense of God’s care in our life, by always regarding the patriarchal history as something never to be repeated, without counterpart in our life? God is our Father; our life is precious in his eyes; our family and everything about us is dear to him. J. P.

22:20. It was told Abraham. The chief intention of this genealogy seems to be, to give us an account of the family of Rebekah, whom Isaac married: it connects with the beginning of ch. 24. And it was in consequence of the information here given to Abraham, that he thought of seeking a wife for his son from this family. Huz, or Uz, here mentioned, is supposed to have given its name to Job’s country (see Job 1:1), and from Buz it is thought came Elihu, the Buzite. Locke.

22:20-24. This family notice is inserted as a piece of contemporaneous history, to explain and prepare the way for the marriage of Isaac. Milkah, she also, in allusion to Sarah, who has borne Isaac. So far as we know, they may have been sisters, but they were at all events sisters-in-law. The only new persons belonging to our history are Bethuel and Rebekah. Uz, Aram, and Kesed are interesting, as they show that we are in the region of the Shemites, among whom these are ancestral names (Gen. 10:23; 11:28). Buz may have been the ancestor of Elihu (Job 32:2). Maakah may have given rise to the tribes and land of Maakah (Deut. 3:14; 2 Sam. 10:6). The other names do not again occur. And his concubine. A concubine was a secondary wife, whose position was not considered disreputable in the East. Nahor, like Ishmael, had twelve sons,—eight by his wife, and four by his concubine. M.

24:2, 3. The elder of his house. That is, his chief servant, the head of his household, who had the direction of all his affairs, as stated in the following clause, “who ruled over all that he had.” Compare, in ch. 50:7, “the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house;” that is, the high officers of his household who were at the head of its several departments. Men of mature age and experience were required in these offices, and hence they are called elders; and this became a title of official rank and dignity. It is commonly supposed, though without any special ground for the opinion, that this confidential servant was the Eliezer spoken of in ch. 15:2. Put thy hand under my thigh; as a pledge of fidelity to the required promise. Among many ancient nations a peculiar sacredness was attached to this act, and to a promise confirmed by it. To this formal pledge was sometimes added an oath, as in this case and in the one recorded in ch. 47:29-31. T. J. C.

2-9. Already Isaac was verging on the age of forty; yet he does not appear of his own accord to have contemplated marriage or taken any steps toward it. For Isaac’s own sake, it was time to rouse him from his grief by a fresh interest, and fill up the blank over which he was disposed to brood. The arrangements which Abraham made with this view were determined by two ruling considerations, which may be traced through his whole conduct. On the one hand, there was his settled decision not to mingle the pure blood of his chosen and covenanted family with any of the heathen races around. The posture of religious separation which God had assigned to him made this nothing less than a sacred duty. On the other hand, Abraham was not less resolute to hinder at every cost his son’s return from Canaan to the settlements of his kindred beyond the Euphrates. The same divine command which had made himself an exile, he conceived to bind his offspring. This Canaan had been promised to his seed for their inheritance; and in Canaan, therefore, his seed should stay. Dykes.—In sending this wise and faithful servant to seek and to choose a wife for Isaac and in his strong injunction not to permit Isaac to go even among his own kindred, Abraham evinced a clear insight of Isaac’s natural weakness. Isaac was poorly fitted to cope with Laban, as Jacob afterward did. B.

In this transaction Abraham exhibits points of character worthy of imitation by his faithful children in every age. First—his unworldliness; for there is no taint of merely worldly policy in his arrangements, though obviously he had the strongest temptations. From what we have seen of the respect in which he was held, he could doubtless have formed the most distinguished connection for his son. He was “a mighty prince.” Second—his firm reliance in Divine Providence when confessedly in a dilemma. He does not see how his end is to be accomplished. But a covenant God, he feels assured, “will send his angel before his servant.” O that there were more of this simple and explicit trust in Providence, and less of undertaking by fathers and mothers to work for Providence, in this delicate and important matter of the settlement of children. S. R.

7. He shall send his angel before thee.** Here is the expression of a firm, unshaken confidence in the prosperous issue of the expedition. He had been prompted by the most sincere regard to the will of God in having it undertaken, and he could not but infer from all that had been before done for him, and said to him, that He would put the seal of his approbation upon the step proposed. Bush.—Abraham was persuaded God would send His angel to bring the affair to a happy issue. And when we seem drifting toward some great upturning of our life, or when things seem to come all of a sudden and in crowds upon us, so that we cannot judge what we should do, it is an animating thought that another eye than ours is penetrating the darkness, finding for us a way through all entanglement and making crooked things straight for us. Dods.

10. Took ten camels—having all goodly things.** The preparation for the journey is very stately. But it is an embassy from a prince. And doubtless the wealth that he carried with him was intended to satisfy the bride’s family that she would be well provided for. While we rely on Providence, we are still to use all ordinary means, instead of expecting God to work miracles for us. S. R.—To expect the accomplishment of any good end, without a proper use of the means, is the most reprehensible enthusiasm; and to suppose that any good can be done or procured without the blessing of God, merely because proper means are used, is not less reprehensible. A. C.

To Mesopotamia. Lit. “Aram of the two rivers,” or “Aram-Naharaim.” Aram-Naharaim was the whole region afterward called Mesopotamia, lying between the two rivers: Padan-Aram being a limited portion of this country of flat character in the neighborhood of Haran. The city of Nahor, i.e. Haran or Charran. E. H. B.

11. Without the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.** A modern guide-book could hardly furnish a truer picture of what occurs at the close of every day in the vicinity of eastern villages, than this description written so many thousand years ago. The wells exist almost universally just out of the town; those who draw water are women; they carry their pitchers upon their heads or shoulders; and often have to go down a flight of steps in order to reach the water. How vividly depicted in my mind are the scenes embodying these traits of oriental life, which I associate with Yebna, Ramlah, Beitin, Nazareth, Kana, and many other places still! Hackett.

At every step on the way to Harran, which now lies as it did of old at about six hours’ march from Oorfa, the hills on the right hand and on the left of the plain recede further and further, until you find yourself fairly launched on the desert ocean; a boundless plain, strewed at times with patches of the brightest flowers, at other times with rich and green pastures, covered with flocks of sheep and goats feeding together; here and there a few camels, and the son or daughter of their owner tending them. The ruins of the castle surmounting a mound makes Harran a landmark plainly visible from every part of the plain. That same day I walked at even to the well I had passed in the afternoon, coming from Oorfa; the well of this, the city of Nahor, “at the time of the evening—the time when women go out to draw water.” There was a group of them filling, no longer their pitchers, since the steps down which Rebekah went to fetch the water are now blocked up, but filling their waterskins, by drawing water at the well’s mouth. Everything around that well bears signs of age and of the wear of time; for as it is the only well of drinkable water there, it is much resorted to. Other wells are only for watering the flocks. There we find the troughs of various height, for camels, for sheep and for goats, for kids and for lambs; there the women wear nose-rings, and bracelets on their arms, some of gold or of silver, and others of brass, or even of glass. One of these was seen in the distance bringing to water her flock of fine patriarchal sheep; ere she reached the well, shepherds had filled the troughs with water for her sheep. She was the Sheik’s daughter, the “beautiful and well-favored” Sadheefah. As the shadows of the grass and of the low shrubs around the well lengthened and grew dim, and the sun sank below the horizon, the women left in small groups; the shepherds followed them, and I was left alone in this vast solitude. Malan.

Another half century, or it may be far less time, will in all likelihood witness extensive changes in Bible lands. But nothing can now deprive us of that ample fund of Bible illustration which has been gathered up almost within living memory. Dykes.

He made the camels to kneel. A mode of expression taken from actual life. The action is literally kneeling; and this the camel is taught to do from his youth. The place is said to have been by a well of water, and this well was outside the city. In the East, where wells are scarce and water indispensable, the existence of a well or fountain determines the site of the village. The people build near it, but prefer to have it outside the “city,” to avoid the noise, dust, and confusion always occurring at it, and especially if the place is on the public highway. It is around the fountain that the thirsty traveller and the wearied caravan assemble; and if you have become separated from your own company before arriving at a town, you need only inquire for the fountain, and there you will find them. It was perfectly natural, therefore, for Eliezer to halt at the well. The time was evening; but it is further stated that it was when the women go forth to draw water. True to life again. About great cities men often carry water, but in the country women only go to the well or the fountain; and often have I seen long files of them going and returning with their pitchers, “at the time when women go out to draw water.” This Biblical narrative is so natural to one familiar with the East, so beautiful also, and life-like, that the entire scene seems to be an affair in which he has himself been but recently an actor. W. M. Thompson.

The well or cistern is for the females what the gate is for the men: here they indulge in friendly conversation and exchange their news; here they are for a short interval released from much of their oriental restraint: and since shepherds also repair hither to water their flocks and herds, it serves in many cases as a convenient place for meetings and appointments, and may in others be the scene of strife, where old feuds and enmities are brought to an issue. Cisterns were generally closed by a large heavy stone, which was removed by the united strength of the shepherds, while excavated wells were made more easily accessible, by steps leading down to them. The place where the following event happened seems to have belonged to the latter description. Kalisch.

12-14. Abraham’s devout heart had confidence enough in Jehovah to feel sure that an event so unlikely would in God’s own way be brought to pass, since he was convinced that the covenant and purposes of Jehovah required it. The strong faith of the master impressed itself also upon his faithful slave. Devotion to his master’s interests, joined to a simple and childlike piety, formed the characteristic of this man, to whom was intrusted the delicate and responsible task of negotiating a marriage alliance for the heir. Dykes.—He speaks all along under a full persuasion that the providence of God extended to the minutest events, and that there was no presumption in appealing to him on the present occasion. His words are full of confidence that God would direct him in the matter. He addresses him as Jehovah the covenant God of Abraham, who had given him exceeding great and precious promises. Bush.—As Abraham’s servant has God’s glory only in view in the errand on which he is going, he may well expect the divine direction. See with what simplicity and confidence he prays to God! He even prescribes the way in which the divine choice and approbation shall be made known: and God honors the purity of his motives, and his simple faith, by giving him precisely the answer he wished. How honorable in the sight of God is simplicity of heart! It has nothing to fear and all good to hope for: whereas a spirit warped by self-interest and worldly views, is always uncertain and agitated; as it is ever seeking that from its own counsels and schemes which should be sought in God alone. In every place the upright man meets with his God, his heart acknowledges his Maker, and his Maker acknowledges him: for such an one, the whole economy of providence and grace is ever at work. A. C.

We can but admire the mingled shrewdness and strong common-sense of Eliezer, and at the same time the strong and confiding trust in Providence which he exhibits. Evidently the faithful Abraham’s example had not been lost upon him, and this elder of Abraham’s house was a man of faith also. The token which Eliezer asks of God is not merely an arbitrary token; nor merely the demand of a sign from God. He adopts a token which at the same time shall prove the kindly nature of the woman whom he sought for his master, as well as to secure for himself the guidance of God. This does not at all detract from the simplicity of his trust in God. There is nothing incompatible between the exercise of a sound discretion and a childlike trust in Providence. He could not have hit upon a better method—one by which he could judge who of all the damsels was most desirable as a wife for his master. Eliezer furnishes here a beautiful illustration of the principle, you must do the best you can and then look to God. You ask not a sign as a right. He did not; but merely entreated that God would grant him such a token as might direct him safely. S. R.—He felt it was for God rather than for him to choose a wife for Isaac. So he made an arrangement by which the interposition of God was provided for. He meant to make his own selection, guided necessarily by the comparative attractiveness of the women who came for water, possibly also by some family likeness to Sarah or Isaac he might expect to see in any women of Bethuel’s house; but knowing the deceitfulness of appearances, he asked God to confirm and determine his own choice by moving the girl he should address to give him a certain answer. Having arranged this, “Behold! Rebekah came out with her pitcher upon her shoulder, and the damsel was very fair to look upon.” In the Bible the beauty of women is frankly spoken of as an influence in human affairs. The beauty of Rebekah at once disposed Eliezer to address her, and his first impression in her favor was confirmed by the obliging, cheerful alacrity with which she did very much more than she was asked, and, indeed, took upon herself, through her kindness of disposition, a task of some trouble and fatigue. It is important to observe then in what sense and to what extent this capable servant asked a sign. He did not ask for a bare, intrinsically insignificant sign. The sign he chose was significant, because dependent on the character of the girl herself; a sign which must reveal her good-heartedness and readiness to oblige and courteous activity in the entertainment of strangers—in fact, the outstanding Eastern virtue. He would make no approach to any one whose appearance repelled him; and when satisfied in this particular, he would test her disposition. And of course it was these qualities of Rebekah which afterward caused Isaac to feel that this was the wife God had designed for him. Dods.

A wife is to be found for the heir of promise. This was a special concern of God, and so the single-hearted follower of Abraham makes it. He takes upon himself the choice of a maiden among those that come to draw, to whom he will make the request of a particular act of kindness to a stranger, and he prays God that the intended bride may be known by a ready compliance with his request. The three qualifications, then, in the mind of the venerable domestic for a bride for his master’s son, are a pleasing exterior, a kindly disposition, and the approval of God. M.

15. It came to pass before he had done speaking. In the subsequent recital (v. 45), Eliezer says, “Before I had done speaking in mine heart,” from which it appears that this was a mental instead of a cerbai prayer; and in reference to the speedy answer with which it met, we may cite the very apposite remark of Bochart, that “so forward is God to bestow his benefits upon us, that they do not so much follow our prayers, as prevent and go before them.” Is. 65:24, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Bush.

15-21. The answer is immediate and direct. He had not yet done speaking, when the answer came. A damsel very fair to look upon, satisfying the taste of the old man, appears. He thereupon prefers his request, with which she promptly complies. The old man waits in wonder and silence to see if the Lord’s approval will follow. M.

It was Rebekah whose ripe beauty in its early springtime caught first the stranger’s eye, as she approached with the free step of a chief’s daughter, bearing her pitcher gracefully poised, after the Syrian fashion, on her shoulder. It was Rebekah whose impulsive and decisive temper, more generous in her youth than when after years had developed its vein of craftiness, moved her to fulfil the appointed sign. With sprightly pleasure, making her fair face glow in the evening light, she hastened to empty her pitcher into the stone trough or gutter for the cattle which stood by the mouth of the well, then ran down the steps for more—glad to find in kindly activity something to vary the monotony of her wonted evening task. The character of this beautiful woman, who was about to enter the chosen circle and carry her contribution to the future race of Israel, was not of the same high type as Abraham, or even as Sarah. Much of Sarah’s proud spirit was hers, indeed, with a similar tendency to give way to passing impulses. She was a woman of partialities, of likes and dislikes, to which she knew how to give energetic play. She shared the quick wit and fertility of resource which characterized both her brother Laban and her niece Rachel; but she gave no indication of that deeper sense of spiritual truth which had been the distinction of the Abrahamic branch of the family. Over the far less decided nature of her future husband she was destined to exert an influence only too great. Her character she transmitted in equal proportions to her twin sons. Esau shared his mother’s restless energy and decision. Her favorite Jacob inherited her love of scheming. Such was the woman on whom the steward gazed with surprise, while she steadily went on with her self-imposed labor, till all his ten camels had slaked their thirst. The token he asked had been so singularly fulfilled, that he unpacked his presents before it occurred to him to inquire whether the maiden came of the desired lineage. When he knew that, he hesitated no longer, but decked Rebecca with rich trinkets, dear in all ages to Eastern maidens. It was her turn now to be astonished; especially when she gathered whose servant he was, and from his fervent thanksgiving, perhaps, divined with a woman’s quickness what his errand might prove to be. With characteristic impetuosity, she ran with the news to her mother. All that followed was natural enough. Dykes.

21. The man looked stedfastly on her.** The concurrence of providences and their minute circumstances, for the furtherance of our success in any business, ought to be particularly observed with wonder and thankfulness, to the glory of God. We have been wanting to ourselves, both in duty and in comfort, by neglecting to observe Providence. H.

26. When the answers of Rebekah showed him that Jehovah had actually led him straight “to the house of his master’s brethren,” the man, fairly overcome by his feelings, “bowed down his head, and worshipped Jehovah.” A. E.—27. Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham. He had prayed for good speed (v. 12), and now that he had sped well he gives thanks. What we win by prayer we must wear with praise; for mercies, in answer to prayer, lay us under particular obligations. H.—It would be difficult to point out a more striking instance of one who “acknowledged God in all his ways.” He neither takes any step without prayer, nor receives any favor without praise. Bush.

33. The servant of Abraham is quite like his master in his dignified bearing and earnestness of purpose. Before accepting hospitality at the hands of Bethuel and Laban, he will have an answer to the commission on which he has been sent, nor can persuasions or entreaty prevail on him to prolong his stay, even over the following day. A. E.—We ought never to let a good resolution go to sleep; nor postpone till tomorrow what we can do to-day. Good in respect of earthly things, such decision is all important in matters that concern either our own or others’ souls. Let men make Eliezer their pattern. He stands by Laban’s table loaded with tempting viands, as firm in purpose and prompt in action as if the success of his mission was suspended on his own indomitable energy; while, as if nothing whatever depended on himself, but all on God, he raises his eyes to heaven, crying, “Oh, Lord God of my master Abraham, give me good speed this day!” And God did it. He touched the maiden’s heart; to her brother’s question, “Wilt thou go with this man?” this her frank and ready answer, “I will go.” The steward’s prayer was answered; and so also will be ours, whatever we seek, be it mercy to pardon, or grace to help, if we seek under the pressure of these weighty words, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, nor device, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Guthrie.

50. Laban and Bethuel.** These seem both to be brothers, of whom Laban was the eldest and chief; for the opinion of Josephus appears to be correct, that Bethuel the father had been some time dead (see v. 28). A. C.

53. The gifts to Rebekah were her dower; those to her kindred were a sort of purchase-money, according to the marriage customs of the times. Her brother Laban, both here and in later transactions with Jacob, evidently had an eye to his own advantage. In fixing the time of parting, there is a quite natural contrast of brotherly interest and girlish eagerness. The confidence of Rebekah appears beautiful in its simplicity: but it was warranted by all that she had heard of her unknown suitor; and custom led her to acquiesce in the judgment and desire of her natural protectors. Her retinue of maidens were the guard of her modesty upon the way, and the promise of society in her future home. J. P. T.

58. I will go.** Her motives were, no doubt, mixed. The worldly position offered to her was good, and there was an attractive spice of romance about the whole affair which would have its charm. She may also be credited with some apprehension of the great future of Isaac’s family. In after life she certainly showed a very keen sense of the value of the blessings peculiar to that household. And, probably above all, she had an irresistible feeling that this was her destiny. She saw the hand of God in her selection, and with a more or less conscious faith in God she passed to her new life. Dods.

59. And her nurse.** The name of this nurse was Deborah. We hear no more of her till we are told of her death. She appears to have survived her mistress, and to have died in the family of Jacob, much lamented. Bush.

—As Rebekah had her nurse to accompany her, so, at this day, the Aya (the nurse) who has from infancy brought up the bride, goes with her to the new scene. She is her adviser, her assistant, and friend; and to her will she tell all her hopes and all her fears. Roberts.

61. When his servant marched forth to bring home Isaac’s bride, a stately caravan of ten laden camels, with their drivers, bespoke the dignity of the shepherd-king. The camels went forth burdened with costly bridal gifts. They came home again laden with more costly spoil—for they bore back the bride and her attendant maidens. Dykes.

62. He dwelt in the land of the South. Probably at Beersheba. Abraham’s later dwelling-places had been Hebron and Beersheba. After the sacrifice of Isaac, we find him dwelling at Beersheba (22:19), until we hear of the death of Sarah at Hebron. Very probably Abraham returned after this to Beersheba. And so Isaac, whether living with his father, or pitching his tent and feeding his flocks near him, is here represented as dwelling in the South country. In ch. 25:11 we find that, after Abraham’s death, Isaac took up his residence at Lahairoi [in the region of Beersheba], to which we find that he had been on a visit, when Rebekah arrived, where perhaps he had already been pasturing his flocks and herds. E. H. B.

63. In this passage Isaac is introduced for the first time, so as to make the reader in part acquainted with him. There is a most observable dramatic variety between him and Abraham—the father evidently a larger man in every respect, and of higher grade, so as to qualify him for the more arduous fortunes which he was called to encounter. Yet to Isaac belonged the mild majesty of private life, and we figure his to be more a life of peaceful and domestic piety. It was probably in the spirit of religion that he went out to meditate at the eventide—a fine picture this for the imagination to dwell upon—a good and holy man of old walking forth among the beauties of nature, and engaged in the contemplation of Nature’s God. T. C.—Twilight, “nature’s vesperbell,” or the light shaded at evening by the hills of Palestine, seems to have called Isaac to a familiar occupation. This long-continued mourning for his mother, and his lonely meditation in the fields, are both in harmony with what we know of his character, and of his experience on Mount Moriah. Retiring and contemplative, willing to conciliate by concession rather than to assert and maintain his rights against opposition, glad to yield his own affairs to the strong guidance of some other hand, tender and deep in his affections, to him this lonely meditation seems singularly appropriate. Dods.

64-67. Whether veiled before or not, she now covered herself—her whole person—with the ample enveloping veil with which brides are still conducted to the bridegroom. Rosenmuller, in illustration of this passage, quotes an ancient father (Tertullian), who, with an express reference to the same text, observes, as a custom still existing in his time, that the heathen brides were also conducted to their husbands covered with a veil. It is still all but universal in the East, and it will be observed that it is used not only by the females whose faces are always concealed, both before and after marriage, but by those who display part or the whole of their faces on all ordinary occasions. It is, in fact, the indispensable costume for the occasion. Pictorial Bible.—Eastern etiquette required that Rebekah should dismount from her camel to meet one of the other sex. Still more was it becoming to veil herself in the presence of her destined bridegroom. In such a casual, informal fashion did these two meet, whom by His wise and singular providence God was bringing together. Nevertheless, they were made for one another; and the first frank welcome with which cousin greeted cousin, ripened into a closer and dearer love, that was to fill all their long and placid lives. Dykes.—Isaac hails at once Rebekah as his wife. “Very fair,” of bright and keen intelligence, alert, and energetic, she was the very kind of bride he needed; and the simple expression that “he loved her, and was comforted after his mother’s death,” tells what an affectionate husband she found in him. W. H.

We have here a description of the primeval marriage. It is a simple taking of a woman for a wife before all witnesses, and with suitable feelings and expression of reverence toward God, and of desire for his blessing. It is a pure and holy relation, reaching back into the realms of innocence, and fit to be the emblem of the humble, confiding, affectionate union between the Lord and his people. M.—What an insight into the primitive age! but what a cradle also for the earliest religious history! It is like one of those ancient Patriarchal wells so often mentioned in the history. Its waters are still fresh and clear in its deep recess. It has outlasted all other changes. It ministers indeed only to human affections and feelings, but it is precisely to those feelings which are as lasting as the human heart itself, and which

therefore give and receive from the record which so responds to them, a testimony which will never pass away. A. P. S.