Gen. xxii. 6 — 10. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt- offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son : and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife : and they went both of them toge- ther. 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 ; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering ? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering. So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of: and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order ; and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar tipon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
MANY and wonderful are the instances of faith and obedience recorded in the Scriptures. But no action
whatever (those only of our Lord himself excepted) has at any time surpassed or equalled that related in the text. It justly obtained for him who performed it, the honourable title of The Father of the Faithful, and, The Friend of Goda. We shall find it profitable to consider,
I. The history itself —
Abraham had often enjoyed intimate and imme- diate communion with the Deity. But now he heard the command which was of a most singular and afflictive nature —
[God in some way clearly intimated to Abraham his will : nor left him to doubt one moment, whether it were his voice or not. He commanded Abraham to take his only, his beloved son, Isaac, and to offer him up as a burnt-offering in a place that should afterwards be pointed out. How strange the order ! How difficult to be complied with ! How well might Abraham have said, " Would God I might die for thee, O Isaac, my son, my son ! "]
Instantly, however, and without reluctance, he arose to execute the will of God —
[Had he presumed to reason with God, what specious arguments might he have adduced for declining the way of duty ! The certainty of his being reproached by Sarah, " A bloody husband art thou to me b : " the offence that would be taken by all the neighbouring nations against him, his religion, and his God : the counteracting and defeating of all the pro- mises which had been made by God himself, and which were to be accomplished solely in and through his son Isaac0: all this, with much more, might have been offered in excuse for his backwardness, if indeed he had been backward, to accom- plish the will of God. But he conferred not with flesh and blood d.]
Nor was he diverted from his purpose during the whole of his journey —
[Having prepared the wood, he proceeded instantly, with Isaac and his servants, towards the place that God had pointed out. Nor did he open his intentions to Sarah, lest she should labour to dissuade him from his purpose. But what must have been his thoughts every time that he looked on Isaac ? Yet never for one moment did he relax his determination to
a Jam. ii. 21, 23. b Exod. iv. 25, 26.
c Gen. xvii. 19. d Gal. i. 16.