The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 348

iu a etl'iki11g m,y, onfl scne ot the snme with him (the ass for tlic wood, anu the time to prepnre us for the importance of the youn" men for the ass), and Isaac his son conversation" (Longe). (expl~ining to him as yet only his intention Ver. 2.-And he said, Take now-" the to offer samifice upon a <list.ant mountain), ~) modifies the command, and seems to and clave the wood for the burnt offering e;press tbnt Eloh~m wisl)e<l ,,to receive the (obviously with his own hands), and rose up sacrifice as a free-will olfenng (Lange)-thy (expressive of resolute determination), and son (not n Jamb, but thy child), thine only went unto (or towards) the place of which son-not tiya,r'lrov (LXX. ), but unigenitum God had told him-literally, the Elohim ha,l (Vulgate), meaning the only son of Sarah, spoken to him. The accumulation of brid, the only Jegitimttte offspring be possessed, the sententious clauses in this verse admirably only heir. of the promise, the only child that represents the calm deliberation and unflinch- remained to him after Ishmuel's departure ing heroism with which the patriarch pro- (cf. i, po,·oy,v,)c, John i. 18)-Isaac, whom ceeded to execute the Divine command. thou Ioveet,-or, 1chom thCIU lovest, Isaac; Ver. 4.-Then on tho third day--Jel'U- the order and accumulation of the terms salem, being distant from Beersheba abont being calculated _to excite the p~rentul ~ffec- twenty a.ncl a half hours' journey according to tion of the patr1J1.rcl1 to the highest pitch, Robinson, could easily be within ~ight on the and to render compliance with the Divine third day-Abraham lifted up his eyes,- demand a trial of the utmost severity-and not implying thnt the object of vision was get thee-literally, go for thyself (cf.. eh. above him (cf. eh. xiii. 10)-and saw the xii. I ; x:xi. 16)-into the land of Monah. place (which Calvin conjectures ho Juul pre- Moriah = vision (Vulgate, Symmnchus, Sa- mnritan), worship (Onkelos, Jonathan), high viously beheld in vision) afar oft'. Thoul!'.h Mount Muriah cannot Le seen by the traveller (LXX.), rebellious (Murphy); hut rather from Beersheba till within a distance of three miles (Stanley, 'Sinai 1md Palestine,' p. 251 ), a compound of ;,1 and ljb, meo.n.ing God is the place or region where it is can be detecte,l my instructor, alluding to the temple from (Kalisch). wliich the low should afterwords proceed Ver. 5. -And Abraham said unto his (Kalisch), or, better, of i1 1 and n~,, and young men, Abide ye (for similar forms of si!rnifying "the shown of Jehovah," i. e. expression cf. eh. xii. I ; xxi. 6 ; x.,:ii. 2) the revelation or manifestation of Jehovah here with thii &BB ;-partly because the (Henastenh~rg, Kurtz, Keil, &:c.); or "the beast required watching, though chiefly be- chose~," i. e. "pointed out of God," with cause the contempl11tecl sacrifice was too reference to its selection as the site of the solemn for nuy eyes but God's to witness- Divine sanctuary (Gesenius), or rather because and I and the lad will go yonder and there God pro,vidod and pointed out the worship, and come again to you. An act sacrifice which he elected to accept (Lnnge). of dissimulation on the part of Abraham And offer him there for a bumt offering- (Knobel, Knlisch, Murphy) ; nn unconscious not make a spiritual surrender of him in prophecy (Lyra, Junius, Rashi) ; the expres- and through o burnt offering (Hengstenberg, sion of a hopeful wish (Longe) ; o somewhat Lange), but uctually pres~nt him ns a holo- confused uttcrnnco (Calvin, Keil); the voico caust. That Abraham cl1d not stagger on of his all-conquering faith (Augustine, Calvin, receiving this astounding injunction muy ,vordsworth, Bush, 'Speaker's Commentary,' be accounted for by remembering that the Inglis), which last seems the teaching of practice of offering human sacrifices prevailed Heb. xi. 19. among the enrly Chaldreans and Cnnaanites, Ver. 6.-And Abraham took the wood of and that as yet no formal prohibition, like the burnt ofl'ering, and laid it upon Isaac that of the Mosaic code, had been issued his son ;-instinctively the mind reverts to against them-upon one of the mountains- the cross-bearing of Abrnhum's greater Son not llloreh in Sichem (Tuch, Michaelis, (John xix. 17)-and he took the fire in Stanley, Grove, et alii), which wns too dis- his hand, and a knife (to him terribly sug- tant, but Morinh utJerusulein (Hcngstenberg, gestive weapons) ; and they went both of Kurtz, Keil, Kulisch), where subsequently them together. Doubtless in silence on God uppcnred to David (2 Snm. xxiv. 16), Abraham's part and wonder on Isaac's, sinco and the temple of Solomon was built (2 as yet no declaration hnd been mn<le of the Chron. iii. I)-which I will tell thee of- tme purpose of their journey. i. e. point out (probably by secret inspiration) Ver. 7 .-And Isaao spoke to Abraham his ns thou proceedest. father,-during the progress of the journey, Ver. 3.-And Abraham rose up early in after leaving the young men, solitude inviting the morning, -11 hubit of till pntriurch's him to give expression to thoughts which after receiving n Divine communication (cf. hncl been rising in his bosom, but which the eh. xix. 27; xx. 8; xxi. 14)--and Hddled presence of companions hnu constrninc,l him his ass, and took two of hir. young men to suvprcss--and said, My father :-a term  'l'ttE BOOK OF GE::SEStS. trll. XXII. 1--]9.