The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 351

his own enjoyment of the Divine favour, which could scar,Jely fail to be staggered by s~1?h an excruciating sta~ to his natural affection; but, (3) and chiefly, 1\9 to the stab1h_ty of the promise, winch reason could not but pronounce impossible of fulfil- ment 1f I~aa~ must_be put to death. Yet, overwhelming as the trial we.a, it was-4. Need:(111 in i# deS'lr,_n. The great covenant blessing was still conditioned on the t'xercrne by the patnarch of full-hearted trust in the naked word of God. Not until that standpoint had been reached by Abraham in his spiritual development was he able to become the parent of Isaac ; nnd now that Isaac was born there was still the danger lest Isaac, and not the naked word of God, should be the ground of the patrinrch's confidence. Hence the necessity arose for testing whether Abraham could resign lsnac and yet cling to the promise. II. AnRAHAM's VICTORY. 1. The splendour of it. The tremendous act of self- immolation was performed not without pain, else Abraham must have been either more or less than hums.n, but (1) with unhesitating promptitude-" Abraham rose up e3:rly ~n the morning," and" went l1?to the pla~e of which God had told him;" (2) with literal exactness-" Abraham laid the wood m order, and bound Isaac his son and laid him upon the altar on the wood;" (3) in perfect sincerity-" Abraham strekhed forth his hand to slay his son;" yet (4) without ostentation-Abraham went alone with his son to the mount of sacrifice. 2. The secret of it. This was faith. He accounted that, tl10ngh Isaac should be slain, God was able to raise him up again from the dead. Hence, though prepared to plunge the knif-e into his son's breast and to reduce his beloved form to ashes, he "staggered not at the promise." ' III. ABRAH.!M's REWARD. 1. The deliverance of Isaac. (1) The time of it. At the moment when the sacrifice was nbout to be consummated, neither too soon for evincing the completeness of Abraham's obedience, nor too late for effecting Isaac's preservation. (2) The reason of it. Because the piety and faith of the patriarch were sufficiently demonstrated. God often accepts the will for the deed. (3) The manner of it. By the substitution of a ram, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, through whose atoning death the Isaac of the Church is delivered from condemnation, ( 4) The teaching of it. If Abraham's surrender of Isaac was a shadow of the sacrificing love of the eternal Father in sparing not his only Son, nnd the bound Isaac typical of the Church's condemned condition before the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, e.nd the substituted ram was emblematic of him who, though he knew no sin, was mnde n sin offering for us, the deliverance of Isaac was symbolic both of the resurrection life of Christ and of the new life of his redeemed people. 2. The confirmation of t!ie Uessing. (1) A renewal of the promises-of a numerically great, territorially pro3- perous 1 and spiritually influential posterity, and more particularly of that distinguished seed in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed; (2) a specification of the ground on which they were held, viz., the patriarch's believing obedienco to the Divine commandment; and (3) a solemn oath in guarantee of their fulfilment. Lessons :-1. The certainty of trial. 2. The omnipotence of faith. 3. 'l'ho blessedness of obedience.