The Testing of Faith

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And today we arrive on the chapter. Genesis 22. Let’s read the first eight verses together.

Genesis 22.1-8

January 15th 2023

Genesis 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6 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 together.
7 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?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Abraham's Challenge

Alright, back to verse 1

1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

Are you a biblical literalist? What do you do with

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham

But James 1:13 reads

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”

Is it a contradiction?

For starters, the word tempt – whether in the Hebrew or the Greek – can mean different things. It can mean

• to entice or try to entice (someone) to do something unwise or wrong, as by promising pleasure or reward.
• To entice someone to do something that is benign or even good; and/or
• to provoke or put to the test.

I maintain that the word tempt here in Genesis is better understood as to test. To try. To prove.

Scriptural Evidence

I think that we need to appeal to the scripture to show that God certainly tests and tries as a means to “prove.” Let’s consider some of the biggies:

Judges 7:4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

2nd Chronicles 32:31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

Job 7:18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

Psalm 11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Jeremiah 6:27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

Jeremiah 9:7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them.

The Nature of God's Trials

As silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

1st Corinthians 3:13

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (if the work is in the heart, then He tries the heart)

1st Peter 4:12

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

Revelation 3:10

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Questions About God's Testing

There are so many things to consider in the face of the Biblical fact that God tries us to prove us, like:

• Why would God test and try us if He knows everything?
• Why would God prove us IF He predestines all people to do what He wants?
• And what should we think about freewill in the face of Him tempting, testing and trying us?

Philosophically, the answers to these questions are NOT easily reached. But from the fact that God does prove and try us tells me, in the least, that this life is a proving ground and all of us are here “choosing this day whom or what we will serve.”

Perhaps God knows beforehand, as in the case of Job, how those who love Him will respond to these tests – perhaps not (that idea is known as open theism) but if He does know, maybe He tests and proves us as a means to illustrate the faithfulness of those who love Him to themselves and to others. In other words, maybe as a means to establish proofs and models for the unbelieving world, he tests, tries or proves the faithful, knowing full-well that they will succeed and thereby illustrating what a faithful heart who loves Him looks like to the rest of the unbelieving world.

I suggest that this is the basis for God testing and trying others and in saying this it very well may be that He never tests or tries the faithless – as they prove of their own accord to not care or be able to pass. So the first thing to consider is that God may only test and try the faithful to show the world what freewill faith and trust in Him looks like.

The Example of Abraham

And we come to the father of faith. And to the ultimate test of a person – to kill their own child. The Hebrew best reads, “And the Elohim he tried this Abraham." The Septuagint uses the Greek word, epeirase, which is only used twice in all of the Apostolic Record and in one of those uses we read at Hebrews 11:36

And others had trial (epeirase) of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

The ultimate meaning then is that in and through God allowing for this father of the faith to face and overcome trial, “God glorified Abraham, or rendered him illustrious,” or "God put great honor on Abraham by giving him this opportunity of showing to all successive ages the nature of his unshaken faith in the power, goodness, and truth of God."

Thus far, I maintain that the basis of God tempting/testing/proving anyone includes that:

• God knows the outcome
• He only tries those who are His.
• It’s a means to show their love and faith in Him.
• It serves to both honor God and to prove the believer honorable.

In this light Job wrote:

Job 23:10

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Proverbs 17:3

The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Isaiah 48:10

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

Zechariah 13:9

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

That is why Paul wrote to the Saints in Thessalonica

2nd Thessalonians 1:3

We are bound to thank God always for

The Testing of Faith

You, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future., for which ye also suffer:

And it is why James wrote:

James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Insights from James and Peter

It is why Peter wrote:

1st Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

And he added:

1st Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

God's Tests

And finally, we gain insight to God’s tests when we read in James 1:12:

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: (or trials) for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

So, again, looking back to the father of the faith, and the whole story we can better understand God’s purposes in testing Him.

• To prove Him
• To refine Him
• To use Him as an example to a faithless world of what real faith and trust in God looks like.
• To bring him forth refined like gold.

2 And he (God) said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Abraham's Test

Of course, we know the history of this Son Isaac – twenty-five years of promises before His arrival. The promise that through him alone would come the chosen line.

But there was more. Abram came from a land of human sacrifice in Ur of the Chaldees, and this command from God was a direct echo of what he left behind to turn to the only Living God.

Ironically, this same God was commanding Him to do the very thing he walked from, and of His only Son, after all of the promises given about him and his arrival.

Listen to the words again: And he (God) said, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

Of course, God, would later in similitude of this, offer up His only human Son whom He loved and who would come through this very line that Abraham was now being commanded to cut off.

We know that the first great commandment repeatedly presented in scripture is: “thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

Ostensibly, what God is asking Abram to do was prove whether the love for this Son of the Promise, born from the wife of his youth, born of a miracle, whom even God admits here that “he loves,” was greater than his love for God and His commanded Word.

But again, God knew the answer and the outcome – but to both test Abraham, the father of Faith, and “tempter” His faith in the fires of affliction as a means to bring him forth as purified gold to the world, God put Abraham through this test.

Brutal as the situation may seem on face value it is central test to all who claim Him as their God – Do they/we/I love my son, daughter, spouse, life (or this or that thing in the

The Challenge of Allegiance

This is the interesting thing about adultery in the lives of Christians. Swingers and the like justify open marriage and such from a fleshly carnal stance, sometimes stating that it does wonders and serves even as a marital aid in the doldrums of monogamy. But even though studies have shown that open marriages do not work for the majority of couples involved, the reality about adultery in the Christian world is it posits the question God is essentially asking Abraham: Do you love your will and ways, do you love your needs and desires more than you love me and what I say about not doing this?

I use adultery as an example here, but it is really the basis for every spoken Word of God – do we love something “more” than Him? We remember Jesus saying the disconcerting words during His ministry in Matthew 10:37-39: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

It's a principle – just like what we are reading here is a principle. Let me say this clearly: God would NEVER EVER EVER HAVE ANYONE offer up their child for a burnt offering to Him today. Its one of the great evidences of fulfillment BTW – this was done at a time that would understand this act much better than today as these were the demands of the pagan Gods then. But God always demands that we love Him and His Word and ways first and foremost and above all other things.

Understanding Devout Allegiance

WHY? Because in this order, in this devout allegiance, we will find ourselves able to love our father, mother, sons, and daughters better. It is as simple as that. It’s almost like seeing “life” is flying a giant 747. We can try and get up in it and fly it ourselves and by our own inclinations OR we can choose to look to all of the written operating commands and seek first to understand all that we can about operating such a craft because when we do our ability to fly the craft and deliver all we love to their destinations will vastly improve.

Last week we talked about seeing God and His ways through eyes of faith or seeing Him and His ways through human eyes. In the case of Abraham and Isaac, the human view is upsetting, and from men like Bertrand Russell to Hitchens and other critics of the faith, this very story is used to show an insane egomaniac God. But again, this is a type and a picture which God knew Abraham would pass and God would use to show what faith and love for Him looks like in an extreme situation and one that is specific to the very life of Abraham and His origins.

The Location of Mount Moriah

So, God again said, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah.”

Where is this mount? Interestingly, some Christian writers attempt to make Moriah “Calvary” where Jesus was crucified. This is not true. We learn from 2nd Chronicles 3:1 that Mt Moriah is the mountain on which Solomon’s temple was built and in the apostolic record this hill is called, “the Temple mount” which of course is IN Jerusalem. During Jesus's life, the temple mount was occupied by the massive temple built by Herod and because Jesus was crucified outside the city walls, we know that these are not the same locations – though it would be really cool if they were. Sorry. That is the importance of Jesus's deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. – it was for sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and so therefore would never have been within the vicinity of the temple but outside of the holy City of David where the community of the Saints existed.

Verse 3

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Right or wrong the Jewish Targum says that the two men were named Eliezer and Ishmael (not Abraham's son).

Verse 4

4 Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

Understanding the Third Day Pattern

Make a big deal of the third day mention here I fail to see the significance relative to Christ but I do see the third day playing a repeated role in scripture, including the obvious:

• Three days Jesus lay in the tomb, but also
• Moses desired to go three days' journey in the wilderness to sacrifice, (Exodus 5:3);
• The nation traveling three days in the wilderness before they found water, (Exodus 15:22)
• Three days' journey that the ark of the covenant went before them, to search out a resting place (Numbers 10:33)
• Exodus 19:11 that “by the third day the people were to be ready to receive God's law,”
• And after three days to pass over Jordan into Canaan (Joshua 1:14)
• The third day Esther put on the apparel of the kingdom, (Ester 5:1)
• On the third day Hezekiah, being recovered from his illness, went up to the house of the Lord, (2nd Kings 20:5)
• And how on the third day, the prophet said, God will raise us up and we shall live before him, (Hosea 6:2)
• And on the third day, as well as on the seventh, the unclean person was to purify himself (Numbers 19:12) and many more.

The Significance of Isaac's Age

But as mentioned last week – numerology? Significant? Symbolic or just representative? Can’t say. Perhaps. The Targum says that Abraham saw the place “afar off” because he could see the cloud of glory on the top of the mountain. Now listen carefully to the next verse:

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

First things first, where Abraham says, “I and the lad,” it is believed that Isaac, though our last mention of him was when he was being weened at three years of age. How old was he now?

Many see this event happening right after the weening, but there is information to cause us to question this. See, the Bible doesn’t specify how old Isaac was here so in reality, whether he was a toddler or an adult it incidental to the message we ought to take from the event. I think that’s important right out the gate. To sacrifice a son is horrific – no matter the age but it seems really bad if the son was a toddler.

We do get some insights into his age that might give us a better view of the facts of the event. For instance, we can place some reasonable limits to his age by looking at Sarah’s life. According to Genesis 17:17 Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 years old. Then she sent Ishmael away (sometime before the incident at Moriah) after Isaac was “weaned” (Genesis 21:8–10) and last week we used the scripture to show that weaning took place around three years of age.

Isaac's Place in Biblical Narrative

Then Sarah died (sometime after the incident at Moriah) at the age of 127. This figure allows us to see Isaac as older than 3 and younger than 27 because his mom is still alive at this point. The phrases used in Genesis 21:34 (long time) and in verse one of this chapter “some time later” also lend to a substantial amount of time elapsing between Isaac’s weening and the trip to Moriah.

So, Isaac was certainly not an older man when he was to be offered as a sacrifice, but it seems improbably that he was just a toddler. Another clue might be seen in the fact that when Abraham is told to travel to Moriah, and it was a three-or-four-day journey, that perhaps the lad was old enough to care for himself as his father was over-100-years-old at this time and the average span of life was about there. Additionally, the term boy or lad that is used to refer to Isaac (Genesis 21:5, 12) is translated from a Hebrew word that does not necessarily refer to a young boy. Instead, it’s a term that has a wide range of meanings—from a baby (in Exodus 2:6; 2 Samuel 12:16) to a young man (referring to Absalom in 2 Samuel 14:21; 18:5) and it can even refer to a “steward” or “servant” (2 Samuel 16:1) as well as a “junior officer” (1 Kings 20:14, 15, 17, 19).

Where Abraham’s servants who accompanied him and Isaac are called “young men” (in verse 5 and 19) that word is the same used to describe Isaac in verses 5 and 12. So it seems Isaac was older than a child. Then the story itself reveals some potential clues to his age which we will mention as we read further. But it is interesting that by.

The Faith of Abraham

Taking a survey of several writers and commentators, we have an older Isaac going way back in time. One “Leupold” says he was 18 to 20, Josephus says he was 25 years old, Adam Clarke saying he was about 33 years of age, and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown say he was about 20. Then back to verse 5 again where it says,

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. Did you catch it? Abraham tells the young men to “abide you here with the ass “and I AND THE LAD will go yonder and worship AND (ostensibly, I AND THE LAD) will come again to you.”

In other words, Abraham, before going up with Isaac, believed that he would come back down with Isaac. What was in Abraham’s mind here? We get our answer from the writer of Hebrews who in speaking of this event says

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Meaning, that Abraham received his unsacrificed son back into his arms as if one that was raised from the dead – proverbially.

Abraham's Trust in God's Promise

See, Abraham trusted that God would provide Him a son through Sarah. And he trusted in God’s promise to make him a great nation as plentiful as the sands of the sea or stars in the sky. This promise would not be possible if Abraham slew Isaac and came back down without Him. So Abraham trusted God that “IF” he was to carry out this act as commanded, God would raise him again and they would BOTH come back down the mount to the waiting servants.

This is not only a great example of faith and a great example of love for God it is also a great example of hope being an complete “expectation” and not just a wish. Verse 6

6 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 together.

Here we find another bit of insight into the age of Isaac as Abraham lays the wood upon him to bear (which of course is a picture of Christ bearing His own wooden cross to Calvary as this wood was most likely laid on Isaacs back to bear) and a toddler or young child would be unable to carry such a load.

Isaac's Maturity and Perception

Here we also discover a principle that what is laid upon us by God will always be commensurate with age and maturity, which explains why God did not have his infant son Jesus, or Jesus as a child or teen bear the cross. Even in His case He allowed him to increase in wisdom and stature. And then for our final two verses for today, which also lends a clue to age as it reads

7 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?”

Isaac notices wood and fire but, seeing no animal, has the mental capacity and insight to ask Abraham about it. This also implies that Isaac is at least old enough to know what the proper sacrificial process is and perceptive enough to ask his father about it in the absence of an animal. But what a question, right? I would have crumbled on the spot had one of my children or grandchildren asked me this in the face of what was about to transpire.

But what does Abraham say? (verse 8)

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

This is not only spoken in reference to the hope in Abraham, and His faith in God, but is a prophetic utterance referring way out into the future when God would “provide Himself a lamb for an offering for the sins of the world. All the other lambs, from this point on the Mount and out through the Nations history of blood sacrifice, men would

The Lamb of God

Choose of their flocks and herds, but the Lamb of God that God would choose from the herd of humanity would be His only begotten Son.

Twice in the Gospel of John, the phrase “Lamb of God” is used, and both times it is by John the Baptist in his call to identify the promised Messiah. We read in the first chapter of John beginning at verse 29:

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Continuation Next Week

We will continue with the Genesis story of Abraham and Isaac next week.

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