“069. HEROIC FAITH—GENESIS 22”

Heroic Faith—Genesis 22

It is well remarked by an old writer, “that the labors or trials of Abraham’s faith would afford a very fruitful subject for a philosophical and theological essay upon the nature and powers of heroic faith.” Note: Parker, in his Bibliotheca Biblica, a valuable work, published anonymously, in 5 vols., 4to., in 1720.]

Of this “heroic faith,” Abraham’s unflinching obedience, when the Lord saw fit to subject it to a great and fierce trial, by exacting from him the sacrifice of the son of so many promises and hopes as Isaac, is a most signal example. The world’s history presents nothing like it. The instances which have been sometimes cited as parallel, will not stand comparison with it. The Lord’s own estimate of its importance and value is shown in the crowning recompense of his high approval and blessing—a blessing the most full, emphatic, and solemn ever pronounced by God upon man.

Isaac, the heir of the promises, has grown up to be a young man, probably not less than twenty years of age; and the father rests happy in his tents, blessed with the favor of God, and beholding in this his son the accomplishment of all his hopes. Suddenly the command comes: “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.” Every word was fit to rend his heart, and did doubtless rend it. And what did he say? Nothing. We may conceive much that he might have said—that we might have said in the like case. But Abraham said nothing: he did as he was commanded. He was not only obedient, but he was prompt and forethoughtful in his obedience. There might be no suitable materials for the intended sacrifice at the spot to which he was going, he therefore prepares everything before he sets out; even the wood to form the fire which is to consume his son, he prepares and takes with him. Abraham appears to be anxious that there shall be on his part no sign of reluctant, lingering delay. “Early in the morning” he rises, and saddles his ass for the journey; and with his son, and attended by two servants, speeds on his way.

Two days they journeyed, and on the third, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and beheld the place afar off. This place was “a mountain in the land of Moriah,” and Moriah being, as we know, the name of one of the hills of Jerusalem, there can be little or no question that it was in or near the site of the future city; and seeing that so long a journey to this particular spot was not likely to have been ordered without a special object, it is far from improbable that the spot which was indicated as the scene of this transaction was the very same on which, at a later day, a Father greater than Abraham offered up a Son more illustrious than Isaac.

Here the servants were bidden to wait; and the father and son went on: the son bearing on his strong shoulders the wood which was to consume him; and the father, having in one hand, the fire with which the wood was to be enkindled, and the knife with which the son he loved was to be slain. But where was the victim? Abraham knew, but Isaac did not, and naturally asked his father the question and the answer was—“My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” This would seem to intimate that he expected some such substitution as actually took place; and we do know, that so assured was he, that God would faithfully perform the promises to which the life of Isaac was essential, that, although he knew not how, he was satisfied that his son could not be eventually lost to him. As it cannot be doubted, that he was fully determined to carry out his obedience, even to the extent of sacrificing his son, he must, as the apostle intimates, have expected that God would even raise him from the dead, rather than that his promises should be of no effect. He was prepared to believe anything, rather than that God could be unfaithful to his plighted word.

They arrive at the spot; the altar is made; the wood is laid on; and Isaac is bound, and laid upon the altar. The father’s hand is uplifted to fall upon the life of his son—but it fell not. The stroke is stayed by a quick and sudden word from heaven—“Abraham, Abraham! Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do then anything unto him: for now I know that then fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.” With fingers tremblingly glad, did the father then unbind his son; and with what rejoicing spirits did not both father and son join in offering up the victim which the Lord had provided—a ram caught by the horns in a thicket hard by! Then came down the great and rewarding words—“By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and has not withheld thy son, thine 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 possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Nor, perhaps, was this all his reward. It is supposed by many that it was on this occasion that Abraham saw the day of Christ, and was glad, Joh_8:56—his eyes being opened to behold the purposes of God in that great and solemn act of atoning sacrifice through his well-beloved Son, which this transaction might very well typify or represent. If indeed Abraham was thus instructed—as the words of our Lord permit us to suppose—there seems no other occasion in the whole history of the patriarch, on which it was so likely to be afforded. The obvious preparation for the disclosure, in his being directed to go to the very neighborhood where our Lord suffered, seems to point in this direction—while there are obvious reasons why the sacred historian may not have been authorized to make known the precise nature of the communication which made the heart of Abraham glad.

The prevalence of child-sacrifice in the ancient pagan world is known to the reader. It is, indeed, frequently indicated in Scripture—and it certainly existed in Canaan and the neighboring countries in the time of Moses. Lev_20:2-4. Hence arises the question, whether or not it existed before the time of Abraham. Some think that it did; and hence the demand did not strike him with the astonishment it would have done, had the offering-up of a son been previously unheard of. He would then also have felt that it became not him to withhold from the Lord the costly offering which the idolaters offered to their gods, in the earnestness of their zeal to yield up that which they valued most. But on the other hand, it is urged by some that all the sacrifices of this sort among the heathen had their origin in mistaken inferences from this act of Abraham. It is difficult to decide this question—nor is it of much importance to do so. But even supposing that child-sacrifice did not previously exist, it is difficult to imagine that it could originate in the interrupted sacrifice of Isaac. A sacrifice so silently resolved upon, so unostentatiously prepared; and the execution of which was so solemnly and so strikingly prevented—was but little calculated to induce other nations, even neighboring nations, to imitate it and adopt it into their rites. It seems to have been far better calculated to discourage such sacrifices than to originate or encourage them.

Many parallels from ancient history and poetry to this remarkable transaction have been produced. The most striking is that of Agamemnon in offering, or rather in consenting to offer, his daughter Iphigenia at the demand of the oracle. But this transaction altogether lacks the simple virtue and “heroic faith” of Abraham’s behavior. Agamemnon was a “king of men,” and a mighty warrior; but in true heroic force of character, he is not to be named with Abraham. Agamemnon is quite unmanned by grief and distraction, whereas Abraham is perfectly composed and equable; he is not only fixed and resolved in his obedience, but is prompt and ready in all the needful preparations. Agamemnon, sorely against his will, complying with the demand of the oracle, hides his face with his mantle, that he may not see the last moments of his daughter; but Abraham, in obedience to the demand upon his faith and duty, waves with his own hand the weapon which is to take his child’s life away. Again, the Grecian king seems to have been moved to compliance by the fear of provoking or discouraging his subjects and soldiers, and, by that means, of incurring failure or disgrace in all the objects of glory, ambition, or revenge, involved in the war in which he was embarked. But Abraham had no country to win or lose, no objects of human ambition to fulfill. His one object was to obey God, regardless of men’s opinions. The only human opinion in which he had concern, was that of his own house, which would probably have condemned him, and made his entire life bitter, had the deed been consummated. Further, the sacrifice of Iphigenia was public—in the presence of a host of armed men—of generous-hearted soldiers, from whose compassion the father might have hoped a rescue when things came to the worst: for he must have often seen that other interests, views, and passions, are overruled and brought to naught by some sudden gush of human pity. But Abraham’s proceedings were altogether private. Not even the servants were allowed to behold the deed, nor was even Isaac himself acquainted with it till he came to the very place where he was to die. Besides, Agamemnon probably had other children; Abraham essentially but this one. Agamemnon’s wife was not barren, and probably not old; Abraham’s was both. Neither this one, nor any other of the hero’s children, were sent to him as earnests or pledges of extraordinary promises or blessings, much less of such high and glorious privileges as appeared to be bound up in the life of the son thus doomed to die. Thus the comparison fails at every point, except that of human tenderness, and not perhaps in that; for Abraham loved Isaac very dearly, and never did he love him more than in that moment when his hand was lifted up to smite him down.

Let it not, also, escape our notice, that Isaac himself was a willing victim. There can be no question, that in the last awful moments, Abraham communicated the truth to his son, and that he consented to yield obedience to the command of God, and the authority of his father. This is implied in the fact of his consenting to be bound; for he was grown to strength and manhood, and if he had but thought fit to struggle for his life, we cannot doubt that he might easily, without violence, have escaped from his father’s hands and fled away. Much may be allowed for the absolute authority of a parent in those ages, even to life and death, over his own son; but still, to the young, life is very sweet; and but for the high sense of duty to God, which such a son was likely to acquire from such a father, Isaac would scarcely have been so passive in this transaction.

Autor: JOHN KITTO