Abraham, Here I Am
22 1 Some time later, our Father tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," Abraham replied.
2 Then our Father said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac. Go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." a a v2 The threefold tenderness — "your son, your only son, whom you love" — points to John 3:16 and Romans 8:32. Abraham was spared from giving Isaac; our Father did not spare his own Son.
3 Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac, and after he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place our Father had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you." 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father?" "Here I am, my son," Abraham replied. "The fire and the wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "Our Father himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them walked on together. 9 When they reached the place our Father had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11 But the messenger of our Father called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear me, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
13 Abraham looked up, and there behind him was a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 So Abraham named that place "The Father Will Provide," which means "our Father will provide." And to this day it is said, "On his mountain it will be provided." b b v14 YHWH-Jireh means "YHWH will provide." Abraham named this mountain after our Father provided the ram in place of Isaac — pointing forward to the eternal provision of Jesus on the cross.
15 The messenger of our Father called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares our Father, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and will surely multiply your offspring like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies, 18 and through your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."
19 Then Abraham returned to his young men, and they set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.
20 Some time later, Abraham was told, "Milcah too has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 Nahor's concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.