Matthew Poole and continuators on 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 .

After the accomplishment of Gods promises made to Abraham, and especially of that promise concerning the blessed seed; when now he seemed to be in a most prosperous and secure condition, he meets with a severe exercise from God.

The word Tempt is ambiguous, and signifies either 1. to intice to sin, in which sense Devils and wicked men are said to tempt others, but God tempts no man, Iam. 1. 13. Or 2. To prove or try, and in this sense God is said to tempt men. See Deut. 8. 2. and 13. 3. Iudg. 2▪ 22. Thus God tempted Abraham, (i. e.) he tryed the sincerity and strength of his Faith, the universality and constancy of his obedience, and this for Gods great honour and Abrahams great glory and comfort, and for the Churches benefit in all following ages.

An expression signifying a mans attentive hearing what is said to him, and his readiness to execute it, as v. 7. 11. and Gen. 27. 1. and 1 Sam. 3. 4, 6.

Marginal references: Heb. 11. 17.; Heb. behold me.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine onely 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 .

Not a word here but might pierce an heart of stone, much more so tender a Father as Abraham was. Take now without demurring or delay, I allow thee no time for consideration; thy own proper Son, not a Beast, not an Enemy, a Stranger, though that had been very difficult to one so kind to all Strangers, not a dear Servant, not a Friend or Familiar; thine onely Son, not by birth for so he had another Ihmael, but this was his onely Son by Sarah his first and legitimate Wife, who onely had the right of succession both to his Inheritance and to his Covenant and Promises, and this onely was now left to him, for Ihmael was abandoned and gone from him, and this must be such a Son as Isaac, once matter of laughter and great joy, now cause of unexpressible sorrow, thy Benoni, a Son of the Promise, of so great hopes, and such pregnant Vertue and Piety as this story shews, whom thou lovest, peculiarly and superlatively, even as thy own Soul; and get thee into the Land of Moriah, a place at a great distance, and to which thou shalt go but leisurely, ver. 4. that thou mayst have thy mind all that while fixed upon that bloody act, which other mens minds can scarce once think of without horrour, and so thou mayst offer him in a sort ten thousand times over before thou givest the fatal blow: and offer him there with thine own hands, and cruelly take away the Life which thou hast in some sort given him: For a burnt-offering, wherein by the Law of the burnt-offering then known to Abraham, afterwards published to all Israel, his Throat was to be cat, his body dissected into quarters, his bowels taken out, as if he had been some notorious Traitor and vile Malefactor and Miscreant, and afterwards he was to be burnt to ashes, that if possible there might be nothing left of him: And th[illegible: 1+ letters] must be done upon one of the mountains, which I shall tell thee of, not secretly in a corner, as if it were a work of darkness and thou wert ashamed or afraid to own it, but in a publick and open place, in the view of Heaven, Earth, God, Angels and Men. Which horrid and stupendious act it may be easily conjectured what reproach and blasphemy it would have occasioned against the Name and Worship of God and the true Religion, and what shame and torment to Abraham, from his own selfaccusing mind, from the clamours of his Wife and all his Friends and Allies, and what a dangerous and mischievous example this would have been to all future Generations. That Faith that could surmount these and many more difficulties, and could readily and chearfully rest upon God in the discharge of such a duty, no wonder it is so honoured by God and celebrated by all men, yea even by the Heathens, who have translated this history into their Fables.

Which signifies the vision of God, the place where God would be seen and manifested: And so it is here called by way of anticipation, because it was so called afterwards, ver. 14. in regard of Gods eminent appearance there for Isaacs deliverance; though it may also have a further respect unto Christ, because in that place God was manifested in the Flesh.

For there were divers Mountains there, as is evident from Psal. 125. 2. and particularly there were two eminent Hills, or rather tops or parts of the same Mountain, Sion, where Davids Palace was, and Moriah, where the Temple was built, and whence the adjoyning Country afterwards received its name.

By some visible sign or secret admonition which I shall give thee.

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning , and sadled 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.

That he might execute Gods command without doubt or delay.

For greater expedition, not waiting for his servant to do it.

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

Probably on the beginning of the third day. It is true, Moriah was not three days journey from Beer-sheba. But it must be considered that the ass, upon which he rid, is a dull and slow Creature, and that Abraham went no faster than the rest of his Company, who, for ought appears, were on foot; and that the provisions which they carried along with them, both for their own and the asses subsistence and for sacrifice must needs retard them.

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 .

Lest they should hinder him in the execution of his design.

For he knew that God both could and would for his promise sake, either preserve Isaac from being sacrificed, or afterward raise him from the dead, as it is intimated Heb. 11. 19.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burntoffering, 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.

Who though called a lad, ver. 5. was now a grown man, at least five and twenty years old, and therefore well able to bear that burden, and in this act he was an eminent Type of Christ, who carried that wood upon which he was Crucifyed.

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?

A compellation which might both wound Abrahams Heart and admonish him how unbecoming to a Father that action was which he was going about.

Which expression shewed that he had not put off Fatherly Affection to him, and that his intention did not arise from any unnatural and barbarous disposition, nor from any decay of Love to him, but from an higher cause, even the declared Will of God.

Marginal references: Heb. behold me

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

Either 1. Literally, though I know not how; for his Wisdom and Power are infinite: Or 2. Mystically, as Christ, whose Type Isaac was, is called a Lamb. Thus Abraham prudently reveals the matter to him by degrees, not all at once.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there , and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son , and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Made of Earth sleightly put together, as God afterwards prescribed, Exod. 20. 24.

Partly because Burnt-offerings were to be bound to the Altar; of which see on Psal. 118. 27. Partly to represent Christ who was bound to the cross. And that Isaac might be the more exact Type of Christ he was bound by his own consent, otherwise his age and strength seem sufficient to have made an effectual resistance. It is therefore highly reasonable to think that Abraham, having in the whole Journey prepared Isaac for such a work by general but pertinent discourses did upon the mount particularly instruct him concerning the plain and peremptory command of God; the absolute necessity of complying with it; the glorious reward of his obedience; and the dismal consequences of his disobedience; the power and faithfulness of God either to prevent the fatal blow, or to restore his life lost with infinite advantage. Upon these and such like reasons, doubtless he readily laid himself down at his Fathers feet, and yielded up himself to the Divine Will.

Marginal references: James 2. 21.

11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham . And he said, Behold, here am I.

(i. e.) Christ the Angel of the Covenant, as appears from ver. 12. 16.

He repeats his name to prevent Abraham, whom he knew to be most expeditious in Gods service, and just ready to give the deadly blow.

12 And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not with-held thy son, thine onely son from me .

God knew the sincerity and resolvedness of Abrahams faith and obedience before and without this evidence, and from eternity foresaw this fact and all its circumstances; and therefore you must not think that God had now made any new discovery. But this is spoken here, as in many other places, of God after the manner of men, who is then said to know a thing, when it is notorious and evident to a mans self and others by some remarkable effect. Thus David prayeth that God would search and know his Heart, and his thoughts, Psal. 139. 23. Though he had before professed that God understood his thought afar off, ver. 2. This therefore is the sense, Now I know, i. e, Now I have what I designed and desired, now I have made thee and others to know: As the Spirit of God and of Christ is said to cry Abba, Father, Gal. 4. 6. when it makes us to cry so, Rom. 8. 15.

From my service and Sacrifice: Or for me. i. e. for my sake. i. e. thou hast preferred mine Authority and Honour before the Life of thy dear Son. By which word it appears that God himself speaks these words.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went, and took the ram, and offered him up for a burntoffering in the stead of his son.

Which way he looked either because the voice came that way: Or because he heard the noise made by the motion of the Ram in the thicket.

Which had gone astray from the rest of the Flock, and whose errours were directed hither by Gods wise and powerful Providence, and being young, though horned, it might be called either Lamb, as v. 7. or Ram, as it is here. There needs no curious enquiry, how he could offer up that to God which was not his own, both because it was found in a publick place, and in all probability utterly lost to his owner, and because he had no doubt a warrant and inspiration for it from the great Lord and supreme owner of all things.

14. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh , as it is said to this day , in the mount of the LORD it shall be seen .

The same Hebrew Letters differently pointed make the sense either active, the Lord will see, i. e. provide or take care of those that commit themselves and their affairs to him; or passive, the Lord will be seen, i. e. will appear and shew himself in the behalf of all those that love him.

Wherein Moses wrote this Book; this is still used as a Proverb.

(i. e.) In greatest extremities and distresses, as we say, at the pits brink.

Or, the Lord shall be seen or manifested. And although these words are used by way of remembrance of this great deliverance and by way of accommodation, to such like eminent preservations from great dangers; yet they may have a further respect, and may signifie, that this was but an earnest of further and greater blessings to be expected in this place, where the Temple was built, and the Lord Christ was manifested in the Flesh.

Marginal references: That is, the Lord will see or provide.

16 And said, By my self have I sworn , saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing , and hast not with-held thy son, thine onely son;

So the Lord swears by his name, Ier. 44. 26. By his soul, in the Hebrew text, Ier. 51. 14. By his Holiness, Amos 4. 2. Which is the same with by himself, here. Hence also it appears that the Angel who speaks here is Christ and God, because this is Gods prerogative to swear by himself, as appears from Heb. 6. 13.

Not that Abraham by this act did properly merit or purchase the following promises, as plainly appears because the same things for substance had been freely promised to Abraham long before this time and action, Gen. 12. 2. and 13. 16. onely what before was promised is now confirmed by an Oath as a Testimony of that singular respect which God had to Abraham and to this heroical instance of Faith and Obedience.

Marginal references: Psal. 105. 9. Luk. 1. 73. Heb. 6. 13.

17 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:

(i. e.) The City, by an usual Synecdoche, as Deut. 12. 15. and 18. 6. all the Cities and consequently the Country adjacent: gate for gates. The sense is, they shall subdue their Enemies. For the gates of Cities were the places both of jurisdiction or judicature, Deut. 21. 19. and 22. 15. Amos 5. 12, 15. Zech. 8. 16. and of fortification and chief strength in War, Iudg. 5. 8. Psal. 147. 13. Isa. 22. 7. Ezek. 21. 22. And this promise was fulfilled both literally in Israels conquest of Canaan, in David, Solomon, &c. and spiritually in Christ, Psal. 110. 1, 2, 3.

Marginal references: Heb. lip.

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah she hath, also born children unto thy brother Nahor .

This narration and Genealogy is added for Rebekahs sake, and to make way for the following relation.

Marginal references: Chap. 11. 29.

21 Huz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram .

From whom descended, as some conceive, Elihu the Buzite, Iob 32. 2.

So called possibly because he dwelt amongst the Syrians, as Iacob for the same reason was called a Syrian, Deut. 26. 5. But there was another more antient Aram, from whom the Syrians descended, Gen. 10. 22.

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah : these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor Abrahams brother.

Afterwards Isaac's Wife, Chap. 24.

Marginal references: Called Rom. 9. 10. Rebecca.

24 And his concubine , whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah .

Which was an inferior kind of Wife taken according to the common practise of those times, subject to the Authority of the principal Wife, and whose Children had no right of inheritance, but were endowed with gifts. See Gen. 21. 14. and 25. 6.

A name common both to Man, as 2 Sam. 10. 6. and Woman, as 1 King. 15. 13.