Abraham Names the Location
Genesis 22:9
Excerpt
In naming the place Abraham of course was commemorating his own experience of sacrifice to the Lord. But an animal (a ram—not a lamb; cf. Gen. 22:8—caught . . . its horns in a thornbush) was provided by God’s grace as a substitute for the lad in the offering (v. 13). Later all Israel would offer animals to the Lord. Worship involved accepting God’s sacrificial substitute. But of course in the New Testament God substituted His only Son for the animal, and the perfect Sacrifice was made. John certainly had this in mind when he introduced Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Yet the main point of Genesis 22:9-14 is not the doctrine of the Atonement. It is portraying an obedient servant worshiping God in faith at great cost, and in the end receiving God’s provision. Abraham did not withhold his son. Similarly Paul wrote that God “did not spare [epheisato] His own Son, but gave [delivered] Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). A form of the same Greek word is used of Abraham in the Septuagint: “Thou hast not spared [epheisō] thy beloved son” (Gen. 22:12). More
Ross, Allen P. “Genesis.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985. 65. Print.
Comments