Abraham sacrifices Isaac: the great temptation and promise - interpretation by Philaret Drozdov (Book of Genesis)

The death of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Sacrifice of Isaac

Better is wisdom that does not shine in words, but is evidenced by deeds. Saint Gregory the Theologian

During a visit to Abraham by three angels, already leaving his home, God revealed to him that He would destroy the neighboring cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, since they are the most wicked cities on earth. Abraham's nephew, righteous Lot, lived in Sodom. Abraham began to beg the Lord to have mercy on these cities if fifty righteous people were found there. The Lord said: “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, then for their sake I will have mercy on the whole city.” Abraham asked again: “Perhaps five righteous people will not reach fifty?” The Lord said: “I will not destroy if I find forty-five righteous people there.” Abraham continued to talk to the Lord and beg Him, decreasing the number of righteous people until he reached ten; he said: “Let the Lord not be angry, what will I say one more time: maybe there will be ten righteous people there?” God said: “I will not destroy even for the sake of ten.” But in these unfortunate cities the inhabitants were so evil and corrupt that not even ten righteous people were found there. These wicked people even wanted to abuse the two Angels who came to save righteous Lot. They were ready to break down the door, but the Angels struck them with blindness and took Lot and his family - his wife and two daughters - out of the city. They told them to run and not look back, so as not to die. And then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed these cities and all the people in them. And he devastated the whole place so much that in the valley where they were, a salt lake was formed, now known as the Dead Sea, in which nothing living can live. Lot's wife, when she ran away from the city, looked back at Sodom, and immediately turned into a pillar of salt. By the fact that Lot's wife looked back at Sodom, she showed that she regretted leaving a sinful life. This is a strict lesson for us: when the Lord saves us from sin, we need to run away from it without looking back, without stopping and without regretting it.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

A year after God appeared to Abraham in the form of three strangers, the Lord’s prediction was fulfilled: Abraham and Sarah had a son, whom they named Isaac. Abraham was then a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. They loved their only son very much. When Isaac grew up, God wanted to raise Abraham's faith and teach through him all people to love God and obey the will of God. God appeared to Abraham and said: “Take your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and sacrifice him on the mountain that I will show you.” Abraham obeyed. He felt very sorry for his only son, whom he loved more than himself. But he loved God most of all and believed in Him completely. He knew that God would never wish anything bad. He got up early in the morning, saddled a donkey, took with him his son Isaac and two servants and set off. On the third day of their journey they came to the mountain that the Lord had indicated. Abraham left the servants and the donkey under the mountain, took fire and a knife, laid the wood on Isaac and went with him to the mountain. When they were walking together up the mountain, Isaac asked Abraham: “My father! We have fire and wood, but where is the lamb for sacrifice? Abraham replied, “The Lord will provide for Himself a lamb.” And they both walked further together, and came to the top of the mountain, to the place indicated by the Lord. There Abraham built an altar, laid out the wood, bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. He had already raised the knife to stab his son. But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said: “Abraham, Abraham! Do not raise your hand against the boy and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you did not withhold your only son from Me.” And Abraham saw a ram not far away, entangled in a bush, and sacrificed it instead of Isaac. For such faith, love and obedience, God blessed Abraham and promised that he would have as many descendants as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore, and that in his descendants all the nations of the earth would receive blessings, that is, from his lineage the Savior would come peace. The sacrifice of Isaac was a prediction to people about the Savior, who, being the Son of God, would be given by His Father to die on the cross, as a sacrifice for the sins of all people.

It is a holy thing to choose what is good not for the sake of anything else, but for the sake of the good itself. Venerable Neil of Sinai

St. Nicholas-Joasaph Cathedral in Belgorod

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(Genesis 18, 9-18, 22, 1-18)

BIRTH OF ISAAC

The Lord appeared to Abraham many times and promised him that he would have large descendants and that the Savior would appear in his descendants. Meanwhile, Abraham was already very old, and he still had no children. When the Lord appeared to Abraham in the person of three strangers, He promised that in a year Abraham and Sarah would have a son. Sarah even laughed when she heard this, it was so incredible: Abraham was already 99 years old, and Sarah was 90. But a year later they actually had a son and named him Isaac. Abraham was very happy about his son and loved him more than anything in the world.

SACRIFICE OF ISAAC

When the boy was 12 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said: “Take Isaac and sacrifice him to Me on the mountain that I will show you.” It was very difficult for Abraham: he loved his boy so much. But he also trusted the Lord completely; he loved Him very much and knew that the Lord would never do or demand anything bad. And so he obeyed the Lord, took Isaac and everything that was needed for the sacrifice, and went to the mountain that the Lord showed him. He left his servants at the foot, took only Isaac and began to climb. On the way, Isaac, who himself was carrying firewood for the sacrifice on his back, asked: “Where is the sacrifice that we will bring?” “God will find a sacrifice pleasant for himself,” answered the father. At the top of the mountain, Abraham prepared an altar, tied up Isaac, took a knife and was about to stab him, when the Lord restrained him: “Do not kill your son,” He said, “I see that you love Me so much that you did not spare My only son.” . “Then Abraham saw a ram caught in the bushes and sacrificed it instead of Isaac. For such great faith, the Lord blessed Abraham as he had never blessed anyone before, and since then Abraham has been called the father of all believers.

ISAAC - A TYPE OF JESUS ​​CHRIST

But why did the Lord demand such a difficult sacrifice from him? Of course, the Lord Himself knew how much Abraham loved him even without her, but with this He showed Abraham’s love to all people so that we could learn how to love the Lord. And, most importantly, it was an image in advance of our Savior Jesus Christ. After all, He was the Son of God, and His Heavenly Father sacrificed Him, gave Him to suffer for the salvation of the world. Such an image of something in advance is called a pre-image or prototype. This type was needed to help people understand that the Son of God will appear in the world not as a great king, but as a sufferer. And now, when we read the story about how Abraham sacrificed his son, it is easier for us to understand the love of the Lord, His Great Sacrifice for our salvation.

Abraham's sacrifice was a type of how the Lord gave His Son to be crucified and die for our salvation. We were saved by this great sacrifice, and we remember and portray it when we serve mass. This service (it would be more correct to call it liturgy) is an image of the Savior’s sacrifice. Bread and wine represent the Savior Jesus Christ and, according to His word and the power of the Holy Spirit, become His Body and Blood.

But the liturgy also depicts our sacrifice, our desire to sacrifice ourselves to God, that is, to give ourselves to God and do not everything that comes to our minds, but only what the Lord wants from us. We should always have such feelings when we attend mass, and especially when we receive communion. The following words, which we often hear at liturgy and other services, remind us of this:

To ourselves and each other and our whole belly (i.e. our whole life)

Let us surrender to Christ God.

QUESTIONS ON THE TOPIC:

1. Who was Isaac?
2. How was his birth predicted?
3. What did the Lord require of Abraham?
4. How was the sacrifice of Isaac performed?
5. How did it end?
6. What is a prototype?
7. What does the sacrifice of Isaac represent?
8. In what church service do we depict the Savior’s sacrifice?
9. What else does liturgy mean?
10. What is the most important service and why?

Independent work:

In the booklet for recording prayers, start a special part for recording the prayers that we hear during church services.

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Illustrations are expected to be published in this chapter! 03/09/2013 // Admin

Chapter 22

Gen. 22:3. Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his servants and Isaac his son; He chopped wood for the burnt offering, and got up and went to the place that God had told him about.

Patriarch Abraham spent a difficult night, having received a revelation about the sacrifice of his only, beloved son! But the power of faith and obedience to God triumphed over all other feelings of Abraham: he, as the Apostle Paul explains, was illuminated by the thought that God, who miraculously gave Isaac life from his elderly parents, “is able to raise him from the dead” (cf. Rom. 4:17 ; Heb. 11:19). And as soon as the morning dawned, Abraham was already in a hurry to fulfill the divine will!

Gen. 22:5. And Abraham said to his youths: Stay here with the donkey, and I and my son will go there and worship, and return to you.

In fair fear that Abraham’s servants, not accustomed to human sacrifices, will prevent him from fulfilling the divine command, Abraham leaves them at the foot of the mountain and promises to soon return to them with his son. In this promise one cannot see deception, even if it was made for a good purpose, but they should be understood as proof of Abraham’s faith that God would not allow Isaac to perish, but would bring him back to life again.

Gen. 22:6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son;

An interesting detail that further enhances the representative similarity of the sacrifice of Isaac with the great Calvary sacrifice, during which our Lord Jesus Christ himself had to bear His cross (John 19:17).

Gen. 22:7–8. And Isaac began to speak to Abraham his father, and said: My father! He answered: Here I am, my son. He said, “Here is the fire and the wood; where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham said: God will provide for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son. And they both walked on together.

This entire dialogue between father and son is filled with deep devotion to God. Hiding from Isaac that it was he who was intended to serve as a sacrifice, Abraham involuntarily prophesies, since he indicates that God himself will choose the sacrificial lamb, which was later, indeed, justified (Gen. 22:13). Abraham's very speech about the lamb contains a representative indication of the great Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, i.e. on the Lord Jesus Christ, who offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for us all.

Gen. 22:9. And they came to the place that God had told him about; and Abraham built an altar there and laid out the wood

This altar, in all likelihood, was a small pile of stones collected there, at the top of the mountain.

and having bound his son Isaac, he laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

From all the details of this narrative it is clearly clear that Isaac completely voluntarily and unquestioningly obeyed the divine command. Although he was already at an age when he could resist his elderly father, he shows him the most touching obedience: the son’s obedience here is equal to the father’s faith and both of them show great heroism of spirit. If Abraham, however, as we see, finds it necessary to first bind Isaac, then he does this either to prevent any involuntary movements of his, at the sight of the raised knife, or, more likely, due to the general sacrificial custom.

The Sacrifice of Abraham is a prototype of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ

In the Easter troparion we glorify the Risen Christ, Who gave life to “those in the tombs,” that is, to all those who died before the first coming of the Lord into the world, to all those who are in Hell and to those who believe in the Messiah promised in Paradise. One of them was the first prophet of God, the forefather and patriarch Abraham.

Sea of ​​paganism

Recently, the Internet has begun to swell with sympathizers of Slavic paganism and the tribal system based on it. Modern neo-pagans claim the merits of tribal relations in comparison with our usual society. They talk with aplomb about the phenomenal superiority of “primordial Vedic paganism” over “Judeo-Christianity.” As a final argument, the interlocutor will certainly mention the tricky expression “Abrahamic Christianity.” Here, they say, you are all Jews through and through, you even have a prophet - the Jew Abraham.

I would like to immediately ask: What other types of Christianity, besides “Abrahamic,” do you know? Would you like to know why a whole bush of religions is called Abrahamic? Why are you not satisfied with the person of the first prophet? And by the way, do you know how many nationalities Abraham had? And if the person of Abraham bothers you so much, it’s time to talk about it. Moreover, Abraham lived during the times of that very paganism that so fascinates some inhabitants of the Internet.

Three religions

The term “Abrahamic” is not magical, it does not send us straight into the arms of today’s Jews (no matter how anyone might want it), but is a statement of the immutable fact that Abraham is the name of the first prophet of the One God on Earth, the name of the oldest of the three patriarchs of the Old Testament.

By the way, these three religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) also have another name - the religion of Revelation. This name is a tribute to the fact that the Lord Himself revealed Himself to His first prophet. Let's learn more about the life of the first prophet of the One God on Earth. A land chock-full of the siblings of today’s pagans—the idolaters.

Origin of Abraham

Abraham is the son of Terah, a descendant of Noah through the line of Shem, the son of Adam in the tenth generation. Born in 2021 BC (usually several dates are given, I gave the average). Originally from Ur, one of the richest Chaldean cities, which was located in an area called Shinar. The Lord called Abram from this city, promising to make from him a great nation. This promise became the basis of the union (Covenant) of God and Abraham. The union between God and Abraham is the beginning of the Ancient One, or, as it is commonly called, the Old Testament.

Abraham's name

Actually, Abram. The second letter “A” was added to the second syllable of the name by the will of the Lord himself much later. And at first his name was simply Avram. If you like, Patriarch Abram, because his fellow tribesmen chose him as the head of the clan. Four thousand years ago, each tribe had a special religion with its own holidays and its own family cemetery. By the way, the Bible says that Abram bought the cave of Machpel A to establish a family cemetery. When Abraham died at the age of 175, he was buried next to Sarah in the same cave of Machpelah. Now the Arabs sacredly guard this tomb, as they consider Abraham their ancestor. The 14th sura of the Koran is named in honor of the founder. In Islam, Abraham appears under the name Ibrahim and is revered as one of the greatest prophets of Allah, about whom the Koran says: “Is there anyone more beautiful in his faith than the virtuous one who completely surrendered to Allah and followed the faith of Ibrahim the Hanif? But Allah made Abraham [His] friend” (4:125).

Nationality of Patriarch Abram

Patriarch Avram clearly has more than one nationality. He is considered their ancestor by the Arabs, Arameans, Jews... The eldest son of Abram Ishmael is considered the ancestor of the Arabs and Arameans. Abram's second son, Isaac (more precisely, Isaac), is revered as the first Jew. From Abram’s next marriage, six more sons were born, who, like the eldest son, Ismail, became the founders of various Arab tribes.

Can we say that Abram was the first Jew? Can. Although, with the same success and on the same basis, Abram is called the ancestor by the Arabs, Arameans, even the Assyrians, who translate the name of their ancestor as “father of all”... Why not?

Abram's Neighbors

Coming from Ur of the Chaldeans, Abram settled in Canaan. Abram's neighbors were rational, cruel, and even ruthless people. The question of the survival of the tribe extremely aggravated competition. Strangers and simply passers-by were supposed to be enslaved, increasing the means of their kind. The question of morality or immorality did not exist in principle. It is in our 21st century that we can still reproach someone for inhumanity. But 4 thousand years ago, inhumanity was the norm. The main value was the life of the clan, tribe. The natural function of a tribal god, or, if you like, a tribal religion, was to ensure the well-being of its clan. In case of success, the ancestral god was entitled to a sacrifice from his tribe. Ritual killings were encouraged.

Lord of the Flies

Canaan's closest neighbors, the Phoenicians, were distinguished by their penchant for child sacrifice. More precisely, to burn them. This is what it looked like. In the central square of the village there was a tophet - a closed courtyard, and in it a huge hollow copper idol with the head of a bull - the totem animal of Baal. A fire was lit under the copper bull. The ritual took place at night, to the music of flutes, tambourines and lyres. As the historian of the 1st century BC testifies. Diodorus Sicilian, the children chosen as sacrifices were brought to the red-hot statue and placed on its copper hands, along which they slid down into the fire. Looking at the death of children, their parents should have rejoiced, dressed in bright, elegant clothes. It was believed that every tear, every sigh detracts from the value of the sacrifice made.

By the way, one of the names of the tribal god Baal-Zebub went down in history as Beelzebub. The translation is simple - Lord of the Flies.

The scale of the victims is shocking

After the sacrifice, the charred children's bones were packed into a clay vessel. In one of the many Phoenician colonies of Mozia, in Sicily, about one thousand three hundred such vessels were found. How many such colonies were there... Around the tophet of the Phoenician capital of Carthage, archaeologists discovered the remains of about twenty thousand children. Traditionally, first-born boys were sacrificed. Mostly babies. An anthropological examination of the remains showed that 85 percent of those buried were under six months of age, generally all were under two years old, and only one child was about twelve years old.

Nowadays it is common to be indignant at the cruelty of the Old Testament God, who demanded the destruction of every single idolater! In connection with the above example, the question arises: how else could it be possible to stop the civilization of non-humans who burned children alive?

Intolerant Abram

Apparently, Abram had difficulty coming to terms with the mores of the surrounding pagan sea. Abram once divided property with his nephew Lot. He moved on, and Lot chose life in the flowering valley of Sodom. During the next inter-tribal war, when the victors captured Sodom, Lot was among the captives. Abram, armed with 318 of his servants, defeated the adversary and returned all of Lotto’s property, as well as his women and people. When the king of Sodom invited Abram to take all the spoils of war for himself, Abram refused. The wording of the refusal used by Abram is noteworthy: “I will not take a thread or a sandal strap from you, so that no one can say that Sodom enriched Abram.” Why not, can you guess? Will we talk again about the cruelty of the Old Testament God? Would you take it?

Cursed is the earth by your deeds

When you read the description of the leaden abominations that were happening around Abram by his neighbors, no, no, and the question arises: “How did the earth bear these creatures?” Apparently, it was precisely these morals of the owners of the earth that destroyed the land, in the sense of the soil. An interesting pattern: traces of the most ancient civilizations are found among the most severe deserts of the planet. Couldn't ancient farmers have chosen a more suitable place for farming? After all, at that time there were much fewer people, and much more fertile land... But the fact of the matter is that everything was exactly the opposite - the very existence of these societies led to the appearance of deserts. As it was determined by God: “Cursed is the earth by your deeds.”

Prediction of future slavery

To prevent the people created from Abram from becoming the destroyer of their own country, they had to undergo special training. One day in Canaan, the Lord informed Abram that his (Abram’s) descendants “will live for four hundred years in a foreign country, in slavery and oppression.” “Only the fourth generation of your descendants will return here, for the sins of the Amorites” (then inhabitants of Canaan) “have not yet reached their highest measure.” After liberation from slavery, the Lord promised to give Canaan to the descendants of Abram. After the promise, the land of Canaan began to be called the Promised Land. From that time on, the family of Abraham began to build altars to the One God throughout the territory of Canaan. Naturally, the condition for fulfilling the promise was that Abram's descendants should not behave in Canaan the way their predecessors behaved. Was this condition met? Judge for yourself.

Abraham's Faith

Abram differed from his fellow tribesmen and neighboring tribes in one way - living among the pagan world, he preached the One God. Abram became the first prophet of faith in One God. Moreover, he was connected with the Lord by a personal Covenant. This was confirmed when Abram was 99 years old. The Lord reminded Abram about the Covenant and said: “I take you under my protection. You will become the progenitor of many nations. And your name will not be Abram, but Abraham.” This second name is usually interpreted as "father of nations" or "father of many."

As a sign of the Covenant, the reproductive organs of all men of the family of Abraham underwent the procedure of circumcision. That is, the children born from them were dedicated to the One God already at the moment of conception.

In honor of God, Who is Love, the Abrahamic family built sanctuaries in Canaan.

Righteous Abraham served His God with hospitality. For the sake of a simple traveler crossing tribal lands, Abraham arranged a festive feast. He didn’t take away his property, didn’t turn him into a tribal slave, but treated him and saw him off! From the point of view of the surrounding neighbors - sheer waste and irrational consumption of food!

Faith of the Descendants of Abraham

And today, among the Arab descendants of Abraham and Muslims, hospitality is a strict commandment. For example, a guest coming to the home of a Muslim should be greeted with cordiality and respect, regardless of whether the guest is a relative, a stranger, a Muslim or a non-Muslim. Even the worst enemy must be spared while he is under the roof of a descendant of Abraham! This is done in the name of God and in memory of the first prophet.

Encountering God in reality

One day, in the midday heat, Abraham, as befits an old Bedouin, was sitting at the entrance to his tent. Perhaps he was thinking about how ironic his name “Father of Nations” sounded. Him - an old man whose only child was a son from the slave Hagar. Suddenly three travelers appeared in the distance. According to the laws of hospitality, he should have invited them to his place, but Abraham went much further than politeness required: he ordered the servants to wash the guests’ feet, ordered fresh bread to be baked, and even slaughtered a well-fed calf.

Amazingly, today, less than four thousand years after the meeting described, we confidently know the place where the meeting of the first prophet with the Creator of the Universe took place. It was on the edge of an oak grove (that is, an oak grove), Mamvre. The only thing that survived from the oak grove was a decrepit oak tree near the city of Hebron. The surviving branches of an ancient tree allow us to visually feel the thickness of time that separates us from that day.

Abraham's Hospitality

Abraham's hospitality is captured in the central icon of Christianity - the TRINITY by Andrei Rublev. It is believed that by appearing in the form of three travelers, the Lord pointed out the trinity of His Persons. The guests behaved unusually. One of them said to Abraham: “I will be with you again in a year at this same time, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” The man whose name was “Father of Nations” was promised that his barren marriage would be crowned with a son. Probably Abraham's wife Sarah heard this conversation and this promise. She probably thought with bitterness what kind of child a hundred-year-old woman could have from me. Laughter alone! Apparently, that’s why when the promised son was born, she gave him the name Yitzchok - Laughter.

Prophecy to the prophet

Then the Creator informed Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom for the abominations committed there. He told this to the prophet, also because he knew how much this man despised the sin of Sodom. Instead of approval, Abraham suddenly started a strange bargaining with the Lord about how many righteous people in Sodom were enough for the Lord of Time to reconsider his decision to execute. But the measure of evil has already been fulfilled. As it turned out, besides Lot, there were no righteous people left in Sodom.

Execution of Sodom

Two angels entered Sodom and, accepting Lot's invitation, stayed with him. And the sodomites, threatening to break down the doors of the house, demanded that Lot immediately provide his guests for intimate intimacy. What can I say? Sodomites! (Will someone again talk about the unjustified cruelty of the Old Testament God?!). This inhumane act of the Sodomites was the last. Sodom and Gomorrah were filled with rain from droplets of burning sulfur. In place of the two cities, a scorched, bare place remained. The posthumous history of Sodom began.

It is interesting to note that a geological analysis of the area, carried out almost four thousand years later, confirmed the abundance of pellets of melted sulfur in the soil. It is truly amazing how closely the Old Testament relates to our day!

Abraham's Sacrifice

The final test of Abraham's love for His Creator was approaching. Of course, the Omniscient knew that Abraham would pass the test, but he wanted the patriarch himself to know about it. This means he needed this experience and this victory. Only after her did Abraham truly become the father of all believers in the One God, that is, the Patriarch.

To say that Abraham loved his late son is to say nothing. But one day the prophet heard that he had to sacrifice his son. And Abraham went to the place of sacrifice and even in a frenzy raised his hand with a knife. But his hand was stopped by an angel. The main thing has happened: Abraham dedicated his second son and all his descendants to his God. This was precisely the meaning of the sacrifice.

The Holy Fathers of Christianity agree on one thing: the sacrifice of Abraham became a prototype of the great Sacrifice that the Son of the Heavenly Father named Jesus would later bring for all humanity, a prototype of His Most Bright and Glorious Resurrection.

Alexander Bystrov

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Abraham and Abrahamism: the true meaning of sacrifice

The author, professor at the University of Munich, philosopher, chairman of the Kant Society in Germany, Reinhard Lauth, discusses the place of Islam in world history, which becomes understandable only when taking into account the peculiarities of its emergence.

Translation from German by A. Muravyov

Isaac as a victim

Reinhard Lauth

And now comes the turn of the third and greatest test: God demands from Abraham the sacrifice of Isaac, whom he had previously so frantically waited for, his beloved and prophesied son. Here we should remember that the Canaanites, in their polytheistic madness, sacrificed their own children, and especially the firstborn, to their god Molech as a burning sacrifice. During the reign of Judah, similar sacrifices were made on the tophet in the valley of Ginnom, which is adjacent to Jerusalem to the south. And it is unfair to say that this did not actually happen, and that all this was performed only symbolically. However, the book of Leviticus prohibits such sacrifices, and Jeremiah reports them with disgust, and even the compiler of the Koran knew about them as a disgusting thing. And Ginnom (Gehenna) became precisely as a result of this sacrifice synonymous with hell.

This sacrifice served, according to the legislation of the mentioned pagans, to increase vitality, it pleased the gods and served as a source of perverted pleasure for the thing being offered - we must not forget that in ancient times these sacrifices were associated with intoxication with blood. Finally, they atoned for the guilt of the person being offered and feared the punishments associated with this. Since the innocent was sacrificed for the guilty, people softened the wrath of the gods. We find something similar in the legend of Tantalus: Tantalus, the king of Asia Minor, friendly with the gods, slaughters his son Pelops and presents him to the gods as a treat. All this together took place in a certain completely closed sphere of morality, to which murder and death inexorably belonged.

Abraham knew from experience the essence of this fiery sacrifice of the firstborn. What it cost him, who hoped so much for Isaac, is also clear. It should, perhaps, also be taken into account that, according to ancient laws, one’s own life in the offspring continued much stronger than in the parent himself (the immortality of the soul had not yet been thought of).

How was Abraham able to meet the requirement of sacrifice? Almost always his motivation is seen in unconditional obedience. Of course this is true, but in general it is not enough. It is necessary to understand the supernatural event in which Isaac's life was offered as a gift in this sacrifice, and from the human side. Because of his aversion to polytheism and impeccable morality, Abraham was expelled from Ur. He prevented Lot's seduction into paganism by attacking the army of the eastern princes and then praying for Sodom and Gomorrah. His God, i.e. the supreme being for him, whose priest Melchizedek blessed him, stood above the gods of the Babylonian astral kingdom and even beyond them. We must not forget that from this moment faith in the One God begins its path in history against polytheistic naturalism. Abraham must have rejected Canaanite child sacrifice with disgust. His God could not want such a sacrifice from him! Abraham could not agree to the sacrifice of Isaac even to the extent that it meant the destruction of all former, true descendants, the end of the prophecy about his name, and even, as far as one can assume, God’s violation of his word. How could the calling be fulfilled for Isaac and his descendants when he, who came after 12 o'clock, was killed?

There was only one way to avoid this obvious contradiction, namely, if the calling and the One who bestowed it were stronger than death. The name El Shaddai seems to express this idea. If Abraham's faith was truly such that he meant something of this kind, and this probably was so, for otherwise he could not (literally) understand the preservation of Isaac from being sacrificed, then at that moment it revealed the idea of ​​some completely new relationship between God and man and human existence (and in the opposite sense, man and God).

It was this idea that led Abraham to the moment when he picked up the knife, realiter and idealiter, to a completely new form of being. Abraham could not, like the polytheists, elevate his life through such a burning sacrifice, he could only offer a burnt offering, and he did this before El Shaddai, the Almighty. But this meant this: through the burnt offering of one’s own life - to assimilate in the natural son and in the calling resting on him and its possible fulfillment - a new relationship begins between God and man, which had a completely different nature than the pagan ones. What Gilgamesh and the pharaohs (in their pyramids) selflessly sought to acquire, deliverance from death, became a reality here in some previously unimaginable way. Having gone through natural death in sacrifice, the sacrificed life is preserved and ascended to a qualitatively new level.

And here it becomes clear why God made a distinction between the two circumcised - Isaac and Ishmael. He did this in view of the upcoming sacrifice. According to the Koran, Isaac (who is not named), when he realized that he was to be sacrificed, must voluntarily accept it (Sura 37:102 “Father, do what you are commanded. I will be humble if God so desires.” However, Abraham, even without this, voluntarily sacrificed himself in Isaac, for they were, according to his legislation, Life.

New community

The most important thing in connection with our question about the essence of the union, in particular, about its natural and supernatural operation, is that it reveals why and in what way God gave the promise to Abraham in Isaac, his Union was realized in him. Abraham was considered worthy of this prophecy and this Covenant, since he was spiritually ready and capable of this sacrifice and the test of death. The Bible nowhere records Ishmael as being disobedient to God, but he was not the son of a victim or a victim. It is not in him that Abraham sacrificed his life against all hope. This sacrifice was not just an event of family significance (as it was easy to mistakenly think and as was often concluded), but a supernatural event. It reveals why God is absolute. Election is based on the spirit of this sacrifice and on it alone. On the one hand, this sacrifice takes place so diametrically contrary to the prediction and the union that it cannot be understood at all based on how they were previously carried out. The union is sealed by the sacrifice of Abraham, and the prophecy is based on the spirit in which the sacrifice was made.

Again, this is understood most fully by the writer of Hebrews. In chapter 11 he writes: “Faith is the message of hope [i.e. faith in what is hoped for], the conviction of things not seen [conviction of what is not seen].” “By faith we understand that... from what is not seen, what is seen has come.” “By faith Abraham obeyed the call to go to the country which he had to receive as an inheritance, and he went, not knowing what was coming. By faith he dwelt in the promised land, as if in a foreign land […], he waited for the city that has foundations, whose maker and maker is God.” “All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but they saw them from afar, and rejoiced, and confessed that they were strangers and strangers on the earth; for those who say so show that they are seeking the fatherland. And if they had in their thoughts the [fatherland] from which they came, they would have time to return; but they strove for the best, that is, for the heavenly; therefore God is not ashamed of them, and calls Himself their God: for He has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, being tempted, brought Isaac [to be sacrificed].”

On the basis of the burnt offering, God founded an entirely new type of community (Gemeinschaft), namely the one of which circumcision became the visible sign, which from the very beginning differs from the natural, family or clan community. It rather forms a relation of acceptance (Angenommenseins), the basis of which is not natural bonds, but a spiritual community “in the perception of sacrifice” (in acceptancee sacrificii). This connection is established for all time.

The meaning of Isaac's sacrifice for posterity

That in which this force has received its most important basis for all times is not an unfounded or natural advantage, but a certain moral act that is insurmountable in its leading value. It consists in the burnt offering of man for the sake of God (which will be fully corresponded in the death of Jesus on the cross by the burnt offering of God for the sake of man). “And in your seed,” God swears to Abraham after this sacrifice, “all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Gen. 22:18). That is why God’s constant offer to Abraham sounds: “Walk before Me and be perfect.” The Greek word τέλειος, frankly speaking, obscures the meaning of what is meant here by the word “perfect.” We are not talking about the goal, but precisely about this main value, about Goodness (Güte). Thanks to the rejection and overcoming of the natural value system and the will and actions corresponding to it and the basis of life on the spiritual and moral principle with God, Abraham will land in this salvation and in His world.

The profound significance of the sacrifice of Isaac for subsequent history can best be understood by the example of Moses and his deeds. At the decisive moment of his calling from the burning bush, God reveals the task that will be assigned to him with the words: “I am the God of Abram, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Thus, from the very beginning, Moses finds himself included in the system of the Covenant of Abraham, and God’s task to free the children of Jacob from Egyptian slavery is precisely a task within the framework of this Covenant and is consistent with the promise given to Abraham (Gen. 15). And Moses subsequently fulfills, although only from the human side, but, of course, according to God's direction, this promise of the Covenant. In the nineteenth chapter of the book of Exodus, God does not enter into a new covenant, but only announces that He will preserve and fulfill the existing one.

Sinai and Abraham

Then the special religious basic idea of ​​​​Abraham is expressed in the first commandments of the Decalogue, which God gave at Sinai: “Thou shalt have no gods other than me. Do not make for yourself an idol or any likeness, a tree in heaven, a tree on earth, or a tree in the waters... Do not bow down to them or serve them.” Moses did not make any sacrifice even remotely comparable to the sacrifice of Abraham, he only legitimized the sacrifice through the Sinai legislation, in any case it was only a sacrifice that the pagans offered to their gods, the sacrifice of animals. Moses was not so much a man of sacrifice as he was the first sacrifice the Israelites made to God after their deliverance from Egypt, a sacrifice made by the Midianite priest Jethro (a Jew descended from Abraham's relationship with Keturah).

The special act of Moses consists largely in raising Israel to the level of the Universal Principle. This is already expressed in the name of God that appeared to him, “Yahweh.” Probably, this name expressed the eternal truth “I am like I am.” This truth also applies to the union, although Moses never speaks about the deep basis of this union, about sacrifice in the image of Abram’s sacrifice.

On Mount Sinai, God does not make the Covenant for the first time, but only renews, that is, strengthens the Covenant that already exists. The position taken by Abraham regarding God and polytheism rises to the level of the Universal. The sharp opposition to polytheism is clearly visible in the fact that in the tent, that is, in the temple, there is now not an image of an idol (the god who lives there, Marduk, Ishtar, etc.), but the Ark of the Covenant with the tablets of the Decalogue, then exists from a formal point of view, with an unconditional and universal obligation.

The fact that the monotheistic principle had now become universal (after all, Moses could not raise the unique and only sacrifice of Abraham to the level of the universal and generalized) received as a consequence one significant drawback: legalism. Thanks to it, the one-time specific demand that each individual accepts can be overcome. Even the burden of elementary morality was shifted to the commandments. Legalism could easily receive such an interpretation, and subsequently it received it, that in its absoluteness it excluded a specific high, and even highest, act. “We are the imams of the law, and according to our law (Christ) must die,” the high priests say to Pilate. It could happen, since the sacrifice of Abraham could not find adequate expression in the law, that the isolated faith in the One God (as later in Islam), more precisely, in the one Covenant of God with Israel, became the exclusive content of faith. Generally speaking, this means that the Testament was reduced to these above-mentioned points.

Subsequently, Paul strongly opposed the failure of the law to embody that which is a concrete, supreme essential realization (Rom. 7 and Gal. 3). The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, on the contrary, emphasizes the internal imperfection of the Mosaic legal sacrifice: it is only an animal sacrifice, and, in fact, does not cleanse from sin. And the need to constantly repeat it is a sign of its imperfection.

Chapter III. Patriarchal Period

Life 11–12

In the southern part of Mesopotamia, in the so-called Chaldea, on the right bank of the Euphrates, about ten miles from it, archaeologists excavated the remains of an ancient city. This city, as can be seen from the inscriptions, was Ur, called Chaldean after its location. The absence of any information about this city in the Bible can be filled with what we know from archeology and history.

The city of Ur, the capital of ancient Sumer, had existed for more than a thousand years by that time. In ancient times it was much closer to the shore of the Persian Gulf, from which it is now separated by a large strip of alluvial land, and carried on an extensive maritime trade. The land here was fertile, so the surroundings of Ur at that time looked like a blooming garden. The population, engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding and various crafts, lived in material prosperity and stood at a high level of civilization. Their art of construction was especially developed. The remains of large structures still surprise scientists with their grandeur. The extraordinary transparency of the air, in which the stars blaze rather than shine, contributed to the early observation of celestial bodies. Mathematics developed along with astrology. Writing was already well known here, and even entire libraries existed, although instead of books there were clay tablets with writing depicted on them.

But, unfortunately, this entire rich civilization was thoroughly saturated with the grossest idolatry. Instead of altars to the true God, temples and temples to idols rose everywhere, the service of which often took on a grossly sensual and immoral character. The main deities were the sun and the moon, followed by other, minor deities. Temples were built to them, cities were dedicated, images were made from them, which received the meaning of household gods (teraphim), who were entrusted with protecting the welfare of individual families. One of the post-flood patriarchs, named Terah, migrated to this country of idolatry. His distant ancestor was Eber, who descended in a direct line from Shem, the son of Noah. Coming from such a glorious family and being its direct representative, Terah at first firmly adhered to the traditions of his fathers: he preserved not only the true faith in God and the promise associated with it, but all the laws of the patriarch Noah. It is unknown what exactly prompted him to move to Chaldea; but in any case it is known that he settled in Ur and lived there for a considerable time. Here he had three sons - Abram, Nahor and Haran, who got married, and the last two had children, and Abram's wife Sarah (his sister on his father's side, but not on his mother's) was barren. The position of this family in this idolatrous country was undoubtedly difficult. The most disgusting idolatry reigned all around.

The city of Ur of the Chaldeans itself was even the center of local idolatry and was famous for its temples to idols, among which the most revered was the moon. All this could not but have a bad influence on the godly family, so that Terah himself would come to an end. in his life he betrayed his faith and became an idolater (Joshua 24:2). But his son Abram did not follow the example of his father; the insignificance of idols further strengthened his faith in the true God. For his steadfastness in faith and fiery love for the one true God, the Lord chooses him as the bearer and guardian of this faith.

In order to distance this righteous man from an idolatrous environment, the Lord commands Abram to move from Chaldea to the land of Canaan, which God promises to give to him and his descendants for eternity. “And the Lord said to Abram, Get thee out of thy land, from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house.

[and go]
to the land that I will show you;
and I will make you into a great nation and will bless you... and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3).
Abram at this time was 75 years old, he was a married man, and although he had no children, he was still quite settled in his homeland, and it took great faith to leave everything and go to an unknown land. But Abram had strong faith, in his father’s house he fought against idolatry, and now, hearing such a great promise, he “obeyed by faith.
called to go to the country which he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8). Having learned that his son Abram wanted to move from the city of Ur to the land of Canaan, Terah decided not to be separated from his eldest son and went with him to the promised land. But the Lord did not allow the idolater Terah into the land promised to Abram. Terah died in Haran, in northern Mesopotamia. Nahor, Abram's brother, remained to live in this city.

Taking his wife, his nephew Lot (who remained an orphan after the death of his father Haran) and all his servants, Abram left Haran with numerous livestock, crossed to the right bank of the Euphrates and headed across the Syrian desert to Damascus, where he found himself a faithful servant Eliezer. Then, crossing the Jordan River, he entered the land of Canaan and pitched his tent near the oak grove of Moreh, near Shechem, in one of the most beautiful places in the country. There the Lord appeared to Abram for the second time and confirmed that he would give this land to his descendants. In gratitude to God, Abram built an altar here and performed a sacrifice. But soon there was a famine in the promised land, and Abram, in search of good pastures for livestock, decided to move to Egypt, the breadbasket of the ancient world, without God’s blessing.

ABRAHAM'S SACRIFICE

V.Ya Kanatush

By faith Abraham, being tempted, sacrificed Isaac and, having a promise, offered his only begotten, about whom it was said: “In Isaac your seed will be called”; for he thought that God was able to resurrect from the dead, which is why he received it as an omen.

Heb. 11:17-18.

It should be noted right away: before us is a unique page from the life of a man of faith. What happened to Abraham is the only time in the entire Bible when God tested a person in this way. And we know how this test ended: the Lord did not allow him to raise a knife over his son and provided a ram for a burnt offering. This is the only sacrifice provided by God. Yes, Isaac was taken up the mountain and then brought down from it, and the sacrifice actually took place, but in a completely different sense, which will be discussed later.

This was the most difficult and exceptional moment in the life of the patriarch. Like a bolt of lightning, with particular strength and brightness it illuminated the depth of his inner world and the greatness of his spirit. By that time, Abraham was a spiritually mature man, with a clear, established worldview. He rose so high in faith that he understood the language of God without words and was ready to fulfill any, even the most incredible of His commands, for he knew that God would not allow the irreparable and that His great plans for the creation of the chosen people would come true. Everything that Abraham did in his life, he did solely out of love for God. This was facilitated by his characteristic kindness and mercy.

Wherever Abraham traveled, he preached that God was disgusted with human sacrifice.

And suddenly God commands him to sacrifice his own son. This command was at odds with Abraham's natural understanding of good and evil. It might seem unfair and unnatural to him, because he had to break the only link between the past and the future and destroy the only hope for the birth of a new people.

And yet, despite this, Abraham goes to fulfill this command. He goes because he trusts God more than himself. He believes that everything that comes from God is good, although man is not always able to understand this. And Abraham's faith was justified. This test of his was the pinnacle, the apotheosis of his faith.

In the book of Genesis (22:1-18) we read: “And it came to pass... God tempted Abraham...”

It is appropriate to pose here a number of questions that always confuse those who are not confirmed in the faith. Why are God's saints sometimes subjected to inexplicable suffering? And why did God need to test Abraham? Was the reason in himself or did God provide for something else? Was it an accident that the fiery trial befell the righteous and blameless Job?

Usually a person follows the simplest approach to solving such issues, trying to find the cause of the inexplicable suffering of the saints in their guilt, sin or imperfection. Job's friends believed that he was suffering for his sin. Such judgments belittle the feat of faith of the saints of God and God Himself. Some interpreters believe that Abraham loved his son Isaac more than God, of which God reminds him: “... take your son, your only son, whom you love... ” (Gen. 22:2). This love of his, they say, completely captured his heart, so that God was relegated to the background. Therefore, the Lord decided to test what was stronger in Abraham: love for Him or for His son, in order to admonish His servant and put him in his place.

The secret of this test was hidden behind a veil, which God is slowly opening. The fact that Abraham was attached to Isaac and loved him so dearly undoubtedly took place, but there was nothing reprehensible in this, because Isaac was his son not only by blood, but also by spirit, the only successor of Abraham’s work. The reason why the patriarch was put to the test was much deeper than is generally believed among people.

Let us remember that God called Abraham, this great man of faith, His “friend” (James 2:21-23). Few men of God, whose names shine in the Bible, have been awarded this high title. Abraham grew in faith, in trusting God and understanding His will so much that God decided to raise him to an even higher level and bring him closer to Himself. In his person, God wanted to reveal a great prototype of His own, Father’s sacrificial love - the love of God the Father sacrificing the Son! Moreover, God was preparing Abraham to be the father of Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ, in His discussion with the Jews, refers to Abraham and tells them such meaningful words: “Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day: and he saw and rejoiced” (John 8:56). He was glad to see the day of the coming of the Redeemer into the world, who would wipe off the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). He waited for Him in faith. I saw Him by faith and rejoiced by faith. His faith achieved such the highest insight. And therefore, as S. Destunis writes in the “Bible for Older Children,” “the strongest of all people in faith faced the most difficult test, the only one from the beginning to the end of the existence of people on earth.”

And in the Brussels edition of the Bible (1973), in the “Appendices” (p. 1863) it is written: “Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son typifies the love of God the Father, who did not spare His Only Begotten Son (John 3:16; Rom. 8: 32)".

So, in Genesis 22, Abraham is presented as a type of God the Father . All progressive thinkers and theologians of Christianity agree on this opinion. It was not because Abraham loved his son so much that God put him to the test, but because God wanted to make Abraham like Himself, His sacrificial love in offering His Son to atone for the sins of mankind.

In the person of Abraham, the Lord saw a man who rose to such a spiritual height that he was able to understand His suffering heart and convey it to people. And if before the sacrifice Abraham only guessed about the Redeemer as a sacrificial Lamb, then after the sacrifice he had complete clarity that this Lamb would be the Son of God, in whom “all the nations of the earth will be blessed,” and that this Son would be from his descendants (John. 8:56).

Abraham lived approximately two thousand years before Christ, when there was no law, given later by Moses, and there was no Grace (John 1:17). Of course, he could not yet imagine the full picture of the atoning suffering of Christ on Calvary. David, who lived a thousand years before Christ, had already prophetically seen Him on the cross and by faith identified with His suffering when he wrote: “...they pierced my hands and my feet. I could count all my bones, but they look and make a spectacle out of me” (Ps. 21:17-18). And the prophet Isaiah, 700 years BC, penetrated more deeply into the suffering of Christ and depicted Calvary and the work He accomplished in the famous 53rd chapter, called the Old Testament Gospel.

Men of faith, endowed with a prophetic spirit, foresaw the coming of the Son of God to earth. Abraham was the first of the prophets to achieve this high insight. The peculiarity of his revelation was that he experienced with his own son what the price of our redemption was, and through this he penetrated into the depths of the heart of the Heavenly Father, who gave His Son to martyrdom. God was pleased to see among His creation such a man of faith as Abraham, who adopted many of His characteristics. He is also pleased to see the spiritual rise and growth of those who achieve likeness to the Son of God or God the Father. To such He promises: “He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son” (Rev. 21:7).

So, in the sacrifice of his only son, the dearest and most beloved that he had, Abraham identified himself with God the Father. Holy Scripture conveys this story in simple but breathtaking words: “And it came to pass, after these things, that God tempted Abraham...” The question is raised: after what “events”? We usually overlook this word, but there is something hidden behind it.

Jewish commentators explain: “...after the words of Satan. Satan, that is, the accusing angel, appeared before the Almighty and said: Abraham serves You, but he does this only for the sake of his offspring, that is, for his own sake, and not in order to fulfill Your will.” Just like in the story of Job, the enemy of the soul could not leave Abraham alone. He appeared before God more than once with accusations against him, as he does now (Rev. 12:10). In order to shut his mouth once and for all, God decided to subject His servant to such a test, where not only Satan, but the whole world would fall silent, seeing the heroism of Abraham’s obedience.

“...God tempted Abraham...” Why does it say that God tempted him? After all, God never tempts anyone and He Himself is not tempted by evil (James 1:13-15). The word “temptation” is used here in the sense of testing and testing to strengthen faith and certify fidelity.

This is what Bl. writes. Theodoret, one of the Church Fathers: “God did not tempt Abraham in order to find out for himself what he did not know; but to teach those who do not know how justly God loved the patriarch.” A similar view of temptation, as a manifestation of Divine love and a reason for the development and strengthening of virtue, is given in other places of Scripture (Deut. 8:2; 13:3; Ps. 26:2; 1 Pet. 1:7; 1 Cor. 10:13)" (Lopukhin Bible, vol. 1, p. 136).

So, temptation in this case is a test. A test is a situation in which a person is required to perform actions that exceed his usual, normal strengths and capabilities. For Abraham, such a situation was the sacrifice of his son, which required the exertion of all his strength and caused a painful internal struggle.

Never in the history of mankind has gold been tested by such powerful fire. “...And he said to him: Abraham! He said: here I am. God said: Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac...” What appears to us in this passage as a monologue with successive clarifications was, in fact, as Jewish commentators explain, a dialogue between Abraham and God. God did not immediately pronounce the name of Isaac in order to psychologically prepare Abraham and not strike him. Note also that God completely ignored Ishmael, the firstborn son of Hagar.

“...And go to the land of Moriah and there offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains about which I will tell you...”

“To the land of Moriah” - Mori-y-a is the temple mount in Jerusalem. In Israel it was considered the center of the world and the gateway to heaven. Its name can be translated as “God appeared” or “Jehovah’s discretion.” There, indeed, the Lord saw a ram entangled in a thicket with its horns, which Abraham sacrificed instead of Isaac, which is why “and he called... the name of that place: Jehovah-jireh,” that is, the Lord will provide (Gen. 22:14). God demanded that Abraham not only kill Isaac, but offer him “as a burnt offering,” that is, turn his body into ashes and burn him on a sacrificial pyre. A “burnt offering” (literally: “raising”) is a type of sacrifice that rises completely to heaven into a pleasant aroma. "On one of the mountains." God did not immediately say on what mountain, for what conditions to prepare oneself. By leaving the righteous in the unknown, the Lord wants to increase their reward, to show us the correctness of their actions in conditions of uncertainty, their trust in God.

How did Abraham react to the Divine command?

The Bible says: “Abraham rose up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men, and Isaac his son; He split the wood for the burnt offering and got up and went to the place that God had told him about” (Gen. 22:3).

Before us is such a simple story about something so unusual and heroic. There is no pathos, enthusiasm or excessive dramatization of the event here, only a mirror reflection of the fact. Let us note right away: God does not require human sacrifices, and what was leveled against the Church during the period of atheistic propaganda was deliberate, blasphemous slander. The case we are considering is purely educational in nature and is a spiritual lesson for believers.

Having received such a command, a person weak in faith could say: “Merciful God, do You really demand blood? Is murder compatible with Your holiness? And if You find satisfaction in human sacrifice, could You not have chosen someone other than Isaac for the sacrifice? After all, You gave him to me not so that I could kill him, but so that I could continue the family line.

But such thoughts are not for a man of faith like Abraham. Faith taught him not to grumble, not to argue, but to obey. Believing, he stands firmly in his position: everything that God commands to do is good; and all that He promises is everlasting. He who listens to the voice of flesh and blood will never offer up his “Isaac” as a sacrifice to God. Abraham, without hesitation for a long time, without weighing, like Ap. Paul, “did not consult with flesh and blood” - Gal. 1:15-16 (when God commands, advisers are not needed), he did not hesitate, did not look for a reason to evade, but with all seriousness and responsibility, calmly and thoughtfully, silently made all the preparations. He has three days of travel ahead of him. He “saddled the donkey,” “chopped wood for the burnt offering,” raised Isaac and two servants and set off on the road as soon as dawn broke.

We see no excitement, no sorrow, no resentment in his actions, although the burden of painful anticipation of what was to happen fell on his shoulders and crushed his soul with pain. A living faith helped him maintain such self-control.

“True faith is the channel through which the Grace of God flows into the heart of man,” writes Andrew Murray. Faith is not just a worldview or religion, it is our attitude towards God. And with Abraham it was loving and reverent. His devotion and trust in God prevailed over other feelings and helped him pull himself together.

Faith does the works of God quietly, imperceptibly and without delay. She performs them, although with complete external calm, but with strong internal burning. Abraham was not the only one like this. This quality is generally inherent in all the prophets of God, captured by the Holy Spirit, motivating and flaming within them. In the Psalter we read: “I hastened and was not slow to keep Your commandments” (Ps. 119:60). This is what true faith does. If God commands a sacrifice, then no matter what area of ​​life it concerns, faith reverently obeys and unconditionally brings it, even if Calvary awaits it ahead.

Abraham did the same.

He rose “early in the morning” while everyone was still asleep, so that the turmoil of the workday would not cloud the clarity of his faith decision. Of course, he was faced with a task that exceeded his strength: to sacrifice his long-awaited son, the one for whom he had to suffer so much, a son who should become the successor of the family, the bearer of God’s promises. Oh, this surpasses all understanding! At this moment, Abraham's faith and love for God were sorely tested. After all, he did not know what we know: that God only tests and educates him, that He perfects him, brings him closer to Himself, raising him to the highest level of spiritual life. And at first glance it seems that this test of faith is generally beyond the power of man.

Yes, for many who are not devoted to the Lord with all their hearts as Abraham was devoted, this sacrifice is truly both overwhelming and impossible. From a human point of view, this is the greatest tragedy. It takes colossal strength to accomplish this feat of faith and endure such a test.

But that was not the case with Abraham. His sense of obedience and trust in God was complete and here, in the act of sacrifice, they found their highest expression. He knew his Lord well, Whom he worshiped all his life and with Whom he was in close communication. Over the years of his devoted walk before Him, he studied His heart well and knew that God also walks with him and protects him. He knew that God did not accept human sacrifice because it was contrary to His humane heart. All God wants from man is the complete surrender of his will; and Abraham showed Him this complete surrender. And therefore he was absolutely sure that God would return Isaac to him. His faith went ahead of him and helped him in everything. “He believed with hope beyond hope” (Rom. 4:18), believed in the impossible: that God, true to Himself, would not allow Isaac to die. And if it happens that he dies, then God will raise him from the dead, just as he raised him from the dead womb of Sarah (Heb. 11:9).

Only a person who has faith in God can believe this way, who casts his anchor in the person of God and finds support and confidence in Him. Such faith pushes the boundaries of the natural and enters the supernatural, transcendental, heavenly world, in which other laws apply. Faith brings us into contact with God, brings us into the sphere of His dominion, identifies us with His creative powers, and “calls those things which are not as though they are” (Rom. 4:7-21). Faith appeals to other laws of the origin and formation of life, which are the work of the almighty hands of the Creator, and it puts these laws into action. Faith actually puts the power of God into practice. It is the lever by which the promises of God are realized, even if we are led through fire and water, through all visible and invisible barriers, and therefore it is crowned with miraculous success, for “He who promised is faithful” (Isa. 43:1-2).

Abraham, as a prophet of God, understood in spirit that the Lord was teaching him an unforgettable lesson of faith and a new revelation of His Grace, and therefore with trembling and humility he went to fulfill His will.

Let us ask ourselves the question: what would each of us do in such a test? What decision would we make if God commanded us to sacrifice our most precious and unique thing? Probably, some of us would doubt the love and mercy of God and begin to murmur and, worse, even become bitter, saying that God demands the impossible from us. When our faith is weak, then the test seems beyond our strength. But the Word of God says: “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make it possible to escape, so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). If God allows some great test for us and sometimes it seems that we have no strength to endure it, let us remember the feat of faith of Abraham and be filled with the same spirit of courage and firm faith, knowing that our suffering will be short-lived and that the Lord will certainly send help in due time and relief.

If we are faced with an insurmountable task, the most natural and best way to solve it is to rely on God with complete faith and draw strength from Him, as Abraham drew it to endure his trial. And if faith goes ahead, then we will endure any test and will resist, overcome, and even strengthen ourselves internally in any temptation. This is one of the laws of the spiritual world, and we do well to adhere to it.

“...He took with him two of his young men, and Isaac his son...”

Isaac at that time was not a boy who did not understand anything or who could be deceived, but was a matured youth who was able to carry wood up the mountain for a burnt offering. According to Jewish tradition, he was 17 years old. He already understood much of his father’s life of faith, although God Himself calls him a youth (v. 12). At that time, youths were called young people who were not yet allowed to engage in independent activities (see Gen. 44:22; Judges 9:54; 1 Sam. 26:22; 2 Sam. 18:5).

“...And he got up and went to the place that God had told him about.”

Abraham fulfills the will of God without a single dispute, fulfills it by sacrificing his own desires. Loving God infinitely, trusting Him, he goes with Isaac to that place in the land of Moriah, where the Temple of Solomon will later be erected (2 Chronicles 3:1) and where Jesus Christ will subsequently be crucified on Mount Calvary. Did Abraham tell his wife that he was going there to sacrifice his son to God? Most likely not, so that emotions do not take precedence over faith. First, he believed that God would raise him from the dead immediately after the burnt offering and he would return home with it. And secondly, loving and sparing his wife immensely, he protected her heart from the burden of unbearable anxieties and worries. Why place on weak shoulders a burden that God has provided for him personally? Jewish tradition says that he told Isaac that they were going to study the Torah, and Sarah that they were going to pray. Both are true, since sacrifice is the highest form of service to God, which is both prayer and knowledge of God.

Jewish commentators also explain that Isaac went to the sacrifice (which he guessed about) consciously and voluntarily. The essence of Isaac, they say, is strength, power. Readiness for heroism is in his nature. Self-sacrifice and overcoming fear were natural for him and therefore not as difficult as for less strong people. Abraham went to Mount Moriah, obeying the voice of God, he went to drink the cup of trials to the dregs himself.

“On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar (v. 4)

From this phrase it is clear that Abraham did not climb Mount Moriah in a momentary impulse of self-sacrifice, but took three days to get there. There is no doubt that this three-day journey was for both Abraham and Isaac psychological preparation for the sacrifice and was accompanied by their thoughts and deep inner struggle. This struggle, as Jewish tradition reports, was expressed in the form of a dialogue that took place between them and the tempter. Satan did not leave them alone, but tried to stop both Abraham and Isaac on their path to achievement. He tried not only to confuse, but also to shake them in the appropriateness of their action. When their determination remained unshakable, he began to intensely confuse Sarah. Isn't that why she died so soon?

Meanwhile they approached the mountain. “And Abraham said to his servants: Stay here; and I and my son will go there and worship, and return to you” (v. 5). What followed concerned only Abraham and Isaac, and Abraham did not allow his servants to participate in this sacred rite. But he speaks to them in the spirit of faith, calling the sacrifice of Isaac “worship” of God and leaving no doubt that they will return back.

“And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; He took fire in his hands, and they both went together” (v. 6).

On the way to the place of sacrifice, father and son walk not just side by side, but in unanimity, in the unity of faith. Each of them is immersed in their innermost thoughts. Isaac has every reason to believe that he must be the victim. But he is deceived by the fire that Abraham brings. He thinks: “If the victim is myself, then, probably, my own fire is not needed. Fire will come down from the sky and consume me." So he asks Abraham the question: “Behold the fire and the wood, where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Both the question itself and the wonderful answer of the father to his son are interesting. And how easily Abraham’s faith finds him: “God will provide for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son!”

This phrase shows that Abraham did not tell his son the whole truth, but without noticing it, he spoke prophetic words. The answer leaves Isaac in no doubt that he is the victim. God, of course, did not provide for him, but from his seed. God provided for Himself such a Lamb long ago, even before the creation of the world in the person of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-20). Isaac is only His prototype. And Jesus, like Isaac, meekly carried the cross on Himself to the place of His execution (Isa. 53:7).

It is also instructive how Isaac reacted to the fact that he was chosen as a lamb. This is how Lopukhin’s Bible commentators present this question: “Isaac completely voluntarily and unquestioningly obeyed the Divine command. Although he was already at an age when he could resist his elderly father, he shows him the most touching obedience: the son’s obedience here is equal to the father’s faith , and both of them show great heroism of spirit. If Abraham, however, as we see, finds it necessary to first bind Isaac, then he does this either to prevent any involuntary movements at the sight of the raised knife, or, more likely, due to the general sacrificial ritual” (vol. 1, pp. 137-138).

Isaac revered his father, who was for him an example of devotion to God and love for his family. This unconditional submission of Isaac, who accepted his fate at the hands of his father, symbolically reflected the same unquestioning obedience of Jesus to the will of the Heavenly Father. The Lord Jesus, the “Child” of the Father (Isa. 42:1-4), in His messianic ministry sought to do not His own will, but the will of the One who sent Him. He considered the joyful fulfillment of this will His daily duty (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38, etc.). The Lord obediently went to suffer and did not resist arrest. He remained silent during interrogation by Pilate; did not utter a word when the soldiers tortured Him. He was also silent when he was nailed to the cross (Matthew 12:18-21; 26:63). Throughout His short life on earth He showed the image of the Lamb of God!

An all-good and loving God did not allow Abraham to raise a knife over Isaac and kill him. He stopped Abraham: “Do not raise your hand against the boy and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God and have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (v. 22). The human sacrifice was replaced by a ram, which Abraham offered up on the altar with great joy. This was the “relief” that the Lord promises to send to faith that trusts in Him (1 Cor. 10:13). In its trust, Abraham's faith was not put to shame. And no one’s true faith, the faith of God, can be ashamed, since it relies on a man-loving God (Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:15). Abraham emerged with majestic dignity from this trial, the moment of the highest test of his faith and obedience, in which his spirit and piety were strengthened and tempered, and God achieved the desired result in him. Satan, who slandered Abraham, was put to shame, and Abraham rose to the pinnacle of faith that is only possible for man on earth. According to Ap. James, through this work he became so perfect in faith that he was called “the friend of God” (James 2:21-23).

The divine response assured the reality of Israel's destiny in the great plan and the Lord's purpose for the Jewish people, and through them for the whole world: “By me I swear, says the Lord, that because you have done this deed and have not withheld your son, your only son, By blessing I will bless you, and by multiplying I will multiply your seed... and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed...” (Genesis 22:15-18).

“This final and last promise of God in Abraham’s life is distinguished by its special solemnity and power. Just as Abraham, in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac, revealed the highest degree of obedience and devotion, so the Lord, as a reward for this, gives him evidence of His highest favor, confirming and deepening the promises previously given to him about the number and glory of his descendants. Moreover, in the words of verse 18 about the only and exclusive “seed” through which all the nations of the earth will be blessed, most interpreters, following Ap. Paul, they see an indication of the great Seed of the woman, which will erase the head of the serpent, that is, of Christ, the Son of God (Gal. 3:16)” (Lopukhin Bible, vol. 1, p. 140).

In this regard, the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel are of particular interest: “Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and rejoiced” (John 8:56). What “day” are we talking about here and when did he “see” it?

This is the day of His First Coming. Abraham saw him by faith on Mount Moriah when he made his sacrifice. And there he saw the sacrificial feat of Christ, His victory and redemption. I saw this “day” completed in perfection, as a great act of redemption for the entire human race. And in this generation I saw the significance of my offspring, I saw it and rejoiced. He rejoiced at the immutability of God's election and God's will. I saw the beginning and the end of the Calvary feat, I saw the Church and its crowning with glory in heaven.

There, on Mount Moriah, the Lord revealed this to Abraham, who longed to see the day of the Coming of the Messiah into the world. Through the sacrifice of Isaac and his subsequent "resurrection" he understood the work of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and the fruits of this great act. He understood that everything that God predicted about him and his descendants would be fulfilled in due course and that from Isaac would come the race of Abraham, a new race, the race of the people of God, from whom would come the Redeemer (Rom. 4:17-25).

That’s how it all came true. Seeing Abraham's firm and unshakable faith and his willingness to rise to spiritual heights, the Lord increased his blessing, made him the father of many nations and credited him with faith in righteousness (Gen. 15:6; James 2:23; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6-7).

Ap. Paul, revealing the principle of salvation by faith, writes: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). Abraham had unlimited faith in God. He was so convinced of the truth of God that he agreed in advance with any of His words or commands. And this was especially valuable in the eyes of God, which is why God gave him a promise: “And in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have listened to My voice” (Gen. 22:18).

What does it mean to “count faith as righteousness”?

A righteous person, in the biblical understanding, is a direct and obedient person to the will of God. Here are two examples from the Bible. 1) Tue. 24:13 - the exact fulfillment of the commandment that commands you to return a person’s deposit so that he will rest and bless you is counted as righteousness. 2) Ps. 105:30-31 - Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, inspired by zeal for God, rises up and carries out judgment, and the plague stops (Num. 25:11-13). This deed was counted to him as righteousness.

But God does not count every good deed as righteousness, but only a deed of faith , an act of faith . Ap. Paul, based on the Old Testament text (Gen. 15:6), developed this idea further and argued that justification does not depend on works, but on faith (Rom. 3:28). Faith goes ahead and pulls up deeds, behavior, and life. Ap. James illuminates the other side of faith. Turning to the same text, he points to Abraham, to his “works” (life and ministry), completely imbued with living faith. Thus, the Apostle condemns “dead” faith, not confirmed by works, and therefore powerless and useless.

Thus, faith imputed to the righteousness in which the Church will appear in heaven (Rev. 19:8) is a state of faith in which a person accepts all the promises of God as immutable truth, as “yes” and “amen” ( 2 Cor. 1:20), and bases his spiritual life on them. He makes them his own, joins them, identifies with them and lives in accordance with them. Through this spirit of faith, trust, and life subordinated to the interests of God, Abraham accomplished something decisive for God. The sacrifice was made by him (Heb. 11:17), although Isaac remained alive. And this is his work, his unconditional, conscious and voluntary obedience and trust, God counts as righteousness, because this faith meets His requirements.

Abraham accepted God's promise when it seemed impossible. This speaks of the depth and vitality of his faith, of the strength of his trust in God. God counted all this to him as righteousness.

In two things, Abraham showed great faith that surpassed human understanding: 1) when Sarah was physically unable to conceive a child, he believed God's promise that the intractable situation would be supernaturally resolved, and he would have an heir from Sarah, and moreover: his seed would as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen. 15: 2-6); 2) and when he sacrificed a miraculously received child, believing that Isaac would rise from the dead.

“Everywhere in Scripture it is said that Abraham “did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but remained strong in faith” (Rom. 4:20). And therefore, it was not Abraham’s position in society, not his good deeds, not his personal integrity that ensured that God recognized his righteousness. Abraham's God-ordained righteousness rested solely on his faith. So, before this great founder of the Jewish people was circumcised, and 430 years before the Law given at Mount Sinai, Abraham's faith in God kindled the way of the Divine determination of righteousness towards all who would follow his example" (D. H. Hunting ).

The Lord cannot recognize as righteousness what people themselves pass off as their righteousness: their good deeds, merits, self-redemption, human piety, etc., that is, everything that a person achieves without God, without His help and guidance, and with which he loves to boast so much. God justifies only that trust which is entirely placed in Him, and that faith which is awakened by His revelation. Such faith, the faith of God, is not the result of the efforts of carnal man due to his worldview, but it is faith created by God Himself. This faith He both justifies and recognizes, because He can use it for His sovereign purposes. And therefore, faith, born of the revelation of God and directed to His service, is counted as righteousness.

And not only to Abraham, but also to us, to all those who follow the example of the patriarch’s faith and believe in Jesus Christ, the Lord counts faith as righteousness. “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles, foretold to Abraham: “In you all nations will be blessed.” Therefore those who believe are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:8-9).

In the New Testament, God gives Abraham the highest praise. His faithfulness, life by faith, his service to God by faith are set as an example to all believers. Abraham completely fulfilled the task assigned to him: he gave birth to the heir of the promise and became the father of faith. Living on earth as a wanderer and alien, that is, as a temporary guest, he expected the future city that the Lord had prepared in heaven for the victors - those who walk their earthly path in the likeness of Christ and accomplish the feat of faith. Abraham's faith extended so high and so deep that he anticipated not only the "day" of Christ, but also the mansions in heaven. By faith he entered into eternity and saw the triumphant end of God's economy. For the sake of such a glorious end - dwelling in a wondrous heavenly city - Abraham without regret sacrificed the temporal blessings of the world for the sake of the eternal and became the heir of the promises of God by faith. Faith, my friends, is not only strength, but also the greatest reality, because it is the hand that takes the crown from the throne of God. Abraham was awarded a precious crown. That is why the Lord persistently invites us: “Listen to Me, you who strive for righteousness, who seek the Lord!.. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him” (Isa. 51:1-2).

Let us also look at the image of the father of all believers and learn from him, for many of us are so lacking in the wonderful qualities of Abraham’s faith, his high spirit, his wonderful nobility, his mercy, his sublime attitude towards women, his piety and dedication! The saints, living according to the laws of God and His Word, according to the laws of heaven, knowing the secret of His creation, have always had a sublime attitude towards Abraham and Sarah, the patriarchs of the Jewish people, the people of the Bible.

https://www.maloestado.com/books/VKanatush/herosoffaith.htm