Genesis 22:2

Not a word here but might pierce a heart of stone, much more so tender a father as Abraham was. Take now, without demurring or delay, I allow thee no time for thy consideration, own proper son; not a beast, not an enemy, not 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 only son, not by birth, for so he had another, Ishmael; but this was his only son by Sarah, his first and legitimate wife; who only had the right of succession both to his inheritance, and to his covenant and promises; and this only was now left to him, for Ishmael 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 inexpressible sorrow; thy Benoni; a son of the promise, of so great hopes, and such pregnant virtue and piety as this story shows; 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, Genesis 22:4, that thou mayst have thy mind all that while fixed upon that bloody act, which other men's minds can scarce once think of without horror; 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 cut, 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 this 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 public and open place, in the view of heaven, earth, God, angels, and men. Which horrid and stupendous 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 self-accusing 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 cheerfully 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. Moriah 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, Genesis 22:14, in regard of God's eminent appearance there for Isaac's deliverance; though it may also have a further respect unto Christ, because in that place God was manifested in the flesh. There were divers mountains there, as is evident from Psalms 125:2; and particularly there were two eminent hills, or rather tops or parts of the same mountain; Sion, where David's palace was; and Moriah, where the temple was built, and whence the adjoining country afterwards received its name. Which I will tell thee of, by some visible sign, or secret admonition which I shall give thee.