_ABRAHAM, BEING COMMANDED TO OFFER UP HIS SON ISAAC, WHEN STRETCHING FORTH HIS HAND TO SLAY HIM, IS PREVENTED BY THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. ABRAHAM OFFERS UP A RAM, IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON: GOD ESTABLISHES HIS COVENANT BY AN OATH WITH ABRAHAM. ABRAHAM IS INFORMED OF THE CHILDREN OF NAHOR._... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD DID TEMPT ABRAHAM, &C.— Did _try_, or _prove_ him, for the further display of his faith and obedience; which is the only sense in which God can be supposed to _tempt_ his creatures. The apostle to the Hebrews gives us a good comment on this passage, ch. Genesis 11:17, &c. assuring us, that Abrah... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE NOW THY SON, &C.— The order in which the words are placed in the original, gradually increases the sense, and raises the passions higher and higher: _take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac._ Jarchi imagines this minuteness was to exclude any doubt in Abraham. Abraham des... [ Continue Reading ]
I AND THE LAD WILL GO—AND COME AGAIN— These words are expressive of Abraham's faith, and full assurance, that he should return to them with Isaac restored from the dead, if God should permit him to offer him as a real sacrifice. For that he had such an assurance (says Dr. Chandler in his Vindication... [ Continue Reading ]
ABRAHAM TOOK THE WOOD, AND LAID IT UPON ISAAC— Hence it appears, among other circumstances, that Isaac must have been full-grown at this time. Josephus reports him to have been twenty-five. It appears probable that he was more: there were about thirty-seven years from his birth to the death of Sarah... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY NOT THINE HAND— As by the _command_ Abraham understood the nature of man's _redemption,_ he must know also how the scenical representation was to end. Isaac was made the person, or representative of _Christ dying for us._ The Son of God, he knew, could not possibly lie under the dominion of the... [ Continue Reading ]
CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE JEHOVAH-JIREH, &C.— When Isaac asked his father, _Where is the lamb?_ he answered (in the Hebrew) _Elohim Jireh;_ to which this name alludes. The answer of Christ to the Jews in these words, _Abraham rejoiced to see my day,_ no doubt, alludes to this verse. _Jehovah-jir... [ Continue Reading ]
BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN, SAITH THE LORD— This passage clearly proves what we have before observed, that this _Angel,_ or _Messenger,_ was the _Jehovah,_ or the second Divine Person, who appeared to the patriarch, &c. See Hebrews 6:13. Though the word and promise of God is immutable, and needs no sanc... [ Continue Reading ]
POSSESS THE GATE, &C.— He who is possessed of the gates is possessed of the cities, and, these surrendered, becomes master of all the country; so to possess the gates is to possess the cities and countries of his enemies.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THY SEED, &C.— To the observations heretofore made on this promise, let it be further remarked, that there is an increase of sense in these words; for God doth not only and simply say, _they shall be blessed,_ but _shall bless themselves,_ or _count themselves blessed in him:_ To shew that this p... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS TOLD ABRAHAM, &C.— The chief intention of this genealogy seems to be, to give us an account of the family of _Rebekah,_ whom Isaac married: it connects with the beginning of ch. 24: And it was in consequence of the information here given Abraham, that he thought of seeking a wife for his son... [ Continue Reading ]