In the 22nd chapter of Genesis, the Bible records that God commanded Abraham to go to the region of Moriah, and there sacrifice his only (covenant) son, Isaac. Abraham obeyed, all the while assuring Isaac that God Himself would provide the sacrifice (or more accurately, that God would provide Himself a sacrifice). However, he bound Isaac to the alter and raised his knife...whereupon God commanded Abraham to stop, and indeed provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac.

     It might be easy to dismiss this as the story of a senile old man, who was following what was then the relatively common practice of child sacrifice, if it weren't for the fact that it so closely foreshadows God's sacrifice of His only begotten Son.

     How close? Consider that Isaac was not the little child of Sunday School pictures, but a fully grown man at the time. It would have been no trouble for a man, less than 40 years of age to overpower a man well over 100. Therefore, Isaac must have willingly submitted. Also, Mount Moriah was located near the village of Salem (later known as Jerusalem). It was on this mount that Solomon built the Temple. However, Moriah is more of a ridge than a peak, extending past the walls of the old city. So it was that about 1,500 years later, Mount Moriah saw the culmination of the story when God Himself, Jesus, provided the sacrifice.

     By the way, Abraham later commanded his chief servant (Eliezer) to find a bride for his son, Isaac. Eliezer translates "God beside me." Coincidentally, Jesus named the Holy Spirit as the "Comforter" or Parakletos in Greek, literally one "called alongside to help."
 
 

Acknowledgments: 17

© Russ Brown, 1998