You probably already know the main themes, here are a few other things to think about:
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham didn’t delay. Immediate obedience, unquestioning loyalty and devotion are what earn God’s favor. As far as the Bible reveals, Abraham hasn’t heard anything from God for about 10 or 15 years, and then this bombshell. Our daily walk with God is necessary to sustain us for the days when God makes large requests of us.
We always focus on Abraham’s obedience…but what would this event have on Isaac? To see his dad willing to sacrifice him would certainly teach him something about priorities. It’s not a bad thing for our children to see us sacrifice for the Lord; and it’s not bad if they have to suffer for the same reason.
Abraham was the one that God promised many descendants to, but his brother Nahor is having all the children. That must have been hard to reconcile. I wonder if God allowed Abraham to have fewer children so he could amass a fortune which would sustain him and his descendants for many years. I hadn’t thought about that before.
This passage is really the “changing of the guard”…the younger generation taking over and the older generation passing away. The intent is to show us that God ordained events as they unfolded. Isaac didn’t run ahead of the Lord to find his own wife, and he wasn’t disobedient in marrying a local (although I am sure there were many women lining up to marry a wealthy young bachelor). We are meant to understand that Isaac was faithful, and his marriage was what God wanted. That will be very important some time later when Rebekah has trouble getting pregnant.
I wonder if Rebekah would have been so eager to go, had she known what lie ahead? I wonder if we would be obedient, if we knew what lie ahead? Thankfully, God doesn’t show us.
I wonder why the family wanted to delay Abraham’s servant? Was it innocent, and they just wanted to extend their time of saying “Goodbye”? or were they trying to get something else? I like the comment the servant made “don’t delay me, now that my mission has been successful”. I don’t like to be delayed either. I probably would have said “I didn’t come all the way over here to sit around drinking and chatting…I have work to do, I’m leaving”.
Back to Abraham and Isaac and the sacrifice: we don’t know the exact spot where Abraham offered Isaac, but popular thought was that it happened either where Christ was crucified, or where the temple was built, and animals were offered as sacrifices. It definitely happened in that area. The event foreshadows God the Father who is willing to sacrifice His Son, and the Son, who is willing to be sacrificed.
Deeper love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Abraham loved deeply. He loved his son, and he loved God even more.
Great example for all of us.
Faithfully,
PR