Genesis 22
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Summary
The Lord commands Abraham to make a burnt offering to him of his son Isaac. Abraham travels for many days with Isaac to follow the will of the Lord. He lays the wood for the burnt offering upon Isaacs back. As they journey together, Isaac asks where the offering is, and Abraham tells him that God will provide himself an offering. Abraham builds an altar and Isaac is bound to it. Abraham takes a knife and prepares to strike his only son, when an angel appears and commands him not to slay his son. He sees a ram in a thicket and uses the ram as the burnt offering to the Lord. Abraham calls the place Jehovah-jireh (a mount the Lord where the shall be manifest). After this test of faith and obedience, the Lord reminds Abraham that he will bless his posterity and they will be numerous. Rebekah is born to Bethuel.
Commentary
Bible Central Commentary
These free resources were developed for use in the free ScripturePlus app. Many of the contributors are professors of religion and ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “Genesis 21–23,” in Genesis, Old Testament Minute Commentary Series, ed. Taylor Halverson (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2021).
Historical Commentaries
Many of the commentaries below are in the public domain and were authored over 100 years ago. In many cases, they do not reflect the findings of modern scholarship, but they may be helpful for understanding the history of biblical scholarship.
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Historical Settings
Time
*All Dates Are Approximate, according to the narrative of the Bible. These dates may reflect literary significance as opposed to the precise dates of history.
See Biblical Chronology- 2054 BC
Further Reading
Book of Mormon Central, “How Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac Illuminates the Atonement (Jacob 4:5),” KnoWhy 412 (March 1, 2018).
Matthew L. Bowen, “’In the Mount of the Lord It Shall Be Seen’ and ‘Provided’: Theophany and Sacrifice as the Etiological Foundation of the Temple in Israelite and Latter-day Saint Tradition,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 5 (2013): 201–223.
Larry E. Dahl, “The Abrahamic Test,” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Old Testament, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson (Provo and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, and Deseret Book 2005), 83–99.
Blair G. Van Dyke, “Elements of Sacrifice in Abraham’s Time and Our Own,” Religious Educator 10, no. 1 (2009): 51–69.
Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry (1706)
Commentary on the Bible
Adam Clarke (1831)
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable
Thomas Constable
Rashi’s Commentary
Rashi (Shlomo Yitzchaki)
Notes on the Bible
Albert Barnes (1834)
Exposition of the Entire Bible
John Gill (1746–63)
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch (1857–78)
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible
John Wesley (1754–65)