The snow and darkness were no obstacles for me. I knew where we were going and had strength to easily plow through the snow. He kept looking up to me as I held his hand on the path. My little son had no idea where we were going or why we were going there; he only knew he was with dad so everything was OK. His only concern was where he was going to next put his little foot. He knew dad was big, strong, and smart. He always knew that I loved him and always looked out for his good - even if I let him flounder in the snow so he could learn how to walk, and struggle, and to overcome.

The story is told of St. Teresa of Avila who had just tumbled from a horse and fallen into the mud. She looked up to God and said, "If this is the way you treat your friends God, it is no surprise that you have so few of them." Yet, it was not said always knowing that God was good and often tested her to make her more like himself. At moments, my son Jesse would have thought the same as I restrained my fatherly instincts, letting him struggle against the snow. Abraham, the friend of God, must have struggled too after losing one son and now walking down a path with knife in hand to kill the other.    

God was about to take Abraham down a difficult path, like I did with my son.

This chapter is a masterpiece, not only in it's dramatic story and pregnant theology, but also in its inner structure and the way it corresponds with other episodes in Abraham's life-not to mention parallels with the sacrifice of the ultimate Son of Promise. Reading this chapter as a drama of human tragedy and triumph is like rowing across a lake and enjoying what can be seen from the surface. But, don scuba gear and flippers and you will discover a whole new world under the surface. Let me whet your appetite for scuba diving by showing how this story is divinely written to correspond with other events in Abraham's life: 1) the agony when Abraham sent away his oldest son Ishmael and 2) Abraham's first agonizing decision to follow God and leave his family and homeland. Let's chart comparisons between these two chapters and Genesis 22. 

We're privy to information that Abraham does not know. We're told up front that Abraham is being tested. We have the benefit of hindsight as the sacred writer shows us the production notes, so to speak. When God called did Abraham brace himself defensively or melt like warm putty?  From his response it seems like the latter. The "father of faith and works" responded from the heart, "Here I am." He lets God know that he hears him and is ready to obey - to do from the heart whatever God asks. I use the work "ask" advisedly here because in the nuances of the Hebrew wording we see that God is not making a demand on Abraham-as in a command - but is actually making an entreaty. In Hebrew it can best be translated as "Please take your son . . ."

Abraham could respond to God's "Please" with a simple "No thank you" without violating any decree or incurring any guilt. Abraham had a free choice to do as God requested or to freely refuse. This makes his "Yes" to God all the more poignant! And it should remind us of another "Yes" from a daughter of Abraham two thousand years later that would change the world.

God uses three phrases to describe Isaac: "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love." Remember that the number three is used for emphasis, to put something over the top. Isaac is not just Abraham's son, but he is Abraham's only son, he is Abraham's son whom he loves. This use of a triplicate demonstrates that God in heaven understands profoundly how important this lad is to the old man. In fact, the Holy Spirit inspiring the biblical text has waited until now to use the word love for the first time in the Bible.

Moriah was about 50 miles NE of Beer-sheba. The name Moriah is mentioned only twice in the Bible-Genesis 22 and 2 Chronicles 3:1. The latter verse pulls back the curtain to not only identify the location, but to give us a glimpse into the mind of God and why he sent Abraham all the way up here for the sacrifice!

Let's look at three related events that took place at Mount Moriah in Jerusalem roughly a thousand years apart. First, Abraham built an altar on which to sacrifice his beloved son of promise on Mount Moriah; second, a thousand years later Solomon builds his temple and offers animal sacrifices on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem; and third, a thousand years later Jesus, the spotless lamb of God was crucified here. Hopefully your eyes are opening to another set of parallels and correspondences between the two fathers who both loved their sons but still offered them as sacrifices on this mountain - predestined from the beginning of time.