Ob and In
(1) Repeated phrases: son/father, only son
(2) The detail description of Abraham's actions: tied up his son Isaac, placed him on the altar, reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter his son
(3) Question: The answer Ab giving to Isaac contradicted the normal practice/purpose of burnt offering: God will provide for himself. The purpose of burnt offering to God is to offer up ourselves to God.
Burnt offering=(NET Gen 8:20) The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the LORD. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.
provide=(BDB) look out, find out
Ab knew very well that Isaac, although as dear as a son to him, was from God. When his life belonged to God then the request for Ab to offer him back to God as the burnt offering is reasonable. The diff between Isaac and the animals that usually used in burnt offering was the animal was a substitute while Isaac was the subject himself.
When Ab said God will provide, or God will look out for Himself the lamb, Ab might mean that He is the one who give and He is the one who deserve the complete surrender dedication. (In the Heb, the verb "will provide" was not a future tense, but a perfect tense).
(EBC) Abraham's words...but in light of the fact that they anticipate the actual outcome of the narrative, they are to be read as a confident expression of his trust in God
Reflection: Do I see that all I have, including my life, is from God and I am willing to give them to the use of God? I will not see it is a waste if I give up my career and serve Him?
(4) Instead of just God told Abraham something, v.11 said that the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven.
Question: Why mentioned the angel of the LORD? Why mentioned that the angel called from heaven?
Heaven (BDB) visible heavens, sky, where stars, etc., are
(Perhaps) The angel of the LORD waited until the last minute to stop the action. That's why he called from the heaven. The prolonged test really showed that Abraham really planned to kill his son and offered him up as commanded.
12 “Do not harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
fear= (NET) In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.
(EBC) Few narratives in Genesis can equal this story in dramatic tension. The writer seems deliberately to prolong the tension of both Abraham and the reader in his depiction of the last moments before God interrupted the action and called the test to a halt. Abraham’s every action is described in exaggerated detail. At the last dramatic moment—“[Abraham] reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son” (v.10)—the Lord intervened and, as Abraham had already anticipated, provided a fit substitute for the burnt offering.
Reflection: Do I obey the LORD and not withholding anything from Him? God can take anything back from me and I am willing to give?
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