I've spent some time studying Abraham and the test God required him to go through. I've wondered what was on his mind as he and his son as well as servants, donkeys carrying the bundle of bedding, and firewood talked about as they traveled the three days journey to Moriah.
I wonder how much they talked about what lay ahead or was it even discussed. Part of that question is answered when we read the 22nd chapter of Genesis because it was God who spoke to Abraham and not to anyone else who traveled with them.
To be asked to sacrifice Isaac sounds tragic and a horrific act of worship. However Abraham grew up in a home where his father was very much involved in Idol worship. Stories handed down through the ages, (however the story never made it into the Bible) is said that Abraham when he was Abram escaped death by the furnace where he was thrown. The King feared he was going to overthrow him when he got older so he tried to kill him.
We know it didn't happen, for if this was true or even if it isn't, God showed Himself strong in Abraham's behalf.
Why then would the Lord ask this of him. Let's face it; there is something about the face of our children that overtakes us with the strongest love one can experience. Even though we as women have the labor of hard pain bringing them into the world, our husbands love those children as much and as well their heart gets intertwined with that child.
That said, the journey to Moriah was not an overnight camping trip. It was a long three days journey on foot, having to stop and rest at night. I wonder if he dreaded getting up in the morning just to do the same thing again' head toward the end of his journey with his son.
However long we count it, three nights and into the next morning, or two nights and three days it had to be the most difficult nights of his life. Though by all accounts Isaac was now in his 30's the reverence he had for his father was that of a trusting son knowing Abraham would do nothing to harm him. But for Abraham knowing what the Lord had required of him, those days of traveling had to be the hardest and longs days of his life to that point.
I believe it was a night time of the soul. I believe also, that even as much as we can speculate the ending of the story is what the Lord God Almighty wanted us to know.
I wonder how much they talked about what lay ahead or was it even discussed. Part of that question is answered when we read the 22nd chapter of Genesis because it was God who spoke to Abraham and not to anyone else who traveled with them.
To be asked to sacrifice Isaac sounds tragic and a horrific act of worship. However Abraham grew up in a home where his father was very much involved in Idol worship. Stories handed down through the ages, (however the story never made it into the Bible) is said that Abraham when he was Abram escaped death by the furnace where he was thrown. The King feared he was going to overthrow him when he got older so he tried to kill him.
We know it didn't happen, for if this was true or even if it isn't, God showed Himself strong in Abraham's behalf.
Why then would the Lord ask this of him. Let's face it; there is something about the face of our children that overtakes us with the strongest love one can experience. Even though we as women have the labor of hard pain bringing them into the world, our husbands love those children as much and as well their heart gets intertwined with that child.
That said, the journey to Moriah was not an overnight camping trip. It was a long three days journey on foot, having to stop and rest at night. I wonder if he dreaded getting up in the morning just to do the same thing again' head toward the end of his journey with his son.
However long we count it, three nights and into the next morning, or two nights and three days it had to be the most difficult nights of his life. Though by all accounts Isaac was now in his 30's the reverence he had for his father was that of a trusting son knowing Abraham would do nothing to harm him. But for Abraham knowing what the Lord had required of him, those days of traveling had to be the hardest and longs days of his life to that point.
I believe it was a night time of the soul. I believe also, that even as much as we can speculate the ending of the story is what the Lord God Almighty wanted us to know.
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