Genesis 22:13, commentary and pictures

God provided a ram held by its horns in the thicket, and Abraham took it and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son, so Isaac was spared after Abraham had shown himself willing to obey. The command was a severe test in his old age to offer his only promised son, which he met with unquestioning trust and exact obedience though it seemed terrible and contrary to the promise. His willingness was as complete in heart purpose as if he had taken his son's life, for he believed God was just and righteous and could even raise Isaac from the dead. The ram caught and slain in Isaac's stead is a figure of Christ the Son of God given and sacrificed for the sins of the world, the guiltless suffering for the guilty so condemned sinners may live. Through his own anguish in consenting to give his son, Abraham was taught the self-denial of God in giving His Son to die for a guilty and rebellious race, only unlike Isaac God's Son was not spared.

The Ram Provided

God provided a ram caught in the thicket by its horns, which Abraham took and offered as a burnt offering in the stead of his son. In this way Isaac was spared, with the ram becoming the substitute sacrifice in his place. The substitute was given after Abraham had shown his willingness to obey God.

Abraham named the place Jehovah-jireh, meaning the Lord will provide. The offering took place near Salem, the site later chosen as the capital of Israel and called Jerusalem, and the offering of the ram in the stead of Isaac there proved Abraham's loyalty to God. This belongs to the account where God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering, and Abraham woke Isaac to go in obedience to that command.

Abraham's Obedient Faith

Genesis 22:13 belongs to Abraham's severe test in old age, which he met with implicit trust, obeying without questioning the command though it seemed terrible and conflicted with the promises concerning his son. He obeyed the command exactly without using the three-day journey to excuse himself or question how God's promise could be fulfilled if Isaac died, and though human and deeply attached to his son, he trusted that God was just and righteous. His willingness was as complete in his heart purpose as if he had by his own hand taken his son's life, having in his heart already made the sacrifice. He believed God could raise Isaac from the dead and knew the end from the beginning, his faith was counted to him for righteousness, and his experience shows God's people can trust Him through severe trials.

The test concerned his only son, the promised son who was to become a great nation, whom Abraham obeyed God's command to offer without hesitating until he could reason the matter out, at once beginning the long, painful journey, with the substitute offering completing that unquestioning obedience by which he was called the friend of God. Commanded to offer his only son, he could not reason out the command, but because he believed God and delighted to obey Him he stopped reasoning and obeyed, and God gave the test for his present and eternal good, so that by obeying he came off conqueror. The same testing comes to God's people today, when the Lord sets aside their devising and puts His purposes in their place, often contrary to human desires and inclinations and contrary to the dictates of the flesh.

His faith teaches confidence in God's requirements even when painful, with obedience and complete surrender to God, showing that nothing a person possesses is too precious to give to God, while Isaac's willingness to be offered shows yielding to God can be regarded as a privilege and honor. His willingness to sacrifice his only son illustrates that obedience and devotion to God must outweigh attachment to earthly possessions, since he could give up the child of promise more readily than many people will part with even some of their wealth. His genuine faith and willingness to surrender what he loved in obedience applies to surrendering possessions and self to God and to sharing in sacrifice for the work of saving souls. His willingness shows true faith that is not bare belief but trust producing fruits, for he obeyed because he knew the voice commanding the offering was the same voice that had told him to leave his country for a land God would show him, and his obedience proves he was saved by faith in Christ just as verily as the sinner today is saved by faith in Christ. He passed the test through faithfulness and obedience, with the knife raised to slay Isaac until the angel stayed his hand to show his perfect obedience, and after the test God renewed His promise to bless Abraham and multiply his descendants.

A Figure of Christ

The ram caught in the thicket and offered in Isaac's stead is a figure, type and symbol of Christ, the Son of God given and sacrificed for the sins of the world. Its substitution pictures Christ taking the sinner's place, the guiltless suffering for the guilty. Isaac himself, in being offered, is a figure of God's Son offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Abraham's anguish and willingness to give his son impressed upon him the plan of redemption and the self-denial of God in giving His own Son to die to save humanity. Through the test he learned something of that great sacrifice in which God gave His Son to save a guilty and rebellious race. Unlike Isaac who was spared, God's Son was not spared from death. The substitution illustrates that sinners condemned to death for breaking God's law may live because God provides a ransom. Reconciliation comes from the gift of God's own love and not from people offering gifts to win favor, since man could never rescue and restore himself, and ransom could be obtained only by an immeasurable sacrifice, the gift of God's beloved Son moved by infinite compassion and desire to restore fallen man.

The substitute offering made the provision of salvation clearer to the heavenly beings who witnessed the test and helped them understand the mystery of redemption. As Abraham prepared to obey in faith, the test revealed to him the coming Christ, the Lamb who would die for humanity's sins. By faith he grasped God's promise, saw the incarnate Saviour, and rejoiced. In his own experience Abraham was permitted to know something of the Father's sacrifice in accepting the death of His Son to save a guilty, rebellious race.

Christ in the wilderness faced the same kind of test to set His feet in the blood-stained path and prove His willingness to endure self-denial and suffering. There Satan falsely claimed to be the angel who had stayed Abraham's hand. He claimed to have come in mercy to save Christ's life, saying God only designed to prove willingness and it was not necessary to travel the path fully through painful hunger and death.