GENESIS CHAPTER 22

OBSERVATION STAGE

Let's take a look at this chapter in its entirety first to see what we can observe from it alone within the context of the book of Genesis, and then we will double back and provide elaboration and corroboration.

The observation stage is to teach an individual to focus on the text at hand which, by and large, has all the information necessary to understand what it is saying without going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere.

Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.

Note that in Gen 22 Abraham obeys God and goes up to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. God provides a sacrificial Ram. Abraham is then commended by the Angel of the LORD for his great faithfulness. Notice that God has moved Abraham to this faithfulness all along - throughout Abraham's failures and successes. God provided Isaac in the first place as a miracle birth. Out of gratitude and trust Abraham obey's God's command to sacrifice Isaac with an understanding that Isaac would be resurrected from the dead by God so that God could make good on His promise of salvation and everlasting life through Isaac. This event of faithfulness made Abraham's name great - a fulfillment of one of God's promises to Abraham.