Gen. 22:3 Abraham didn't inform anybody about the orders he received, much less Isaac. The drama acquires force with each verse.

Gen. 22:6 Took the fire in his hand alludes to some material used to light a bonfire, like a flintstone.

Gen. 22:11-14 A vision of GOD must often die first, and later the LORD revives the vision out of its ashes. GOD will provide.

The greatest text on faith in the Bible may well be Genesis 15:6 - "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness". In that simple formula the pattern for faith was set for all ages, peoples, and persuasions.

GOD continues to offer salvation ont he same basis, that is, by grace through faith - plus nothing. That is the clear teaching of both the OT and NT.

But questions are sometimes raised about who or what was the object of faith in the Old Testament. Some have answered that Genesis 15:6 simply says that Abram became a general believer in the one true GOD and abandoned the worship of other gods. Such a conclusion, however, does not take the context of Genesis 15:6 seriously.

Why did the narrator of Genesis wait until Genesis 15 to inform us about Abraham's faith? According to Hebrews 11:8-9, Abraham left the city of Ur of the Chaldees in southern Mesopotamia "by faith" twenty-five years earlier than the events of Genesis 15. The answer rests in the fact that during the twenty-five years covered by Genesis 12-14 the promise of the land took precedence. When the issue of the promise of a son and offspring was raised in Genesis 15, Abraham was one hundred years old, and his wife Sarah was ninety. GOD refused to allow Abraham to adopt his servant Eliezer of Damascus as his legal son. GOD would still give to Abraham and Sarah their own natural son as promised.

In this very context the issue of what it means to believe GOD was raised. What, then, was the object of Abraham's faith? It was simply and solely belief in the Promised One who was to come through the offspring of Abraham. Abraham's faith had the same object as ours must, the promised Christ.

Is Abraham's faith any different from the justifying faith of the NT believer? No. In principle it remains the same. This is not to say, of course, that Abraham possessed as full an understanding of our Savior and His atoning work as we do. Yet the similarity and pattern still exist. Both the OT and the NT believer had to put their trust in the same person, Christ, the Offspring promised to the woman (Gen. 3:15), to Abraham (Gen. 15:5), and to us (Gal. 3:16,29).

Some have argued that Abraham's belief is only an illustration that favors from GOD are not earned but come only through faith; it is not an example of saving faith. But this interpretation will not hold up under the accounting figure ("he credited it to him for righteousness") or the use Paul made of this verse in Romans 4:1-16. The discussion of Abraham's faith was delayed from Genesis 12 until Genesis 15 so that the strongest connection between belief in Christ, the promised Offspring, and Abraham's justification apart from any works might be made. Every time Abraham decided to extricate himself by his own works in Genesis 12-22, he only dug himself in deeper trouble. Only GOD's gracious gifts were effective in granting him relief; so it was with his salvation and ours. (HBH p. 131)

Gen. 22:14 See section 1 of "TRUTH IN ACTION" at the end of Genesis.

Gen. 22:16 By myself I have sworn: "Because he could not swear by anything greater, he swore by himself" (Heb. 6:13). GOD also used this incident to resolve the problem once and for all: human sacrifices were prohibited.

Gen. 22:20-25:18; 26:1-33 Isaac: The link with GOD's promises to Abraham Isaac fulfilled a passive linking role quite unlike the other patriarchs, who took an active role in the outworkings of GOD's promises. Already Abraham had waited for Isaac's birth; Abraham stood ready to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Following the death and burial of Sarah (23:1-20), Abraham made arrangements for Isaac to take a wife from among his own kinfold of Aramea (24:1-67; compare 22:20-24). Abraham thus worked to insure that the promise of offspring would continue into the next generation. This done, Abraham died (25:7-8) and was buried with his wife by his sons Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac rarely occupied the center stage. In the following years Isaac, who had been the object of his father's actions, became an object in his son Jacob's struggle for the promises (27:1-40).

A rare scene focusing on Isaac pictures him as the link through whom GOD's promises to receive land and to be a source of blessing for the nations were fulfilled. The LORD sent Isaac to live among the Philistines of Gerar as Abraham had done (26:1-6). There Isaac unqillingly blessed the nations by digging wells which the Philistines appropriated to their own use. Isaac and his clan proved bo be such a source of nourishment to their neighbors that Abimelech their king made a covenant with Isaac, recognizing his claim in the promised land. HBH

Gen. 23:2 Kirjath-arba: "The city of Arba" was the most ancient name of Hebron, named after Arba, a great chief who settled there (see Josh. 14:15).

Gen. 23:3 The sons of Heth (see 10:15) were apparently Hittites, who years earlier moved there from southern Asia Minor, dispossessing its previous occupants, the sons of Arba.

Gen. 23:4-20 A fascinating story, that illustrates the oriental form of bargaining. Abraham was aware that the Hittites had no intention of giving him a burial place for free, nor would he have dared to accept their pretended offering. What they discussed was, would Abraham receive a permanent site in Canaan, or would he remain as a dependant without his own lands?

Gen. 23:14,15 Bargaining from a position of strength, Ephron carefully slid his exorbitant offer (400 shekels of silver) into the delicate negotiations.

Gen. 23:19 Sarah's bones in...Canaan were a testimony that the chosen people were in possession of the promise. See Joseph's demand in 50:25.

Gen. 24:2,3 Put your hand now under my thigh: These words form part of an important oath sworn by a man who thinks he is dying, although Abraham still had many more years ahead. The thigh was a symbol of intimacy and was associated with procreation. Perhaps the eldest servant of his house was Eliezer of 15:2.

Gen. 24:4 To my land: To Haran (Syria), Abraham's place of origin. The idea is to maintain the purity of the descendants.

Gen. 24:10 Many archaeologists have insisted that camels had not yet been domesticaed in that period, and would not be till many centuries later, in spite of the continual mention of camels throughout the books of the Old Testament. However, in houses around Haran, camel bones have been encountered, and remains of places to feed camels have been found in southern Turkey, both discoveries in excavations dating back to the patriarchal age. Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means "land in the midst of the waters", translated from the Hebrew, "Aram of the two rivers", the area situated between the Tigris and the Euphrates (in modern Iraw). The city of Nahor was near Haran.

(See also, "Archaeology and the Bible".) Gen. 24:12-14 Normally, this prayer leads to the unpredictable, but GOD may occasionally honor it, as he did in this case. The servant knew perfectly well that the GOD of Abraham was a GOD who did miracles; he had been witness to his blessings through the years.

Gen. 24:27 Jehovah along the way: is a literal translation. It could be interpreted as the ecstatic exclamation of the servant: "The LORD guided me directly to the house!" His mental response was some moments of joyful worship.

Gen. 24:48 Brother isn't as specific as "brother" in modern speech; it could mean "nephew", or simply "relative" (see 14:14). Rebecca was the daughter of Abraham's nephew, Bethuel.

Gen. 24:53 These were wedding presents, the dowry.

Gen. 24:54 Abraham's servant was impatient to communicate the testimony of the miracle to those of his home.

Gen. 24:62 The well of the Living One was a well in the southern part of the land, approximately 19 km NE of Cades (see 16:13,14).

Gen. 24:63 Isaac wasn't someone of pleasant character like his father; nor as his son Jacob. He was calm, 40 years old and still single. His life was basically an interlude between two culminating points. (We can't judge a person because he was still single at forty. Most men of the time didn't marry until they were at least thirty years old when they would be better able to provide for a family. Moses didn't marry until he was at least forty. The main reason that Isaac didn't marry earlier was that his parents didn't want him to marry the women of the land.)

Gen. 25:1 In verse 6 Keturah is identified, not as Abraham's wife but as his concubine (see I Chron. 1:32). She was in the same condition as Hagar. In light of this and Abraham's vitality to produce so many sons, some experts think that these events belong to an earlier stage in Genesis, before the death of Sarah.

Gen. 25:2 Some of these names are found today on ancient inscriptions in southern Arabia. Midian appears often in the first books of the Old Testament.

Gen. 25:6 Abraham sent these sons far from Isaac, toward the east, to Arabia, to the end that a special place could be established that would belong to Isaac.

Gen. 25:9,10 See the note for 23:4-20.

Gen. 25:12-18 See the note for 16:14.

Gen. 25:18 From Havilah unto Shur The site where Havilah was is unknown, but was probably an oasis in Arabia, to the east of the Red Sea. Shur is found in the Sinai Desert. This area is an enclave in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

Gen. 25:19-34; 27:1-36:43 Jacob's Struggle for the Promises Isaac served as a passive link with GOD's promises to Abraham. In contrast, Isaac's younger son, Jacob, fought throughout his life for the very best that GOD had promised to give. (HBH)

Gen. 25:19-26 The Beginning of the Struggle. Just as the barrenness of Sarah called for Abraham to trust GOD for offspring, that same deficiency in Rebekah called for earnest prayer from her husband Isaac (25:21). Faithful to His promise to Abraham, Yahweh responded and gave not one but two sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob's grasping Esau's heel in an effort to be the firstborn (25:26) introduces the major theme of the Jacob stories - Jacob's struggle for the promised blessings. (HBH)

Gen. 25:22,23 Rebecca must have had a very difficult pregnancy; the babies struggled in her womb to be born first. They were literally "squashing each other". And went to consult Jehovah: We don't know how Rebecca asked GOD. The LORD's answer is emphasized.

Gen. 25:27 Calm man: The Hebrew word has the sense of "stable" or "solid".

Gen. 25:27-34 The Struggle for the Birthright. Contrary to the norms of succession and inheritance, the LORD gave to Jacob the rights of the firstborn, though on the human level Jacob manipulated his brother in order to receive them (25:27-34). Esau, as the older son of Isaac, should have inherited the birthright, the claim to family leadership. He forfeited that, however, in a moment of self-indulgence (25:27-34). (HBH)

Gen. 25:29-34 According to a custom of the area around Haran, a man could sell his birthright to his brother. The birthright meant the direction of the family and a double portion of the inheritance (Deut. 21:17). Jacob behaves rudely, but the most important thing is Esau's ambition for the present and touchable, no matter the cost (v. 34). The New Testament calls it "profane" (Heb. 12:16).