Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Genesis 22:15 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ge 22:15 |
Strong Concordance |
And the angel [04397] of the LORD [03068] called [07121] unto Abraham [085] out of heaven [08064] the second time [08145], |
|
King James |
And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
angel
(See Scofield) - (Heb 1:4). |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
After Abraham had offered the ram, the angel of the Lord called to him a second time from heaven, and with a solemn oath renewed the former promises, as a reward for this proof of his obedience of faith (cf. Gen 12:2-3). To confirm their unchangeableness, Jehovah swore by Himself (cf. Heb 6:13.), a thing which never occurs again in His intercourse with the patriarchs; so that subsequently not only do we find repeated references to this oath (Gen 24:7; Gen 26:3; Gen 50:24; Exo 13:5, Exo 13:11; Exo 33:1, etc.), but, as Luther observes, all that is said in Psa 89:36; Psa 132:11; Psa 110:4 respecting the oath given to David, is founded upon this. Sicut enim promissio seminis Abrahae derivata est in semen Davidis, ita Scriptura S. jusjurandum Abrahae datum in personam Davidis transfert. For in the promise upon which these psalms are based nothing is said about an oath (cf. 2 Sam 7; Ch1 17:1). The declaration on oath is still further confirmed by the addition of יהוה נאם "edict (Ausspruch) of Jehovah," which, frequently as it occurs in the prophets, is met with in the Pentateuch only in Num 14:28, and (without Jehovah) in the oracles of Balaam, Num 24:3, Num 24:15-16. As the promise was intensified in form, so was it also in substance. To express the innumerable multiplication of the seed in the strongest possible way, a comparison with the sand of the sea-shore is added to the previous simile of the stars. And this seed is also promised the possession of the gate of its enemies, i.e., the conquest of the enemy and the capture of his cities (cf. Gen 24:60).
This glorious result of the test so victoriously stood by Abraham, not only sustains the historical character of the event itself, but shows in the clearest manner that the trial was necessary to the patriarch's life of faith, and of fundamental importance to his position in relation to the history of salvation. The question, whether the true God could demand a human sacrifice, was settled by the fact that God Himself prevented the completion of the sacrifice; and the difficulty, that at any rate God contradicted Himself, if He first of all demanded a sacrifice and then prevented it from being offered, is met by the significant interchange of the names of God, since God, who commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac, is called Ha-Elohim, whilst the actual completion of the sacrifice is prevented by "the angel of Jehovah," who is identical with Jehovah Himself. The sacrifice of the heir, who had been both promised and bestowed, was demanded neither by Jehovah, the God of salvation or covenant God, who had given Abraham this only son as the heir of the promise, nor by Elohim, God as creator, who has the power to give life and take it away, but by He-Elohim, the true God, whom Abraham had acknowledged and adored as his personal God, and with whom he had entered into a personal relation. Coming from the true God whom Abraham served, the demand could have no other object than to purify and sanctify the feelings of the patriarch's heart towards his son and towards his God, in accordance with the great purpose of his call. It was designed to purify his love to the son of his body from all the dross of carnal self-love and natural selfishness which might still adhere to it, and so to transform it into love to God, from whom he had received him, that he should no longer love the beloved son as his flesh and blood, but simply and solely as a gift of grace, as belonging to his God-a trust committed to him, which he should be ready at any moment to give back to God. As he had left his country, kindred, and father's house at the call of God (Gen 12:1), so was he in his walk with God cheerfully to offer up even his only son, the object of all his longing, the hope of his life, the joy of his old age. And still more than this, not only did he possess and love in Isaac the heir of his possessions (Gen 15:2), but it was upon him that all the promises of God rested: in Isaac should his seed be called (Gen 21:12). By the demand that he should sacrifice to God this only son of his wife Sarah, in whom his seed was to grow into a multitude of nations (Gen 17:4, Gen 17:6, Gen 17:16), the divine promise itself seemed to be cancelled, and the fulfilment not only of the desires of his heart, but also of the repeated promises of his God, to be frustrated. And by this demand his faith was to be perfected into unconditional trust in God, into the firm assurance that God could even raise him up from the dead. - But this trial was not only one of significance to Abraham, by perfecting him, through the conquest of flesh and blood, to be the father of the faithful, the progenitor of the Church of God; Isaac also was to be prepared and sanctified by it for his vocation in connection with the history of salvation. In permitting himself to be bound and laid upon the altar without resistance, he gave up his natural life to death, to rise to a new life through the grace of God. On the altar he was sanctified to God, dedicated as the first beginning of the holy Church of God, and thus "the dedication of the first-born, which was afterwards enjoined in the law, was perfectly fulfilled in him." If therefore the divine command exhibits in the most impressive way the earnestness of the demand of God upon His people to sacrifice all to Him, not excepting the dearest of their possessions (cf. Mat 10:37, and Luk 14:26); the issue of the trial teaches that the true God does not demand a literal human sacrifice from His worshippers, but the spiritual sacrifice of an unconditional denial of the natural life, even to submission to death itself. By the sacrifice of a ram as a burnt-offering in the place of his son, under divine direction, not only was animal sacrifice substituted for human, and sanctioned as an acceptable symbol of spiritual self-sacrifice, but the offering of human sacrifices by the heathen was condemned and rejected as an ungodly ἐθελοθρησεία. And this was done by Jehovah, the God of salvation, who prevented the outward completion of the sacrifice. By this the event acquires prophetic importance for the Church of the Lord, to which the place of sacrifice points with peculiar clearness, viz., Mount Moriah, upon which under the legal economy all the typical sacrifices were offered to Jehovah; upon which also, in the fulness of time, God the Father gave up His only-begotten Son as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, that by this one true sacrifice the shadows of the typical sacrifices might be rendered both real and true. If therefore the appointment of Moriah as the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac, and the offering of a ram in his stead, were primarily only typical in relation to the significance and intent of the Old Testament institution of sacrifice; this type already pointed to the antitype to appear in the future, when the eternal love of the heavenly Father would perform what it had demanded of Abraham; that is to say, when God would not spare His only Son, but give Him up to the real death, which Isaac suffered only in spirit, that we also might die with Christ spiritually, and rise with Him to everlasting life (Rom 8:32; Rom 6:5, etc.). |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
And the Angel - Christ. Called unto Abraham - Probably while the ram was yet burning. Very high expressions are here of God's favour to Abraham, above any he had yet been blessed with. |
4 Being made [1096] so much [5118] better than [2909] the angels [32], as [3745] he hath by inheritance obtained [2816] a more excellent [1313] name [3686] than [3844] they [846].
5 For [1063] if [1487] we have been [1096] planted together [4854] in the likeness [3667] of his [846] death [2288], we shall be [2071] also [235] [2532] in the likeness of his resurrection [386]:
32 He that [3739] [1065] spared [5339] not [3756] his own [2398] Son [5207], but [235] delivered [3860] him [846] up [3860] for [5228] us [2257] all [3956], how [4459] shall he [5483] not [3780] with [4862] him [846] also [2532] freely give [5483] us [2254] all things [3956]?
26 If any [1536] man come [2064] to [4314] me [3165], and [2532] hate [3404] not [3756] his [1438] father [3962], and [2532] mother [3384], and [2532] wife [1135], and [2532] children [5043], and [2532] brethren [80], and [2532] sisters [79], yea [2089], and [1161] his own [1438] life [5590] also [2532], he cannot [3756] [1410] be [1511] my [3450] disciple [3101].
37 He that loveth [5368] father [3962] or [2228] mother [3384] more than [5228] me [1691] is [2076] not [3756] worthy [514] of me [3450]: and [2532] he that loveth [5368] son [5207] or [2228] daughter [2364] more than [5228] me [1691] is [2076] not [3756] worthy [514] of me [3450].
16 And I will bless [01288] her, and give [05414] thee a son [01121] also of her: yea, I will bless [01288] her, and she shall be a mother of nations [01471]; kings [04428] of people [05971] shall be of her.
6 And I will make [06509] thee exceeding [03966] [03966] fruitful [06509], and I will make [05414] nations [01471] of thee, and kings [04428] shall come out [03318] of thee.
4 As for me [0589], behold, my covenant [01285] is with thee, and thou shalt be a father [01] of many [01995] nations [01471].
12 And God [0430] said [0559] unto Abraham [085], Let it not be grievous [03415] in thy sight [05869] because of the lad [05288], and because of thy bondwoman [0519]; in all that Sarah [08283] hath said [0559] unto thee, hearken [08085] unto her voice [06963]; for in Isaac [03327] shall thy seed [02233] be called [07121].
2 And Abram [087] said [0559], Lord [0136] GOD [03069], what wilt thou give [05414] me, seeing I go [01980] childless [06185], and the steward [01121] [04943] of my house [01004] is this [01931] Eliezer [0461] of Damascus [01834]?
1 Now the LORD [03068] had said [0559] unto Abram [087], Get thee out [03212] of thy country [0776], and from thy kindred [04138], and from thy father's [01] house [01004], unto a land [0776] that I will shew [07200] thee:
60 And they blessed [01288] Rebekah [07259], and said [0559] unto her, Thou [0859] art our sister [0269], be thou [01961] the mother of thousands [0505] of millions [07233], and let thy seed [02233] possess [03423] the gate [08179] of those which hate [08130] them.
15 And he took up [05375] his parable [04912], and said [0559], Balaam [01109] the son [01121] of Beor [01160] hath said [05002], and the man [01397] whose eyes [05869] are open [08365] hath said [05002]:
16 He hath said [05002], which heard [08085] the words [0561] of God [0410], and knew [03045] the knowledge [01847] of the most High [05945], which saw [02372] the vision [04236] of the Almighty [07706], falling [05307] into a trance, but having his eyes [05869] open [01540]:
3 And he took up [05375] his parable [04912], and said [0559], Balaam [01109] the son [01121] of Beor [01160] hath said [05002], and the man [01397] whose eyes [05869] are open [08365] hath said [05002]:
28 Say [0559] unto them, As truly as [03808] I live [02416], saith [05002] the LORD [03068], as ye have spoken [01696] in mine ears [0241], so will I do [06213] to you:
1 Now it came to pass, as David [01732] sat [03427] in his house [01004], that David [01732] said [0559] to Nathan [05416] the prophet [05030], Lo, I dwell [03427] in an house [01004] of cedars [0730], but the ark [0727] of the covenant [01285] of the LORD [03068] remaineth under curtains [03407].
4 The LORD [03068] hath sworn [07650], and will not repent [05162], Thou art a priest [03548] for ever [05769] after the order [01700] of Melchizedek [04442].
11 The LORD [03068] hath sworn [07650] in truth [0571] unto David [01732]; he will not turn [07725] from it; Of the fruit [06529] of thy body [0990] will I set [07896] upon thy throne [03678].
36 His seed [02233] shall endure for ever [05769], and his throne [03678] as the sun [08121] before me.
1 And the LORD [03068] said [01696] unto Moses [04872], Depart [03212], and go up [05927] hence, thou and the people [05971] which thou hast brought up [05927] out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], unto the land [0776] which I sware [07650] unto Abraham [085], to Isaac [03327], and to Jacob [03290], saying [0559], Unto thy seed [02233] will I give [05414] it:
11 And it shall be when the LORD [03068] shall bring [0935] thee into the land [0776] of the Canaanites [03669], as he sware [07650] unto thee and to thy fathers [01], and shall give [05414] it thee,
5 And it shall be when the LORD [03068] shall bring [0935] thee into the land [0776] of the Canaanites [03669], and the Hittites [02850], and the Amorites [0567], and the Hivites [02340], and the Jebusites [02983], which he sware [07650] unto thy fathers [01] to give [05414] thee, a land [0776] flowing [02100] with milk [02461] and honey [01706], that thou shalt keep [05647] this service [05656] in this month [02320].
24 And Joseph [03130] said [0559] unto his brethren [0251], I die [04191]: and God [0430] will surely [06485] visit [06485] you, and bring you out [05927] of this land [0776] unto the land [0776] which he sware [07650] to Abraham [085], to Isaac [03327], and to Jacob [03290].
3 Sojourn [01481] in this land [0776], and I will be with thee, and will bless [01288] thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed [02233], I will give [05414] all these [0411] countries [0776], and I will perform [06965] the oath [07621] which I sware [07650] unto Abraham [085] thy father [01];
7 The LORD [03068] God [0430] of heaven [08064], which took me [03947] from my father's [01] house [01004], and from the land [0776] of my kindred [04138], and which spake [01696] unto me, and that sware [07650] unto me, saying [0559], Unto thy seed [02233] will I give [05414] this land [0776]; he shall send [07971] his angel [04397] before thee [06440], and thou shalt take [03947] a wife [0802] unto my son [01121] from thence.
13 For [1063] when God [2316] made promise [1861] to Abraham [11], because [1893] he could [2192] swear [3660] by [2596] no [3762] greater [3187], he sware [3660] by [2596] himself [1438],
2 And I will make of thee [06213] a great [01419] nation [01471], and I will bless [01288] thee, and make [01431] thy name [08034] great [01431]; and thou shalt be a blessing [01293]:
3 And I will bless [01288] them that bless [01288] thee, and curse [0779] him that curseth [07043] thee: and in thee shall all families [04940] of the earth [0127] be blessed [01288].