HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  21.33–34 Abraham plants a tamarisk tree to mark the sacred place where he called . . . on the name of the Lord. Sacred trees often mark local Israelite shrines, e.g., the oak of Moreh at Shechem, where Abraham builds an altar (12.6–7). The Everlasting God (El Olam), probably an old epithet of the Canaanite high god El here applied to Yahweh. Cf. the other El epithets in the Abraham narrative: El Elyon (14.22), El-roi (16.13), El Shaddai (17.1).

  GENESIS 22

  The Command to Sacrifice Isaac

  1After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

  9When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to killa his son. 11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”b as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”c

  15The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.

  The Children of Nahor

  20Now after these things it was told Abraham, “Milcah also has borne children, to your brother Nahor: 21Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Or to slaughter

  b Or will see; Heb traditionally transliterated Jehovah Jireh

  c Or he shall be seen

  22.1–19 The story of the near sacrifice of Isaac shows Abraham’s astonishing faith and obedience to God, which are his great virtues in this E story. (Cf. his virtue of arguing with God over moral principles in 18.16–33, from the J source.) The practice of child sacrifice is known from the West Semitic world, usually occurring only in times of crisis (see 2 Kings 3.27). All firstborn sons belong to God (see Ex 22.29), but they may be redeemed by offering a sheep (Ex 34.20), as ultimately happens in this story (v. 13). Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son is conceivable in this context but still requires an absolutely unconditional trust in God’s word. The enormity of this trust is emphasized by the diction of the story, in which the key words father and son echo prominently, and by its placement immediately after the banishment of Ishmael, leaving no heir other than Isaac.

  22.1 God tested Abraham. This provides an interpretive frame for the story, with the command as a test of Abraham’s trust in God rather than an actual killing. (Cf. the test of Job’s trust in God in Job 1–2.) “Abraham!” “Here I am.” This initial dialogue is repeated with rising tension in v. 7 (with Isaac) and v.11 (with the angel).

  22.2 An ascending sequence that moves from the general (your son) to the particular (your only son Isaac) to the emotional (whom you love) has an intensifying effect. Isaac is Abraham’s only son now that Ishmael is gone, and the promise depends on him. But Abraham’s love for his son is more important still. Note how the diction evokes Abraham’s interior life without describing it explicitly. The mountain in the land of Moriah, later identified as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (2 Chr 3.1). Land that I shall show you, an echo of the call of Abraham in 12.1.

  22.5 We will worship, and…come back to you. Abraham’s words seem to be deceptive speech masking his plan to sacrifice Isaac, yet his words come true. There is irony in the equivalence between Abraham’s attempt at concealment and what comes to pass. This points to the complex relations between human plans and God’s plan (cf. 50.20) and makes Abraham an unself-conscious prophet (cf. 20.7).

  22.6–8 The two…walked on together (v. 6, repeated in v. 8). The focus narrows to the father and son. The sole dialogue between the two repeats the words father and my son (twice each), subtly expressing their emotional bond. Isaac’s innocent question receives Abraham’s ambiguous answer that God himself will provide the lamb. As with Abraham’s words in v. 5, these words spoken as an apparent attempt to shield Isaac from the truth in fact come true.

  22.9–10 The action slows to show each of Abraham’s actions as he carefully prepares to sacrifice his son. The clinical precision of the details is heartrending and builds tremendous suspense. Abraham’s first action leads to the traditional Jewish designation of the passage as the Aqedah, or Binding of Isaac.

  22.11–14 The last-second intervention of the angel saves the day and confirms that Abraham has passed the test. To fear God (v. 12) implies obedience, piety, and righteousness (cf. 20.11; Ex 1.21). The ram is lexically a type of sheep or lamb, fulfilling Abraham’s words in v. 8 and motivating the name of the place, the LORD will provide (which is also a play on the name Moriah, v. 2). The mount of the LORD either implies or is later understood as a reference to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (see note on 22.2). In Heb 11.17–19 the episode is used as a testimony to belief in resurrection.

  22.15–19 The second speech of the angel, probably an editorial addition to the E story, reconfirms the patriarchal promises to Abraham in elaborate form (cf. 12.2; 13.16; 15.5). Abraham returned (v. 19), without mention of Isaac, turns the focus back to Abraham, as in the story’s beginning (v. 1).

  22.20–24 In this J addition, Abraham’s brother, Nahor (11.27), is father to twelve sons, eight from his wife and four from his concubine. The number of his sons echoes the number of Ishmael’s (25.13–16) and, more important, Jacob’s. Nahor’s sons are mostly the names of Aramean tribes or places, including his grandson Aram (v. 21). Bethuel is identified as the father of Rebekah, providing genealogical background for ch. 24.

  GENESIS 23

  Sarah’s Death and Burial

  1Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah’s life. 2And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3Abraham rose up from beside his dead, and said to the Hittites, 4“I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
” 5The Hittites answered Abraham, 6“Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your dead.” 7Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8He said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar, 9so that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying place.” 10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11“No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.” 12Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13He said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “If you only will listen to me! I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” 14Ephron answered Abraham, 15“My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16Abraham agreed with Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

  17So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, passed 18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, in the presence of all who went in at the gate of his city. 19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burying place.

  next chapter

  * * *

  23.1–20 The Abraham narrative winds down with the purchase of the cave at Machpelah, near Hebron, where Sarah and Abraham (25.9) will be buried. This P text establishes another link between the ancestors and the promise of the land. The next two generations of patriarchs and matriarchs (Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah) will also be buried here.

  23.2 Kiriath-arba, Hebron, Canaan, place-names that raise the theme of God’s promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants. His purchase of the family tomb is a first step in the fulfillment of this promise and marks the land with a prominent memorial to the dead ancestors. For Hebron, see note on 13.18.

  23.3 Hittites, one of the indigenous peoples of Canaan (see 10.15, which names their putative ancestor Heth; 15.20; 27.46; Ezek 16.3). They are what historians call Neo-Hittites to distinguish them from the Indo-European Hittite people of Anatolia, who formed a great empire in the second millennium BCE. The best-known member of this ethnic group is Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam 11.3).

  23.4–9 As a resident alien, Abraham owns no land to bury his dead. In diplomatic language the Hittites offer him the use of the choicest of their burial places (v. 6), which indicates a reluctance to sell or grant Abraham his own property. Abraham presses his case for ownership, offering to pay full price for the cave of Machpelah (v. 9), i.e., without bargaining over the (usually inflated) asking price.

  23.10–16 Ephron the Hittite and Abraham engage in an elaborate and deferential dialogue that results in the sale of the cave and field for an exorbitant price that Abraham willingly pays. Ephron’s initial offer to give it as a gift (v. 11) is a rhetorical gesture of honor and generosity, which Abraham knows not to take seriously and which Ephron undermines with his inflated price.

  GENESIS 24

  The Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah

  1Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh 3and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, 4but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac.” 5The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 9So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

  10Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master; and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. 11He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was toward evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14Let the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

  15Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. 16The girl was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.” 18“Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. 19When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 21The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

  22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, 23and said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” 24She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25She added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night.” 26The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD 27and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin.”

  28Then the girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. 30As soon as he had seen the nose-ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and there he was, standing by the camels at the spring. 31He said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD. Why do you stand outside when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?” 32So the man came into the house; and Laban unloaded the camels, and gave him straw and fodder for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33Then food was set before him to eat; but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my errand.” He said, “Speak on.”

  34So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slav
es, camels and donkeys. 36And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. 37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’ 39I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ 40But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and make your way successful. You shall get a wife for my son from my kindred, from my father’s house. 41Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my kindred; even if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

  42“I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! 43I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’

  45“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. 48Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”