Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Genesis 22:2
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And he said, take now thy son, etc.] Directly, immediately; not thine ox, nor thy sheep, nor thy ram, nor thy lamb, nor thy servant, but thy son: thine only [son] Isaac; for, though Ishmael was his son, he was a son by his maid, by his concubine, and not by his wife; Isaac was his only legitimate son, his only son by his lawful wife Sarah; the only son of the promise, his only son, in whom his seed was to be called: whom thou lovest; on whom his affections were strongly set, being a lovely youth, a dutiful son, and the child of promise; on whom all his hope and expectation of a numerous offspring promised him was built, and in whose line the Messiah was to spring from him; even Isaac, which stands last in the original text: so that, if what had been said was not sufficient to describe him, he is expressed by name, and the description is gradually given, and the name of his son reserved to the last, that he might be by degrees prepared to receive the shocking order; every word is emphatic and striking, and enough to pierce any tender heart, and especially when told what was to be done to him. The Jews f1254 represent God and Abraham in a discourse together upon this head: God said, take now thy son; says Abraham, I have two sons; take thine only son; says he, they are both only sons to their mothers; take him whom thou lovest; I love them both, replied he; then take Isaac; thus ended the debate: and get thee into the land of Moriah; so called by anticipation, from a mountain of that name in it; the Septuagint render it, “the high land”, the hill country of the land of Canaan, particularly that part of it where Jerusalem afterwards stood, which was surrounded with hills: hence Aquila, another Greek interpreter, renders it, “conspicuous”, as hills and mountains are, and a mountainous country is; Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it, “a land of worship”, of religious worship; for in this country afterwards the people of God dwelt, the city of the living God was built, and in it the temple for divine service, and that upon Mount Moriah; and the Targum of Jerusalem has it here, “to Mount Moriah;” the Jews are divided about the reason of this name, some deriving it from a word f1255 which signifies to “teach”, and think it is so called, because doctrine or instruction came forth from thence to Israel; others from a word f1256 which signifies “fear”, and so had its name because fear or terror went from thence to the nations of the world f1257; but its derivation is from another word f1258, which signifies to “see”, and which is confirmed by what is said (<012214>Genesis 22:14): and offer him there for a burnt offering; this was dreadful work he was called to, and must be exceeding trying to him as a man, and much more as a parent, and a professor of the true religion, to commit such an action; for by this order he was to cut the throat of his son, then to rip him up, and cut up his quarters, and then to lay every piece in order upon the wood, and then burn all to ashes; and this he was to do as a religious action, with deliberation, seriousness, and devotion: upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of; for there were several of them adjoining to, or pretty near each other, which afterwards went by different names, as Mount Sion, (<050448>Deuteronomy 4:48); the hill Acra; Mount Calvary, (<422333>Luke 23:33); and Mount Moriah, (<140301>2 Chronicles 3:1); supposed to be the mount intended; and so Aben Ezra says it was the place where the…
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