By Faith – Abraham Received Isaac Back from Death

“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:17-19)

This story from the Old Testament has caused a fair amount of debate over the years. Did God command Abraham to perform a human sacrifice? In Genesis 22:2 God says to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” We’ll come back to that question later.

In verses 3-5 we read that early the next morning—no delay—Abraham set off to obey. The fact that he loaded up wood, a source of fire, and a knife makes it very clear that he expected that he would indeed be required to not only place Isaac on the altar, but in fact that he would be required to kill him—as he fully believed God had commanded. 

And therein lay Abraham’s greatest faith hurdle. First, although Isaac was not Abraham’s only son, he was the only one through whom God had promised to give Abraham descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky. God had already told Abraham that the promise would not be fulfilled through Ishmael, the child born through a human effort to “help” God. So, if Isaac died, and Ishmael could not take his place, what would happen to the promise? What would/could God do next? After all, Abraham was now probably close to 120 years old, and Sarah, who had been integral to the promise, was well over 100! If they had been “beyond” childbearing age 15-20 years ago, their situation had certainly not improved!

No, Abraham fully expected that Isaac would die. But notice what Abraham tells the servants in Genesis 22:5: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (emphasis mine). Astonishingly, Abraham fully expected that God would somehow, someway, raise Isaac back to life! He fully expected that both of them would return to the servants after he had performed the sacrifice. That’s just astonishing. 

And, while it didn’t happen exactly as he may have envisioned, Isaac was indeed “brought back to life” in a manner of speaking. Once Abraham had demonstrated his obedience, once he had actually placed Isaac on the altar, God stayed his hand, preventing him from killing Isaac, and in a move that we would only fully appreciate years later, God provided a substitute, a ram, that would be killed in Isaac’s place (vv. 11-13). 

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary describes it this way:

“In a figurative sense, he did receive Isaac back from the dead. He had committed himself to the fact that Isaac must be slain. God credited him with the act. But, as one author put it so poignantly, the Lord ‘spared Abraham’s heart a pang He would not spare His own.’^[1] He provided a ram to take Isaac’s place, and the only begotten son was returned to his father’s heart and home.”^[2]

Now, having looked at the story, let’s return to our original question. Can we charge God with condoning, and in fact commanding human sacrifice? We’ll turn to R.A. Torrey and Gleason Archer for the answer. R.A. Torrey, in his Difficulties and Alleged Errors and Contradictions in the Bible, says this:

“Notice in the first place that the Bible nowhere says that God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac. It is constantly said by enemies of the Bible that God did command Abraham to slay Isaac, but this is not in reality what the Bible says. Exactly what the Bible says is that God commanded Abraham to ‘offer him for a burnt-offering’ (Genesis 22:2). Literally translated, God commanded Abraham to ‘make him go up [that is, upon the altar] for a burnt-offering.’ Abraham was merely commanded to lay Isaac upon the altar as a whole offering to God…. All that God commanded was to make him go up onto the altar, ready to be slain and burned if God should so require.”^[3]

Now, on to Gleason Archer in the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties:

“It is a mistake to interpret Genesis 22:2 as a command by God for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar. On the contrary, God actually (through His angel, at least) restrained Abraham’s hand just as he was about to plunge the knife into his son’s body, saying, ‘Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’ (v. 12, NASB). While it is true that the Lord instructed Abraham previously to present Isaac as a burnt offering , and Abraham himself undoubtedly understood it as a command to kill his son on the altar, the point at issue was whether the doting father was willing to surrender even his only son (begotten by Sarah) to the Lord as a proof of his complete surrender. But v. 12 is conclusive proof that Yahweh had no intention that Abraham should actually go through with this human sacrifice. It was simply a test of his faith.”^[4]

In other words, while Abraham fully expected to be required to kill Isaac, God did not intend nor allow him to go through with it. What God wanted was for Abraham to demonstrate his willingness to be obedient, even in the hard things. And Abraham had—and would—face plenty of hard things! But, by his obedience, “in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19)

And through his obedience we have a beautiful picture of what God would Himself do so many years later when he “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32).

Go Deeper

• Relying on The Constant Companionship of The Holy Spirit – Package Offer Video Download Full Series
• Inspiring Faith in Your Children and Grandchildren – Package Offer
• The Evidence for the Historical Jesus – Updated Edition

1. A reference to Romans 8:32. ↑
2. Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament, © 2004, accessed at biblegateway.com ↑
3. R.A. Torrey, Difficulties and Alleged Errors and Contradictions in the Bible (CrossReach Publications: Kindle Edition), p. 31. ↑
4. Gleason Leonard Archer, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Zondervan’s Understand the Bible Reference Series) (Zondervan. Kindle Edition). ↑