Genesis 22

Warm-up:

Have you ever felt that God makes life easier, or rather that he makes it more complicated/difficult?
Or: Has someone ever assigned you a task that you thought was absolutely impossible to fulfill?
- How did you react? Where did God for you come into the picture in that situation?

Read Gen 22:1-19

1) If you had to guess, do you think even Moses found this story strange?
What do you find strange about:

2) Why was this command to slay Isaac so at odds with everything God had told Abraham so far?

What question(s) would have crossed your mind if you had been in Abraham’s shoes?
How did Abraham handle the apparent contradiction between God’s promises and the new command to now slay Isaac? cf Heb 11:17-19
- How do you think did the author of Hebrews arrive at this interpretation of Abraham’s reaction?

3) When stopped from offering Isaac, why did Abraham still sacrifice a ram anyway?

v14, Hint: Why did he change the name of the place from Moriah to ‘The Lord will provide’ (or: ‘…will see’)?
- i.e. why not past tense: ‘The Lord did provide/see’?
- Where was Moriah located? cf 2Chr 3:1 names Moriah as a place in Jerusalem: Where exactly? [The place where Solomon later built the temple]
- In Abraham’s time, what was this place known for? cf Gen 14:18 [Jerusalem may have been the Salem where Melchizedek lived as a priest] =>
Did the construction of the temple in Jerusalem fulfill Abraham’s prediction that God will provide? Why or why not? cf Heb 8:5 (quoting Ex 25:40) =>
- If the tabernacle was only a shadow of heavenly things, what is the temple in Jerusalem? [An even greater shadow, but not the real deal]
- After the temple was destroyed in 70AD, was any provision left for ‘a better sacrifice’? cf Heb 9:23-24
  - What do you think are the ‘heavenly things’ that Jesus purified? cf Heb 3:6; Eph 2:21-22 [A people inhabited by God as his ‘temple’]

4) Why did the omniscient God so severely test Abraham’s faith? cf James 1:2-3; 1Pet 1:7

Do all Christians in some sense have to give up their ‘Isaacs’? cf Mt 10:36-39; Lk 14:33;
- Why? cf Jn 12:24-26
- What is your reaction to this rule that Christians have to be prepared to ‘give up everything’?
- How is it possible to comply with this command?

5) Personal & application

Do you find it plausible that Abraham could foresee on mount Moriah that God will provide through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus? Why or why not?
What gift is dearest to you, perhaps after you had to wait for it a long time?
- Could you be asked anytime to give it back to God?
How can we overcome fears that we might lose out if we yield to God? e.g. Jn 12:26