By Faith Isaac

Chapter 17: Son of the Commandment

On the third day Abraham scanned the horizon. They were close to their destination. When would God tell him exactly where to go? As his eyes moved from mountain top to mountain top, something in his spirit said, “That’s the one!” There was no voice from the sky, no vision or dream, just a quiet confidence. “This is the way. Walk in it.” When they were within walking distance of the peak, Abraham said, “Stop!” Turning to his servants, he said, “Stay here with my donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering from the donkeys and placed it on Isaac’s strong shoulders. He himself carried the fire and the knife. The walk to the top of the mountain would be the longest walk of Abraham’s already long life. “How did you know which peak was the right one?” Isaac asked as father and son walked along together. “Yahweh told me,” his father replied. “I didn’t hear anything,” Isaac said. “He didn’t say it out loud,” Abraham said. “I just knew it in my spirit.” Isaac wondered how his father could be sure without hearing explicit instructions. Then something else occurred to him. “Father?” “Yes, my son?” “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham had wondered when that question would arise. He had an answer prepared. “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Little did Isaac know who that lamb would be, Abraham thought. He still wasn’t ready to tell Isaac all that God had commanded him. They went on together in silence. The climb made conversation difficult for the older man. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham noticed a flat spot. “Right here!” Again Abraham felt that quiet sense that God was directing him. He stopped to catch his breath and then helped Isaac take off his load of wood. Together they built an altar and arranged the wood on it. “So where’s the lamb?” Isaac asked. Abraham didn’t answer the question immediately. “We have been discussing faith these last few days, Son. I have done my best to teach you to walk by faith. I have tried to demonstrate my faith with my life. But at some point in your life, you will have to declare what you believe. You are thirteen. Old enough to know right from wrong. Old enough to have your own faith. You can’t rely on my faith to make you acceptable before God.” “I believe everything you believe, Father,” Isaac said. “Saying it is good, Son, but it’s not enough. Faith is more than words. Faith requires action. I have been trying to obey Yahweh’s commandments and laws – whether spoken by him or written on my heart – ever since I left Ur. When Almighty God confirmed his Covenant with me, he commanded, ‘Walk before me and be blameless.’ God also commanded me to circumcise all the males in my household. I was old enough to choose to be circumcised. That day I became a Son of the Commandment – bar mitzvah. But you were only eight days old when I circumcised you. Circumcising you was my act of faith, not yours. Now you must demonstrate your faith. You, too, must become a Son of the Commandment.” “So how do I demonstrate my faith?” Isaac asked. “I honor the Sabbath. And I have already placed my hand on the head of a lamb before it was sacrificed and told Yahweh I was sorry for my sin.” “Do you believe all the Covenant promises that Yahweh made to me?” Yes.” “Do you believe Yahweh will establish his everlasting Covenant with you?” “Yes.” “That it is through you – Isaac – that my seed will be reckoned?” “Yes.” “That your descendants will be as the dust of the earth, as the stars in the sky – too numerous to count?” “Yes.” “That God is almighty?” “Yes.”

“That he can do anything?”

“Yes.”

“Even raise the dead?”

“No one has ever been raised from the dead!”

“But do you believe Almighty God could do it?”

“Why are you asking me all these questions?” Isaac wanted to know.

“Because, Son, I want to obey God, and I cannot obey him without your consent.”

“I have nothing to do with whether or not you obey God!”

“Oh yes, you do, Son,” Abraham insisted.

“How? What do you mean?”

“When God asked me to come here and make a burnt offering, he asked me to offer you as a sacrifice. You are the lamb.”

There. Abraham had finally said it.

Isaac was stunned.

“I can’t do that unless you allow me to,” Abraham continued. “If you run away, I can’t catch you. If you struggle, I can’t tie your hands and feet. And you are too heavy for me to lift onto the altar. I couldn’t even carry the load of wood for the sacrifice.”

Tears started falling down Abraham’s face.

“But God has promised that he will establish his Covenant with you. He can’t do that if you are dead. So the only way I can obey him and he can keep his promise is if I kill you and he brings you back to life again. Do you believe he can do it?”

Isaac covered his face with his hands. For a long while neither of them said a word. Finally Abraham spoke up.

“So what is your decision, Son,” he asked softly. “Will you become a Son of the Commandment? Will you demonstrate your faith by your actions?”

When Isaac finally looked up at his father, his face was wet with tears. He reached his hands toward his father and clasped them together, signifying that he was willing to be bound.

Abraham hugged his son and Isaac hugged him back. After a long embrace, they walked slowly toward the altar. With Isaac’s cooperation, Abraham managed to get his son on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham bound Isaac’s hands and feet.

Isaac squeezed his eyes tightly.

“Make it quick, Father,” he pleaded.

Abraham reached into his sheath for the knife and raised it high to slay his son. Just as he was looking for the target that would make the deed quick and painless, the angel of Yahweh called to him from Heaven.

“Abraham! Abraham!”

Abraham stopped with his knife in mid air.

“Here I am.”

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy,” the angel said. “Don’t do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son. Your only son.”

Abraham dropped his knife and slumped against the altar. Words can’t express his relief. Some moments later he came to his senses when he heard Isaac stirring on the altar.

“Help!” Isaac cried. “Help me down.”

Abraham used his knife to slit Isaac’s bonds. As he looked up, there in a nearby acacia thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. Its struggle to get free had left it torn and bloody. Long acacia thorns encircled its head.

“I told you so,” Abraham said, turning to Isaac with a smile. “I told you God would provide a lamb.”

“And you told me I would hear God’s voice some day,” Isaac countered.