Bereshith (Genesis) 22

Lesson date: 1/6/5855AA

Verse 1 – Here we see a word used for the first time which is only found in the Tanakh 36 times, nasah – H5254 – to try, to test, to tempt or to prove. It is almost always used about the Children of Yisrae’l:

Deu 8:2 “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.

Psa 26:2 Examine me, O יהוה, and prove me; Try my kidneys and my heart.

The odd thing about nasah, it is only to be done by YHVH our Elohim and not by us: Deu 6:16 “Do not try יהוה your Elohim as you tried Him in Massah. However, our Messiah changed all of that. By becoming a human in all senses He too was tempted: Heb 2:18 For in what He had suffered, Himself being tried, He is able to help those who are tried.

Heb 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was tried in all respects as we are, apart from sin.

The Greek word used in both of the above Scriptures is G3985 – πειράζω – peirazō – pi-rad’-zo

From G3984; to test (objectively), that is, endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline: – assay, examine, go about, prove, tempt (-er), try.

This is the same word used in the ABP+ for what happened to Abraham and personally, I like the word tested. YHVH wanted Abraham to prove himself through his faith so He tested Abraham’s faith. The testimony that is given about Abraham’s faith is unbelievable, but more on that later.

Here is another little aside to this chapter, H853 is used 28 times.

Another interesting thing in this verse of Scripture is the way Abraham response to YHVH’s call: H2009 – הִנֵּה – hinnêh – hin-nay’ – Prolonged for H2005; lo!: – behold, lo, see. Remember the song Hinei matov? Same word. But what is really neat about hinnay is what it shows in pictographic Hebrew.

E = Behold, surely, lo

n = Seed, offspring, son

e = Behold

Behold, my son, behold. In many languages, not just Semitic, it is either represented by a letter that evolved for a jumping fish, in the case of Hebrew, or, by a letter that represents a sprouting seed, (son).

Verse 2 – When you look at verse 2 you see the word “now” used in the first line and after it is one of those pesky (H853)’s. This is one of the words that I feel is purposely mistranslated. Doesn’t YHVH seem rather heartless in this verse of Scripture telling Abraham to “Now, take your only son, Yitshaq.” But, that is not what is being said here. It should read “Please take your son.” That is why I call this word the mighty “na”.

We know that Yitshaq was not Abraham’s only son but he was his only son born after the covenant of circumcision. Now, for the good part, the testimony of Abraham: Heb 11:17 By belief, Aḇraham, when he was tried, offered up Yitsḥaq, and he who had received the promises offered up his only brought-forth son,

Heb 11:18 of whom it was said, “In Yitshaq your seed shall be called,”

Heb 11:19 reckoning that Elohim was able to raise, even from the dead, from which he received him back, as a type.

As someone who has lost a son I can attest to the pain of that loss. More than anything else I can now identify with our Father what pain He must have felt and endured when he witnessed the loss of His Son, our Messiah.

Verse 2 is one of those verses in Scripture that proves that there is plan, for the very beginning, and it is beautifully made: go to the land of Moriyah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I command you.”

2Ch 3:1 And Shelomoh began to build (H853) the House of יהוה at Yerushalayim on Mount Moriyah, where He appeared to his father Dawiḏ, at the place that Dawid had prepared on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Yebusite.

Do I believe that Solomon built his temple at the place where Abraham built the altar to sacrifice Yitshaq? You bet I do. That is how perfect His plan is. Look at the definition of Moriyah: H4179 – מריּה / מוריּה – môrı̂yâh – BDB Definition: Moriah = “chosen by Jehovah”. It also means “where Yehovah teaches.

43 And Yitsḥaq answered Yishma’ĕl, saying, ‘Why do you boast to me about this, about a little bit of your flesh which you didst take from your body, concerning which יהוה commanded you?

44 As יהוה lives, the ALMIGHTY of my father Aḇraham, if יהוה should say unto my father, take now your son Yitsḥaq and bring him up an offering before me, I would not refrain but I would joyfully accede to it’.

45 And יהוה heard the word that Yitsḥaq spoke to Yishma’ĕl, and it seemed good in the sight of יהוה , and he thought to try Aḇraham in this matter.

Verse 3 – It says Abraham “rose early”. I am not sure that I could have done that knowing what was about to happen. Maybe it should have said, “After a night of fitful tossing and turning and without any sleep, Abraham rose early.” But that is not what the faithful do. They are anxious to see the work of the Almighty proven right before their very eyes so they rise early:

Psa 108:1 O Elohim, my heart is steadfast; I sing and give praise – even my esteem.

Psa 108:2 Awake, harp and lyre! I awake the dawn.

Joh 20:1 And on the first day of the week Miryam from Magdala came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

Verse 4 – “On the third day” whoa, I didn’t see that one coming. Look again to what is said in Hebrews: Heb 11:17 By belief, Aḇraham, when he was tried, offered up Yitsḥaq, and he who had received the promises offered up his only brought-forth son,

Heb 11:18 of whom it was said, “In Yitshaq your seed shall be called,”

Heb 11:19 reckoning that Elohim was able to raise, even from the dead, from which he received him back, as a type.

Abraham, on the third day was obedient to the command of Elohim even if he had to receive his son back for the dead: Mat 12:40 “For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Aḏam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Mat_27:63 saying, “Master, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am raised.’

Joh 2:19 יהושע answered and said to them, “Destroy this Dwelling Place, and in three days I shall raise it.”

Hos 6:2 ‘After two days He shall revive us, on the third day He shall raise us up, so that we live before Him.

Verse 5 – Once again in the Book of Yasher we see that the two young men were actually Yisham’el and Ele’azar. It made no difference who they were but imagine whoever they were that they had witnessed many times Abraham had chosen the best lamb, kid or calf and sacrificed it on an altar of stone. They must have wondered where Abraham was going to find a lamb.

Verse 6 – Please note what takes place in this verse. It is very key to our type and shadow: Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Yitsḥaq his son.

Abraham laid the burden of the wood on his son’s shoulders just like YHVH laid the wooden burden on His Son’s shoulders.

Luk 22:42 saying, “Father, if it be Your counsel, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My desire, but let Yours be done.”

Joh 19:17 And bearing His stake, He went out to the so-called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,

Mat 27:32 And as they were going out, they found a man of Cyrene, Shimʽon by name – they compelled him to bear His stake.

Mat 16:24 Then יהושע said to His taught ones, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake, and follow Me.

Luk 9:23 And He said to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake daily, and follow Me.

The beautiful part of Luke 9:23, we don’t have to bear our stake alone: Psa 68:19 Blessed be יהוה, Day by day He bears our burden, The Ěl of our deliverance! Selah.

Gal 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so complete the Torah of Messiah.

Verses 7-17 – The Book of Yasher tells us that the ram that was found caught in the bush was one of the rams that had been on the Ark with Noah and had awaited this day. Regardless whether or not it is true we see that Abraham was obedient up to the point of raising the knife to take his son’s life. By the same token, we see YHVH true to His covenant which He declared in Ber. 1:1 word 1 that His Son would go to the stake voluntarily. Who do you think the Messenger was in verse 11? Personally, I believe it was Yeshua, who would one day stand in that very same spot and be the lamb of YHVH. Maybe it was this very day that Yeshua was referencing in Scripture: Joh 8:56 “Your father Aḇraham was glad that he should see My day, and he saw it and did rejoice.”

H3070 – יהוה יראה – yehôvâh yir’eh – BDB Definition: Jehovah-jireh = “Jehovah sees” (or Yehovah teaches.)

Joe_2:23 And you children of Tsiyon, be glad and rejoice in יהוה your Elohim, for He shall give you the Teacher of Righteousness, and cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

Joh 1:29 On the next day Yohanan saw יהושע coming toward him, and said, “See, the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the world!

Yeshua was not only the Passover Lamb but also the ram of the burnt offering.

Lev 5:14 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,

Lev 5:15 “When a being commits a trespass, and has sinned by mistake against the set-apart matters of יהוה, then he shall bring to יהוה as his guilt offering a ram, a perfect one, from the flock, with your valuation in sheqels of silver according to the sheqel of the set-apart place, as a guilt offering.

Now to come full circle look at the word for ram: H352 – אַיִל – ‘ayil – ah’-yil – From the same as H193; properly strength; hence anything strong; specifically a chief (politically); also a ram (from his strength); a pilaster (as a strong support); an oak or other strong tree: – mighty (man), lintel, oak, post, ram, terebinth tree.

Remember Ber. 18:1 where I told you that Abraham was resting from the under the shade of the terebinth trees? H352, H424 and H436 are almost the same meaning in each case.

A really fascinating attribute of the terebinth tree is that, if you cut it down a new shoot will spring up out of the stump. The tree has a very large root system which why it is able to withstand any drought.

Rom 11:16 Now if the first-fruit is set-apart, the lump is also. And if the root is set-apart, so are the branches.

Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, have been grafted in among them, and came to share the root and fatness of the olive tree,

Verse 18 – “Because you obeyed my voice” is a powerful testimony of faith: Exo 19:5 ‘And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine –

Exo 19:6 ‘and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation.’ Those are the words which you are to speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl.”

Jer 7:23 “But this word I did command them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I shall be your Elohim, and you be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it be well with you.’

Joh 3:36 “He who believes in the Son possesses everlasting life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of Elohim remains on him.”

Heb 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the Causer of everlasting deliverance to all those obeying Him,

Rev 22:14 “Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.

Verses 19-24 They returned to Beersheba and received news of Abraham’s brother.

Naḥor – נָחוֹר – Strong’s H5152 – ‘snorting’

Uts – עוּץ – Strong’s H5780 – ‘wooded’

Buz – בוּז – Strong’s H938 – ‘contempt’

Qemu’ĕl – קְמוּאֵּל – Strong’s H7055 – ‘raised of El’

Aram – אֲרָם – Strong’s H758 – ‘exalted’

Keseḏ – כֶשֶד – Strong’s H3777 – ‘increase’

Ḥazo – חֲזוֹ – Strong’s H2375 – ‘vision’

Pildash – פִלְדָש – Strong’s H6394 – ‘flame of fire’

Yiḏlaph – יִדְלָף – Strong’s H3044 – ‘weeping’

Bethu’ĕl – בְתוּאֵּל – Strong’s H1328 – ‘man of El, dweller in El’

Riḇqah – רִבְקָה – Strong’s h7259 – ‘ensnarer’ – she would become the wife of Yitsḥaq

All of the 8 sons above were born to Naḥor from: Milkah – מִלְכָה – Strong’s H4435 – ‘queen’

Naḥor’s concubine – Re’uwmah – רְאוּמָה – Strong’s H7208 – ‘elevated’ bore 4 sons:

Teḇaḥ – טֶבַח – Strong’s H2875 – ‘a slaughter’

Gaḥam – גַחַם – Strong’s H1514 – ‘burning’

Taḥash – תַחַש – Strong’s H8477 – ‘dugong’ ((Very similar to a manatee but in the Old World i.e. Asia))

Maʽaḵah – מַעֲכָת – Strong’s H4601 – ‘pressure (literally she has pressed)’

Lesson date: 06/05/5858AA

Psa 26:2 Examine me, O יהוה, and prove me; Try my kidneys and my heart.

Heb 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was tried in all respects as we are, apart from sin.

The Greek word used in both of the above Scriptures is G3985 – πειράζω – peirazō – pi-rad’-zo From G3984; to test (objectively), that is, endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline: – assay, examine, go about, prove, tempt (-er), try.

Here is another little aside to this chapter, H853 is used 28 times.

Another interesting thing in this verse of Scripture is the way Abraham responds to YHVH’s call: H2009 – הִנֵּה – hinnêh – hin-nay’ – Prolonged for H2005; lo!: – behold, lo, see. Remember the song Hinei matov? Same word. But what is really neat about hinnay is what it shows in pictographic Hebrew.

E = Behold, surely, lo

n = Seed, offspring, son

e = Behold

We know that Yitshaq was not Abraham’s only son but he was his only son born after the covenant of circumcision. Now, for the good part, the testimony of Abraham: Heb 11:17 By belief, Aḇraham, when he was tried, offered up Yitsḥaq, and he who had received the promises offered up his only brought-forth son,

Heb 11:18 of whom it was said, “In Yitshaq your seed shall be called,”

Heb 11:19 reckoning that Elohim was able to raise, even from the dead, from which he received him back, as a type.

Verse 2 is one of those verses in Scripture that proves that there is plan, from the very beginning, and it is beautifully made: go to the land of Moriyah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I command you.”

2Ch 3:1 And Shelomoh began to build (H853) the House of יהוה at Yerushalayim on Mount Moriyah, where He appeared to his father Dawiḏ, at the place that Dawid had prepared on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Yebusite.

מריּה / מוריּה – môrı̂yâh – BDB Definition: Moriah = “chosen by Jehovah”. It also means “where Yehovah teaches.

Go to one of your Bible Story books that you have and look at the art work for this bedtime story. You will see that Yitshaq is represented by a young boy, but is this true. In Chapter 23 we see that Sarah dies at 127 years old. If Yitshaq was born when she was 90 then Yitshaq could have been a grown man, about 37 years old. Look at the exchange between Yisma’el and Yitshaq in Yasher: Book of Yasher – Chapter 22:42-45: And Yishma’ĕl boasted of himself to Yitsḥaq, saying, ‘I was thirteen years old when יהוה spoke to my father to circumcise us, and I did according to the word of יהוה which he spoke to my father, and I gave my soul unto יהוה , and I did not transgress his word which he commanded my father’. 43 And Yitsḥaq answered Yishma’ĕl, saying, ‘Why do you boast to me about this, about a little bit of your flesh which you didst take from your body, concerning which יהוה commanded you? 44 As יהוה lives, the ALMIGHTY of my father Aḇraham, if יהוה should say unto my father, take now your son Yitsḥaq and bring him up an offering before me, I would not refrain but I would joyfully accede to it’. 45 And יהוה heard the word that Yitsḥaq spoke to Yishma’ĕl, and it seemed good in the sight of יהוה , and he thought to try Aḇraham in this matter.

((I only use this quote to show that Yitshaq was not a little boy as we have been taught but was fully aware of what was going to happen to him.))

Verse 3 – It says Abraham “rose early”. I am not sure that I could have done that, knowing what was about to happen. Maybe it should have said, “After a night of fitful tossing and turning and without any sleep, Abraham rose early.” But that is not what the faithful do. They are anxious to see the work of the Almighty proven right before their very eyes so they rise early:

Psa 108:1 O Elohim, my heart is steadfast; I sing and give praise – even my esteem.

Psa 108:2 Awake, harp and lyre! I awake the dawn.

Joh 20:1 And on the first day of the week Miryam from Magdala came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

Verse 4 – “On the third day”, I didn’t see that one coming. Look again to what is said in Hebrews: Heb 11:17 By belief, Aḇraham, when he was tried, offered up Yitsḥaq, and he who had received the promises offered up his only brought-forth son,

Heb 11:18 of whom it was said, “In Yitshaq your seed shall be called,”

Heb 11:19 reckoning that Elohim was able to raise, even from the dead, from which he received him back, as a type.

Abraham, on the third day was obedient to the command of Elohim even if he had to receive his son back for the dead: Mat 12:40 “For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Aḏam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.