Lesson 12: The Lord Provides

 

Theme: God told Abraham to sacrifice Issac. God provided a lamb instead.

Memory Verse: Genesis 22:14 - And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will- Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided”.

Read: Genesis 22 : 1-18

Notes:

St Basil the Great relates that he could never view the depiction of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac without shedding tears. Imagine if you can, that here was a man who God choose, talked with and upon rare occasions showed Himself to. Abraham was not sinless, but Abraham had great faith in his God yet God tested him repeatedly. Abraham waited over 25 years for the promised son through Sarah who would be Abraham’s rightful heir. Sarah who thought she was beyond child bearing age impatiently offered her slave Hagar as a concubine and Abraham’s first son Ishmael was born. When the visiting angels announced that Sarah would indeed give birth, she laughed, so great was her disbelief. To show His great power and faithfulness, God waited till Sarah was 90, at which time she gave birth to Issac. After Issac was born, Sarah decided to send Hagar and Ishmael away. The Church Fathers comment that Sarah did this in order to protect her marriage from Hagar who had been haughty towards her mistress and especially to protect Issac from Ishmael who being older now scorned and laughed at them. Her decision distressed Abraham but Abraham trusted Sarah’s discretion and God’s ability to look after Hagar and Ishmael. Ishmael became a archer and father of the great nation of Arabs.

One evening, God spoke to Abraham and gave him a command in order to further test him. God told Abraham to take his beloved, only son Issac to a distant mountain and offer him as a human burnt sacrifice. Most of us would have screamed and refused such a request, but Abraham obeyed and left immediately the next morning. Human sacrifices at that time were not uncommon but rare, with most people offering grain or sacrificing animals upon an alter.

They travelled by foot with a two other young men towards Moriah. Moriah was the future site of Solomon’s temple and the present site of the Dome of the Rock Mosque. Abraham told no one what he was going to do and you can almost sense his inner turmoil and struggle with God’s command as he walked three days towards his only son’s death. Abraham told the other young men accompanying them to while “WE go to worship” and “WE will return”. Jewish tradition says that Issac was not a boy but a young man who was strong enough to carry a load of wood on his back. Issac questioned his father but he did not disobey him since people trusted and respected Abraham as a great man whom God was with. Issac did not struggle when he was bond and laid upon the altar. Up until the last minute Abraham believed ‘ The Lord will Provide’, which God did and promised to make a great nation out of the descendants of Abraham and Issac.

The story doesn’t end here! The Church Fathers see the story of Abraham and Issac, as a fore-shadowing of another historical event where a young man, a descendant of Abraham, who’s grandmother Anna was barren yet bore a child in her old age, Anna’s daughter Mary, who said ‘yes’ to an angelic request, knowing her pregnancy would bring anguish to her fiancé Joseph. The story of Abraham and Issac is fore-shadowing the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore his wooden cross on his shoulders, was voluntarily bound and placed upon cross and lifted up as a sacrifice for our sins. He died yet lived, trampling down death by death.

 

Parents: Take your children on a blind folded ‘walk of Faith’ around the house. Ask them how it felt to walk when they couldn’t see ahead. Ask if they trusted you and why.

Get children to act out the story and ask what they feel.

Questions:

1. What did God ask Abraham to do as a test of his faith ( Sacrifice Issac as an offering to God)
2. Does God need our sacrifices in order to please him? What does God want from us? (No, God does not need anything but it pleases him if we obey him and return the love He has for us)
3. What part of God’s promise did he repeat in this story that he previously told Abraham? (( His descendants would be numbered like the stars and sand, his descendent would rule over his enemies, through him God would bless all nations).
4. What did God tell Abraham when He stopped him from sacrificing Isaac? (Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son.)
5. What did Abraham name the place where he offered Isaac? (The Lord Will Provide).

 

Riddle of the Week: I give refuge to the blind and repeat everything they say. What am I? John 11: 38-40

Answer to last riddle: A daughter!

Adults/teens: Compare maps of Abraham’s travels and present day Israel. Maybe do some armchair travel on Google Earth and see what the land around the Dead Sea and Jordan River look like today. The Bedouin herders still live in tents or shanties and herd goats and sheep in present day West Bank.

Further study and good listening:

Laying the Groundwork for the Salvation of Mankind by Archbishop Nathaniel

https://orthodoxlife.org/scripture/laying-the-groundwork-for-the-salvation-of-mankind/

 

Dr. Eugene Constantinou podcast on Abraham & Issac

 

https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/searchthescriptures/genesis_21_-_the_sacrifice_of_isaac_part_1

 

Lord of the Spirits podcast: From Ur of the Chaldeans

 

https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits/from_ur_of_the_chaldeans