Discovery BoxGenesis 22:2-4 
Context22:2 God 1 said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac 2 – and go to the land of Moriah! 3 Offer him up there as a burnt offering 4 on one of the mountains which I will indicate to 5 you.”
22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. 6 He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out 7 for the place God had spoken to him about.
22:4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of 8 the place in the distance.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.
3 sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.
4 sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.
5 tn Heb “which I will say to.”
6 tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”
7 tn Heb “he arose and he went.”
8 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.”
