Old Testament # 9
“‘God Will
Provide Himself a Lamb’”
Abraham 1; Genesis
15–17; 21–22
Introduction
One of the projects I helped with during my time at
FARMS/Maxwell Institute was to compile a catalog of the existing hypochephali
(Facsimile #2). They have to do with the Egyptian Book of the Dead in a way. I
looked at them as scripture to help the dead person on his path through the
underworld. Ours in the Book of Abraham is fairly unusual but there are others
that resemble it. And Joseph Smith’s interpretation, at first denigrated by
19th century scholars, has now proven to be accurate. It’s hard to find, but Improvement
Era 17 has a detailed breakdown of the facsimiles by Hugh Nibley. Some of
which can be found in One Eternal Round. Why do I mention this? Because the
subject today, known as the “Akedah” (binding) harks back to Facsimile #1 which
shows Terah attempting to sacrifice Abraham, Isaac’s father, when he was a lad.
So we have the perfect parallel which in turn harks back to Cain and Abel. Abel
obediently sacrificed the firstlings of the flock because that was the law.
Cain disobeyed the law, obeyed Satan and “sacrificed” the fruits of the field.
Terah agreed to sacrifice his son, Abraham, to brazen idols—meaningless—no more
worthy than a gang initiation. Abraham, and Isaac one must assume, was prepared
to sacrifice “[his] only son” (Genesis 22:2) in obedience to God’s request. You
might question the only, but again a parallel. Abraham had another son,
Ishmael but not with Sarah. Elohim had another son, Lucifer but not with an
earthly body, so both Isaac and Jesus are referred to as the “only” son.
President Kimball gave this very insightful commentary on
Genesis 22:2:
The Patriarch Abraham, sorely tried,
obeyed faithfully when commanded by the Lord to offer his son Isaac upon the
altar. Blind obedience? No. He knew that God would require nothing of him which
was not for his ultimate good. How that good could be accomplished he did not
understand. He knew that he had been promised that through the seed of the
miracle son Isaac should all the multitude of nations be blessed, and God
having promised, it would be fulfilled. Undoubtedly questions arose in his mind
as to how these things could be if Isaac were liquidated, but he knew that the
Lord was just and would provide a way. Had not the Lord fulfilled the promise
made wherein this very son was to be conceived when Abraham was old and Sarah
far past the normal bearing. In Hebrews, we read: “Therefore sprang there even
of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude
and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable” (Heb. 11:12).
Abraham was now called upon to
sacrifice this beloved son who as yet had no posterity. But with faith supreme,
Abraham: “offered up Isaac . . . accounting that God was able to raise him up,
even from the dead” (Heb. 11:17,19).
Knowing that God would make no
capricious nor unnecessary demands, that the lad could be raised even from
death if necessary, Abraham obeyed. A ram was provided.[1]
I mentioned Ishmael. The scriptures pretty much focus on
Abraham and Isaac, but Sarah was party to all these trials. Perhaps even more
so, since she had to face the fact that she was barren, and she had to be
obedient and herself sacrifice her desire to bear children with Abraham,
instead unselfishly allowing her Egyptian servant, Hagar, to do that. It’s a
complicated story and there is so much to learn from these chapters that we
barely cover it, but you can believe that bearing a child with someone other
than Sarah was as hard for Abraham as it was for Sarah. And Hagar, not
understanding, gloats so much that she is cast out while pregnant with Ishmael
(Gen 16:4–16). We are all human. Later, when Abraham and Sarah bear a son in
their old age, Hagar again mocks and both she and Ishmael are cast out. Whether
Sarah and Abraham meant them to die in the wilderness, we cannot know, but as a
type, the Lord intervenes and saves them (Gen 21:9–21). We have to go to modern
revelation for understanding of this: D&C 132:34: “God commanded Abraham,
and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this
was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was
fulfilling, among other things, the promises.”
And so we come to the sacrifice of Isaac. I remember a long
time ago listening to Truman Madsen’s tapes on Joseph Smith. At one time he touched
on this sacrifice and said, quoting Hugh B. Brown, that “Abraham had to learn
something about Abraham.” That has caused me to ponder a lot. What am I asked
to sacrifice so that I might learn something about myself?”
There is a lot of food for thought in this lesson and I
hope the Lord will bless you with greater knowledge and understanding as a
result of your study of these chapters.
Additional Materials
[1]
Spencer W. Kimball, “Blind Obedience or
Obedience of Faith,” Conference Report, October 1954, 51.
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