Kejadian 22:2

22:2 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.”

Kejadian 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ⁶  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ⁷  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ⁸  in sorrow to the grave.” ⁹ 

[22:2]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  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.

[22:2]  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.

[22:2]  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.

[22:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[42:38]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ⁷ sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ⁸ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ⁹ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.