DAY 24: Isaac Was 30 Years Old When Abraham Took Him To A Hilltop To Sacrifice Him

After Hagar and her son’s unpleasant experience in the desert, young Isaac was also put through a most trying ordeal.

One sunny day out of the blue, the Lord appears to Abraham and tells him to take his son Abraham to an altar on a hilltop and sacrifice him.

There are a couple of misunderstandings about this incident I need to clear up.

FIRST, get rid of the ridiculous and false idea of some innocent young child being escorted to the altar to be sacrificed.

The truth is Isaac was about 30 years old (about the same age as Yeshua when he went to the cross) at this time and knew exactly what was happening.

There is no way Abraham would have been able to even attempt to sacrifice his adult son Isaac if he had not willingly submitted himself to his father (does this have a familiar ring to it?).

SECOND, Abraham actually wouldn’t have been to surprised that God demanded his son to be sacrificed.

Why?

Because human sacrifice was a very common thing in those days.

It was something that took place regularly within all the heathen tribes of Canaan and was one of the main reasons the Lord decreed that the original inhabitants of Canaan be utterly destroyed.

Remember, the Lord HATES human sacrifice.

“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer.”-Deuteronomy 18:10

Onward, Abraham obeys the Lord and escorts him to a place called Mount Moriah.

That name should have a familiar ring because that was where the Temple would be built 900 years later in the heart of Jerusalem.

Today this area is known as the “Temple Mount”.

Next, we all know how the story plays out from here.

A split second before Abraham is about to plunge his flint dagger into the chest of Isaac, an angel of the Lord appears just in the nick of time and stops Abraham.

Instead, Abraham is a given a Ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.

Because of Abraham’s great faith in obeying the Lord’s most terrifying and audacious command, the Lord promises him that from his seed will spring forth many great nations and millions of descendants.

Relieved and I can imagine probably dripping beads of sweat, both father and son return home.

Unfortunately, we’re told that Isaac’s mother died soon after this ordeal.

Was there a connection between what happened and her death?

The Hebrew sages say there is.

According to them, Sarah was so stressed out about the whole event of Isaac being sacrificed that the strain overtook her and she passed away.

Soon after, we’re told that Abraham went to a city called Hebron and purchased some land containing a cave.

It was inside that cave in Hebron where Abraham buried Sarah and then he mourned her.