Lenten Season · Second Sunday of Lent · Year B
Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
Abraham Tested
February 21, 2027
Overview & Insights
“God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:8)
In an episode repulsive to a contemporary audience, God commands Abraham to offer up his son Isaac as a whole burnt offering. How could the God who created life and blessed humans with fertility require his faithful servant to offer up his only, beloved, son as a sacrifice? How could God ask Abraham to give up the son of promise for whom he had waited so long? On the other hand, how could Abraham obey God’s command without energetically entreating for Isaac’s life as he had done for Sodom and Gomorrah (18:23–32)? These are hard questions, and the text only hints at answers. The text’s reticence at becoming engaged with these kinds of questions belongs to the artistic design of the narrative, which is to keep in focus the central issue of Abraham’s wholehearted obedience to God in regard to his firstborn.
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Commentary
Commentary on Genesis 22:1-14 Working Preacher
Reads the binding of Isaac as a story of faith against all odds and a foreshadowing of God's self-giving.
Genesis 22 Enduring Word · David Guzik
Evangelical verse-by-verse treatment of God's test of Abraham and the ram provided in Isaac's place.
Genesis 22 resources Precept Austin
A deep evangelical resource page with word studies and sermons on the Aqedah.
The Second Sunday in Lent, Year B Catholic Productions · Brant Pitre
Dr. Brant Pitre reads the offering of Isaac as the type of the Father not sparing his own Son.
2nd Sunday of Lent (Cycle B) Agape Bible Study
A Catholic study of the sacrifice of Isaac set beside the psalm, Romans, and the Transfiguration.
Background & Word Study
Genesis 22 in Hebrew, with Jewish commentary Sefaria
The Hebrew text of the Aqedah linked to Rashi and classical Jewish interpreters.
Genesis Enter the Bible
Luther Seminary's scholarly overview of Genesis to situate the testing of Abraham in the Abraham cycle.
Interlinear: Genesis 22:1 BibleHub
Word-by-word Hebrew with parsing for God's testing of Abraham and the naming of Moriah.
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
Why is the binding of Isaac a Lenten and Vigil reading?
Abraham is ready to offer his only son, and God provides a ram in his place, a story the church reads as a shadow of the Father who did not spare his own Son.
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