Abraham offers Isaac on Moriah
Genesis 22:1–19; Hebrews 11:17–19; James 2:21–23
God tested Abraham by asking him to offer Isaac; at the last moment God stopped him and provided a ram instead.
Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.
Genesis 22:8 (World English Bible)
God told Abraham to take “your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love” to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering. Abraham rose early and went. Isaac carried the wood up the mountain and asked where the lamb was.
Abraham's answer, that God would provide, came true: the angel of Yahweh stopped his hand and a ram was caught in a thicket. Hebrews says Abraham reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Christians have long seen here a picture of the Father giving his only Son, and of a substitute dying in our place.
Places
BeershebaMoriahThe Lord Will Provide
Dating notes
Scripture gives no year. Ussher (1871 BC) follows Josephus, who says Isaac was 25. Others suggest a younger teen; Isaac had to be old enough to carry the wood. 2 Chronicles 3:1 places Solomon's temple on Mount Moriah.