~~~~~Lesson: Genesis, chapters 21-26 (reading below lesson)

God is all-knowing and all-seeing. Therefore, why would he test Abraham?  He already knows that Abraham is going to "pass" the test.

When Abraham goes to kill his son, the one he has so longed for, and the only true son of his wife (his other son is by a servant), he is showing total trust in God. God already knew this was going to happen, though. So, one can assume that the "test" is for Abraham's sake. When the angel stops Abraham and acknowledges his faith, God also provides a different holocaust.

“Abraham has finally learned to give up control over his own life that he might receive it as a grace.” (last sentence direct from St. Jerome’s commentary) 

What do you think that sentence means? How can you apply it to your life?

~Reading: Genesis, Chapters 21-26: The Story of Isaac

(22: 6-12) Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulder, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham:
"Father!" he said.
"Yes, son," he replied.
Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"
"Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going forward. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an alter there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the alter. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the Lord's messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."

The second major event in Isaac’s life is the choosing of his bride. Read Chapter 24 for the entire story, if you like. In summary, God leads the servant of Abraham to find the bride for Isaac. Her name is Rebekah, and she becomes the mother of Jacob (and Esau), the mother of Israel.

(25:19-26) This is the family history of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham had begotten Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The heard his entreaty, and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children in her womb jostled each other so much that she exclaimed, "If this is to be so, what good will it do me!"
She went to consult the Lord and he answered her:
"Two nations are in your womb, two peoples are quarreling while still within you; but one shall surpass the other, and the older shall serve the younger." When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb. The first to emerge was reddish, and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. His brother came out next, gripping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.”

**Note for those interested: Esau (in original language) may mean hairy; he was also called Edom, which means red.
Jacob means "he grasps the heel" or figuratively "he deceives"