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As I've mentioned over the years, the word "love" (i.e., ahavah: אַהֲבָה) first appears in the Bible regarding Abraham's passion for his son: "Please take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love (אֲשֶׁר־אָהַבְתָּ), and go to the land of Moriah (מוֹרִיָּה), and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you" (Gen. 22:2). Abraham heard and willingly obeyed, despite being asked to sacrifice his beloved son, the child of promise through whom his descendants would be counted as the stars of heaven.
After journeying three days the place, Abraham told his beloved son Isaac that God would provide a lamb (אֱלהִים יִרְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה), and then they ascended mountain together. Without saying a word, Abraham then carefully bound Isaac, laid him upon an altar, and raised his knife to slay him for a sacrifice to God (Gen. 22:8-10).
At the very last moment, however, the Angel of the Lord called out: "Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son (בֵּן יָחִיד), from me" (Gen. 22:11-12).
Abraham then "lifted up his eyes" (וַיִּשָּׂא אַבְרָהָם אֶת־עֵינָיו) and saw a ram "caught in a thicket" which he then offered in place of his son. Abraham then named the place Adonai-Yireh (יהוה יִרְאֶה), "the LORD who provides" (Gen. 22:14).
The sacrifice of the lamb for Isaac portrayed the coming sacrifice of Yeshua, the great "Lamb of God" (שֵׂה הָאֱלהִים) who would be offered in exchange for the trusting sinner (John 1:29). Indeed the story of how God provided the lamb at Moriah (and later during the Passover in Egypt) foreshadowed the greater redemption given in Messiah at the "Passover cross," and may be understood as the "Gospel according to Moses" (Luke 24:27; John 5:46). Therefore, during Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment (יוֹם הַדִּין), and during Yom Kippur we listen to the shofar (ram's horn) to remind us of the provision of Lamb of God given in place of Isaac.
Hebrew Lesson
Gen. 22:14a Hebrew reading (click):
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Hebrew Lesson
Revelation 5:12 Hebrew reading (click):
Note: For more on this, see "High Holidays and the Gospel."
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