العبرانيين ١١:١٧

offered up--literally, "hath offered up," as if the work and its praise were yet enduring [ALFORD]. As far as His intention was concerned, he did sacrifice Isaac; and in actual fact "he offered him," as far as the presentation of him on the altar as an offering to God is concerned. tried--Greek, "tempted," as in Gen 22:1. Put to the proof of his faith. Not that God "tempts" to sin, but God "tempts" in the sense of proving or trying (Jam 1:13-15). and--and so. he that had received--rather as Greek, "accepted," that is, welcomed and embraced by faith, not merely "had the promises," as in Heb 7:6. This added to the difficulty in the way of his faith, that it was in Isaac's posterity the promises were to be fulfilled; how then could they be fulfilled if Isaac were sacrificed? offered up--rather as Greek, "was offering up"; he was in the act of offering. his only-begotten son--Compare Gen 22:2, "Take now thy son, thine only son." EUSEBIUS [The Preparation of the Gospel, 1.10, and 4.16], has preserved a fragment of a Greek translation of Sanchoniatho, which mentions a mystical sacrifice of the Phœnicians, wherein a prince in royal robes was the offerer, and his only son was to be the victim: this evidently was a tradition derived from Abraham's offering, and handed down through Esau or Edom, Isaac's son. Isaac was Abraham's "only-begotten son" in respect of Sarah and the promises: he sent away his other sons, by other wives (Gen 25:6). Abraham is a type of the Father not sparing His only-begotten Son to fulfil the divine purpose of love. God nowhere in the Mosaic law allowed human sacrifices, though He claimed the first-born of Israel as His.

The apostle having, in the close of the foregoing chapter, recommended the grace of faith and a life of faith as the best preservative against apostasy, he how enlarges upon the nature and fruits of this excellent grace. I. The nature of it, and the honour it reflects upon all who live in the exercise of it (Heb 11:1-3). II. The great examples we have in the Old Testament of those who lived by faith, and died and suffered extraordinary things by the strength of his grace (v. 4-38). And, III. The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of this grace above what those had who lived in the times of the Old Testament (Heb 11:39, Heb 11:40).

11:17-31 Great examples of faith take the reader from Abraham’s family to Rahab. These examples build up evidence that faith is the only appropriate response to God. 11:17-19 Abraham offered Isaac: See Gen 22:1-18. God never intended for Abraham to offer his son but was testing Abraham’s faith, which he expressed through his obedience.