Genesis 22:1-19, “9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood”.
With the help of God through His Word, I would like to paint a picture of what I believe a young man’s honor to his father should be by looking at an episode where Isaac is led of his father to be sacrificed. The Bible does not give Isaac’s specific age when God asked Abraham to sacrifice him, but there are events surrounding Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac which gives us clues. Most scholars believe that Isaac was in his late teen’s or early twenties at the time of the offering.
To show that Isaac may have not been a young child, we see him old enough to travel three days with Abraham without his mother. His conversation with Abraham is that of an older child or a young adult. Finally, Isaac is the one who carried the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain (Genesis 22:6). The latter is strong evidence that Isaac was no longer a small child and serves as the main reason that our best guess is that he was at least in his late teens or early 20′s.
If Isaac was in his late teens or early 20′s while his father was over 100 years old, we can conclude that Isaac was willing to obey his father even to the point of death. Mathew Henry paints a picture, “Isaac, for aught that appears, is as willing as Abraham; we do not find that he raised any objection against it, that he petitioned for his life, that he attempted to make his escape, much less that he struggled with his aged father, or made any resistance: Abraham does it, God will have it done, and Isaac has learnt to submit to both, Abraham no doubt comforting him with the same hopes with which he himself by faith was comforted. Yet it is necessary that a sacrifice be bound. The great sacrifice, which in the fullness of time was to be offered up, must be bound, and therefore so must Isaac. But with what heart could tender Abraham tie those guiltless hands, which perhaps had often been lifted up to ask his blessing, and stretched out to embrace him, and were now the more straitly bound with the cords of love and duty! However, it must be done”
I can only imagine father and son sticking side by side encouraging each other. Abraham had already lost his first son Ishmael who was sent away with his mother, the Lord was fine with it. Here comes Isaac, the only promised son God required Abraham to, the son who he loved. At a young age where he could have driven his father to an early grave with his life, one episode tells it all, a willing son honoring his father. This is how best I could imagine Isaac speaking to his father, “I know that you honor God first more than anything else and I know that you love me regardless of what is asked of you, I am ready to glorify God by obeying as you fulfill the call of God through me, this is my HONOR TO YOU”.
I believe Isaac was more of an encouragement to his father the most when he needed that encouragement, he looked like the victim but he wasn’t. Only God could give and could take way. The servants who came with them could have discouraged him from sacrificing his son but here is a young man who carries what is required for sacrifice only to discover he is the sacrifice and still be willing to go through it. This is a son a father is proud of, a son that God blesses. If there is a young man or young woman who claims to fear God and does not honor their father and mother, it’s nothing to God. The honor may not necessarily mean that they deserve it, parents fail like anyone else, the whole reason for honor is a means of glorifying God. God has placed parents in strategic places for a reason. Honor of Isaac has taught me a lot. Blessings Ev
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