יהוה-יראה
The Akeidah, the narrative passage in Genesis 22 concerning the “binding” of Isaac, has for a long time been problematic for me, because so often the symbolism of the passage as it was presented to me was unclear and inconsistent. In the account, Abraham was supposed to represent God the Father; Isaac, the Beloved Son, bearing the wood upon his back up Mt. Moriah to be sacrificed. But then, when the angel intervenes, Isaac is spared, and a ram caught in the thicket is sacrificed in its place. In preaching, though, a Christological inference was made to the ram; that the ram is a symbol of Christ bearing our sins, like we are the “Isaac” that was to be slain.
This, for me, seemed difficult to understand, because it seemed that the meaning of the symbols changed halfway through the story. No one was sacrificed in the place of Christ; rather, Christ was sacrificed in our place. There was no ram to die in the place of the Beloved Son.
I think part of the misunderstanding comes in that we have a tendency to focus on redemption as the central aspect of scripture. Here, I believe we are mistaken. The primary purpose of scripture is revelatory: God revealing Himself to man. Often, the key to interpretation is theological: examine the passage to see what it teaches about the Person and Character of God – and then let the other little pieces fall into place.
In the passage, a key theological truth is found in verse eight, in which Abraham answered his son “God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering.” At the time Abraham answered, the “seh,” the “one of the flock,” was his son Isaac. Isaac was the seh. In the end, the seh was a ram. But the truth Abraham was stating was that God would provide for Himself that which was required for the sacrifice.
The same thought is echoed at the end of the account in verse 14, in which Abraham calls the name of the place Adonai-Yireh, because “in the mountain of the LORD it shall be seen.” [i.e. provided for.] Just as a king may say, “See to it that…,” Abraham expresses that God will see to it that that which He requires He will provide for. And this itself reconciles the symbolism: the seh is whatever God provides… whether it was Isaac, a ram, or Christ.
Christologically, our faith is in the work of Christ, yes. But that faith is rooted in His Person, Who Christ Is and Who God Is. Our faith is not just in the object of the provision; it is in the Person of the Provider! This is essential to both Old Testament and New Testament theologies. God would not accept the sacrifice of Cain’s labor, because it was not the sacrifice He had provided for that purpose. Cain’s faith was not in the person of the provider: from his perspective; he, the man, provided the sacrifice for God. Abel, on the other hand, gave the sacrifice that God had provided him for that purpose – because he recognized that only God can stipulate and provide the thing which will satisfy Him.
Ultimately, at the cross, God demonstrated this in a tangible way: He Himself became the provision. The fact that God Himself would offer Himself as the provisionary atonement for sin proves that there is no atonement for sin than God alone. He alone can forgive sins, since it is the Person of God freely offered that makes forgiveness possible. When God sees Christ, it is more than just expiation – a payment for guilt. It is that God sees in His Beloved Son His own righteousness and capacity for boundless forgiveness. It is only by His righteousness that He can be satisfied.
And for us, Adonai-Yireh means Faith: not just in the Gift, but in the Giver – that God Himself, and what He chooses to provide, is, and will be, completely sufficient.
