Angels in the Patriarchal Age
57
Abraham Tested
When Abraham was nearly one hundred years old, the promise
of a son was repeated to him, with the assurance that the future heir
should be the child of Sarah.... The birth of Isaac, bringing, after a
life-long waiting, the fulfillment of their dearest hopes, filled the tents
of Abraham and Sarah with gladness....
Sarah saw in Ishmael’s turbulent disposition a perpetual source
of discord, and she appealed to Abraham, urging that Hagar and Ish-
mael be sent away from the encampment. The patriarch was thrown
into great distress. How could he banish Ishmael his son, still dearly
beloved? In his perplexity he pleaded for divine guidance. The Lord,
through a holy angel, directed him to grant Sarah’s desire.... And
the angel gave him the consoling promise that though separated from
his father’s home, Ishmael should not be forsaken by God; his life
should be preserved, and he should become the father of a great na-
tion. Abraham obeyed the angel’s word, but it was not without keen
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suffering.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 146, 147
.
God had called Abraham to be the father of the faithful, and his life
was to stand as an example of faith to succeeding generations. But his
faith had not been perfect.... That he might reach the highest standard,
God subjected him to another test, the closest which man was ever
called to endure. In a vision of the night he was directed to repair to
the land of Moriah, and there offer up his son as a burnt offering upon
a mountain that should be shown him....
The command was expressed in words that must have wrung with
anguish that father’s heart: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, ... and offer him for a burnt offering.” Isaac was the
light of his home, the solace of his old age, above all else the inheritor
of the promised blessing....
Satan was at hand to suggest that he must be deceived, for the divine
law commands, “Thou shalt not kill,” and God would not require what
He had once forbidden. Going outside his tent, Abraham looked up to
the calm brightness of the unclouded heavens, and recalled the promise
made nearly fifty years before, that his seed should be innumerable as
the stars. If this promise was to be fulfilled through Isaac, how could
he be put to death? Abraham was tempted to believe that he might be
under a delusion.... He remembered the angels sent to reveal to him