A High Holiday Bible Study
with Rich Freeman, DMin
While Rosh Hashanah 2024 will commence the high holiday season on October 2, it more often than not occurs in September. One of the traditions of the Rosh Hashanah service is the reading of what is known as the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, found in Genesis 22. In this story, the Lord tested Abraham, and one of the reasons was to see if he truly put God first in his life.
For believers in Jesus, we can appreciate this as a portion of Scripture in which Isaac serves as a type (or pattern) of the Messiah to come: “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you’” (Gen 22:1–2).
Today, we possess the luxury of additional information in the New Testament about this important text in Genesis. It helps us notice the parallels between Isaac and Jesus. In Hebrews 11:17–19, we read, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your descendants shall be called.’”
Here are some of the parallels between Isaac and Jesus, thereby affirming Isaac as a type of Messiah:
- The first parallel is not in Genesis 22 but is nevertheless clear—the miraculous birth. A teenage virgin and a ninety-year-old woman giving birth are both physically impossible by natural means. Both are miracles only God could work.
- Parallel number two is Isaac’s appellation, “Your only son” (Gen 22:2). Anyone familiar with John 3:16 will immediately see the connection: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
- Parallel number three is debatable, and it is an opinion based on the context of the passage. Jewish tradition and Christians tend to see Isaac as a younger man, perhaps even a teenager, in this passage. However, I believe Isaac and Jesus were the same age at the time of the Akedah, because in the next chapter, Isaac’s mother, Sarah, dies at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven, which implies Isaac was thirty-seven years old (Gen 23:1, cf. Gen 17:17).
- Parallel number four is the connection to the resurrection. When Abraham gave instructions to his servants, he told them they—he and Isaac—would return: “We will worship and return to you” (Gen 22:5). He was going to do what God had asked him to do, but he would return with Isaac alive. The journey, like Jesus’ resurrection, was completed on the third day. Abraham considered God as able even to raise his son from the dead. Since Abraham was told all of God’s promises would come to fruition through Isaac, Abraham believed God could and would raise Isaac from the dead and thus receive back his son.
- Parallel number five shows both Isaac and Jesus carrying wood on the way toward the place of sacrifice (John 19:17). Verse six says, “Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.”
- Parallel number six is the place of sacrifice. Mount Moriah was a mountain range, which included the area known as the Temple Mount in Jesus’ day. This site is likely where the sacrifice took place. I think there is sufficient reason to believe the place Abraham brought Isaac for sacrifice was Golgotha, where Jesus would be executed two thousand years later.
- Parallel number seven is they were both laid upon the wood for sacrifice—Jesus on the cross and Isaac on the altar (22:9).
- Parallel number eight is how neither man fought back as they went to be killed (Isaiah 53:9).
- Finally, we arrive at parallel number nine: Just as we do not see Isaac again in the narrative until he is with his bride, Rebekah (Gen 24), so also we will not see our Lord Jesus again until He comes again and receives us as His bride (Revelation 19:7).
