22 We have here,

1. The strange command which God gave to Abraham, Gen 22:1-2.
   
2. Abraham's strange obedience to this command, Gen 22:3-10.
   
3. The strange issue of this trial.
   1. The sacrificing of Isaac was countermanded, Gen 22:11-12.
      
   2. Another sacrifice was provided, Gen 22:13-14.
      
   3. The covenant was renewed with Abraham hereupon, Gen 22:15-19.
   
   
4. An account of some of Abraham's relations, Gen 22:20-24.
   

22:1 Here is the trial of Abraham's faith, whether it continued so strong, so vigorous, so victorious, after a long settlement in communion with God, as it was at first, when by it he left his country: then it appeared that he loved God better than his father; now, that he loved him better than his son. After these things - After all the other exercises he had had, all the difficulties he had gone through: now perhaps he was beginning to think the storms were blown over but after all, this encounter comes, which is stranger than any yet. God did tempt Abraham - Not to draw him to sin, so Satan tempts; but to discover his graces,how strong they were, that they might be found to praise and honour and glory. The trial itself: God appeared to him as he had formerly done, called him by name Abraham, that name which had been given him in ratification of the promise: Abraham, like a good servant, readily answered, Here am I; what saith my Lord unto his servant? Probably he expected some renewed promise, like those, Gen 15:1 Gen 17:1, but to his great amazement that which God hath to say to him is in short, Abraham, go kill thy son: and this command is given him in such aggravating language as makes the temptation abundantly more grievous. When God speaks, Abraham, no doubt, takes notice of every word, and listens attentively to it: and every word here is a sword in his bones; the trial is steel'd with trying phrases. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that he should afflict? No, it is not; yet when Abraham's faith is to be tried, God seems to take pleasure in the aggravation of the trial.

22:2 And he said, take thy son - Not thy bullocks and thy lambs; how willingly would Abraham have parted with them by thousands to redeem Isaac! Not thy servant, no, not the steward of thine house. Thine only son - Thine only son by Sarah. Ishmael was lately cast out, to the grief of Abraham, and now Isaac only was left and must he go too? Yes: take Isaac, him by name, thy laughter, that son indeed. Yea, that son whom thou lovest - The trial was of Abraham's love to God, and therefore it must be in a beloved son: in the Hebrew 'tis expressed more emphatically, and I think might very well be read thus, Take now that son of thine, that only son of thine, whom thou lovest, that Isaac. And get thee into the land of Moriah - Three days journey off: so that he might have time to consider it, and if he do it, must do it deliberately. And offer him for a burnt offering - He must not only kill his son, but kill him as a sacrifice, with all that sedateness and composedness of mind, with which he used to offer his burnt - offering.

8 

8:31 What shall we say then to these things - Related in the third, fifth, and eighth chapters? As if he had said, We cannot go, think, or wish anything farther. If God be for us - Here follow four periods, one general and three particular. Each begins with glorying in the grace of God, which is followed by a question suitable to it, challenging all opponents to all which, "I am persuaded," etc , is a general answer. The general period is, If God be for us, who can be against us? The first particular period, relating to the past time, is, He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not freely give us all things? The second, relating to the present, is, It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? The third, relating to the future, is, It is Christ that died - Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

8:32 He that - This period contains four sentences: He spared not his own Son; therefore he will freely give us all things. He delivered him up for us all; therefore, none can lay anything to our charge. Freely - For all that follows justification is a free gift also. All things - Needful or profitable for us.

8:33 God's elect - The above - cited author observes, that long before the coming of Christ the heathen world revolted from the true God, and were therefore reprobated, or rejected.

But the nation of the Jews were chosen to be the people of God,and were therefore styled,

• "the children" or "sons of God," Deu 14:1;
• "holy people," Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2;
• "a chosen seed," Deu 4:37;
• "the elect," Isa 41:8, Isa 41:9; Isa 43:10;
• "the called of God," Isa 48:12.

Now the gospel having the most strict connexion with the Booksof the Old Testament, where these phrases frequently occur; and our Lord and his apostles being native Jews, and beginning to preach in the land of Israel, the language in which they preached would of course abound with the phrases of the Jewish nation.And hence it is easy to see why such of them as would not receive him were styled reprobated. For they no longer continued to be the people of God; whereas this and those other honourable titles were continued to all such Jews as embraced Christianity. And the same appellations which once belonged to the Jewish nation were now given to the gentile Christians also together with which they were invested with all the privileges of "the chosen people of God;" and nothing could cut them off from these but their own wilful apostasy.

It does not appear that even good men were ever termed God's electtill above two thousand years from the creation. God's electing or choosing the nation of Israel, and separating them from the other nations, who were sunk in idolatry and all wickedness, gave the first occasion to this sort of language. And as the separating the Christians from the Jews was a like event, no wonder it was expressed in like words and phrases only with this difference, the term elect was of old applied to all the members of the visible church; whereas in the New Testament it is applied only to the members of the invisible.

8:34 Yea rather, that is risen - Our faith should not stop at his death, but be exercised farther on his resurrection, kingdom, second coming. Who maketh intercession for us - Presenting there his obedience, his sufferings, his prayers, and our prayers sanctified through him.

9 

9:2 By themselves - That is, separate from the multitude: Apart - From the other apostles: and was transfigured - The Greek wordseems to refer to the form of God, and the form of a servant, {mentioned by St. Paul, Php 2:6-7} and may intimate, that theDivine rays, which the indwelling God let out on this occasion, made the glorious change from one of these forms into the other. Mat 17:1; Luk 9:28.

9:3 White as snow, such as no fuller can whiten - Such as could not be equalled either by nature or art.

9:4 Elijah - Whom they expected: Moses, whom they did not.

9:7 There came a (bright, luminous) cloud, overshadowing them - This seems to have been such a cloud of glory as accompaniedIsrael in the wilderness, which, as the Jewish writers observe, departed at the death of Moses. But it now appeared again, in honour of our Lord, as the great Prophet of the Church, who was prefigured by Moses. Hear ye him - Even preferably to Moses and Elijah.