Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Genesis Chapter 22
Metaphysically Interpreting Genesis 22:1-19
22:1And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. 22:2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 22:3And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 22:4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 22:5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. 22:6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And they went both of them together. 22:7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?22:8And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son. So they went both of them together.
22:9And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 22:10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 22:11And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. 22:12And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. 22:13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. 22:14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. As it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided.
22:15And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, 22:16and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 22:17that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. 22:18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because thou hast obeyed my voice. 22:19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
March 16, 1913: Genesis 22:1-13
How is faith developed? By exercise, testing.
What is the meaning of sacrifice? To sacrifice is to give up some cherished thing for the sake of fulfilling an ideal of duty or of higher privilege.
Why does the testing of faith sometimes seem severe? Because there is a mental tendency to cling to the old, which is being given up. The new, which is to take the place of the old, is not clearly discerned and the process of change from the old to the new appears to be the loss of everything.
What does the ram which Abraham sacrificed symbolize? Generation, which must be given up for the sake of conserving life and substance, that the consciousness may be purified and lifted up in the regeneration.
What is necessary to carry one safely through the changes from sense consciousness to spiritual consciousness? Faith and obedience.
July 8, 1917: Gen, 22:1-13
22:1And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. -- Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude,” symbolizes faith. Through faith we respond instantly to Divine Guidance when established in Truth.
22:2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. -- Isaac means “laughter.” The joys of a regenerated consciousness must be offered to God, that the whole man may ascend into the spiritual heights (mountains).
22:3And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. -- The faith faculty grows stronger under tests, and obedience to Divine Guidance brings a corresponding reward.
22:4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 22:5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. -- In every ascending step in bodily transmutation there are still other heights to gain, which we perceive through Faith.
22:6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And they went both of them together. -- An experience through which one passes may call for the willingness to give up all that we cherish, in order that the purifying “fires of Spirit” may have its way in the consciousness.
22:7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? -- The “lamb” symbolizes the pure spiritual life, which is set into activity in consciousness after the desire for sense pleasures has been overcome.
22:8And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son. So they went both of them together. 22:9And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. -- The “lamb” is a gift of God and must be used to his glory, that the body may become the holy temple of God.
22:10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 22:11And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. 22:12And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. -- When we are willing to forsake all and follow the Divine Guide, even to sacrificing all that we hold dear, God gives us the abundant increase of our faith and trust.
22:13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. -- The “ram” symbolizes animal generation. The overcoming of the activities of this phase of consciousness is the sacrifice required of man by God. Great power in spirit and body grows out of overcoming and spiritualizing the ideas of the animal consciousness.
July 8, 1917: Genesis 22:1-13
In the development of the spiritual faculties there is a movement of the consciousness in an ascending scale, which is understood by the one who is having the experience, but is quite difficult to explain to those who have not entered that degree. The faith faculty gets stronger at each trial, and when obedient to the Divine Guide, the Lord, it finds an added pleasure in the exercise of the functions of both mind and body at every upward step. Every function of man’s organism is at its foundation spiritual, and when exercised as designed by the Divine Mind, every breath and every heartbeat is a song of joy. Even the seeming sense functions may be spiritualized, and become sources of unending pleasure, but when they are under control of the animal part of the man, they are demoralizers of the body. Under Divine Guidance this demoralization, which mere animalism has produced, must be purified through the descent of the fires of Spirit. This is what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, which cities represent the functions pertaining to generation.
When we have faith in God and the ways of Spirit, we are willing to give up all our material pleasures, if such be the instruction of the Inner Guide. This is symbolized by the sacrifices so often referred to in the history of the children of Israel. The body and its vitalities are in perpetual action. That action is progressive, when under the Divine Law. When that law is disregarded, there is retrogression, which brings a sense of discomfort, and finally pain. It is frequently through pain that we are brought to see that we have departed from the Divine Law. Then, if we have common sense, we hasten to find that law which will give us pleasure. Abraham found it in entertaining the messengers of the Lord, which messengers are the higher ideas that drop into our minds, when we meditate upon spiritual things.
Within a year after the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, Sarah bore a son whom they named Isaac, which means laughter. That is, after giving up the mere animal gratification of the sexual nature, and purifying the mind of sense thoughts, a greater pleasure was experienced from a more interior action of this same function. But this also must be raised to a higher plane of consciousness. In each of these ascending degrees in bodily consciousness there is a residuum of the last degree remaining in consciousness. This must be purified, that the whole man may be a fit temple for the Holy Spirit.
As this lesson shows, the sacrifice in this case was the ram (symbol of animal generation), though it seemed that the experience through which Abraham passed called for the slaying of Isaac, the whole consciousness. We find that these degrees of unfoldment have their trials, as well as their pleasures, and those who have but a transient faith in the wisdom and power of the Spirit are apt to give up before the process is complete. The “land of Moriah,” to which Abraham was told to go to make his sacrifice, means the bitterness of the Lord. So we find in the changes that take place in the consciousness there are sometimes very bitter experiences, and it takes a stout faith to believe that good will come out of them. But it always does if there is a steadfast obedience and faith in the goodness of God.
Great power in spirit and in body grows out of this steadfast overcoming. Abraham became the father of a multitude, “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore.”
– UNITY magazine.
October 7, 1923: Genesis 22:15-18
What is meant by Abram's offering up Isaac on the altar? Isaac means “laughter,” and represents the pleasures of the animal life. In the progress of the soul, the pleasures of sense must be given up in order that we may have the consciousness of spiritual satisfaction.
Do we really have to give up pleasures when we enter into spiritual life? No. Like Abram we have to be willing to give up pleasures of sense. When we are obedient and submit our sensations to the law of the Spirit, we find that we do not sacrifice the real inner joy, but only its course expression in physical generation, represented by the “ram.”
Do we have any hard experiences in this transition from sense to Spirit? The land of Moriah, where Abram took his son Isaac for the sacrifice, means “the bitterness of the Lord.” This bitterness represents the bitter experience through which we must pass in giving up the old and entering into the new. The pleasures of sense are transitory, but the joys of the Spirit endure forever.
Metaphysically Interpreting Genesis 22:20-24
22:20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto they brother Nahor. 22:21Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram. 22:22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 22:23And Bethuel begat Rebekah. These eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 22:24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bare Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 12-23-2013
