*So, God tests Abraham's obedience by asking him to take his son Isaac to a certain mountain place and sacrifice him. Abraham is to slit Isaac's throat, then burn his body on an altar. Because God likes the smell of burning children?
*Abraham appears to have no problem with this. He is ready and willing. Isaac is full of questions about their journey, but Abraham puts him off with half truths. When they get to the area God indicated, Abraham asks the servants to stay behind while he takes Isaac to the place where the altar will be built. No witnesses please, and no people who might stop him from doing something that looks insane. Did Sarah know?
*Just in the nick of time, an angel up in heaven, speaking for God, tells Abraham not to kill his son. It was just a test, and he passed. Instead, they sacrifice a ram that God made appear for that purpose.
*The angel speaks again and predicts great and terrible things for Abraham's descendants. Notice that they "will take possession of the cities of their enemies." Even so, all the nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham was willing to kill his favorite child for God.
*Whenever you see the word "heaven(s)" in the book of Genesis, the Hebrew word just means sky and is sometimes translated that way. It isn't a magical place in another dimension with streets of gold, not till later. At that time God was up in the sky somewhere, a place people couldn't go. Now that they can, he had to move.
*This chapter is very important to the Abrahamic religions. Because of its wording, Jews have been inclined to associate the place of the sacrifice with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It holds many symbolic meanings for Christians, who believe that God sacrificed his son for them. Muslims say this story is not the true version. It was really Ishmael who was almost sacrificed on a hill in Mecca. For more complete information, see the Wikipedia article on Moriah.
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