What Does Genesis 22:1 Mean?
And it came to pass after these words, God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.THE KEY
Abraham’s הִנֵּנִי (hineni, “behold me; here I am”) makes the test open with presence before its demand is revealed.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you at the moment of being called into an unknown test: its full shape is not yet stated. Abraham’s הִנֵּנִי (hineni, “behold me; here I am”) is a response of presence. The test brings a response into view; it does not manufacture what is already there.
THE ROOT
נִסָּה
nissah
GROWS FROM
נסה
nasah
To test, try, or prove.
“tested” in this verse is nissah. The Hebrew verb נִסָּה (nissah) comes from נסה (nasah), “to test, try, prove.” The root adds the sense of an examination that brings a response into view. Abraham answers before the next instruction is given.
ALSO GROWS
Massah: Testing; a trial.
מַסָּה
Exodus 17:7 connects this name with the Israelites testing the LORD, showing the same root can name the testing itself.
menasseh: One who tests.
מְנַסֶּה
Deuteronomy 13:3 uses this form for the LORD testing the people, echoing the testing named in Abraham’s story.
THE PATTERN
Testing brings what is within a person into view through their response.
And you shall remember the whole road the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to bend you low and to test you, to perceive what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that his awe may be upon your faces, and that you do not miss the mark.so that the proving of your trust, far costlier than gold that perishes though it is tested through fire, may be found unto praise and weight and honor at the unveiling of Jesus the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And you shall remember the whole road the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to bend you low and to test you, to perceive what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.Genesis uses נִסָּה (nissah), from נסה (nasah, “test, prove”); Deuteronomy uses the same root in “to prove thee.” Deuteronomy makes explicit what Genesis leaves unstated: the test brings what is in the heart into view.
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