Hebrews 11:17-22 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
The author continues his trek through Old Testament history by highlighting some key ideas from the stories of the Patriarchs. The first story about Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 emphasizes that Abraham followed through by acting on God’s promise that there would be an offspring from him. The author here interprets Abraham’s faith to be resurrection faith, that even if he did kill Isaac, God could and would raise Isaac from the dead. This type of faith is seen a few times in the Bible with the widow of Zarephath’s son (1 Kings 17:17–24), the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:18–37), the man raised out of Elisha’s grave (2 Kings 13:20–21), the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11–17), Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:52–56), Lazarus of Bethany (John 11), Tabitha (Acts 9:36–43), and Eutychus (Acts 20:7–12). Abraham had this type of faith which requires total confidence in God.
Isaac continued the journey of faith by trusting in God to carry out the blessings Isaac gave to Jacob and Esau described in Genesis 27. A blessing in the ancient world had significant weight. But such a blessing is only empty words unless there is faith to follow through with it and confirm it. Isaac believed God would bless Jacob and Esau according to Isaac’s inspired hopes. Jacob did a similar blessing to his twelve sons, also trusting that God could and would answer his prayer (Genesis 49). Joseph looked far into the future in the hope that his descendants would return to the land of promise. He acted on this hope by giving directions for his bones to be returned there (Genesis 50). All of these historical examples followed the same pattern: they trusted in God’s promises. These promises had been passed on for generations: land and descendants. These patriarchs looked forward to something better in the future based on what God had said. The application is that we also look forward to a better future because of God’s promises through Jesus. Jesus is our hope and we must build our lives upon this hope.
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