Genesis 22 - 24

Genesis Chapter 22 gives a very curious account of the testing of Abraham's faith in God and a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of God's only son. God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac, and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah, near Jerusalem. Abraham didn't question God this time, but obeyed immediately and fully. The very next morning, he got up and prepared to take Isaac to the mountain. So we see that Abraham has finally learned some lessons.
It was a journey of three days by donkey from Beersheba, where they were camped at that time. When they were a small distance away, Abraham left the donkeys and the servants he took with them, telling them, "We will worship and then we will come back to you,"--Genesis 22:5. His use of the word we in the second instance tells me he felt very confident Isaac would return alive to the others. The chapter doesn't tell us exactly how he thought God would accomplish this, since he had orders to kill his son. It does, however, tell us that he expected that God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice instead, which is exactly what happened, but Abraham could not have known that from the orders God gave him.
Isaac questioned his father on the way up the mountain about the sacrificial animal. They took wood, a knife and fire starter, but no animal. Isaac must have been terrified when his father bound him and placed him on the altar he built, but there is no mention of that in the text. No struggle, no fight, no crying, just submission to his father, exactly as Jesus would do as he went to death on the cross on that very same mountain many centuries later.
What a dramatic chapter. Just as Abraham raised the knife to slay Isaac, Jesus himself called Abraham's name from heaven, telling him not to kill the boy. The text says it was the angel of the Lord. Whenever the scripture states the angel of the Lord, we can know it is referring to Jesus Christ, God with us. If it says, an angel of the Lord, then it is usually referring to Michael or some other angelic being.
Therefore, Abraham passed the test, and God did provide the lamb for the sacrifice. God now knows Abraham is His man. Moreover, God tests each of us while we are on earth in much the same manner. He demands that we not place anyone or anything ahead of Him. He demands our obedience before giving us the great blessings we desire, as he did Abraham. Our relationship to God as Father shown here is so striking. Abraham considered God his father, and he acted in total obedience. Isaac was in total obedience to his father, Abraham. As human parents, we may have children that are very obedient and others that are not so obedient, or very disobedient. Which do we reward the most? Do we have ways of testing our children to see if they are obedient before giving them more responsibility? Sure we do, if we are good parents. God is a good Father, so He tests us, but mostly not in such a dramatic fashion.
God there promised Abraham he would, indeed, be blessed. Through his offspring, "all nations on earth will be blessed," speaking of Christ. Christ can save anyone who comes to Him today.
Chapter 23 gives an account of Sarah's death at age 127 in Canaan. The Hittites, from whom Abraham purchased a burial plot for Sarah, then occupied the land. The account of the bargaining done for the cave, or tomb, at Machpelah, is classic Middle East dickering. First, the cave is offered free of charge. Abraham, being a proud man, refuses and insists on paying for it. Again, it is freely offered, but Abraham persists. The owner of the cave then politely states the worth of the cave, which he greatly inflated, but insists it is only a small sum. Abraham, being a rich man, counts out the money without trying to beat him down on the price. There would be no argument later over ownership of the property, because the bargain and payment were made in a very public manner. Although God promised Abraham the land, he hadn't given it to him yet, so he wanted to establish ownership over that small piece near Hebron, as a burial place. This is further evidence that he believed God would, one day, give the land to his descendants.
With the death of Sarah, Abraham is feeling his own mortality creeping in, and he wants to choose a wife for Isaac from among his family, not the Canaanites, to avoid introducing outside pagan influences. He sends his servant, Eliezer, back to the land of his birth to find a wife for his son.
The servant took camels and other great riches in order to pay a dowry for the girl he hoped to find back in the city of Nahor, Abraham's brother. Camping by the city's water supply, a well just outside the town, Eliezer prayed to God for a sign concerning which woman he should choose for Isaac. He asked that the girl be gracious, kind, and have a servant's heart, in that she would offer to draw water not only for him, but also for his ten camels. (Do you know how much water ten camels would drink after a trip across the desert?!!)
The scripture says that even before he finished praying, Rebekah appeared with her water jar--Genesis 24:15. Elsewhere in the Bible, God tells us he will answer our prayers even before we are through praying them.
Rebekah was the girl intended for Isaac. She gave Eliezer a drink, and then offered to draw water for his camels. Eliezer thought she was the one, so he began to question her about her family. After informing him she was the granddaughter of Nahor, she then invited him to stay at their farm.
Eliezer went and made his request for Rebekah to return with him to become the bride of Isaac. Then he wowed them with the lavish gifts he brought. Although Rebekah was willing to return with him, her brother, Laban, and her mother didn't want to let her go. Laban will pop up later in the scripture as a very unsavory character, so at this point, I have to wonder if he was angling for more gifts, but I imagine Rebekah's mother simply didn't want to see her go so far away, because she might never see her again, and she would miss her.
The end of chapter 24 gives us a very poignant glimpse into Isaac and Rebekah's first meeting and their immediate marriage. It seems Isaac was waiting and watching for his bride to come, so he went out to meet them. Upon seeing Isaac, her future husband, Rebekah shows her purity and her intentions as a bride, by dismounting her camel and covering her face with a veil. Isaac is a picture of our Lord Jesus in this scene. Jesus is waiting and watching for us to come to Him as his bride. The church of God is the bride of Christ, so our intentions need to be pure and we need to be in submission to Jesus.