| Patriarchs and Prophets E.G. White 1890 | Night Scenes in the Bible Daniel March 1868–1870 |
| [147] In a vision of the night he was directed to repair to the land of Moriah, and there offer up his son as a burnt offering upon a mountain that should be shown him. At the time of receiving this command, Abraham had reached the age of a hundred and twenty years. He was regarded as an old man, even in his generation. In his earlier years he had been strong to endure hardship and to brave danger, but now the ardor of his youth had passed away. One in the vigor of manhood may with courage meet difficulties and afflictions that would cause his heart to fail later in life, when his feet are faltering toward the grave. But God had reserved His last, most trying test for Abraham until the burden of years was heavy upon him, and he longed for rest from anxiety and toil. The Patriarch was dwelling at Beersheba, surrounded by prosperity and honor. He was very rich, and was honored as a mighty prince by the rulers of the land. Thousands of sheep and cattle covered the plains that spread beyond his encampment. On every side were the tents of his retainers, the home of hundreds of faithful servants. The son of promise had grown up to manhood by his side. Heaven seemed to have crowned with its blessing a life of sacrifice… | [45] Abraham was an hundred and twenty years old when he received the strange and startling command to offer his only and beloved son Isaac for a burnt offering, upon an un known mountain in the land of Moriah. The message came to him in a vision of the night… He already passed for an aged man, even upon the longer average of human life in his time. His heart had lost much of the fervid and hope fulfilling of youth. It was no longer easy for him to bend before the storm of affliction, and rise… It is easy to face the storm while the heart is fresh and full of hope.... But it is very hard for an old man to find that the sorest trial is reserved for the last, when the burden of age is heavy upon his shoulders and the fire of youth is dim… [46] But how he needed repose. His quiet home in Beersheba had been sought as a place of rest… There he had gathered ... a great household, even hundreds of servants and herdsmen, and thousands of camels, and sheep, and goats, and cattle.... There Abraham ... was al ready greatest among all the men of the East. And there was fulfilled unto him the Divine promise in the gift of Isaac… |
| [148] In the obedience of faith, Abraham had forsaken his native country... and the home of his kindred.... He had waited long for the birth of the promised heir. A the command of God he had sent away his son Ishmael. And now ... a trial greater than all others was before him. The command was expressed in words that must have wrung with anguish that father’s heart: “lake now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest ... and offer him there for a burnt offering”. … The loss of such a son by accident or disease would have been heart rending to the fond father; it would have bowed down his whitened head with grief; but he was commanded to shed the blood of that son with his own hand... Satan was at hand to suggest that he must be deceived. ... Going outside his tent, Abraham looked up to the calm brightness of the unclouded heavens, and recalled the promise made nearly fifty years before, that his seed should be innumerable as the stars. If this promise was to be fulfilled through Isaac, how could he be put to death? Abraham was tempted to believe that he might be under a delusion. In his doubt and anguish he bowed upon the earth and prayed, as he had never prayed before, for some confirmation of the command if he must perform this terrible duty. He remembered the angels sent to reveal to him God’s purpose... and he went to the place where he had several times met heavenly messengers, hoping to meet them again, and receive some further direction; but none came to his relief… [148] Returning to his tent, he went to the place where Isaac lay sleeping the deep, untroubled sleep of youth and innocence. For a moment the father looked upon the dear face of his son. ... He went to the side of Sarah.... Should he awaken her, that she might once more embrace her child? Should he tell her of God’s requirement? He longed to unburden his heart to her, and share with her this terrible responsibility; but he was restrained by the fear that... the mother’s love might refuse the sacrifice. | [47] He had left father and mother, kindred and country, at the Divine command. He had lived a pilgrim and a stranger in a land not his own. He had clung to the Divine promise, when, to all human judgment its fulfillment seemed a contradiction and an impossibility. He had born all the bitterness of a father’s grief in sending forth Ishmael to wander in the wilderness. And after all these trials ... could there be in store yet another and greater to wring his aged heart when he was least able to bear it? ... And the terms in which the terrible command is expressed seem as if they were intentionally chosen to harrow up his soul. Every word is a dagger to pierce the father’s heart.... lake now, thy son, thine only son, Isaac whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt-offering. It would have been enough to break an old man’s heart to lose such a son by the ordinary course of sickness and death.... But how could a father shed the life-blood of that son? ... [48] How much more must the loss ... bring down the gray hairs of age with sorrow to the grave… [49] Then, again, the seeming contradiction between this new command, and all the instructions and promises which had already been given... must have added perplexity to his mind and agony to his heart. The voice... must have seemed... as if some tempting and tormenting demon had assumed to speak in the name of the Lord… As he passes... to the outer apartment of the tent, and looks upon the calm face of his sleeping son... he feels... as if the blood... were already upon his hands. [50] He steps ... into the open air and looks up ... Above him the clear blue dome of Arabian skies is all ablaze with... stars.... He remembers that the Divine voice... fifty years be fore, had once said to him, “Look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them; so shall thy seed be.” ... [51] He walks beneath ... the oaks, where he had many times met angels face to face. He listens and strains his eye... if peradventure he may descry some celestial messenger coming… He bows at the foot of the altar... in an agony of prayer for more light… |
| [151] Abraham at last summoned his son.... The preparations for the journey were quickly completed. The wood was made ready and put upon the ass, and with two menservants they set forth. Side by side the father and the son journeyed in silence. The patriarch, pondering his heavy secret, had no heart for words. His thoughts were of the proud, fond mother, and the day when he should return to her alone. | [52] So Abraham goes... where his servants sleep. Of the hundreds... he selects two. They prepare the wood for the sacrifice and lay it upon the beast of burden, and the aged father ... calls his son... But shall not the son be permitted to take leave of his mother? ... [53] And yet, shall not the fond old mother be told...? Must that son... die a bloody death, and by the father’s own hand, and she not be consulted ...? Shall she be denied... one parting word? If the sacrifice must be made, may she not share with the father...? |
| That day – the longest that Abraham had ever experienced – dragged slowly to its close. While his son and the young men were sleeping, he spent the night in prayer, still hoping that some heavenly messenger might come to say that the trial was enough ... But no relief came to his tortured soul. Another long day, another night of humiliation and prayer ... As they were about to begin the journey of the third day, the patriarch ... saw the promised sign ... over Mount Moriah, and he knew the voice which had spoken to him was from heaven. | [54] The very solitude of the first day’s journey must have been oppressive ... [55] Abraham must have felt relieved when night came... and Isaac and the young men slept. Then the agonizing father… could withdraw... and pour out the sorrows... All night long he waits, if peradventure that voice... will speak again and tell him that his faith has been sufficiently tried... But no such message comes. [56] But the morning... brings him the summons to renew his journey.... But no angels appear to hear his petition. ... Another day passes...; and when night comes on, Abraham lies down ... longing to hear the Divine voice... say, “It is enough” ... But... the morning of the third day begins to break, and no such message comes.... [58] Soon the mysterious sign ... appears ... Now it is settled beyond all question... the command was Divine. |
| [152] He bade his servants remain behind.... The wood was laid upon Isaac, the one to be offered, the father took the knife and the fire, and together they ascended toward the mountain summit ... At the appointed place they built the altar and laid the wood upon it ... Isaac ... could have escaped his doom, had he chosen to do so; the grief- stricken old man, exhausted with the struggle of these three terrible days, could not have opposed the will of the vigorous youth. But Isaac... yielded a willing submission. ... He tenderly seeks to lighten the father’s grief, and encourages his nerveless hands to bind the cords that confine him to the altar. The father lifts the knife to slay his son, when suddenly his arm is stayed. An angel of God calls ... “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, ... for now I know thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me” ... [153] Abraham’s great act of faith stands like a pillar of light, illuminating the pathway of God’s servants in all succeeding ages. | He lays the wood for the offering upon the one that must be burned... he takes the fire and the knife, and goes silently up the steep alone with his son. ... The altar is built by the hands of both; the wood is placed in order.... Isaac himself must be slain... It must be with his own consent.... For he is a full-grown man, twenty- five years of age, and he can easily resist or escape the hand of his father, who has a hundred or more years... [59] But we do know… that Isaac... submitted to the sacrifice. He consented to be bound... Isaac, with fortitude equal to his father’s faith, bids him strike. But now... the voice from heaven comes. ... The delivering angel... cries aloud, “Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.” [60] And this great act of faith, which made Abraham the father of the faithful, shines forth like the sun amid the darkness of far-distant times... |
| [154] The agony which he endured during the dark days of that fearful trial was permitted that he might understand from his own experience something of the greatness of the sacrifice made by the infinite God for man’s redemption. No other test could have caused Abraham such torture of soul as did the offering of his son. God gave His Son to a death of agony and shame. The angels who witnessed the humiliation and soul anguish of the Son of God were not permitted to interpose, as in the case of Isaac. There was no voice to cry, “It is enough.” ... What stronger proof can be given of the infinite compassion and love of God? | [61] All the sorrows that wrung the heart of Abraham during the three days of his dark and deadful trial were imposed on him to help us understand how real, how deep, how unutterable was the self-denial of the infinite God in giving His own Son to death for our salvation. No trial, no mental torture could possibly have been greater to Abraham than that which he bore in obeying the command to sacrifice his son. God actually surrendered His well-beloved Son to the slow and dreadful agony of crucifixion. No voice from heaven commanded to stay the sacrifice... Legions of angels were in waiting, but they were not permitted to interpose. ... Surely the Infinite One Himself can give us no greater proof that He sincerely desires our salvation... And ... His love to us is infinite. |
| [156] Fairest among the cities of the Jordan Valley was Sodom, set in a plain which was “as the garden of the Lord” in its fertility and beauty. Here the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics flourished. Here was the home of the palm tree, the olive, and the vine; and flowers shed their fragrance throughout the year. Rich harvests clothed the fields, and flocks and herds covered the encircling hills. Art and commerce contributed to enrich the proud city of the plain. The treasures of the East adorned her palaces, and the caravans of the desert brought their stores of precious things to supply her marts of trade. With little thought of labor, every want of life could be supplied, and the whole year seemed one round of festivity. The profusion reigning every where gave birth to luxury and pride. Idleness and riches make the heart hard that has never been oppressed by want or burdened by sorrow. The love of pleasure was fostered by wealth and leisure, and the people gave themselves up to sensual indulgence. ... | [28] A fair city lies upon the border of a plain that looks Ике a garden in beauty and fertility... [29] Theirs is the land of the olive and the vine. The flowers blossom through all the year... The plains surrounding the city are like the garden of the Lord in fertility. The most indolent culture secures an abundance for the supply of every want. The distant hills are covered with flocks. The merchants of the East bring their treasures from afar. The camels and dromedaries of the desert lay down their burdens at her gates. And the fair city in the vale of Siddim revels in the profusion of everything that nature and art can pro duce. In e chief men display the luxury and the pride of princes. The common people make a holiday of the whole year.... Idleness and riches stimulate the appetite for pleasure, and they go to every excess in indulgence. They have everything that the sensual can desire, and their only study is to find new ways of gratifying the coarsest and basest passion... |
| [157] And now the last night of Sodom was approaching. Already the clouds of vegeance cast their shadows over the devoted city... [158] In the twilight two strangers drew near to the city gate... Had he [Lot] not cultivated a spirit of courtesy, he might have been left to perish with the rest of Sodom. Many a household, in closing its doors against a stranger, has shut out God’s messenger, who would have brought blessing and hope and peace. Every act of lire, however small, has its bearing for good or for evil. Faithfulness or neglect in what are apparently the smallest duties may open the door for life’s richest blessings or its greatest calamities. It is little things that test the character... | [28] And yet the last night is casting its shadows upon the walls and battlements of the doomed city... [31] Two strangers are seen approaching the city. ... We must give earnest heed and keep ourselves upon the watch, or the angels of blessing and of deliverance will come and pass by us unawares, and we shall not receive their help. There was but one man at the gate of Sodom sufficiently attentive to notice the strangers and invite them to his own house. ... Fidelity in the most common and homely duties of life opens the door of the house for the greatest of heaven’s blessings... The discharge of duties that are fully known and easily understood is the first qualification for the comprehension of the deepest and most awful mysteries of our being and destiny... |
| [159] That last night was marked by no greater sins than many others before it; but mercy, so long slighted, had at last ceased its pleading. The inhabitants of Sodom had passed the limits of divine forbearance – “the hidden boundary between God’s patience and his wrath.” ... | [33] The men of Sodom... were no more riotous or dissolute on the last night than they had been many nights before. But there is a point beyond which the Divine forbearance cannot go ... “The hidden boundary be tween God’s patience and his wrath.” |
| [162] “The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.” The bright rays of the morning seemed to speak only prosperity and peace to the cities of the plain. The stir of active life began in the streets; men were going their various ways, intent on the business or the pleasures of the day. The sons-in-law of Lot were making merry at the fears and warnings of the weak-minded old man. ... The Lord rained brimstone and fire out of heaven upon the cities and the fruitful plain; its palaces and temples, costly dwellings, gardens and vineyards, and the gay, pleasure-seeking throngs that only the night before had insulted the messengers of heaven – all were consumed. The smoke of the conflagration went up like the smoke of a great furnace. And the fair vale of Siddim became a desolation, a place never to be built up or inhabited – a witness to all generations of the certainty of God’s judgments upon transgression. | [37] The sun is already risen upon the earth, and the bright morning promises a beautiful day. The early risers in Sodom are making them selves merry with the frightened old man who had fled with his family to the mountains. The sons-in-law are on the way to his house, to laugh at him for walking in his sleep the night before. The idle and voluptuous are devising new pleasures for the day.... And the Lord rains fire and brimstone out of heaven upon the city and upon the beautiful plain, that seemed like Paradise the day before; and the smoke of the burning goes up as the smoke of a great furnace; and the glare of the mighty conflagration is seen far off by shepherds on the hills of Hebron and the mountains of Moab. And in one moment the fair vale, which had been as the garden of the Lord in beauty and fertility, be comes a desolation – a place never to be inhabited from generation to generation – a valley of desolation and of death... |
| [156] “Behold,” says the prophet, “this was the iniquity of the sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen tne hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me: therefore, I took them away as I saw good.” Ezekiel 16:49,50. | [38] The Prophet Ezekiel says that the sin of that city was “pride and fullness of bread and abundance of idleness.” |
| [165] The Redeemer of the world declares that there are greater sins than that for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Those who hear the gospel invitation calling sinners to repentance, and heed it not, are more guilty before God than were the dwellers in the vale of Siddim. | [41] And the loving and compas sionate Jesus himself declares that there is a greater sin than that for which Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown. It is the sin of those who hear the gospel call to repentance and heed it not. |
| [177] Esau grew up loving self-gratification and centering all his interest in the present. Impatient of restraint, he delighted in the wild freedom of the chase... The quiet, peace-loving shepherd [Isaac] was attracted by the daring and vigor of this elder son, who fearlessly ranged over mountain and desert. ... Jacob, thoughtful, diligent, and care-taking, ever thinking more of the future than the present, was ... occupied in the care of the flocks and the tillage of the soil. ... His affections were deep and strong, and his gentle, unremitting attentions added far more to her [Rebekah’s] happiness than did the boisterous and occasional kindnesses of Esau. [181] Esau is called in Scripture “a profane person.” ... He represents those who lightly value the redemption purchased for them by Christ, and are ready to sacrifice their heir ship to heaven for the perishable things of earth… the gratification of a depraved appetite... As Esau awoke ... when it was too late... so it will be in the day of God with those who have bartered their heirship to heaven for selfish gratifications. | [66] He [Jacob] had been nourished from his earliest youth with all the tenderness and solicitude of an indulgent and doting mother’s love. As he grew up ... he became a man of plain and peaceful life... He preferred the quiet occupation of a herdsman to the hazards and uncertainties [of Esau] ... his boisterous and daring brother... The quiet and meditative ... Isaac was greatly taken with the reckless and self-reliant hardihood of his wild and vagrant son Esau. And Jacob al ways appeared to a disadvantage in comparison with the ... wild man of the desert and the wilderness... Esau’s [services] were received with gratitude and praise, because they were seldom bestowed and never could be relied upon. [70] And it is always a bad bargain for one to barter away a good con science ... for any amount of sensual gratification. Esau is elsewhere, in the Scriptures, called a “profane person,” a man who made light of sacred things... And of all persons in the world the profane man throws away the greatest good for the least gratification. He dooms himself and others to everlasting exclusion from the Divine favor. |
| [195] Though Jacob had left Padan-aram in obedience to the di vine direction, it was not without many misgivings that he retraced the road which he had trodden as a fugitive twenty years before... He knew that his long exile was the direct result of that sin, and he pondered ... the reproaches of an accusing conscience. As he traveled southward from Mount Gilead, two hosts of heavenly angels seemed to encompass him be hind and before… Jacob remembered the vision at Bethel so long before, and his burdened heart grew lighter at this evidence that the divine messengers who had brought him hope and courage at his flight… were to be the guardians of his return. | [86] To this wild river Jabbok ... Jacob had come… on his return from Padan-aram. Twenty years before, in his flight from his father’s home, he had crossed the same stream a lonely fugitive... The long and lonely exile… trial had made him strong and misfortune had made him rich... [87] Jacob... saw in open day, as if encamped in the air, two hosts of angels encompassing him behind and before and moving with him for his protection. He remembered the vision of Bethel, and he rejoiced that the heavenly guardians who cheered him on his departure twenty years before were ready to welcome him on his return. |
| [235] At the last all the sons of Jacob were gathered about his dying bed... Now... before him in prophetic vision the future of his descendants was unfolded... The character of each was described, and the future history of the tribe was briefly foretold... Thus the father pictured what should have been the position of Reuben as the first-born son... Next in age to Reuben were Simeon and Levi. They had been united in their cruelty. [236] Simeon was the smallest tribe. ... Such families as afterward became powerful formed different colonies and settled in territory outside the borders of the Holy Land.... In the case o f [Levi] ... the curse was changed into a blessing. The lion, king of the forest, is a fitting symbol of ... [Judah], from which came David, and the son of David, Shiloh, the true “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” to whom… all nations render homage. | Bible History I Old Testament, Vol. 1, Alfred Edersheim 1876–60 (1949 ed.) [180] The last scene had now come, and Jacob gathered around his dying couch his twelve sons.... Before him in prophetic vision, unrolled ... sketches of the tribes in their grand characteristics... the history of Israel. [181] Sack should have been the position of Reuben, as the firstborn... Next in age to Reuben were Simeon and Levi. Their wanton cruelty ... had made them ... companions... united for evil... Simeon had sunk to be the smallest tribe... Such of the families as ... became powerful, afterwards left the Holy Land, and settled outside its boundaries... The tribe of Levi ... their scattering was changed from a curse into a blessing. [182] As the lion is king of the forest, so was Judah to have royal sway, through David onwards to the Son of David, the Shiloh, unto Whom, as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” all nations should render homage and obedience... |
| At last the name of Joseph was reached, and the father’s heart over flowed as he invoked blessings... [240] Joseph outlived his father fifty-four years. He lived to see “Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir ... were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.” ... Honored as he had been in the land of the Pharoahs... his last act was to signify that his lot was cast with Israel. | [185] At last Jacob comes to the name of his loved son Joseph... [188] Other fifty-four years did Joseph live in Egypt.... Ephraim’s children of the third generation, and Manasseh’s grandchildren “were brought up upon his knees.” ... Joseph was full of honours in Egypt. ... Yet his last act was to disown Egypt, and to choose the lot of Israel. |
| [277] The hyssop used in sprinkling the blood was the symbol of purification, being thus employed in the cleansing of the leper and of those defiled by contact with the dead. In the psalmist’s prayer also its significance is seen: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean...” Psalm 51:7. | Bible History /Old Testament, Vol. 2 [79] The sacrifice was offered… by means of “a branch of hyssop.” ... In ancient times this plant was regarded as possessing cleansing properties... [80] The sacrificial lamb, whose sprinkled blood protected Israel, pointed to Him whose precious blood is the only safety of God’s people; the hyssop (as in the cleansing of the leper, and of those polluted by death, and in Psalm li. 7) was the symbol, of purification. |
| [439] Balaam “loved the wages of unrighteousness.” 2 Peter 2:15. The sin of covetousness, which God declares to be idolatry, had made him a timeserver.... [440] Thus far the Lord would permit Balaam to follow his own will, because he was determined upon it. [441] Balaam was blinded to the heavenly interposition.... [442] God now opened its mouth, and by “the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice,” he “forbade the mad ness of the prophet.” 2 Peter 2:16. | Bible History/Old Testament, Vol.3 [21] With no spiritual, only a heathen acknowledgment of Jehovah, covetousness and ambition were the main actuating motives of Balaam. In the pithy language of the New Testament [2Pet. ii. 15], he “loved the wages of unrighteous ness.” ... And thus God gave him leave to do that on which he had set his heart... [22] And so even “the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice, forbad the madness of the prophet.” [2Pet. ii. 16.] ... Even so, Balaam still continued blinded, perverse, and misunderstanding, till God opened the mouth of the dumb animal. |
| [630] God’s repentance is not like man’s repentance. “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man that He should repent.” Man’s repentance implies a change of mind. God’s repentance implies a change of circumstances and relations. Man may change his relation to God by complying with the conditions upon which he may be brought into the divine favor... but the Lord is the same “yesterday, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. | Bible History I Old Testament, Vol. 4 [76] God’s repentance is not like ours, for “the strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent; for He is not a man that He should repent.” Man’s repentance implies a change of mind, God’s a change of circumstances and relations. He has not changed, but is ever the same; it is man who has changed in his position relatively to God... God’s repentance is the unmovedness of Himself, while others move and change. |
