and his mother.

Abraham saw that Hagar and Ishmael felt sorrow and grief, he became anxious. God instructed Abraham, when he noticed his anxiety. “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned” (Gen. 21:12).

When God strongly commanded Abraham to separate the people of God from the Gentiles, Abraham did not want to do it, but he followed God’s command. Hagar and Ishmael were expelled to the desert and were dying of thirst. Hagar burst into tears because their life in the desert was so desperate. At that time, seeing that another son of Abraham was having a hard time in the desert, God let angels take care of them. Ishmael reached adulthood and married an Egyptian woman. His descendents were spread into the land of Arabia and became Arab people who caused the oil shock in 1970s.

God created an environment in which Isaac could live in peace with Abraham. After a dozen years passed, God appeared to Abraham in a vision.

“Abraham!”
“My Lord, I am here.”
“I gave you a son when you were one hundred years old.”
“Yes, I have a son.”

“Then take your son, Isaac, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.”

In a burnt offering, an animal was split in half, allowed to bleed, and then burnt. So God’s command was to cut Isaac alive in half and burn him. It was the most horrifying ceremony for worship. God commanded Abraham the most difficult sacrifice.

Abraham had decided to follow the command no matter whether it made sense or not. Early in the next morning he got up and washed his son and dressed him in good clothes. He saddled his donkey and took his son with two of his servants heading to the region of Moriah. “Let’s go to Moriah.”

While he was following them, he was thinking how to kill his son. When he worshiped God with animals as God requested some years ago, he saw his animals burnt by a fire coming from heaven (Gen. 15:17). So he imagined that his