006 Abraham - A Bible Story for Children

Genesis 17:1-18:15; 21:1-8: 22:1-19

God appeared to Abram and said, "Leave your country and your home, and go to a land I will show you."

Abram trusted God and left all he owned behind him. For many years he wandered in Canaan. There God came to him again. " I will make a solemn promise with your. You will now be called Abraham, for you will be the father of a great nation. I give this land to you and your children, through all generations, and I will be your God, for I know you will keep the ways of the Lord."

How could this promise come true? Abraham was an old man, and he and his wife, Sarah, had no children.

But one day, when Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him and said, "Within a year, Sarah will have a baby boy, and you will call him Isaac."

Listening inside Abraham's tent, Sarah could not keep from laughing, for she knew that women of her age never had babies.

But God heard Sarah, and asked, "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Then Sarah, fearing that God would be angry with her, pushed aside the tent flap and said, "I did not laugh."

"Yes, you did," God said, but he was not angry.

And it came to pass within a year that God remembered Sarah, and she gave birth to Isaac.

"Now I know why God made me laugh," said Sarah, cradling the baby in her arms. "It was so all the world could hear my laughter and shore my joy."

Abraham and Sarah loved Isaac very much. Each day, they thanked God for their wonderful son, the precious gift he had given them. Even so, God decided to test Abraham's faith.

God tested Abraham in a way he had tested no other man. He said to Abraham, "You must take your son, you only son Isaac, whom you love, to the land of Moriah. There you must killl him and offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord."

Abraham heard what God said, and prepared to follow his command.

Early the next morning, before Sarah was awake, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. Then, with Isaac and two young servants, he chopped the wood for the sacrificial fire, and they set out on their journey together.

For two days they traveled. The servants passed the time with jokes and chatter, but Abraham and Isaac said little.

On the third day, they reached a sheltered spot from which Abraham could see a mountain rising in the distance. He told the servants to wait while he and his son went on alone. Then Abraham and Isaac began the slow climb to the place that God had chosen for the sacrifice.

Isaac carried the wood, Abraham carried the knife.

They walked on in the morning stillness, until Isaac could no longer keep silent.

"Father?" he asked.

"Here I am, my son," said Abraham.

"Father, I have the wood, and you have the knife, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"

"My son," said Abraham, "God will provide a lamb for the sacrifice." And so they walked on together, saying nothing more.

When they reached the place for the sacrifice, they built an altar, Isaac handing Abraham the stones and Abraham fitting them into place. Then Abraham carefully laid the wood on the altar. Finally, Abraham took his son in his arms, and tied him with ropes, for this was the sacrifice that God had commanded. Isaac did not say a word as Abraham placed him on the altar.

Abraham picked up the knife and raised it above Isaac's neck.

Suddenly a voice called, "Abraham, Abraham!"

Abraham stopped. "Here I am!" he answered.

"Do not touch your son!" the voice ordered. "Do not hurt him in any way!"

At that moment, Abraham heard the bleating of a ram caught in a nearby thicket. Abraham took the animal and offered it as a sacrifice in place of his son.

Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Because you were willing to sacrifice your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love dearly, I shall bless you. And because you obeyed me and trusted me, your nation will have as many people as there are stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore."

After God spoke these words, Abraham and Isaac walked silently down the mountain and joined the servants in the sheltered place below. Together they made the long journey back to Beersheba.

Category: Children's Bible Stories