In the days of A'bra-ham the central idea in worship was the offering of sacrifices. The custom had prevailed in the period before A'bra-ham, and was continued for hundreds of years after him. In keeping what they regarded as the chief duty of worship, the people erected altars and made offerings unto the LORD. The sacrifices consisted of such domestic animals as sheep, goats, and cattle, which were slain and burnt upon altars built of either stone or earth, and were dedicated to God. The offering of these animals was an expression of thanks for the blessings of life, and the blood was accepted as a full pardon for sin. In making such offerings the worshiper acknowledged his complete dependence upon God, confessed his wholehearted surrender to Him, and pledged himself to a life of obedience.
A'bra-ham had been very faithful in making offerings to God; when he moved from one place to another the first thing he did was to build an altar for sacrifices. Many of the heathen people of the world, or those who worshiped false gods, also made sacrifices, and some of them even offered their own children. In the hope of pleasing their gods these cruel people would bind their children to the altar and slay them, or cast them to wild animals to be torn and devoured. Those who worshiped the true God never followed this custom, for they knew that it was wrong to do such things. Instead of harming their children, whom the LORD had given them to love and protect, they considered it a religious duty to guard them from all danger.
It was, therefore, a great shock to A'bra-ham, and a severe trial of his faith, when one day he was ordered by the LORD to offer his son I'saac on the altar as a burnt sacrifice. A'bra-ham was then living at Be'er-she'ba, which was near the southwestern border of the land of Ca'naan, and about fifty miles from the mountainous regions of Beth'el, where he had formerly made his home. The LORD told him to take I'saac back into the hill country, where he should offer him as a burnt sacrifice on the mountain which was then known as Mo-ri'ah. To make such a journey would take nearly three days of the slow travel that could be made at the time.
With his heart filled with sorrow and despair, but still loyal and obedient to the voice of his God, A'bra-ham prepared at once for the journey. He arose early in the morning, saddled an ass, which was the animal used for travel in those days, split the wood for the burnt offering, and took two of his young men with him as servants. With his son I'saac and the two servants he then travelled in a northeasterly direction, searching for the place where God would direct him to make the sacrifice.
