Scholarship, context and study plans for Come, Follow Me
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD.” — Isaiah 1:18
Come, Follow Me · Old Testament 2026 · Week 9
“Is Any Thing Too Hard for the Lord?”
February 23 – March 1, 2026Genesis 18–236 chapters · 167 verses
Three visitors promise elderly Abraham and Sarah a son, and Sarah laughs. Abraham pleads for Sodom, which is destroyed anyway, and Lot's wife looks back. Isaac is born at last. Then God asks Abraham to offer him on Mount Moriah, a test that becomes one of scripture's clearest pictures of the Father's sacrifice of His Son.
Chapter
Also read in
The text shown is the King James Version, the Church's preferred English Bible for classes and meetings. The General Handbook lists the ESV and NRSV as helpful translations for ages 14 and up. They are copyrighted, so they open on their publishers' sites. Highlighted verses have a study note with links to compare that verse.
Map
Place
All places on this map
Study guide
This week moves from laughter to judgment to joy to the hardest test in Genesis. These notes help with the setting and the symbolism of Genesis 22.
How to read this week
Watch the promise and the delay. Chapter 18 renews the promise of a son; chapter 21 fulfills it, after a quarter century of waiting.
Compare Abraham and Lot. Abraham welcomes strangers in his tent (ch. 18); Lot welcomes them in a city that wants to abuse them (ch. 19). Their choices led to very different places.
Read Genesis 22 slowly. Notice the repeated “my son,” Isaac carrying the wood, and the three-day journey. Then read Jacob 4:5 and John 3:16.
Remember the ending of the test. God stops Abraham and provides a ram. The story teaches God's provision, not that He wants human sacrifice; compare Jeremiah 7:31.
Notice Moriah. The mountain where God “will provide” later became the temple mount (2 Chronicles 3:1).
The story so far
Age 75 — Abram leaves Haran with the promise of a great nation (12:4)
Age 86 — Ishmael is born to Hagar (16:16)
Age 99 — The covenant renewed; Isaac promised within a year (17:1, 21)
Same year — Three visitors; Sodom destroyed (chs. 18–19)
Age 100 — Isaac is born (21:5)
Isaac's youth — The test on Mount Moriah (ch. 22)
Sarah, 127 — Sarah dies at Hebron (23:1–2)
Images and ideas to recognize
Passage
Image
What it means
Gen 18:1–8
Hospitality to strangers
Welcoming others, and sometimes, unknowingly, angels.
Gen 19:26
Looking back
A heart still attached to what God asked us to leave.
Gen 22:2
Only son, whom thou lovest
The Father's love and sacrifice of His Son.
Gen 22:6
Wood on Isaac's back
Christ carrying His cross.
Gen 22:13
The ram caught in a thicket
A substitute provided by God.
Gen 22:14
Jehovah-jireh
The Lord sees and provides.
Gen 23:19
The cave of Machpelah
A first foothold in the promised land, and a pledge of the promise.
Connections across scripture
Jacob 4:5 — Abraham's offering of Isaac was “a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.”
Hebrews 11:17–19 — Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead.
Luke 17:28–33 — Jesus: “Remember Lot's wife.”
D&C 132:36 — Abraham's offering was “accounted unto him for righteousness.”
Questions for the week
What promise from the Lord are you still waiting on? What helps you keep trusting (Genesis 18:14)?
Abraham pleaded for Sodom. Whom could you pray for with that kind of persistence?
What might you be tempted to “look back” at after the Lord has asked you to move on?
How does Genesis 22 deepen your gratitude for Heavenly Father's gift of His Son?
When has the Lord “provided” for you in a way you didn't expect?
Conference talks & Church resources
Talks the Church's lesson points to this week, plus other Church resources that teach from these chapters.
Scholarly papers
Faithful scholarship from BYU and related publishers, tagged with the chapters each one discusses.
Podcasts & video
Come, Follow Me shows and episodes covering this week's reading.