15 He said, 'I swear by Myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your beloved son, from Me, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 16 and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. And I have shown to all that you are faithful to me in everything I have said to you: Go in peace.' 17 Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba, where Abraham lived by the Well of the Oath.

Among other things, of which it would take too long time to mention the whole, Abraham was tempted about the offering up of his well-beloved son Isaac, to prove his pious obedience, and so make it known to the world, not to God. Now every temptation is not blame-worthy; it may even be praise-worthy, because it furnishes probation. And, for the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation;