Genesis 22 is a very difficult passage because God commands something that He forbid in Genesis 9:6. Christians generally accept this passage as a great display of faith, but from a secular point of view God is usually in the wrong. The question usually debated is what do you do when God tells you to do something that is immoral. Christians generally laugh this off by saying God was just making sure Abraham had true faith. I think Christians should debate this a little more. God strictly forbid murder, but commands it later. When we feel led by God to do something today, how do we know if it is from the Lord or somewhere else? Usually we would turn to the Bible and see if it lines up with Scripture, but what if there is a contradiction like this one?
I would think that Isaac would have a firm understanding of his place in his father’s eyes after this event. He now knows for sure that he is not the most important thing to Abraham. I wonder how that affected his relationship with his father. I would guess that this was not a story that was often relived at family dinners.
Regardless of the morality of the command, it did serve as a final testing of Abraham’s faith and we likely realize how small ours is in comparison. God assures Abraham that He will fulfill His promise and make a great nation through him and Isaac. And the lineage of Abraham’s brother was probably placed here because Rebekah will be introduced into the story soon to help continue that promise.