This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Genesis 18-23, which includes the birth of Isaac.
Following are a few quotes from past and present Church leaders and scholars about these chapters of scripture.
Genesis 18
“What does it mean to be the seed of Abraham? Scripturally it has a deeper meaning than being his literal descendants. The Lord made a covenant with Abraham, the great patriarch, that all nations would be blessed through him (see Genesis 18:18). Any man or woman can claim the blessings of Abraham. They become his seed and heirs to the promised blessings by accepting the gospel, being baptized, entering into temple marriage, being faithful in keeping their covenants and helping to carry the gospel to all the nations of the earth.”
— The late President James E. Faust, then the second counselor in the First Presidency, October 2004 general conference, “The Key of the Knowledge of God”
“Even in an evil world, we can so live our lives as to merit the protecting care of our Father in Heaven. We can be as the righteous living among the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham pleaded that these cities might be spared for the sake of the righteous (see Genesis 18:20-32).
“And, above all, we can cultivate in our own hearts and proclaim to the world, the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through His atoning sacrifice we are certain life will continue beyond the veil of death. We can teach that gospel which will lead to the exaltation of the obedient.”
— The late President Gordon B. Hinckley, then the President of the Church, April 2003 general conference, “War and Peace”
“Somehow, brethren, I feel that when we have done all in our power that the Lord will find a way to open doors. That is my faith.
“‘Is any thing too hard for the Lord?’ he asked, when Sarah laughed when she was told that she would have a son. When she heard this in the tent door, she knew that both Abraham at 100 years and she at 90 years were past the age of reproduction. She could not bear children. She knew that, as well as it has been known that we could not open doors to many nations.
“‘And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh. …
“‘Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son’ (Genesis 18:13-14).
“Brethren, Sarah did have a son, from Abraham, the father of nations.”
— The late President Spencer W. Kimball, then the President of the Church, in the October 1974 Ensign article “When the World Will Be Converted”
Genesis 19
“President Joseph Fielding Smith told me of a repentant woman struggling to find her way out of a very immoral life. She asked him what she should do now.
“In turn, he asked her to read to him from the Old Testament the account of Lot’s wife, who was turned to a pillar of salt. Then he asked her, ‘What lesson do you gain from those verses?’
“She answered, ‘The Lord will destroy the wicked.’
“‘Not so.’ President Smith said that the lesson for this repentant woman and for you is, ‘Don’t look back’ (see Genesis 19:26).”
— The late President Boyd K. Packer, then the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2010 general conference, “Cleansing the Inner Vessel”
“As a scriptural theme for this discussion, I have chosen Luke 17:32, where the Savior cautions, ‘Remember Lot’s wife.’ What did He mean by such an enigmatic little phrase? To find out, we need to do as He suggested. Let’s recall who Lot’s wife was.
“The story, of course, comes to us out of the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, when the Lord, having had as much as He could stand of the worst that men and women could do, told Lot and his family to flee because those cities were about to be destroyed. ‘Escape for thy life,’ the Lord said. ‘Look not behind thee … ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed’ (Genesis 19:17).
“With less than immediate obedience and more than a little negotiation, Lot and his family ultimately did leave town but just in the nick of time. The scriptures tell us what happened at daybreak the morning following their escape:
“‘The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
“‘And he overthrew those cities’ (Genesis 19:24-25).
“My theme comes in the next verse. Surely, with the Lord’s counsel — ‘look not behind thee’ — ringing clearly in her ears, Lot’s wife, the record says, ‘looked back,’ and she was turned into a pillar of salt (see verse 26).
“Just what did Lot’s wife do that was so wrong? As a student of history, I have thought about that and offer a partial answer. Apparently, what was wrong with Lot’s wife was that she wasn’t just looking back; in her heart she wanted to go back. It would appear that even before she was past the city limits, she was already missing what Sodom and Gomorrah had offered her. …
“It is possible that Lot’s wife looked back with resentment toward the Lord for what He was asking her to leave behind. We certainly know that Laman and Lemuel were resentful when Lehi and his family were commanded to leave Jerusalem. So it isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. That, apparently, was at least part of her sin.”
— The late President Jeffrey R. Holland, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the January 2010 Liahona article “The Best Is Yet To Be”
“The earth was cleansed. The floods receded. Righteousness was again established. But it was not long until the family of humanity, so very many of them, returned to the old ways of disobedience. The inhabitants of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, are examples of the depravity to which men sank. And ‘God [utterly] destroyed the cities of the plain’ in a summary and final desolation (Genesis 19:29). …
“And then, after many generations had walked the earth — so many of them in conflict, hatred, darkness and evil — there arrived the great, new day of the Restoration. This glorious gospel was ushered in with the appearance of the Father and the Son to the boy Joseph [Smith]. The dawn of the dispensation of the fullness of times rose upon the world. All of the good, the beautiful, the divine of all previous dispensations was restored in this most remarkable season.”
— The late President Gordon B. Hinckley, then the President of the Church, April 2004 general conference, “The Dawning of a Brighter Day”
Genesis 21
“When I think of lifesaving water and of wells, I also think of Hagar (see Genesis 21:14–20). Hers is a complicated family story. She is forced alone into the wilderness of Beersheba with her young son, Ishmael. In due time the water and bread she has taken with her into the desert are consumed, and thirst and hunger overwhelm her and her little boy. Because she cannot bear to hear the cries of her son, the record tells us that she puts him in a shaded place and goes ‘a good way off’ (Genesis 21:16). There, she lifts up her voice and weeps. In response, an angel of God speaks comfort to her and reminds her that she is not forsaken. Then, we are told, ‘God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water’ (Genesis 21:19). We, like Hagar, are required to see ‘a well of water.’ We, like the woman at the well, must ask of the Lord: ‘Give me this water, that I thirst not’ (John 4:15). This is the purpose of Relief Society. It teaches us as daughters of God how to see and how to ask for that which we need of the Lord so that we need not thirst again. Remember the Prophet Joseph’s promise to us that through this society we ‘shall rejoice, and knowledge and intelligence shall flow.’”
— The late Sister Aileen H. Clyde, then the second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, October 1995 general conference, “What Is Relief Society For?”
Genesis 22
“Abraham built an altar, bound Isaac and was ready to sacrifice his only son, but his hand was stayed, and he declared, like the Lord has declared, ‘Here am I’ (Genesis 22:11). How many times has the Great I Am or one of His prophets volunteered, ‘Here am I’?”
— Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi, General Authority Seventy, October 2025 general conference, “Humble Souls at Altars Kneel”
“Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is our perfect Good Shepherd. Because He has laid down His life for us and is now gloriously resurrected, Jesus Christ is also the perfect Lamb of God.
“The sacrificial Lamb of God was foreshadowed from the beginning. The angel told Adam his sacrifice ‘is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father,’ which invites us to ‘repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore’ (Moses 5:7-8).
“Father Abraham, who established covenant blessings for all the nations of the earth, experienced what it meant to offer his begotten son.
“‘And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb … ?
“‘And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb’ (Genesis 22:7-8).”
— Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2019 general conference, “Good Shepherd, Lamb of God”
“A soul-stirring account of obedience is that of Abraham and Isaac. How painfully difficult it must have been for Abraham, in obedience to God’s command, to take his beloved Isaac into the land of Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice. Can we imagine the heaviness of Abraham’s heart as he journeyed to the appointed place? Surely anguish must have racked his body and tortured his mind as he bound Isaac, laid him on the altar and took the knife to slay him. With unwavering faith and implicit trust in the Lord, he responded to the Lord’s command. How glorious was the pronouncement, and with what wondered welcome did it come: ‘Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me’ (Genesis 22:12).
“Abraham had been tried and tested, and for his faithfulness and obedience the Lord gave him this glorious promise: ‘In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice’ (Genesis 22:18).
“Although we are not asked to prove our obedience in such a dramatic and heart-wrenching way, obedience is required of us as well.”
— The late President Thomas S. Monson, then the President of the Church, April 2013 general conference, “Obedience Brings Blessings”
Genesis 23
“As Abram wandered through Canaan, he was promised the land over and over again. Yet when Sarah died, Abraham had to buy the cave of Machpelah in which to bury her. How poignant are Abraham’s words to the sons of Heth, from whom he purchased the cave:
“‘I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight’ (Genesis 23:4).
“The land was Abraham’s by covenant, yet near the end of his life he did not even own a plot of ground sufficient to inter Sarah’s body. …
“Abraham spent all his days living on promises — not only with respect to the promised land but also with respect to a promised posterity. With what could seem like cruel irony, the Lord repeatedly pledged Abram posterity as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of heaven. He also changed his name to Abraham, meaning ‘father of a multitude.’ Yet all the while Abraham had no promised heir; all the while he and Sarah were growing older. …
“We distort the trials of Abraham, or of anyone else, if we read them from the comfortable retrospective of history. Rather, … we must remember the fear and trembling. We must flee with Abram from Haran, not knowing whither we go, with eternity as our rock; we must wander with Abram in Canaan, living on increasingly incredible promises about possessing the land and a great posterity; we must journey with Abraham to Mount Moriah, prepare the altar for Isaac and lift the knife. We must, in short, become ‘contemporaneous’ with Abraham in his trials. Only then will we begin to understand why Abraham is the father to the faithful, the model for all those who, like him, die ‘in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth’ (Hebrews 11:13).”
— John S. Tanner, then an associate professor of English at Brigham Young University, in the June 1992 BYU devotional “One Step Enough”
