Genesis 22 · The Lantern

The Offering of Isaac

And it happened after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Look, here I am.

And he said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and get you into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said to his young men, Remain you here with the donkey; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Isaac is another type too (he can easily be taken in this other sense), this time of the Lord. He was a son, just as is the Son (he is the son of Abraham; Christ, of God). He was a victim, as was the Lord, but his sacrifice was not consummated, while the Lord's was. All he did was to carry the wood of his sacrifice, just as the Lord bore the wood of the cross.

That Isaac carries on himself "the wood for the burnt offering" is a figure, because Christ also "himself carried his own cross," and yet to carry "the wood for the burnt offering" is the duty of a priest. He therefore becomes victim and priest.

In the mystery of the calling, Christ is symbolized by the sacrifice of Isaac, because Abraham is a proper representation of God the Father. Christ is represented by Isaac who carried his own wood on his neck, like the wood of the Cross.

And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Look the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

What happens after this? "Isaac," the text says, "said to Abraham, his father, 'Father.' " And in this moment the word of testing is uttered by the son. For how do you suppose the son to be killed struck the father's heart with this word?

In two things then was Abraham victorious: that he killed his son although he did not kill him and that he believed that after Isaac died he would be raised up again and would go back down with him. For Abraham was firmly convinced that he who said to him, "through Isaac shall your descendants be named," was not lying.

Therefore he brings his well-beloved son to be sacrificed, and offered promptly him whom he had received late; nor is he restrained by being called by the name of father, when his son called him "Father," and he replied, "My son." Dear pledges of love are these names, but the commands of God are loved still more.

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Abraham, styled "the friend," [Isaiah 41:8] was found faithful, inasmuch as he rendered obedience to the words of God. He, in the exercise of obedience, went out from his own country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house, in order that, by forsaking a small territory, and a weak family, and an insignificant house, he might inherit the promises of God.

Many of you who hear these words are fathers in the church of God. Do you think any one of you from the mere relating of the story acquires so much steadfastness, so much strength of soul, that when a son perhaps is lost by a death that is common and due to all, even if he be an only son, even if he be a beloved son, might bring in Abraham as an example for himself and set his…

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

The LORD Provides the Sacrifice

And the angel of the LORD called to him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you anything to him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

In this statement it is usually thrown out against us that God says that "now" he had learned that Abraham fears God, as though he were such as not to have known previously. God knew, and it was not hidden from him, since it is he "who has known all things before they come to pass." But these things are written on account of you, because you too indeed have believed in God.

We have heard enough on how God does not know the sinner, so we ought to consider now how the just man is known by Him. God said to Abraham: 'Leave your country, your kinsfolk.' [Gen 12:1] Abraham accordingly came into Palestine; he was in Abramiri; he sojourned a long time in Gerara.

In the same way he said to Abraham, "Now I know that you fear God," wherein he was saying, "Now I have made people (who up to now did not know) recognize what I, in my own mind, always held to be certain, [namely], that you fear God."

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and look behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

We said above, I think, that Isaac represented Christ. But this ram no less also seems to represent Christ. Now it is worthwhile to know how both are appropriate to Christ, both Isaac, who is not slain, and the ram, which is slain.Christ is "the Word of God," but "the Word was made flesh." One aspect of Christ therefore is from above; the other is received from human nature and…

Very many deny that the Sacred writers wrote according to the rules of art. Nor do we contend for the contrary; for they wrote not according to art, but according to grace, which is above all art; for they wrote that which the Spirit gave them to speak.

But when the ram was killed and Isaac was not killed, it happened thus because Isaac was a figure and not the reality; for in him was designated what was later fulfilled in Christ. Behold, God is contending with people in great devotion. Abraham offered God his mortal son who was not to die, while God surrendered in death his immortal Son for the sake of humankind.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time,

And said, By myself have I sworn, says the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son:

That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. [Genesis 22:17] And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

Rightly then is he blessed because he was faithful; and rightly was he faithful because he was patient.

In the former promise there was only the statement; here an oath is interposed, which the holy apostle writing to the Hebrews interprets in this way, saying, "God, meaning to show the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed an oath." And again, Scripture says, "Men swear by one greater than themselves." "But God, because he had no one greater by whom he…

And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice.

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

And to Abraham's seed he promised—what? In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. His seed is Christ; because from Abraham came Isaac, from Isaac Jacob, from Jacob twelve sons, from these twelve the people of the Jews, from the people of the Jews the Virgin Mary, from the Virgin Mary our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the third age of the world, God, testing Abraham's obedience, commanded him to offer to him as a holocaust his one and only son, whom he loved. Abraham did not delay in doing what he was ordered, but a ram was immolated in place of his son. Nevertheless for his virtue of extraordinary obedience he was granted the inheritance of an everlasting blessing.

So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Sons of Nahor

And it happened after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Look, Milcah, she has also born children to your brother Nahor;

Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

And Bethuel fathered Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bore also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maacah.

Genesis22

The Offering of Isaac

The LORD Provides the Sacrifice

The Sons of Nahor