Genesis 22 · The Lantern

After these dedes God dyd proue Abraham and sayde vnto him: Abraham. And he answered: here am I.

And he sayde: take thy only sonne Isaac whome thou louest and get the vnto the lande of Moria and sacrifyce him there for a sacrifyce vpon one of the mountayns which I will shewe the

Than Abraham rose vp early in the mornynge and sadled his asse and toke two of his meyny wyth him and Isaac his sonne: ad clove wod for the sacrifyce and rose vp and gott him to the place which God had appoynted him.

The thirde daye Abraham lyfte vp his eyes and sawe the place a farr of

and sayde vnto his yong men: byde here with the asse. I and the lad will goo yonder and worshippe and come agayne vnto you.

And Abraham toke the wodd of the sacrifyce and layde it vpon Isaac his sonne and toke fyre in his hande and a knyfe. 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.

Than spake Isaac vnto Abraham his father and sayde: My father? And he answered here am I my sonne. And he sayde: Se here is fyre and wodd but where is the shepe for sacrifyce?

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 sayde: my sonne God wyll prouyde him a shepe for sacrifyce. So went they both together.

And when they came vnto the place which God shewed him Abraha made an aulter there and dressed the wodd ad bownde Isaac his sonne and layde him on the aulter aboue apon the wodd.

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 hande and toke the knyfe to haue kylled his sonne.

Than the angell of the LORde called vnto him from heauen saynge: Abraham Abraham. And he answered: here am I.

And he sayde: laye not thy handes apon the childe nether do any thinge at all vnto him for now I knowe that thou fearest God in yt thou hast not kepte thine only sonne fro 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 lyfted vp his eyes and loked aboute: and beholde there was a ram caught by the hornes in a thykette. And he went and toke the ram and offred him vp for a sacrifyce in the steade of his sonne

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 the place the LORde will see: wherfore it is a come saynge this daye: in the mounte will the LORde be sene.

And the Angell of the LORde cryed vnto Abraham from heaven the seconde tyme

saynge: by my selfe haue I sworne (sayth the LORde) because thou hast done this thinge and hast not spared thy only sonne

that I will blesse th and multiplye thy seed as the starres of heaven and as the sonde vpo the seesyde. And thy seed shall possesse the gates of hys enymies.

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 thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voyce.

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 turned Abraham agayne vnto his yonge men and they rose vp and wet to gether to Berseba. And Abraham dwelt at Berseba

And it chaused after these thiges that one tolde Abraham saynge: Beholde Milcha she hath also borne childern vnto thy brother Nachor:

Hus his eldest sonne and Bus his brother and Lemuell the father of the Sinans

and Cesed and Haso and Pildas and Iedlaph and Bethuel.

And Bethuel begat Rebecca. These.viij. dyd Milcha bere to Nachor Abrahams brother

And his concubyne called Rheuma she bare also Tebah Gaham Thahas and Maacha.

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