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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; when, if it has acknowledged the gift of God,
it is pious, and is consolidated by steadfast grace and not puffed up
by vain boasting. Of course Abraham could never believe that God
delighted in human sacrifices; yet when the divine commandment
thundered, it was to be obeyed, not disputed. Yet Abraham is worthy
of praise, because he all along believed that his son, on being
offered up, would rise again; for God had said to him, when he was
unwilling to fulfill his wife's pleasure by casting out the bond maid
and her son, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." No doubt He
then goes on to say, "And as for the son of this bond woman, I will
make him a great nation, because he is thy seed." How then is it
said "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," when God calls Ishmael
also his seed? The apostle, in explaining this, says, "In Isaac
shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are the children of the
flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the
promise are counted for the seed." In order, then, that the
children of the promise may be the seed of Abraham, they are called in
Isaac, that is, are gathered together in Christ by the call of
grace. Therefore the father, holding fast from the first the promise
which behoved to be fulfilled through this son whom God had ordered him
to slay, did not doubt that he whom he once thought it hopeless he
should ever receive would be restored to him when he had offered him
up. It is in this way the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews is
also to be understood and explained. "By faith," he says,
"Abraham overcame, when tempted about Isaac: and he who had
received the promise offered up his only son, to whom it was said, In
Isaac shall thy seed be called: thinking that God was able to raise
him up, even from the dead;" therefore he has added, "from whence
also he received him in a similitude."
In whose similitude but His of whom the apostle says, "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all?" And on
this account Isaac also himself carried to the place of sacrifice the
wood on which he was to be offered up, just as the Lord Himself
carried His own cross. Finally, since Isaac was not to be slain,
after his father was forbidden to smite him, who was that ram by the
offering of which that sacrifice was completed with typical blood? For
when Abraham saw him, he was caught by the horns in a thicket.
What, then, did he represent but Jesus, who, before He was
offered up, was crowned with thorns by the Jews?
But let us rather hear the divine words spoken through the angel. For
the Scripture says, "And Abraham stretched forth his hand to take
the knife, that he might slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord
called unto him from heaven, and said, Abraham. And he said, Here
am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do
thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, and
hast not spared thy beloved son for my sake." It is said, "Now I
know," that is, Now I have made to be known; for God was not
previously ignorant of this. Then, having offered up that ram instead
of Isaac his son, "Abraham," as we read, "called the name of
that place The Lord seeth: as they say this day, In the mount the
Lord hath appeared." As it is said, "Now I know," for Now I
have made to be known, so here, "The Lord sees," for The Lord
hath appeared, that is, made Himself to be seen. "And the Angel
of the Lord called unto Abraham from heaven the second time, saying,
By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not spared thy beloved son for my sake; that in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
seashore; and thy seed shall possess by inheritance the cities of the
adversaries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." In this manner is that
promise concerning the calling of the nations in the seed of Abraham
confirmed even by the oath of God, after that burnt-offering which
typified Christ. For He had often promised, but never sworn. And
what is the oath of God, the true and faithful, but a confirmation of
the promise, and a certain reproof to the unbelieving?
After these things Sarah died, in the 127th year of her life, and
the 137th of her husband for he was ten years older than she, as he
himself says, when a son is promised to him by her: "Shall a son be
born to me that am an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is
ninety years old, bear?" Then Abraham bought a field, in which he
buried his wife. And then, according to Stephen's account, he was
settled in that land, entering then on actual possession of it, that
is, after the death of his father, who is inferred to have died two
years before.
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