1. God's Testing of Abraham

KJV · Verses 1–2

1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

The Church treasures Great Thursday, or Covenant Thursday, when we remember Christ presenting to His disciples the sacrifice of the New Covenant, established upon the Cross. She has found no clearer image than Abraham offering his son Isaac as a burnt offering to the Lord: a living image of the work of the Cross, in which the Father offers His Son as a ransom for the salvation of the world. Thus the Fraction Prayer of the Covenant Thursday Liturgy centers upon the offering of Isaac. Every generation will continue to see in this act of faith a living and surpassing example that reveals the sacrifice of the Lord Christ.

Scripture says, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” [1–2].

God's testing of Abraham does not mean that God did not know his heart, for He knows all our inward secrets. Rather, He permitted the trial to prove Abraham before everyone and reveal his hidden, devout faith, so that he might become a living example to others. As Saint Augustine says:

“Abraham was tested by the offering of his beloved son Isaac, so that his devout obedience might be proved and made manifest, not to God but to the world. Not every trial is for our blame; it may instead be for our praise. [313]”

Origen sees this trial as revealing Abraham's depths and hidden thoughts concerning his faith in the resurrection. He says:

“By the Spirit, the Apostle Paul knew, I think, Abraham's feelings and thoughts, and made them known to us by saying: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,” of whom it was said, “That in Isaac shall thy seed be called,” accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead (Hebrews 11:17–19). The apostle has handed down to us the thoughts of this faithful man, for such were his thoughts concerning Isaac. This is the first appearance of faith in the resurrection: Abraham hoped for Isaac's resurrection. [314]”

Thus the trial disclosed the heart of Abraham, the father of fathers, as a man who believed in the resurrection of the dead.

Abraham entered the severest trial an old man could undergo: offering his only beloved son as a burnt offering with his own hands. Yet amid the trial he was granted a vision of our Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead, through a particular sign that filled his heart with rejoicing. The Lord Himself says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). If by faith he set out with his son toward the altar, he returned from the trial bearing Isaac as though risen from the dead, a type of the Lord Christ, the slain One risen from the dead.

Scripture begins its account of the trial with the words, “And it came to pass after these things” [1]. It is as though God did not permit Abraham to be tried until He had appeared to him at the oaks of Mamre and confirmed the promise concerning Isaac, and until he had made a covenant with Abimelech, showing him the dignity and awe God had granted him even before kings. In other words, He prepared him for it in many ways. As the apostle says, “But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

He prepared Abraham's heart, mind, and whole life to receive the trial. He also accompanied him secretly during it and sustained him, and in the end manifested Himself in his life in one way or another. So it is with every trial: the Lord Himself supports us before, during, and afterward, until He fulfills His purpose in us, if we accept His work in our lives.

Why did God ask Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice, although the Mosaic Law later prohibited human sacrifices? Undoubtedly the pagans offered their firstborn as sacrifices to their gods. Such offerings expressed less the love of those who offered them than the despair filling their hearts: they wanted forgiveness for their sins at any price and sought to appease gods thirsting for blood. God therefore asked His friend Abraham for this offering to reveal to the pagans Abraham's loving heart, ready to offer God what was most precious to him. At the same time, by providing a ram in Isaac's place, God declared His rejection of human sacrifices. This rejection did not arise from a lack of love in believers toward God, but from God's esteem for humanity: He does not seek people's bloodshed and destruction. God cannot accept human sacrifices, for He loves humankind and desires their life, not their destruction. He offers His only Son as a ransom for them; although He became man, He alone cannot be ruled by death or approached by corruption.

Saint Augustine says:

“Abraham never believed that God accepted human sacrifices. Nevertheless, when the voice of the divine command to offer Isaac sounded, he obeyed without dispute. Abraham deserved praise, for he fully believed that if he offered his son as a burnt offering, he would rise again. The Lord had said to him, when Abraham was unwilling to fulfill his wife's wish to cast out the bondwoman and her son, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Genesis 21:12). The father therefore held fast to the promise given from the beginning, which was to be fulfilled through this son whom God commanded him to slay. He never doubted that the one whose birth he had not previously expected could rise after being offered as a burnt offering. [315]”

In other words, Abraham understood the difference between offering his son as a sacrifice and the human sacrifices offered to idols. He believed in God, who had given him Isaac when Sarah's womb had become wholly dead, and he regarded Isaac's birth as something like a resurrection from the dead. Raising him after his offering would therefore not be difficult for God. The pagans, however, offered their firstborn to appease their blood-loving gods, offering them without hope.

Finally, God asked him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah, in the place He would show him. Some hold that the mountain where Abraham built the altar for his son was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:24; 1 Chronicles 21:24), the site where the Temple was built and where sacrifices were continually offered, awaiting the coming of the unique sacrifice of the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Samaritan tradition, the land of Moriah lies in the region of Mount Gerizim, north of Jerusalem. Father Caesarius of Arles says that the priest Jerome, through his meetings with Jewish elders, affirmed that the Lord was crucified at the very place where Isaac had been offered as a burnt offering. [316]

The word “Moriah” means “the Lord sees” or “the Lord provides,” for the Lord prepared the ram for the burnt offering. It may also mean “the Lord teaches”: He has taught us practical love through the sacrifice of His only Son.

2. Isaac on the Way

KJV · Verses 3–8

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, 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 unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 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. 7 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 for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, 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 unto the place of which God had told him” [3].

When Abraham heard the divine command, although it seemed to contradict the earlier promises, he arose in obedience to fulfill it. He set out to act early in the morning, without delay, argument, or doubt concerning God's promises.

Abraham was wonderful in his obedience, and his young son was also wonderful in his surrender into his father's hands. Abraham hastened to act according to the divine command, and Isaac accompanied him without opposing him in anything.

Saint John Chrysostom comments on Abraham's not consulting his wife Sarah in this matter:

“Abraham, who had a wonderful wife, concealed this from her when he wished to offer his son. Although he did not know what would happen, he had resolved to offer him. If we have someone dear to us, as a member of the family, let us not display our acts of love to him unless necessity requires it. [317]”

Saint Ambrose comments on Isaac's active role in obeying his father in the Lord:

“Isaac feared the Lord, for he was truly Abraham's son. He submitted to his father, not even wishing to refuse death lest he oppose his father's will. Joseph also, although he dreamed that the sun, moon, and stars would bow down to him, nevertheless submitted to his father's will in complete obedience (Genesis 37:13). [318]”

Thus, because Abraham obeyed the Lord with surpassing love and without dispute, He gave him Isaac, who obeyed him with true love and without dispute. It is as though God rewarded Abraham through his son before granting him the eternal reward.

It is remarkable that Abraham split the wood early in the morning before leaving, so that no obstacle might prevent him from fulfilling the Lord's command. If this wood pointed to the Cross on which the true Isaac would hang, Abraham's splitting it with his own hands before setting out symbolizes the Father's revelations of the Cross through the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, before the Lord Christ bore it and was lifted upon it as a burnt offering. God revealed the mystery of the Cross in many ways, although the eyes of many were blinded to seeing it.

“Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off” [4].

Abraham traveled neither one day nor two, but three days, before seeing the place afar off. As Origen says, the third day points to the resurrection of the Lord Christ. It is as though Abraham had entered the tomb with the Lord and lived His sufferings with Him until the light of His resurrection broke forth at dawn on Sunday, the third day. Then he lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Before this his eyes had been relatively lowered and downcast. Perhaps the enemy assailed him through thoughts of Sarah, whom he had left in the tent without telling her that he had gone out with his son to slay him; perhaps he assailed him through his son. In any case, Abraham did not cease walking for three days. He resembled the children of Israel, whom the Lord asked to offer sacrifice a three days' journey away (Exodus 5:3), for no sacrifice is accepted outside the sphere of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus on the third day Abraham saw the sign of the resurrection in one way or another, lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. What is this place but the Lord Christ Himself, in whom he sees his son Isaac risen from the dead with Him and through Him?

We have previously discussed the mystery of the three days through which we receive, not Isaac's sacrifice, but the sacrifice of the Lord Christ risen from the dead. [319] Saint Clement of Alexandria sees the three days we must pass through before beholding the place afar off as the contemplation of good things, the soul's good desires, and its understanding of spiritual things. It is as though the soul cannot behold the mystery of the sacrifice of the Cross unless it looks toward good things, desires them in its depths, and understands them. The One who opens its eyes to behold this mystery is the Lord Christ Himself. He says:

“The eyes of understanding are opened by the Teacher who rose from the dead. [320]”

Thus, amid trial, the pressures of suffering, and abundant anxieties, Abraham's soul was filled with consolation as his inner sight opened on the third day to behold the mystery of the crucified One risen from the dead. He rejoiced inwardly because he saw the Lord's day (John 8:56). The furnace of trial was transformed into heavenly dew through the appearance of the crucified and risen Lord Christ before the inward sight of Abraham, the father of fathers.

“And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” [5].

Father Caesarius of Arles says:

“The two servants whom Abraham commanded to remain with the ass signify the Jewish people, who could not ascend and reach the place of sacrifice because they did not wish to believe in Christ. The ass signifies the Jewish synagogue, while the ram caught by its horns in the thicket appears to symbolize the Lord, for Christ was caught among thorns by horns when He hung on the wood of the Cross and was nailed to it. [321]”

The two young men saw Isaac and saw the wood Abraham split, yet they could not go to the place where Isaac was offered as a sacrifice. They resemble the Jewish people who saw the Lord according to the flesh and looked upon the Cross but could not perceive its power. As the Apostle Paul says, “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness”; “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:23, 25).

The two young men sat with the ass and did not set out with Abraham and Isaac to behold God's mystery. So everyone bound to earthly thinking, living for the belly and bodily lusts, is like one who sits with the ass, unable to set out to know God's spiritual mysteries that lift him to heavenly things.

“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” [6].

Isaac was a young man; some consider him to have been about twenty-five years old. Abraham therefore laid the wood upon him, and both went together to the place the Lord had shown him. As Father Caesarius of Arles says:

“When Isaac carried the wood for the burnt offering, he symbolized Christ our Lord, who carried the wood of the Cross to the place of His suffering. The prophets had already proclaimed this mystery, saying, “And the government shall be upon his shoulder” (Isaiah 9:6). Christ's government was upon His shoulders as He bore the Cross in wonderful humility. It is fitting that “government” should mean Christ's Cross, for by it He overcame Satan and called the whole world to know Christ and enjoy His grace. [322]”

Saint Augustine says:

“Isaac carried to the place of sacrifice the wood upon which he would be offered as a burnt offering, just as Christ carried His Cross. [323]”

The words “they went both of them together” indicate that this sacrifice was Abraham's sacrifice as well as Isaac's. Abraham offered his only son through surpassing love, and the son offered himself through complete obedience. The sacrifice was therefore reckoned to both together. With the necessary distinction, we likewise say that the Lord Christ's sacrifice is the sacrifice of the Father, who offered His Son as a ransom for us, and the sacrifice of the Son, who obeyed unto death, even the death of the Cross. It is the sacrifice of love offered by the Father in His only-begotten Son. The Lord Christ Himself affirmed this: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The Apostle Paul also says, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

As Christ in His crucifixion presented the Father's sacrifice in His Son, He also offered Himself. It is said, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20); “As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5:2); and “Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).

If “they went both of them together” points to the Father and the Son proceeding toward the Cross to offer its sacrifice, the Father offering through His will that loves humanity and the loving Son through His active obedience, the phrase also points to God and the Church proceeding together toward the Cross. The Father declares His love for humanity by offering His Son as a ransom for humankind. The Church declares her love for the Father through her Head who is offered. In the sacrifice of the Cross the Father smells a fragrance of pleasure and acceptance: this is also the sacrifice of the Church, which offers her life through her union with Jesus Christ, who gives His life.

As Isaac walked with Abraham toward the altar, the son began to ask his father, “My father … Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Origen says:

“At this moment the son's words, “My father,” embody the harshest moment of the trial. Imagine how deeply the voice of the son about to be slain could stir his father's heart! Yet Abraham's steadfast faith did not prevent him from answering with tender words: “Here am I, my son.” [324]”

In faith in Him who is able to raise the dead, Abraham said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” [8]. The Father saw the true Lamb, Jesus Christ, whom He offered as a ransom not for Isaac alone but for the whole world. In saying “God will provide,” Abraham expressed his complete confidence in God's plan of salvation. It is not of human making, but of divine ordering: God alone sees it in His own surpassing way.

3. Building the Altar and Offering the Sacrifice

KJV · Verses 9–14

9 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. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, 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. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold 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 stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Everything was prepared. Abraham had reached the place God appointed, the altar had been built, and the wood Isaac carried had been arranged. Isaac was bound by his father's hands and laid upon the altar above the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay him. Everything proceeded in an atmosphere of inward peace. Abraham believed in God, who would not abandon His promises, and Isaac obediently submitted to being slain. Only moments remained before the son would be slain and offered as a burnt offering.

Abraham was reckoned to have offered his son, for he hastened to act without fear. His offering was accepted even though it was not literally completed. As Saint Ambrose says:

“The father truly offered his son, for God seeks not blood but fitting obedience. [325]”

Isaac was counted a son of obedience, for he accepted the Cross in faith. As Saint Jerome says:

“In his readiness for death, Isaac carried the Cross of the Gospel before the Gospel came. [326]”

At the decisive moment, amid that profound stillness, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham, “Abraham, Abraham … 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” [11–12]. Of the Lord's words, “Now I know,” Saint Augustine says:

“They do not mean that God had no previous knowledge of what was in Abraham's heart. Rather, He wished to reveal to Abraham himself his own inward depths. [327]”

Abraham thus became revealed to himself as a lover of God and to every generation as one whose greatness lay in his freedom from attachment to temporal life.

Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. It was a type of the Lord Christ, who hung upon the wood of the Cross and was nailed with His arms open for the salvation of the world.

Abraham called the place “Jehovahjireh,” that is, “God is seen.” Thus God appeared to Abraham at the place of sacrifice. There reconciliation between God and humanity was accomplished, and we received, as children, the right to see Him and to have a place in the Father's bosom. Through the sacrifice the Holy Spirit lifts us and brings us into the divine embrace, so that we may enjoy a divine vision: not on the level of temporal sight, but the vision of union with God and everlasting participation in His glories. Thus the altar in the Church of the New Testament represents heaven itself, the meeting place of God and humanity in the sacrificed Son.

4. Renewal of the Divine Promise

KJV · Verses 15–19

15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

Through the sacrifice Abraham enjoyed seeing the Lord, and he also received a renewal of the promise in a manner surpassing the earlier occasions.

First, Origen sees the earlier promises as tending chiefly to affirm Abraham's fatherhood of the circumcised, although they did not ignore his spiritual fatherhood of believers from every nation and people. Here, however, the promise brings his spiritual fatherhood into greater prominence. He says:

“It was fitting that he should be a father to those who are of faith (Galatians 3:9), and enter the inheritance through Christ's sufferings and resurrection. The first promise concerned the first people, when the divine voice was on earth. Scripture says, “And he brought him forth abroad,” outside the tent, “and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be” (Genesis 15:5). At the renewal of the covenant, however, Scripture shows that the voice came from heaven (Genesis 22:11). The first came from earth and the second from heaven. Does this not appear to be a type of the apostle's words, “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47)? The promise concerning the people of faith comes from heaven, while that concerning the other, Jewish people comes from earth. [328]”

Second, if the earlier divine promise chiefly pointed toward the inheritance of the land, and the voice therefore came from earth, the second concerned the people of the New Testament and their eternal inheritance, and the voice came from heaven. This latter promise was confirmed by a divine oath, which stirred the Apostle Paul's feelings in his Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 6:17).

Third, if God renews His covenant with us, it is to declare our obligation also to renew the covenant with Him. The author draws on Origen here. [329] When the believer enters a covenant with God in the waters of baptism, he renounces the devil and all his works and declares his acceptance of God and His saving works, his true membership in the Church, and his expectation of eternal life. He renews this covenant daily through continual repentance, saying in the Morning Prayer, “Let us begin a good beginning,” counting every morning as a new beginning for a deeper life with God his Savior.

When God renewed His promises to Abraham, he returned to his two young men and went with them to Beersheba to dwell there. As we have seen, Beersheba points to the waters of baptism and the work of the Holy Spirit through them and within them. Having offered the sacrifice and received the divine promises, Abraham went to his young men as though returning to his body, with its energies and gifts now subject to him, to settle all his days beside the waters of baptism. He remembered the work of divine adoption and responded to the Holy Spirit's work. Baptism is thus not a rite performed at the beginning of the way and then concluded, but a life the believer lives throughout all the days of his pilgrimage. He enters the waters to meet the Lord Christ, buried and risen from the dead, and lives every day by the Holy Spirit, enjoying this life as though dwelling at Beersheba with Abraham, that is, in the waters of baptism.

When sin takes us captive, we sit as though by the rivers of Babylon, weeping as we remember Zion. Our tongues cannot utter words of praise or sing Zion's songs (Psalm 137). But having accepted faith in the sacrifice of the true Isaac and received the new divine promise, we dwell at Beersheba, beside the waters of baptism, with our young men, praising the Lord with our hearts as with our tongues.

Perhaps the two young men's going at last to Beersheba with Abraham and Isaac points to the return of the Jews to faith in the Lord Christ, whose sacrificial mystery they had formerly been unable to behold. At the end of the ages they would proceed to the waters of baptism and accept Him whom they had denied.

5. The Children of Nahor

KJV · Verses 20–24

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; 21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

Scripture mentions the children of Nahor, Abraham's brother, by his wife Milcah in order to reveal Rebekah's relationship to her husband Isaac. Her father was the son of Abraham's brother; she was therefore the daughter of Isaac's cousin. If Scripture cares about men of faith and their ancestry, it also cares about women of faith, their ancestry, and their role in the history of salvation.

Notes and References

[313] Saint Augustine, City of God 16:32.

[314] Origen, Homilies on Genesis 8:1.

[315] Saint Augustine, City of God 16:32.

[316] Father Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 83:5.

[317] Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Timothy 14.

[318] Saint Ambrose, Duties of the Clergy 1:17.

[319] The Book of Exodus, 1981, pp. 36–38.

[320] Saint Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5:11.

[321] Father Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 84:3.

[322] Father Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 84:5.

[323] Saint Augustine, City of God 16:32.

[324] Origen, Homilies on Genesis 8.

[325] Saint Ambrose, On Belief in the Resurrection 2:98.

[326] Saint Jerome, Letter 66:7.

[327] Saint Augustine, On Psalm 44.

[328] Origen, Homilies on Genesis 9:1.

[329] Origen, Homilies on Genesis 9:2.