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Gen 22

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Sublime obedience of Abraham
1 After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. 2 He said to him: Take your only begotten son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of vision: and there you shall offer him for a holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show you. 3 So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass: and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. 4 And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off. 5 And he said to his young men: Stay here with the ass: I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you. 6 And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, 7 Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What will you, son? Behold, he said, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? 8 And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together.


An angel saves Isaac
9 And they came to the place which God had shown him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. 10 And he put forth his hand and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. 11 And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. 12 And he said to him: Lay not your hand upon the boy, neither do any thing to him: now I know that you fear God, and have not spared your only begotten son for my sake. 13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram among the briers sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son. 14 And he called the name of that place, The Lord sees. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.


Abraham's faith rewarded
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying: 16 By my own self have I sworn, says the Lord: because you have done this thing, and have not spared your only begotten son for my sake: 17 I will bless you, and I will multiply you seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the seashore: your seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. 18 And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. 19 Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there.


Abraham's relatives
20 After these things, it was told Abraham that Melcha also had borne children to Nachor his brother. 21 Hus the firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians, 22 And Cased, and Azau, and Pheldas, and Jedlaph, 23 And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: These eight did Melcha bear to Nachor Abraham's brother. 24 And his concubine, named Roma, bore Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.
 
 
Commentary on Genesis 22
 
22:1-14 God did not test Abraham in order to learn something that He already knew, but to teach everyone else that He had good reason to love Abraham. That was why he tested his love of God for 3 days and nights. Abraham, torn between nature and faith and pulled both ways, decided favor of faith. Now, this was a shadow of the divine plan implemented for our benefit; for the sake of the world, the Father offered his beloved Son. Isaac was a type of the divinity, the ram of the humanity. The actual time was also of equal length; three days and nights both cases. (Theodoret of Cyrus Ques Gen 74) Abraham in his old age believed God promising that in Isaac he would be blessed in his seed. He also believed that God could raise the dead. Therefore, since he believed that God’s commands must be obeyed, nothing else remained but to believe that He would revive Isaac, by whom his seed would be called. (St. Thomas Aquinas Com Heb 11:17)

22:2 one of the mountains: Therefore the Hebrews say that this is the mountain on which the Temple was later founded on the threshing-floor of Orna the jebusite, as it is also written in the Chronicles: And they began to build the Temple in the second month, on the second day of the month, on Mount Moria. (St. Jerome Heb Ques Gen)

22:12 now I know: God certainly was not ignorant of the faith of Abraham, which He had already reckoned to him for righteousness when he believed about the birth of Isaac: but		 now because he had given a signal instance of his fear in offering his son, he is at last known, approved, rendered worthy of being known. (St. Hilary of Poiters Com Ps 1:22)

22:20-22 The first-born of Nachor, Abraham's brother, was Us, born of Melcha his wife, Aran's daughter; from whose stock Job descended, as it is written in the introduction to his book: There was a man in the land of Us whose name was Job. Certain people, therefore, are mistaken in thinking that Job was of Esau's family: for what is contained in the conclusion of his book, namely, that it was translated from the Syrian language; that he was fourth in descent from Esau; and the rest of the things which are included, are not contained in the Hebrew books. The second son born from Melcha was Buz, whom the Septuagint have preferred to transcribe as Bauz. Now from this man's family comes Balaam the soothsayer (so the Hebrews hand on the tradition) who in the Book of Job is called Eliu. At first he was a holy man and a prophet of God; but later, because of his disobedience and lust for rewards, in that he was eager to curse Israel, he was dubbed with the description 'soothsayer'. And he is spoken of in the same book: And Eliu the son of Barachiel the Buzite was angry. Evidently, he descends from the stock of this Buz. Camuel is the father of Damascus. For what is written here in the place of Syria is called Aran; and by that same name it is read in Isaiah. And Chased is the fourth son, from whom the Chasdim, that is, the Chaideans, were later named. (St. Jerome Heb Ques Gen)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Subpages (1): Gen 23
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