Genesis — Chapter 22

GOD TEMPTED ABRAHAM. — The binding of Isaac (Aqedah): the supreme trial of Abraham, climax of his ten temptations. God here tested Abraham not to inform Himself of what Abraham would do (for God knows all things) but to elicit, manifest, perfect, and crown Abraham's virtue — as a fire proves gold. Lapide quotes Seneca (De Providentia) at length: \"God says to good men: 'Optimi milites ad durissima mittuntur' (the best soldiers are sent to the hardest battles).\" Ten trials of Abraham enumerated by the Hebrews: (1) leaving his country; (2) famine in Canaan; (3) Sara taken by Pharaoh; (4) separation from Lot; (5) battle against four kings; (6) expelling Hagar; (7) circumcision at 99; (8) Sara taken by Abimelech; (9) again expelling Hagar and Ishmael; (10) the binding of Isaac — the greatest of all. God tests only those He loves and uses these tests to perfect and crown them.

AND HE SAID TO HIM: TAKE THY ONLY BEGOTTEN SON ISAAC, WHOM THOU LOVEST, AND GO INTO THE LAND OF VISION, AND THERE THOU SHALT OFFER HIM FOR A HOLOCAUST UPON ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS WHICH I WILL SHOW THEE. — The five stimuli of the divine command (from the LXX): \"Take\" — \"thy son\" — \"thine only one\" — \"whom thou lovest\" — \"Isaac.\" Each word adds a new piercing of Abraham's heart. And finally: \"offer him as a holocaust\" — not just kill but totally consume, so no bone or body part remains. Lapide: \"How many and how great are the ways in which Abraham is here tested and proved!\" Note the land: \"the land of Vision\" = Mount Moriah = later the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (2 Chr. 3:1) = the place where Christ was offered.

ABRAHAM SAID: GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF A VICTIM FOR A HOLOCAUST, MY SON. — Isaac carries the wood of sacrifice on his back — he is the type of Christ carrying His cross (Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Rupert). Abraham's prophetic answer \"God will provide\" is the name he gives the place: \"Dominus videt\" (The Lord provides/sees). This prefigures the Father providing the Son as victim for the holocaust of the Cross.

NOW I KNOW THAT THOU FEAREST GOD, AND HAST NOT SPARED THY ONLY BEGOTTEN SON FOR MY SAKE. — The sparing of Isaac at the last moment is the shadow of what God actually did: He did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32). The ram caught in the briars is Christ, who with His crown of thorns (the briars) was offered in Isaac's place — i.e., in our place (Rupert, Chrysostom, Origen). Lapide: all the details of this scene are typologically significant: the ram = Christ; the briers/thorns = the crown of thorns; the burnt offering = the Cross; \"on the third day\" (Gen. 22:4) Abraham saw the place = Christ raised on the third day; Isaac received back = the resurrection.

AND IN THY SEED SHALL ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED, BECAUSE THOU HAST OBEYED MY VOICE. — The great and final promise to Abraham: all nations blessed in his seed = Christ (Gal. 3:16). The reward of obedience is universal blessing. Lapide: \"This is the apex of all the divine promises — the whole economy of salvation is contained in these words.\" The blessing flows from Abraham's supreme act of obedience (the Aqedah), which prefigures the obedience of Christ unto death (Phil. 2:8).