Genesis 22

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? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. [Genesis 22:18] So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. [Genesis 22:18] Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

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. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Let us then cling to his blessing, and let us see what are the ways of blessedness. Let us recall the events of old. Why was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he performed justice and truth through faith? Isaac, knowing the future in confidence, was willingly led forth as a sacrifice.

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. For God said to him, "Get you out from your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, into the land which I shall show you. And I will make you a great nation, and will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be blessed. And I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you; and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed." [Genesis 12:1-3] And again, on his departing from Lot, God said to him, "Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you now are, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, [so that] if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your seed also be numbered." [Genesis 13:14-16] And again [the Scripture] says, "God brought forth Abram, and spoke unto him, Look up now to heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them; so shall your seed be. And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." [Genesis 15:5-6] On account of his faith and hospitality, a son was given him in his old age; and in the exercise of obedience, he offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the mountains which He showed him. [Genesis 22:9]

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. Isaac rejoiced for a mystical reason, to prefigure the joy with which the Lord has filled us, in saving us from destruction through his blood.

Rightly then is he blessed because he was faithful; and rightly was he faithful because he was patient.

And when the other had answered, "here I am," He says to him: "take your most beloved son, whom you love, Isaac, and offer him to me. Go," He says, "into the high land, and there offer him as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will show you." Why God bestowed this name upon him and called him Abraham, He Himself has interpreted: "because," He says, "I have set you as a father of many nations." God gave him this promise when he had a son, Ishmael, but He promised him that in the son who would be born of Sarah this promise would be fulfilled. He had therefore kindled Abraham's own spirit into love of that son, not only for the sake of posterity, but also by the hope of the promises. But this son, in whom these great and marvelous promises were placed for him—this son, I say, in whom his name was called Abraham—he is commanded to offer as a "burnt offering" to the Lord upon one of the mountains. What do you say to this, O Abraham? What and what sort of thoughts are stirred in your heart? A voice has been uttered by God that would shake and prove your faith. What do you say to this? What do you think? What do you reconsider? Do you suppose you turn over in your heart the thought that, if in Isaac the promise was given to me, but I offer this one as a burnt offering, it remains that that promise is not to be hoped for? Or rather do you think these things and say that it is impossible for Him who promised to lie; whatever it may be, the promise will stand firm? But since I "am the least," I am not able to search out the thoughts of so great a patriarch, nor can I know what thoughts the voice of God, which had gone forth to tempt him, stirred in him, what feeling it brought when he was ordered to slay his only son. But since "the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets," Paul the Apostle, who through the spirit had learned, I believe, what mind, what counsel Abraham had carried out, indicated it, saying: "by faith Abraham did not hesitate, when he offered his only son, in whom he had received the promises, considering that God is able to raise him even from the dead." The Apostle therefore has disclosed to us the thoughts of the faithful man, that faith in the resurrection had already then begun to be held in Isaac. Abraham therefore hoped that Isaac would rise again and believed that would come to pass which had not yet been done. How then are they "sons of Abraham" who do not believe as accomplished in Christ what he believed as future in Isaac? Nay rather, that I may speak more openly, Abraham knew that he was prefiguring the image of the future truth; he knew that Christ would be born of his seed, who was both to be offered as the truer victim of the whole world and to rise again from the dead.

But now meanwhile "God was tempting," it says, "Abraham, and He says to him: take your most beloved son, whom you love." For it had not been enough to say "son," but "most beloved" is also added. Let this be so too: why is "whom you love" still added further? But see the weight of the temptation. By dear and sweet appellations repeated again and often, the paternal affections are aroused, so that, with the memory of love awakening, the paternal right hand might be delayed from immolating the son, and the whole warfare of the flesh might fight back against the resolve of the mind. "Take," therefore, He says, "your most beloved son, whom you love, Isaac." Be it so, Lord, that You remind the father of his son; You add also "most beloved," the one You command to be slain. Let this suffice for the father's torment; You add again also "whom you love." Let there be for the parent in this too a threefold torment. What need is there yet that You should also mention "Isaac"? Did Abraham not know that this most beloved son of his, the one whom he loved, was called Isaac? But why is this added at this moment? So that Abraham might recall that You had said to him: "that in Isaac shall your seed be called and that in Isaac shall be your promises." A mention is made also of the name, so that the despair of the promises too, which were made under this name, might come upon him. But all these things, because God was tempting Abraham.

What after these things? "Go," He says, "into the high land, into one of the mountains that I will show you, and there you shall offer him as a burnt offering." Behold through each detail how the increases of the temptation come about. "Go into the high land." Could not Abraham have been led first with the boy to that high land and set first upon the mountain, whichever the Lord had chosen, and there be told to offer his son? But first he is told that he must offer his son, and then he is ordered to go "into the high land" and to ascend the mountain. To what does this look? So that while he walks, while he makes the journey, he may be torn apart along the whole way by his thoughts, so that here, with the command pressing hard, and there, with the affection for his only son struggling against it, he may be tortured. Therefore for this reason both the journey is enjoined and the ascent of the mountain, so that in all these things the affections and faith, the love of God and the love of the flesh, the pleasure of things present and the expectation of things to come, might receive room for the contest. He is sent therefore "into the high land," and the high land is not enough for the patriarch who is to accomplish so great a work for the Lord, but he is also ordered to ascend the mountain, namely so that, uplifted by faith, he may leave behind the earthly things and climb up to the things above.

Let us now return to ourselves and treat the moral sense point by point. The Apostle says, as we have already mentioned above: "the first man from the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven, heavenly. As is the earthy, such also are the earthy, and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us bear also the image of the heavenly." You see what he shows, that, if you remain in that which is first, which is of the earth, you will be reprobated, unless you change yourself, unless you are converted, unless, having been made "heavenly," you receive "the image of the heavenly." This is the same as what he says elsewhere too: "putting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, who is created according to God." This same thing he writes in another place also: "behold, the old things have passed away, all things have been made new." For this reason, therefore, God renews his promises, that he may show you that you too ought to be renewed. He does not remain in the old things, lest you too remain "the old man"; he speaks these things "from heaven," that you too may receive "the image of the heavenly." For what will it profit you if God renews his promises and you are not renewed? If he speaks "from heaven" and you hear from the earth? What does it profit you if God binds himself by an oath and you pass over these things as though hearing a common tale? Why do you not consider that for your sake God embraces even those things which seem least suited to his nature? God is said to swear, so that you, hearing, may be afraid and tremble and, dismayed with fear, may inquire what that great thing is for which God is said to swear. These things, then, are done so that you may become attentive and solicitous, and, hearing that a promise is being prepared for you in the heavens, may be watchful and may seek in what way you may prove yourself worthy of the divine promises. Nevertheless, the Apostle interprets this passage too, saying that: "God promised to Abraham and to his seed. He did not say: and to seeds, as in many, but as in one: and to your seed, who is Christ." Concerning Christ, therefore, it is said: "multiplying I will multiply your seed, and they shall be as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand which is on the shore of the sea." Who now needs an exposition to know how the seed of Christ is multiplied, who sees the preaching of the gospel propagated from the ends of the earth "to the ends of the earth," and that there is now scarcely any place which has not received the seed of the word? For this was indeed prefigured also in the beginnings of the world, when it was said to Adam: "increase and multiply." And this very thing the Apostle says is "said in Christ and in the Church." But as to what it said: "as the stars of heaven in multitude," and added: "and as the sand which is on the shore of the sea, innumerable," perhaps indeed someone may say that the figure of the heavenly number suits the people of the Christians, that of the sand of the sea the Jewish people. I, however, think this rather, that each example can be fitted to each people. For in that people too there were many righteous men and prophets, to whom the example of the stars of heaven is deservedly compared; and in our people there are many who "are wise in earthly things" and whose folly "is heavier than the sand of the sea," among whom I think the crowds of the heretics especially are to be reckoned. But let us not even be secure; for so long as any one of us does not lay aside "the image of the earthy" and put on "the image of the heavenly," he is compared to earthly examples. Whence the Apostle too, moved by these things, as I suppose, in the heavenly and earthly bodies forms an image of the resurrection, saying: "one indeed is the glory of the heavenly, but another that of the earthly. And star differs from star in glory; so also shall be the resurrection of the dead." But the Lord too, when he says: "that your light may shine before men, and men, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father, who is in heaven," admonishes of this same thing him who knows how to hear.

It is written in the prophet, speaking in the person of the Lord: "and in the hands of the prophets I was made like." This saying indicates that, although our Lord Jesus Christ is one according to his substance and is nothing other than the Son of God, nevertheless in the figures and forms of the Scriptures he is displayed as varied and diverse. For example, as I recall we set forth in earlier passages that he himself was in the type of Isaac, when he was being offered for a holocaust, yet he himself also held the form of the ram. I say further that he is also displayed in the angel who spoke to Abraham and says to him: "do not lay your hand upon the boy" — since again he says to him: "because you have done this thing, in blessing I will bless you." He is called the sheep or the lamb that is sacrificed at the Passover, and he himself is signified as the shepherd of the sheep; and the high priest who offers the sacrifice is nonetheless described as he himself.

But that Christ is the seed of Abraham and the son of Abraham, if you wish to learn it more plainly from the words of Scripture, hear how it is written in the gospel: "the book," it says, "of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." In this, then, that word also is fulfilled which it says: "your seed shall take by inheritance the cities of the adversaries." How did Christ take "by inheritance the cities of the adversaries"? By this, without doubt, that "into all the earth went out the sound" of the Apostles, and "into the ends of the world their words." Whence also those angels were stirred to wrath who held each single nation under their power. "For when the Most High divided the nations according to the number of the angels of God, then his portion became Jacob and the cord of his inheritance Israel." For Christ, to whom the Father had said: "ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and for your possession the ends of the earth," driving those angels out of the power and dominion which they had over the nations, provoked them to wrath. And therefore it says that "the kings of the earth stood up and the princes were gathered together in one against the Lord and against his Christ." Therefore they oppose us too and stir up struggles and contests against us. Hence too the Apostle of Christ: "the wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of this world." Therefore we must be watchful and act carefully, because "our adversary as a roaring lion goes about, seeking whom he may devour." If we do not resist him "strong in faith," he will call us back again into captivity. And if this should happen to us, we shall render ungrateful the work of him who "fixed to his cross the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in himself with confidence" and who came "to release the captives unto remission." Rather, then, following the faith of Christ, "who triumphed over them," let us break asunder their bonds, by which they had bound us to their power. But the bonds by which they bind us are our passions and vices, in which we are entangled so long, until "we crucify our flesh with its vices and concupiscences," and thus at last "break asunder their bonds and cast their yoke from us." Therefore the seed of Abraham has occupied "the cities of the adversaries," that is, the seed of the word, which is the preaching of the gospel and the faith of Christ. But I say: did the Lord use iniquity in order to snatch the nations from the power of the adversaries and to recall them to his own faith and dominion? By no means. For Israel was once "the portion of the Lord," but they made Israel to sin against his God, and on account of their sins God said to them: "behold, you have been sold off by your sins, and on account of your sins you have been scattered under the whole heaven." But again he says to them: "if your dispersion be from the end of heaven unto the end thereof, from there I will gather you, says the Lord." Because, therefore, the first "princes of this world" had invaded "the portion of the Lord," the "good shepherd" had need, leaving the ninety and nine on high, to descend to the earth and to seek the one sheep which had perished, and, having found it and carried it back on his shoulders, to recall it to the heavenly sheepfold of perfection. But what does it profit me, if the seed of Abraham, "which is Christ," possess "by inheritance the cities of the adversaries" and possess not my city? if in my city, that is in my soul, which is "the city of the great king," neither his laws nor his ordinances be kept? What does it profit me that he has subjected the whole world and possesses the cities of the adversaries, if he does not conquer his adversaries in me also, if he does not destroy "the law which is in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive in the law of sin"? So, then, let each one of us take pains that in his own soul and in his own body Christ may conquer the adversaries and, subjecting them and "triumphing" over them, may possess the city of his own soul also. For in this way we shall be made part of his portion, of the better part, which is "as the stars of heaven in brightness," so that we too may be able to receive the blessing of Abraham through Christ our Lord, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen."

To be able to find [these treasures], we need the help of God who alone can "break in pieces the doors of bronze" by which they are shut up and hidden and who "cuts asunder the bars of iron" and the bolts by which access was prohibited for attaining all the truths that were written and hidden in Genesis. [These truths are] concerning the different kinds of souls, concerning the seeds and generations that either pertain directly to Israel or are separated much further from his offspring.

What after these things? "Isaac said," it says, "to Abraham his father: Father." And this too, uttered by the son at that moment, is a voice of temptation. For how do you think the son, about to be immolated, shook the father's heart by this voice? And although Abraham was rather rigid for faith's sake, yet he too returns the voice of affection and answered: "what is it, son?" And the other: "behold," he says, "the fire and the wood, where is the sheep for the burnt offering?"

To this Abraham answered: "God will Himself provide for Himself a sheep for the burnt offering, son." Abraham's answer, sufficiently careful and cautious, moves me. I know not what he was seeing in the spirit, for he speaks not of the present but of the future: "God will Himself provide for Himself a sheep"; he answered with things future to the son asking about things present. For "the Lord will Himself provide for Himself a sheep" in Christ, because "wisdom itself has built itself a house" and "He Himself humbled Himself even unto death"; and whatever things you read of Christ, you will find done not by necessity but of His own accord.

These words require an attentive and intent hearer. For it is something new that it says: "and the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven." What it adds, however, is not new. For "blessing I will bless you" had already been said before too, and "multiplying I will multiply you" was promised before, and "your seed shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea" had also been declared earlier. What then is there now that is more, which is cried out from heaven a second time? What new thing is added to the old promises? What greater reward is given in that it says: "because you have done this word," that is, because you offered your son, because you did not spare your only son? I see nothing added; the same things are repeated that had earlier been promised. Will it then seem superfluous to go over the same things more often? On the contrary, it is necessary. For all the things that are done are done in mysteries. If Abraham had lived only "according to the flesh" and had been the father of one people, whom he begot "according to the flesh," one promise would have sufficed. But now, in order to show that he was to be first the father of those who "according to the flesh" are circumcised, at the time of his circumcision there is given to him a promise, which ought to pertain to the people of circumcision. Secondly, because he was to be the father also of those who "are of faith" and who come to the inheritance through the passion of Christ, at the time of Isaac's passion the promise is nonetheless renewed, which ought to pertain to that people which is saved by the passion and resurrection of Christ. And indeed the same things seem to be repeated, but they are far different. For those things which were said earlier and pertain to the earlier people were said on earth. For thus Scripture says: "and he led him out"—out of the tent, that is—"and said to him: look at the stars of heaven, if they can be numbered for their multitude. And he added: so shall your seed be." But where the promise is repeated a second time, it indicates that he spoke to him "from heaven"; and the first promise is given from the earth, the second "from heaven." Does it not here plainly seem to indicate that which the Apostle says: "the first man from the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven, heavenly"? This promise, therefore, which pertains to the faithful people, is made "from heaven," that other one from the earth.

Yet the third day is always made fitting for sacred mysteries. For when the people had gone out of Egypt, on the third day it offers sacrifice to God, and on the third day it is purified; and the resurrection of the Lord is on the third day; and many other mysteries are enclosed within this day.

"Abraham," it says, "looking up saw the place from afar and said to his servants: sit here with the she-ass, but I and the boy will go as far as there, and when we have worshipped, we will return to you." He dismisses the servants. For the servants could not ascend with Abraham to the place of the burnt offering, which God had shown. "You," therefore, he says, "sit here, but I and the child will go; and when we have worshipped, we will return to you." Tell me, Abraham, do you truly say to the servants that you will worship and return with the child, or do you deceive? If you speak the truth, then you will not make him a burnt offering. If you deceive, it does not befit so great a patriarch to deceive. What state of mind, then, does this speech indicate in you? I speak the truth, he says, and I offer the boy as a burnt offering. For this reason I both carry the wood with me and return with him to you. For I believe, and this is my faith, that "God is able to raise him even from the dead."

"And Abraham stretched out," it says, "his hand to take the sword, and to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called him from heaven, and said: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: here I am. And He said: do not lay your hand upon the boy, neither do to him anything. For now I have known that you fear God." In this saying it is wont to be objected to us that God says He has now come to know that Abraham fears God, as though He had been ignorant before. God knew, and it did not lie hidden from Him, seeing that He "knows all things before they come to pass," but these things are written for your sake, because you too indeed have believed God, but unless you fulfill "the works of faith," unless you obey in all the commandments even the more difficult ones, unless you offer the sacrifice and show that you prefer neither father nor mother nor sons to God, you will not be recognized as fearing God, nor will it be said of you: "for now I have known that you fear God." And yet it must be considered that the angel is reported to have spoken these things to Abraham, and that in what follows this angel is evidently shown to be the Lord. Whence I think that, just as among us men He "was found in appearance as a man," so also among the angels He was found in appearance as an angel. And following His example the angels in heaven rejoice "over one sinner doing penance" and glory in the progress of men. For they themselves hold as it were the charge of our souls, to whom, "while we are yet little ones," we are committed as to "guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father." They themselves therefore now say of the progress of each one of us: "for now I have known that you fear God." For the sake of example, I have the resolve of martyrdom—from this the angel will not be able to say to me: "for now I have known that you fear God"; for to God alone is the resolve of the mind known. But if I shall have come to the contests, brought forth "the good confession," and steadfastly undergone all the things that are inflicted, then the angel can say, as though confirming and strengthening me: "now I have known that you fear God." But let these things be said to Abraham, and let him be pronounced to fear God. Why? Because he did not spare his son. But let us compare these things with the Apostle's words, where he says of God: "who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." See God contending with men in magnificent generosity: Abraham offered to God a mortal son who was not to die; God delivered up His immortal Son to death for men. What shall we say to these things? "What shall we render to the Lord for all the things that He has rendered to us?" God the Father for our sake "did not spare His own Son." Which of you, do you suppose, will ever hear the voice of the angel saying: "now I have known that you fear God, because you did not spare your son" or your daughter or your wife, or you did not spare money or the honors of the world and the ambitions of the world, but despised all things and "counted all things as dung, that you might gain Christ," "sold all things, and gave to the poor, and followed the word of God"? Which of you, do you suppose, will hear from the angels a voice of this kind? Meanwhile Abraham hears this voice, and it is said to him: "because you did not spare your beloved son for my sake."

"And he took," it says, "the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of Isaac his son, and Abraham called the name of that place: the Lord has seen." To those who know how to hear these things, the way of spiritual understanding is opened plainly. For all the things that were done arrive at a vision; for it is said that "the Lord has seen." But the vision, which "the Lord has seen," is in the spirit, so that you too may see these things that are written in the spirit and, just as in God there is nothing corporeal, so also you may perceive nothing corporeal in all these things, but in the spirit may you too beget a son Isaac, when you shall have begun to have "the fruit of the spirit, joy, peace." Yet you will only then beget that son if, as it is written of Sarah that "the things of women had ceased for Sarah" and then she bore Isaac, so also the things of women may cease in your soul, so that you may have nothing any longer womanly and effeminate in your soul, but may "act manfully" and manfully "gird up your loins," if your breast be "fortified with the breastplate of righteousness," if you be girded with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. If therefore the things of women cease to be done in your soul, you beget a son from your spouse, from virtue and wisdom, joy and gladness. And you beget joy if you "count it all joy when you fall into various temptations" and offer that joy in sacrifice to God. For when you have come to God with joy, He again renders back to you what you have offered, and says to you: "again you shall see me, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one shall take from you." Thus therefore what you have offered to God, you will receive multiplied. Something of this kind, though under another figure, is reported in the Gospels, when in a parable it is said that someone received a mina, that he might trade with it and seek money for the master of the household. But if you bring five multiplied into ten, they are given to you yourself, they are granted to you. For hear what He says: "take," He says, "the mina from this one and give it to him who has ten minas." Thus therefore we seem indeed to trade for the Lord, but the profits of the trade fall to us; and we seem to offer victims to the Lord, but the things we offer are given back to us. For God needs nothing, but wills us to be rich, and desires our progress in each and every thing. This figure is shown to us also in those things that were done concerning Job. For he too lost all things for God's sake, since he was rich. But because he bore well the contests of patience and in all the things that he suffered was magnanimous and said: "the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so has it been done, blessed be the name of the Lord," see at the last what is written of him: "he received," it says, "double all the things that he had lost." You see what it is to lose something for God, that is, to receive it multiplied for yourself. But the Gospels promise you something even greater; they promise you "a hundredfold," and moreover also "eternal life" in Christ Jesus our Lord, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen."

"And Abraham looking up," it says, "with his eyes saw, and behold, a ram was held by its horns in the thicket Sabech." We said, I think, in what preceded that Isaac bore the figure of Christ, but the ram here too nonetheless seems to bear the figure of Christ. But how each fits Christ, both Isaac, who was not slain, and the ram, who was slain, is worth knowing. Christ is "the Word of God," but "the Word was made flesh." One thing therefore in Christ is from the things above, the other taken from human nature and from the virginal womb. Christ therefore suffers, but in the flesh; and He endured death, but it was the flesh, of which this ram is the figure; just as John also said: "behold, the Lamb of God, behold, He who takes away the sin of the world." But the Word remained "in incorruption," which is Christ according to the spirit, of whom Isaac is the image. Therefore He Himself is both victim and high priest. For according to the spirit He offers the victim to the Father, according to the flesh He Himself is offered on the altar of the cross, because, just as it was said of Him, "behold, the Lamb of God, behold, He who takes away the sin of the world," so it was said of Him: "you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." "The ram therefore is held by its horns in the thicket Sabech."

In the former there was only speech, here an oath is interposed, which the holy Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, interprets, saying in this manner: "God," he says, "wishing to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his purpose, interposed an oath." And again: "men," he says, "swear by one greater than themselves." "But God, since he had no one greater by whom he might swear," "by myself I swear, said the Lord." Not that any necessity of an oath pressed upon God (for who would exact an oath from him?), but, as the Apostle Paul interpreted it, that by this he might "designate the immutability of his purpose to his worshippers." So too elsewhere it is said through the prophet: "the Lord has sworn and he will not repent: you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." Then, further, in the first promise it does not have set down a cause why the promise was given, only that he led him out and "showed him," it says, "the stars of heaven, and said: so shall your seed be." But now it adds the cause on account of which by an oath it confirms that the promise will be firm. For it says: "because you have done this word and have not spared your son." It shows, therefore, that the promise is firm on account of the offering or passion of the son, evidently indicating that on account of the passion of Christ the promise remains firm for the people from the nations, "which is of the faith of Abraham." And is it only in this that the second things are firmer than the first? In many things of this kind you will find mysteries adumbrated. The first tablets of the law Moses broke in the letter and cast away; the second law he received in the spirit, and the second are firmer than the first. Again, this same man, when he had comprised the whole law in four books, writes Deuteronomy, which is called the second law. Ishmael is first, Isaac second, and in the second a like form of preferment is kept. This too you will find adumbrated in like manner in Esau and Jacob, in Ephraim and Manasseh, and in a thousand others.

Lend your ears here, you who have drawn near to God, you who believe yourselves to be faithful, and consider more diligently how the faith of the faithful is proved by these things that have been read to us. "And it came to pass," it says, "after these words, God tempted Abraham and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: here I am." Observe each and every thing that is written. For in each single thing, if someone knows how to dig deep, he will find a treasure, and perhaps even where it is not expected the precious jewels of the mysteries lie hidden. This man was formerly called Abram, and nowhere do we read that God called him by this name or said to him: Abram, Abram. For he could not be called by God by a name that was to be abolished, but he calls him by this name that He Himself had bestowed, and He does not only call him by this name, but even doubles it.

"Abraham therefore rose in the morning, and saddled his she-ass, and cut wood for the burnt offering. And he took his son Isaac and two servants, and came to the place that God had told him, on the third day." Abraham rose in the morning (in that he added "in the morning," he wished perhaps to show that the beginning of light was shining in his heart), saddled his she-ass, prepared the wood, took his son. He does not deliberate, he does not reconsider, he does not share his counsel with any of men, but at once he sets out on the journey. "And he came," it says, "to the place that the Lord had told him, on the third day." I pass over now what sacred meaning "the third day" contains; I look at the wisdom and counsel of the One who was tempting. Was there thus no mountain nearby, since the whole thing was being done among the mountains, but the journey is drawn out over three days, and through the whole three days the paternal heart is tortured by cares that keep coming back, so that through all this space so prolonged the father might gaze upon his son, take food with him, and for so many nights the boy might hang in the embraces of his father, cling to his breast, lie in his lap? See to how great a degree the temptation is heaped up.

After these things, "Abraham took," it says, "the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, and took the fire in his hands and the sword, and they went together." That Isaac himself carries for himself "the wood for the burnt offering," this is a figure that Christ also "Himself bore the cross for Himself," and yet to carry "the wood for the burnt offering" is the office of the priest. He becomes therefore himself both the victim and the priest. But also that which is added, "and they both went together," refers to this. For when Abraham as one about to sacrifice carried the fire and the knife, Isaac does not go after him, but with him, so that it might be shown that he performs the priesthood equally together with him.

"They both went on therefore and came to the place that God had told him." Moses, when he had come to the place that God showed him, is not permitted to ascend, but before that it is said to him: "loose the strap of the sandal from your feet." To Abraham none of these things is said, nor to Isaac, but they ascend and do not put off their sandals. In which perhaps this is the reason: that Moses, although he was "great," yet was coming from Egypt, and there were certain bonds of mortality knotted to his feet. But Abraham and Isaac have none of these things, but come to the place; Abraham builds the altar, lays the wood upon the altar, binds the boy, prepares himself to slay him. Many of you are fathers in the Church of God, who hear these things. Do you suppose that some one of you acquires from the very narration of the history so much constancy, so much strength of soul, that, when perchance a son is lost by the common death owed to all, even if he be an only son, even if he be beloved, he may bring Abraham to himself as an example and set his greatness of soul before his eyes? And indeed that greatness of soul is not demanded of you, that you yourself should bind your son, yourself constrain him, yourself prepare the sword, yourself slay your only son. All these ministries are not required of you. Be at least constant in your resolve and mind, and fixed in faith offer your son to God with joy. Be the priest of your son's soul; but it does not befit a priest immolating to God to weep. Do you wish to see that this is demanded of you? In the Gospel the Lord says: "if you were sons of Abraham, you would surely do the works of Abraham." Behold, this is the work of Abraham. Do the works that Abraham did, but not with sadness; "for God loves a cheerful giver." But if you too shall be so ready toward God, it will be said to you also: "ascend into the high land and to the mountain that I will show you; and there offer me your son." Not in the depths of the earth nor "in the valley of weeping," but on the high and lofty mountains "offer your son." Show that faith in God is stronger than the affection of the flesh. For Abraham loved, it says, Isaac his son, but he preferred to the love of the flesh the love of God, and he was found not in the bowels of the flesh, but "in the bowels of Christ," that is, in the bowels of the Word of God and of truth and of wisdom.

We cannot, then, doubt that the knowledge of God depends on the occasion and not on any change on His part: by the occasion being meant the occasion, not of obtaining but of declaring knowledge, as we learn from His words to Abraham, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest thy God, and hast not withheld thy beloved son, for My sake. God knows now, but that now I know is a profession of previous ignorance: yet it is not true, that until now God did not know the faith of Abraham, for it is written, Abraham believed in God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, and therefore this now I know marks the time when Abraham received this testimony, not when God began to know. Abraham had proved, by the sacrifice of his son, the love he bore to God, and God knew it at the time He spoke: but as we cannot suppose that He did not know before, we must for this reason suppose that He took knowledge of it then because He spoke.

Thus the sacrifice was not for the sake of Isaac but for that of Abraham, who was tested by being called upon to make this offering. And of course, God accepted his intentions, but he prevented him from slaying Isaac. The death of Isaac would not buy freedom for the world. No, that could be accomplished only by the death of our Savior, by whose stripes we are all healed.

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.

The mountain spit out the tree and the tree the ram. In the ram that hung in the tree and had become the sacrifice in the place of Abraham's son, there might be depicted the day of him who was to hang upon the wood like a ram and was to taste death for the sake of the whole world.

ON ABRAHAM. — The faith of this patriarch was so exceptional and wondrous that all other righteous people confess him, by God’s judgment, as the father of belief; nor is anyone worthy of and dear to God unless he is called his son. The right of his honor and value is faith, which he does not hesitate to give even to incredible things, and among other privileges he was also found worthy to see the Savior in hope of the future Incarnation, as the Lord said and proved to the Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day; and he saw it and was glad (Jn. 8:56). For since he became father by the value of faith, it was fitting that he should foresee the hope of his future children, which, through the gracious and provident God, would overflow from a human and devout father upon his obedient sons as an inheritance. Let us now see what this faith believed, so that it reached such honor and glory by divine judgment. We have praised the faith, but we have not yet said what it believed. For the Lord, leading him out, showed him the stars of heaven and said: If you can, number them. So shall your seed be. And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:5–6). It would not be a great thing to have believed God, except that what he believed the world judges not to be believed and as foolish, because this is not within the hope of things according to nature. Therefore Abraham, being one out of the world because he believed this, was separated from worldly people and justified. Therefore, believing this is made great by the unbelieving wisdom of the world, and to have believed against its hope is of the highest value. For the despair of worldly men is the value and hope of Christians. For the cause of evil becomes the reward of good: faith is stronger and fuller when it commits itself more to things that are incredible. A man already dried up and from an aged wife believed he would have seed so abundant that it could not be numbered; looking not so much at what was shown, but at him who showed it, not thinking that he could lie. And therefore it was counted to him for righteousness. For it is dull to believe a thing absurd and known to be impossible, unless there is a person who persuades us to believe it. Therefore Abraham is admirable for his faith and for the discernment of his heart, since he both believes that which is incredible and commits himself to him to whom not to believe is both foolish and dangerous. This shows our faith to be reasonable, that it believes this not of any other than of God, that he is able to do what he promises. This, then, is the bulwark of faith, this its triumph. Seeing this, some wise men of the world, because the nature of things cannot do this, say it is foolish to believe. Ignorant that, according to the Apostle, what is foolish of God is wiser than men (1 Cor. 1:25). For they would rightly judge us foolish if we believed of the nature of things what is proved not to be possible. But we, on the contrary, believe that God will be able to do what nature cannot, if he has promised it. What folly can be found in this matter? If, however, the work which is believed possible is unworthy of God, then faith is rightly compared to dullness; but if it is worthy, precisely because it is impossible to the creature, why is the faith not to be praised which attributes so much to the Creator as the creature is denied power to do? Great and admirable, then, is Abraham, who did not doubt to believe God against the world’s judgment, because he can do what he promises. A Chaldean by birth, he appears as a master of belief: though skilled in astrology, he still placed God above human counsel, judging it fitting that such things be believed of God as cannot be investigated in respect to how they may come to pass. For he strengthened his own weakness by the power of God, since God determined, to proclaim the unique greatness of his majesty, to perform things that are impossible and unheard of to the world; and by doing this he would show himself Lord of the creature, and the creature would subject itself to him whose work would seem impossible to all others; by whose unbelief the most faithful Abraham is raised higher. For his faith is the punishment of unbelievers; the deceit of unbelievers is his glory. For he is the father of the faithful and the judge of the unfaithful. By his example, the good are granted eternal life, and the wicked will receive eternal punishments. In that time, when the world was still small in knowledge and not yet enlightened by signs and wonders that might draw it to faith, he did not deny faith to God against his own understanding. Therefore holy Abraham was given as a most faithful example to the human race. In him all nations were prefigured as coming to salvation through faith; and that the overflowing increase of his faith might be known, he is tested and ordered to sacrifice his son to God, a thing that had never before been done, and he is neither disturbed by the novelty of the deed nor does he dispute whether a murder ought to be committed at God’s command, he who had threatened that murder must not be committed. Therefore, fearless and secure about the will of God, he does not hesitate to think that what God commands is provident: and this son, whom two old people received through a promise, the reward of faith, the witness of virtues, and in whom all hope of the promised future seed was held. That he might fulfill this with complete devotion, he did not tell his mother, lest she bring some obstacle to his obedience, knowing that mothers are the more inclined in love toward the affection they bear for their children; therefore he concealed it from her, not doubting that what God commands must be fulfilled, so that by this example we might be taught to carry out God’s commands with all carefulness. For if the most faithful Abraham is found obedient in a matter so grave and harsh, how much more should we, to whom things are commanded that can be accepted? O faith dedicated to God, and hope firm in the Lord, which is so dear and sweet that it is preferred to the affections of parents and children, as Scripture says: Taste and see, that the Lord is sweet (Ps. 33:9)! But our patriarch, most faithful Abraham, because he was a prophet, knew what was to follow. Therefore, in accordance with what the Lord had just said, he then acted, so that he preferred God in love over his son, dear as he was, with the Lord saying, “If anyone loves father or mother, or children more than me, he is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). Therefore the Patriarch, in order to be found worthy of the Lord above all others, did not refuse even to kill his son.

How could it be shown from the testimony of the prophets, already received among the Gentiles in the New Testament, that the promise which God made to Abraham has been fulfilled through the coming of Christ? — It is written in the prophet Isaiah: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7). But perhaps the Jews will say: The house of God, that is, the synagogue, is open to all. Nor do we object; yet in such a way that, as always, the circumcised join themselves to the Law. For their Law is that by which they were commanded, after the manner of Abraham, to be circumcised. Therefore, nothing new can seem to be signified by this example of the prophet; since anyone coming from any nation has never been forbidden from the beginning of Judaism to join himself to the Law. Nothing new spoken by the prophet can be thought, indeed it would be unessential, if the Gentiles have always been admitted to serve the God of Abraham and are never found to have been forbidden. And this is true, because those who submit themselves to the Law are never found not to have been received. If, therefore, these things are so, it seems needless that the prophet admonished about what, once handed down, has always been observed. And could anyone so dull be found as to say that the prophet spoke something unnecessary and empty? I do not know for whom it would be safe even to hear this and not oppose it. For since the Jewish people, on account of the sins which they committed against God, seeking help from idols, were often rebuked by the prophets but refused to enter upon the path of repentance so as to return to God, God, in reproach of them, indicated that He would open His house to all nations to pray, so that, the Jews being cast off, He would show that He would place others in their place. For if the nations have always been admitted to the Law, as was said above, how could the prophet say that this would happen in the future, unless he meant something different from what had been previously commanded? He could not speak of a thing which was done daily as though it were going to come. Therefore it is clear that this tends to the ruin of the Jews, to whom the prophet shows that, with them removed, others were to be called and were to receive the house of God’s grace, which had been promised to the Jews. What that promise is, the prophet Isaiah teaches, saying: “There shall come out of Zion one who shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this shall be my covenant with them” (Isa. 59:20–21). Therefore this covenant is the removal of sins. This is the New Covenant, which was promised through Jeremiah, who says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will accomplish for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I arranged for their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord” (Jer. 31:31–32). This is their transgression, when they made the image of a calf; then they corrupted His covenant. Therefore also the tablets on which the Law had been given were shattered under the mountain (Exod. 32:4, 19), because they deserved to receive more severe precepts. But because God is mild and merciful, He promised through the prophets that He would change the Law, so as to give another Covenant, which would differ from that which He had given before: that not only what was burdensome might be changed, but also those things which were given in figure, that is, the sabbath and circumcision; so that, since they had long been oppressed, being relieved in all things, they might give grateful thanks to God as petitioners. And because, persisting in their fathers’ transgression, they refused to turn their minds away from idols, He testifies that the nations, together with the remnant who kept the faith, will enjoy the Covenant which He had said would come: so that the faithless Jews might be tortured in a twofold way. For they were burdened for a time by the precepts, and in the future they will pay fitting penalties, because they were found faithful neither in the Old nor in the New Covenant. So He said that He would give a New Covenant, so that the Old, which had been given to the Fathers, would cease. And therefore, whoever serves God in this Covenant does not observe the sabbath, nor new moons, nor circumcision, nor distinctions of foods; but has only the fear of God in faith: because he will not be justified by the Law, but by faith, as the prophet Habakkuk says: “For the righteous shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4); so that he no longer uses many precepts to gain favor with God, but few. Isaiah again, speaking with the same meaning, says: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved. For the Lord shall accomplish and cut short His word in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short word upon the whole earth” (Isa. 10:22–23). For the remnant who will persevere in the faith of the promise, while the others do not believe, He shows the shortened word of the Law: this is the New Covenant which He promised. It would not otherwise be called a Covenant, unless in a similar way this too were confirmed by the witness of blood, just as the Old Covenant, so that both might have one and the same name: but in the Old, many precepts, in the New, however, few, as He promised. So that, since He had said that Abraham would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4–5), in the same way the sons might be justified as the father had been justified: so that, once those things ceased which began after the faith of Abraham, those who receive the faith by which that same Abraham was justified might be sons of Abraham, as was said by the Lord. And this is neither strange nor unheard of, that men should be justified without care for the sabbath and circumcision and the rest of the commandments of this sort. For Enoch did not please God by this, that he might be translated; nor was Noah found righteous in the flood by observing this alone; nor was Abraham himself justified after he was circumcised: “Abraham,” it says, “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Heb. 11:5, 7, 8; Rom. 4:3). Then he was circumcised, so that there might be in him a sign that, though he was old, he believed that he would have a son. Therefore it is not circumcision that commends Abraham, but faith. And so, for those who believe, faith is sufficient for justification, that they may be sons of Abraham in faith, not in circumcision, because they have no need of circumcision. For what Abraham believed is not what is believed in their case. But the Jews were therefore ordered to be circumcised, so that they might have the sign of Abraham’s faith, not of their own faith, but so that they might be known as his sons according to the flesh. Yet if they believe, they will be his sons also in justification. For what advantage is it to be called the son of a powerful man if one is powerless, except that it is even more harmful? For it is a disgrace to be the son of a noble and glorious man without honor. Indeed, bodily circumcision is so far from being a merit that God says through the prophet Jeremiah that He will take vengeance on all the circumcised in foreskin, if they are not circumcised in heart (Jer. 4:4). Yet He is not angry with those who are circumcised in heart but uncircumcised in flesh, because no one has ever pleased God without the circumcision of the heart. Whoever, therefore, are circumcised in the flesh signify the lineage of Abraham according to the flesh; but those who are circumcised in heart signify the lineage of God according to faith, because, being circumcised from all worldly error, they confess God as their Father. What then does the circumcision of the flesh profit, if, when faith is lacking in the Jew, he cannot attain to the merit of Abraham? Or what harm is there in foreskin, when no one attains to his righteousness except the one who has followed the faith of Abraham? They therefore glory in the circumcision of the flesh in vain, since they see that it has no merit before God. And since, as has been shown, it is better to have faith than circumcision, the Gentiles are better than the Jews; for the Gentiles have faith, the Jews have circumcision. And whom do you think He recognizes more as sons of Abraham: those who are like him according to the flesh, or those who are like him in faith? But the faith of Abraham bears witness. And therefore he glories not in the flesh but in faith. For this reason he has received as sons those whom he sees to be imitators of his glory. For how can he call those sons from whom he sees a shrinking back from that by which he pleased God and was justified? He will therefore be able to judge them not as his sons, but as his enemies. For they appear to be envious of him, despising the faith through which he was glorified. Nor is it surprising if the Jews are found untrusting, not at all accepting the New Testament, when we know that they were not faithful even in the Old. They were always rebellious and disrespectful against God, and therefore they received such commandments by which their necks, which were unbending, might be pressed down. For they never wished to hope for good things from God, whose such great benefits and such wondrous powers they had come to know. Therefore it is that, among other things, the prophet Ezekiel says: “I lifted up my hand to them in the desert, that they should be scattered among the nations and dispersed in the lands, because they did not perform my ordinances and rejected my commandments.” And in what follows: “I gave them laws that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live in them” (Ezek. 20:23–25). He shows for what reason such great and so harsh commandments were given to them: because they proved ungrateful for such great benefits, and, justice dictating, they were to be pressed by more severe precepts. Therefore He called them “not good,” although they are just: because they did not lead them to justification, but to destruction; and although a punishment rightly inflicted, yet for the one who suffers it, it is not a good. After these things, however, because God is merciful, He promised that He would give the New Testament, in which the shortening of the Law would justify believers, just as Abraham was justified: so that, with new moons and the sabbath and circumcision and the other precepts ceasing, not those that belong to the natural law, that is, murder, adultery, and such things, they might be justified as Abraham was. For, with the faith of Abraham renewed, He willed that all things should cease, so that the time might be such as it was when Abraham believed. But perhaps the Jews say: “If those things that were given by Moses are said to cease through the shortening of the Law, was circumcision given by Moses so that it should cease? And therefore we have the sign of our father, because we are the sons of Abraham, a sign which, for the sake of the testimony of our lineage, ought not to cease.” Circumcision indeed had to be observed in its time, that is, before the New Testament which had been promised was given. But when, by the grace of God, the burdens of the Law were ordered to cease, what need is there of circumcision? Therefore a new Law was given, that is, a spiritual one, so that carnal things might cease, and those who received it might accept its sign: so that just as in the Old Testament they had the sign of Abraham, from whom the Old Testament began, so also in the New they might have the sign of the Savior, who is the institutor of the New Testament. For just as from Abraham they were called Hebrews, so from Christ they are called Christians. Whoever, therefore, are still called Hebrews have not received the New Testament which God promised, bringing to nothing the kindness and mercy of God: for He no longer wished His people to be designated by the name of a man, but agreed to establish them under the name of His Son. With what courage, then, do the Jews say that we do not use our Law but theirs, when David says, “I will give thanks to you among the nations” (Ps. 17:50), and again, “Rejoice, O nations, with his people”? And to the prophet Jeremiah the Lord says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you; and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Judaism certainly has its own particular signs: for this people is signified either in Jacob, or in Samaria, or in Jerusalem, or in Judea, or in Israel. As for the nations, however, it is clear that He signifies them in a different way than He does the Jews. Therefore Jeremiah is our prophet. For although in all the Prophets God showed that the nations would share in His gift, yet to Jeremiah in particular He says that He has given him to us as a prophet. For he signified that the New Testament would come, which would profit the Gentiles more than the Jews, as now appears clearly. For since the preaching of the New Testament is spread over the whole earth, a faithful Jew is so rarely and with such difficulty found that all the Churches of the New Testament are called “of the nations,” as it was said in the prophet Hosea: “I will call that which is not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved” (Hosea 2:24; Rom. 9:25). Therefore, the Jews having been rejected, He calls the nations with the same mercy and grace with which He agreed to call Abraham. For Abraham did not come to know the Lord without being called. Therefore, He who agreed to call Abraham likewise agreed to call the nations. Why then do they say, “The Law is ours,” when it is clear that the gift of God is for all who are willing? Let this careless violation cease, since the grace of God is common to all. With what shame do they deny that our Christ was promised in the Law, when they see in Him all the signs which the Law foretold as to come? For both according to the promise made to Abraham all nations are justified by believing in Him (Gen. 22:18); and according to the prophet Isaiah He was born of a Virgin (Isa. 7:14) in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah, as was promised, from the seed of David (Micah 5:2); and in accordance with what Jeremiah prophesied (Jer. 31:31–32), He proclaimed the New Testament which God then promised would come; and after all the signs of power had been shown, He humbled Himself, according to the words of the Prophets; and having suffered all that had been foretold, He rose on the third day, as it is written in the prophet. And if they inquire about the time of the promise, as it is shown in the prophet Daniel (Dan. 9:24 ff.), they will find it fulfilled in the time when Christ was born and suffered: for from the first year of Darius, king of the Persians, down to the birth and passion of the Lord and the destruction of Jerusalem, which was carried out by Vespasian, chief of the Roman Empire, the seventy weeks were completed, which are four hundred and ninety years, a reckoning made clear through the kingdoms and the successors of the empire. Therefore also it is found calculated by Tertullian in the book which he wrote against the Jews; but, lest this should backfire to his disadvantage, although he calculated correctly, we have passed it over in silence. And who can doubt this number, when now about three hundred years are found in addition to that number? It is therefore shameless, after so many years have been added beyond the time of the coming of the Saviour, to say, “He has not come.” Under the Apostles, or at the time when the Lord was living among men, hatred opposing the truth could still hide itself; so that, although it saw all the signs of the Christ who had been promised in the Savior, it could say that it doubted about the time, to conceal its unbelief. But afterwards, when many years began to exceed the promised number, what shamelessness it is to deny that He has come, whose coming is known to have been fulfilled both by signs and by times! For when something is full and does not overflow, a combative person may say that it is not full; but overflow closes the mouth of the argumentative. So the Jews, in the time of the Saviour, could say, though deceitfully, that the calculation from the time of Darius to the Lord Christ was not correctly made, so that He might not be acknowledged as the one who had been promised. We are mistaken, they might say, in the years and in the months and in the days of the emperors, and we do not make an exact reckoning. But when the times have extended beyond the prescribed number of years of the promised Christ, no excuse can be put forward to deny that He who has come is the Christ, unless, which God forbid, the one who promised is said to have lied. For when the time of the promise has elapsed, and it is denied that the one who was promised has come, what else is charged against the promiser but falsehood? Yet that He who made the promise is truthful, all the signs teach which were foretold in Christ and are known to have been found in Christ. The Jews, however, while they are ashamed to change themselves, do not consider that there will be a judgment to come. For nothing is worse than for someone to deny that a thing is true when he understands that it is not a lie.

IF THEREFORE THE SAVIOR WAS BAPTIZED IN ORDER TO BE AN EXAMPLE, WHY WAS HE CIRCUMCISED, YET FORBADE OTHERS TO BE CIRCUMCISED? — Circumcision is a commandment of a past time, which had to keep authority up to Christ, so that it would last as long as it was necessary for Christ, who was promised to Abraham, to be born; and thereafter circumcision should cease, once the promise had been fulfilled. For Isaac was promised as a figure of Christ. For God said to him, In your seed shall all nations be blessed (Gen. 22:18); which means Christ. For the faith that Abraham had received was restored by Christ, so that in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, all nations might be blessed, as had been promised to Abraham. Circumcision, therefore, was the sign of the promised Son of God, that is, of Christ; and when He was born, the sign of the promise had to cease: yet in such a way that the Promised One Himself, on coming, would receive the sign of the Father, so that it might be known that He was the One who had been promised to justify all nations through faith, by the circumcision of the heart. For just as for the father Abraham, who was to have a son according to the flesh, the bodily mark of circumcision was given; so also for those who are born spiritually, the spiritual sign is the circumcision of the heart. Therefore, it was fitting that after Christ there should no longer be fleshly circumcision.

The Old Law alleges that God swore an oath; for it says, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord” (Gen. 22:16). But the Savior forbade swearing (Matt. 5:34): how then did he not destroy the old things? — Before the knowledge of God was on earth, there was no other way to stir people to an unheard-of hope than that a promise should be made to them with an oath, by him whom they did not know as was fitting. But once he began to be known, it was certainly no longer right to swear by him whom it was not permissible to think could lie. Therefore the Lord no longer commanded his servants to swear, but to make themselves such that their words would be trusted. For the necessity of an oath arose either from treachery or from the deceit of the fickle, so that, since people are accustomed to deceive, they might perhaps be restrained by fear of God; or at least it will be enough that the one who is deceived gains offense from this.

SINCE ABRAHAM WAS FORBIDDEN TO SACRIFICE HIS SON, WHY WAS JEPHTHAH NOT FORBIDDEN TO CARRY OUT THE SACRIFICE OF HIS DAUGHTER? (Gen. 22:11–12; Judg. 11)? — There is a great difference between Abraham’s case and Jephthah’s case. First, Abraham was legitimately born, whereas Jephthah was illegitimate, for he was the son of a prostitute. Next, Abraham was of excellent conduct, but Jephthah was a leader of bandits. Abraham was a righteous man, proven in temptation; in Jephthah, however, there is no testimony of righteousness. Abraham, therefore, was commanded to offer his son to God so that it might be shown to people how greatly Abraham trusted God, since at His command he did not hesitate even to kill his own son. For He who, contrary to worldly hope, could cause him to be born of a barren old woman, was clearly able, contrary to worldly reasoning, to raise him from the dead (Heb. 11:19). By this act Abraham’s righteousness was increased. For God showed that He did not desire the boy’s blood, but that His servant Abraham might become greater by this deed. For He wills those who love Him to suffer something, so that His advancing them may appear just. But Jephthah, a violent and thoughtless man, in foolish devotion promised a gift to God, saying: “Whatever comes out to meet me from the doors of my house when I return from the slaughter, I will offer it to God.” Was he forced to make this vow, or did he understand how a vow ought to be made? What if a dog or a donkey had met him, which the Lord forbade to be offered? Or if someone else’s son, or his wife, so that in another’s grief he might exult that he had paid his vow? Therefore, what his careless mind had vowed to another’s ruin was, by divine judgment, turned back upon himself. And Jephthah was so senseless that he did not afterwards recognize that he had vowed foolishly, so that his error, which began with him, might be corrected by him. For he ought to have understood that God does not delight in such a sacrifice, and to have prayed for pardon for his foolishness, and offered something else that was not against the Law. Instead, he showed himself “faithful” by becoming a murderer, whereas it is clear that foolish faith not only fails to benefit, but harms. Therefore in the matter of his daughter he himself was struck down, and for this reason God took no notice of such a sacrifice. For if He had forbidden it, Jephthah would have seemed to want to offer something else to Him, although he knew that what was unworthy must not be offered. But his daughter gained by it: because she, innocent, died on account of her father’s sins, she escaped the punishment of hell, which perhaps she might not have attained by living long. And as for the triumph of Jephthah’s victory, it was not achieved by his merit nor by that of the people; for it is not written that they requested God to give them a defender. Or did the Lord send Jephthah himself, or speak to him? Rather, because the Philistines were praising their gods as those who had made the sons of Israel subject to them, and were reviling the God of Abraham, therefore, for the honor of His name, God took vengeance on the Philistines, even if not for these men’s sake, yet for Abraham’s merit and His own glory. Or shall Samson be called worthy because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him while he was consorting with prostitutes (Judg. 14:6, 19; 15:14), when this is to be understood as done for the destruction of the Philistines?

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 so although their hearts felt for each other, their purpose remained firm. The father's hand stretched out the knife over his son, and the father's heart struck the blow that the sentence might not fail of being carried out; he feared lest the stroke should miss, lest his right hand should fail. He felt the movings of fatherly affection, but did not shrink from the work of submission, and hastened his obedience, even when he heard the voice from heaven. Let us then set God before all those whom we love, father, brother, mother, that He may preserve for us those whom we love, as in the case of Abraham we behold rather the liberal Rewarder than the servant.

He showed the ram in the thicket in the stead of the lad, that He might restore the son to his father, and yet the victim not fail the priest. And so Abraham was not stained with his son's blood, nor was God deprived of the sacrifice. The prophet spoke, and neither yielded to boastfulness nor continued obstinate, but took the ram in exchange for the lad. And by this is shown the more how piously he offered him whom he now so gladly received back.

Determined by motives of high devotion, Abraham, obeying the oracle of God, offered his son for a whole burnt sacrifice; and, as if destitute of natural affection, drew his sword, that no delay might obscure the brightness of the offering. But when he was commanded to spare his son he willingly sheathed his sword, and he who with this faithful intention was hastening to offer up his only son with still more zealous piety hastened to substitute a ram as a sacrifice.

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. And yet they who wrote on art made use of their writings from which to frame their art, and to compose its comments and rules.

Again, in art there are principally required, a cause, a subject, and an end. When then we read that holy Isaac said to his father, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering," which of these is wanting? For he who asks, doubts, he who answers the query pronounces and solves the doubt. "Behold the fire," that is the cause, "and the wood," that is hulē, which in Latin is 'materia,' what third thing remains but the end, which the son asked for, saying, "Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering," and the father replied, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering?"

Let us discuss for a little while the mystery. God shewed a ram hanging by his horns. Now the ram is the Word, full of tranquillity, moderation, and patience; whereby is shewn that Wisdom is a good sacrifice, and that He was well skilled in the mode of meritorious propitiation. Wherefore the Prophet also says, "Offer the sacrifice of righteousness." And so it is a sacrifice both of righteousness and of wisdom.

The father's hand stretched out the knife over his son, and the father's heart struck the blow that the sentence might not fail of being carried out; he feared lest the stroke should miss, lest his right hand should fail. He felt the movings of fatherly affection, but did not shrink from the work of submission, and hastened his obedience, even when he heard the voice from heaven.

All this, however, happened as a type of the cross. Hence Christ too said to the Jews, "Your father Abraham rejoiced in anticipation of seeing my day; he saw it and was delighted." How did he see it if he lived so long before? In type, in shadow. Just as in our text the sheep was offered in place of Isaac, so here the rational Lamb was offered for the world. You see, it was necessary that the truth be sketched out ahead of time in shadow. Notice, I ask you, dearly beloved, how everything was prefigured in shadow: an only-begotten son in that case, an only-begotten in this; dearly loved in that case, dearly loved in this. "This is my beloved Son," Scripture says, in fact, "in whom I have found satisfaction." The former was offered as a burnt offering by his father, and the latter his Father surrendered. Paul too shouts aloud in the words "He who in fact did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all—how will he not also grant us every gift along with him?" Up to this point there is shadow, but now the truth of things is shown to be more excellent. This rational Lamb, you see, was offered for the whole world; he purified the whole world; he freed human beings from error and led them forward to the truth; he made earth into heaven, not by altering the nature of the elements but by transferring life in heaven to human beings on earth. Through him all worship of demons is made pointless; through him people no longer worship stone and wood. Nor do those endowed with reason bend the knee to material things—instead, all error has been abolished, and the light of truth has shone brightly on the world. Do you see the superiority of the truth? Do you see what shadow is, on the one hand, and truth, on the other?

(Chapter 22, Verse 2.) And God said to him: Take your beloved son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the high land, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you. It is difficult to translate the Hebrew language into Latin. Where it is now said, go to the high land, in Hebrew it has Moriah, which Aquila translated as 'the visible', that is, clear, and Symmachus, 'the vision', that is, sight. Therefore the Hebrews say that this mountain is the one on which the temple was later built, in the area of Ornan 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, in the mountain of Moriah' (2 Chronicles 3:1). This is interpreted as "illuminating" and "shining" because there is the Dabir, that is, the oracle of God: both the Law and the Holy Spirit, who teaches people the truth and inspires prophecies.

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. When his son Isaac was born, he had received the promise: 'In your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.' [Gen 22:18] He took Isaac and offered him to God, and a voice from heaven was heard to say: Spare thy son. Straightway, at the very moment that he offered his son, what does God say to Abraham? 'I know now that you fear the Lord, your God.' [Gen 22:12] Have you just now known Abraham, Lord, with whom You have communicated for such a long time? Because Abraham had such great faith in sacrificing his own son, on that account God first began to know him. Why have we said all this? Because it is written: 'For the Lord knows the way of the just.' Let us put it another way: The way, the life, and the truth is Christ; [John 14:6] let us walk, therefore, in Christ and then God the Father will know our way.

(Verse 14) And Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord will see: so that they say to this day, In the mount the Lord will be seen. For because he hath seen in this place, in the Hebrew tongue it is said, He shall be seen. And this hath passed into a proverb with the Hebrews, so that when they are in distress and desire the Lord's aid, they say, In the mount the Lord will be seen: that is, as He pitied Abraham, so will He have pity on us. Wherefore, even now, they are wont also to blow the horn for a sign when the ram is given.

(Verse 13.) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Emisenus Eusebius has spoken a silly thing in this place: Sabech, he says, is called a goat, which with straight horns is raised high to pluck the leaves from a tree. Again Aquila has interpreted as a bush, which we can call a thicket or briar: and to interpret the force of the word, dense and intertwined twigs. And Symmachus also expresses the same opinion, saying, 'And it appeared that a ram, after this, was caught in a net by its horns.' However, some have interpreted it better in this particular place, namely the Septuagint and Theodotion, who translated the word as 'Sabech,' saying, 'In the thicket Sabech with its horns.' For σύχνεων, that is, the net, which Aquila and Symmachus have used, is written with the letter 'Sin.' But here the letter 'Samech' is used. From this it is clear that the interpretation is not of thickened branches, and like the word 'Sabech' intertwined like a net with intertwined branches, but rather the name signifies a thicket, which is thus expressed in Hebrew. But in my diligent investigation, I frequently found that the letter συχνεῶνα is often written as Samech ().

(Verse 20) And they reported to Abraham, saying: Behold, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Camuel the father of the Syrians, and Chesed. Uz was the firstborn of Nahor, brother of Abraham, by his wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran. From his descendants came Job, as it is written at the beginning of his book: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. Therefore, some wrongly assume that Job is of the lineage of Esau, since that which is written at the end of his book, Because it was translated from the Syrian language, and he is the fourth generation from Esau, and the rest of what is contained there, is not found in the Hebrew volumes. Secundus was born to Melcha Buz, whom the Seventy wanted to translate as Bauz. And from this lineage comes Balaam the diviner (Numbers 24:3 et seq.; Joshua 13:22), as the Hebrews report, who is called Eliu in the book of Job: at first a holy man and prophet of God, but later, through disobedience and desire for gifts, while wanting to curse Israel, is called by the divine name. And it is said in the same book: And Eliu, the son of Barachiel the Buzite, was angry (Job 32:2), descending from this very Buzi lineage. Camuel is indeed the father of Damascus. For it is called Aran, which is written here for Syria: and it is read by the same name in Isaiah. Chased is also the fourth, from whom the Chaldeans, that is, the Chaldeans, were later called.

(Verse 3) And he went to the place which God had told him about, on the third day. It should be noted that from Gerar to Mount Moriah, that is, the site of the temple, is a three-day journey, and consequently it is said that he arrived there on the third day. Therefore, some people mistakenly think that Abraham lived at the oak tree in Mamre during that time, when in fact the journey from there to Mount Moriah is barely a full day's journey.

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. And what was promised to Abraham we find fulfilled among ourselves. In your seed, it says, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. He believed this before he had seen anything; he believed, and he never saw what was promised.

If someone of us desired to see the story of Abraham portrayed in a picture, how would the painter represent him? Would he do it in a single painting showing him doing all the things mentioned, or in successive pictures and distinctively, or in different images, but most often Abraham himself, for example, in one picture sitting on his donkey taking his son along and followed by his servants? In another one, again, with the donkey staying behind down below along with the servants, and Isaac being burdened with the wood while Abraham holds in his hands the knife and the fire? And, indeed, in a different painting, Abraham again in a different pose after he has bound the youth upon the wood and his right hand is armed with a sword in order that he might start the sacrifice? But this would not be a different Abraham each time, although he is seen most of the time in a different pose. It would be the same man in every instance with the skill of the artist continually disposing him according to the needs of the subject matter. For it would not be likely or at any rate probable that one would see him doing all the actions mentioned in a single painting.

God seeks belief from you not death. He thirsts for self-dedication, not blood. He is placated by good will, not by slaughter. God gave proof of this when he asked holy Abraham for his son as a victim. For what else than his own body was Abraham immolating in his son? What else than faith was God requiring in the father, since he ordered the son to be offered but did not allow him to be killed?

He also said, 'The beginning and the end is the fear of the Lord. For it is written, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. 111:10) and, when Abraham built an altar the Lord said to him, "Now I know that you fear God" (Gen. 22:12).'

When Abraham offered his son Isaac, he was a type of God the Father, while Isaac prefigured our Lord and Savior.

The fact that he arrived at the place of sacrifice on the third day is shown to represent the mystery of the Trinity. That the third day should be accepted in the sense of a promise or mystery of the Trinity is found frequently in the sacred Books. In Exodus we read, "We will go a three days' journey into the wilderness." Again, upon arriving at Mount Sinai it is said to the people, "Be sanctified, and be ready for the third day." When Joshua was about to cross the Jordan, he admonished the people to be ready on the third day. Moreover, our Lord arose on the third day. We have mentioned all this because blessed Abraham on the third day came to the place that the Lord had showed him.

The two servants whom he ordered to stay with the ass typified the Jewish people, who could not ascend or reach the place of sacrifice because they would not believe in Christ. That ass signified the synagogue. The ram that was stuck among the briars with its horns also seems to represent the Lord, for Christ as it were stuck among thorns with horns when he hung on the beam of the cross, fastened with nails. When Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice of himself, in this too he prefigured Christ our Lord, who carried his own cross to the place of his passion. Of this mystery much had already been foretold by the prophets: "And his government shall be upon his shoulders." Christ then had the government upon his shoulders when he carried his cross with wonderful humility. Not unfittingly does Christ's cross signify government: by it the devil is conquered and the whole world recalled to the knowledge and grace of Christ. Finally, the apostle also said this when he spoke of the Lord's passion: "He became obedient to death, even to death on a cross. Therefore God also has exalted him and has bestowed upon him the name that is above every name." We have said this, brothers, so that your charity may know that the government of Christ of which we read, "And the government shall be upon his shoulders," is none other than his cross. For this reason this lesson is read at Easter when the true Isaac, whose type the son of Abraham illustrated, is fastened to the gibbet of the cross for the human race.

Why is it said to the servants who prefigured the Jews, "Sit here with the ass"? Could that ass sit down, dearly beloved? It is said, "Sit with the ass," because the Jewish people who would not believe in Christ could not stand but, like the weak and languid sinner who had despised the staff of the cross, were about to fall to the ground. For this reason blessed Abraham said, "Sit here with the ass while the boy and I go on; and when we have worshiped, we shall come back to you." What is it that you are saying, blessed Abraham? You are going to sacrifice your son and you say you will return with him? If you offer him as a burnt offering, surely he will not be able to return with you. Blessed Abraham could reply: I speak the truth. I am offering my son, and I will return to you with him. So great is my faith that I believe that he who deigned to give him to me of a sterile mother could raise him from the dead. For this reason I say with truth, "When we have worshiped, we shall come back to you."

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. Concerning blessed Isaac and that ram it can be further understood that in Isaac was signified the divinity of Christ, in the ram his humanity. Just as in his passion not the divinity but the humanity is believed to have been crucified, so the ram but not Isaac was immolated: the only-begotten Son of God is offered, the firstborn of the Virgin is sacrificed. Listen to another mystery. Blessed Jerome, a priest, wrote that he knew most certainly from the ancient Jews and elders that Christ our Lord was afterward crucified in the place where Isaac was offered. Last, from the place whence blessed Abraham was commanded to depart, he arrived on the third day at the place where Christ our Lord was crucified. This too is mentioned in the account of the ancients, that in the very place where the cross was fastened the first Adam once was buried. Moreover, it was called the place of Calvary for the very reason that the first head of the human race is said to have been buried there. Truly, brothers, not unfittingly is it believed that the physician was raised up where the sick man lay. It was right that divine mercy should bend down in the place where human pride had fallen. The precious blood may be believed to have corporally redeemed the ashes of the sinner of old by deigning to touch it with its drops. We have gathered these facts as well as we could, dearly beloved, from the different books of Scripture for the progress of your soul, and we suggest them to the consideration of your charity. If, with the Lord's help, you will read over the sacred Scriptures rather frequently and heed them carefully, I believe that you can find an even better explanation.

This is Isaac the co-heir of the promises and the blessings of God given to Abraham his father—who was a type of the sacrifice of the Lord Christ, since for three days he travelled on to death, and afterwards returned alive—who on his own shoulders carried the wood for his own sacrifice, as also the Lord Christ carried his own cross on his shoulder—who died in intention and was given his life by God; he in exchange for whom a ram was slain, and whose father heard these words from God:

Because thou hast not spared the son whom thou lovest, so in like manner it has been said with reference to Christ the son of God: Who spared not his own son but has given him up for us all; although the flesh alone is that which has been given for the life of the world, since it is impossible for deity to die; but since the flesh has thus been given, scripture saith that his own son hath been given, because the flesh is a substitute for and a counterpart of the son, after the example of the blessed Isaac. For thus saith the Lord: Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.

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. Behold, [here] you have the third hydria, for when you hear that a greater obedience is repaid by a greater prize, you yourself [will] attempt to learn and to possess obedience. If in the immolation of his one and only son, whom he loved, you understand the passion of the one concerning whom the Father says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased" (in him, since his divinity remaining impassible, only his humanity suffered death and sorrow, it is as though a son was offered but a ram was slain); if you understand the blessing which was promised to Abraham about the nation's coming to belief as a gift fulfilled in you—then he has truly made wine out of water for you, since he has opened to you the spiritual sense, by whose new fragrance you are intoxicated.

For, in all humility, we too belong among those descendants of whom it was said that it shall be an everlasting law for him and for his descendants throughout their generations. We are not born of the lineage of Aaron, but we have believed in him in whom Aaron also, with the saints of that age, believed. Concerning him, it was promised to Abraham that in "in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

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."

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.

A familiar example is Abraham's "trial" when he was ordered to sacrifice Isaac. With the historicity or the morality of that story I am not now concerned, but with the obvious question "If God is omniscient He must have known what Abraham would do, without any experiment; why, then, this needless torture?" But as St. Augustine points out, whatever God knew, Abraham at any rate did not know that his obedience could endure such a command until the event taught him: and the obedience which he did not know that he would choose, he cannot be said to have chosen. The reality of Abraham's obedience was the act itself; and what God knew in knowing that Abraham "would obey" was Abraham's actual obedience on that mountain top at that moment. To say that God "need not have tried the experiment" is to say that because God knows, the thing known by God need not exist.