After these things
God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac,
whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and
the knife. So they went both of them
together. And Isaac said to his father
Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here
am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb
for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a
burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had
told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the
knife to slay his son. But the angel of
the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad or
do anything to him; for, now, I know that you fear God, seeing you have not
withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and
behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham
went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his
son.[1]
I have used the majority of this
passage for the sake of clarity. The section
I want to focus upon—this being the Lenten season—is: Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his
son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My
father!” And he said, “Here am I, my
son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt
offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had
told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Specifically, it is Isaac whom I desire to
focus upon Isaac.
First, let’s consider the age of
Isaac at the time. When we look at the
first passover, we must assume that it would take a lot of wood for a burnt
offering. We arrive at this conclusion
because God instructed Moses: “They shall
eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they
shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its
head with its legs and its inner parts,”[2] It would take more strength than what a mere
lad could carry—what we would consider a lad.
“Jewish tradition believed him to be a grown man, either 25 (Josephus, Antiquities 1, 227) or 37 years old
(Targum Neofiti at Ex 12:42).”[3]
Secondly, we must consider what
might have been going through the mind of Isaac at the time this scene was
playing out. Fr. George Haydock
ascertains that his father, Abraham, first “explained to him the will of God,
to which Isaac gave his free consent--otherwise, being in the vigor of his
youth, he might easily have hindered his aged father, who was 125 years old,
from binding him.”[4] “The text does not specify Isaac’s age, only
that he is old enough to talk and carry firewood. This would suggest that Isaac
gave consent to be tied up and sacrificed, a notion found in ancient Jewish and
Christian writings (Josephus, Antiquities
1, 232; 4 Maccabees 13:12; St.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 31).”[5] In this willingness to die, as in many other
particulars, he was a noble figure of Jesus Christ, who was offered because it was His will.”[6] St. Clement writes, “Isaac, with perfect
confidence, as if knowing what was to happen”--some translate, “knowing what
was to come”—"cheerfully yielded himself as a sacrifice.”[7] Was there fear in him at the time? Probably, because that would be the natural
human reaction? Did he have the impulse
to overpower his father and flee?
Probably. Nevertheless, he
resisted that impulse and fear and submitted to the desire of God and his
father. St. Ambrose concludes: “Isaac
feared the Lord--as was indeed but natural in the son of Abraham--being subject
also to his father to such an extent that he would not avoid death in
opposition to his father’s will.”[8]
Now, our passage tells us that
Abraham laid him on the altar, upon the
wood. Abraham, being approximately
125 years old, probably did not have sufficient strength to pick up an adult
male and lay him upon that wood. Even if
the altar was only a few inches above ground level, I can’t see him pushing his
son onto the wood. Therefore, Isaac,
being bound and utilizing his father’s assistance--to avoid falling--laid
himself upon the wood. Because he was
submitting to his father’s will that he upon the wood, Scripture is correct in
saying that Abraham laid him there—since that was Abraham’s will.
As his father raised the knife to
slay him, what thoughts were going through Isaac’s mind? He had to utilize his faith to overcome his
fear. He had to utilize his faith to
prevent himself from rolling off the altar, kicking and screaming. If he had done that, could Abraham have continued
in his obedience to God? Probably
not. Seeing the fear of his son, Abraham
most likely would have relented from slaying him. No, Isaac had to remain there willingly in
order to aid his father. Therefore, this
necessitated that he utilize his faith in God to the utmost. So, looking up to heaven, perhaps this was
his thought: I kept my faith, even when I
said,
is the death of
his saints.[10] Perhaps, it was: O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant,
the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast
loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving
 |
| (St. Francis embracing crucified Christ) |
I put forth these verses because
those very well might have been the thoughts of our Lord during his Passion and
crucifixion, and Isaac is a precursor of Jesus.
Tertullian writes, “…Isaac, when led by his father as a victim, and
himself bearing his own ‘wood,’ was even at that early period pointing to
Christ’s death; conceded, as He was, as a victim by the Father; carrying, as He
did, the ‘wood’ of His own passion. This
‘wood,’ again, Isaac the son of Abraham personally carried for his own
sacrifice, when God had enjoined that he should be made a victim to Himself.”[12] Tertullian continues: “But, because these had
been mysteries which were being kept for perfect fulfilment in the times of
Christ, Isaac, on the one hand, with his ‘wood,’ was preserved, the ram being
offered which was caught by the horns in the bramble. Christ, on the other hand, in His time,
carried His ‘wood’ on His own shoulders, adhering to the horns of the cross,
with a thorny crown encircling His head. For … it behooved [Him] to be made a sacrifice
on behalf of all Gentiles, who ‘was led as a sheep for a victim, and, like a
lamb voiceless before his shearer, so opened not His mouth’ (for He, when
Pilate interrogated Him, spoke nothing (cf. Mt. 27:11–14; Mk 15:1–5; Jn 19:8–12)),
for ‘in humility His judgment was taken away’.”[13]
We do not know what the future holds
for us. What we do know: We cannot walk
in obedience, to the glory of God without faith. We lack the fortitude, the courage, to do so. What did St. Peter declare to our Lord? “Even
if I must die with you, I will not deny you.”[14] I do not think it is necessary to relate what
he actually did do. Not only did Peter
declare this; likewise did all the other disciples: And so said all the disciples.[15] Hence, neither do we have
the courage in and of ourselves; it is a gift of God. Let us pray that God show us that we are
nothing, make us see our nothingness.
When we are able to see this, then we will the greatness of God in us
and how we rely upon him. Only then can
we do as St. Paul implores: I appeal to
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[16] Unconsciously, because we do no hold tenaciously
to the word of God and the teachings of our faith, we yield our minds to the wisdom
of the world for it sounds right, sounds good. We relent to it, thinking it more wise than
the word of God and teachings of the Church.
St. Paul warns us: Do not be
conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that
you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.[17] St.
John, in his epistle, affirms: Do not
love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is
not of the Father but is of the world.[18] If that was not enough, he
later asserts: They are of the world,
therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them...[19] We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil
one (emphasis added).[20]
Now that it is the Lenten season,
let us view ourselves as being the Ninevites, with only forty days before we
are destroyed. Let us confess our
frailty and implore God to lead us away from “the world,” making us in the
world but not of the world (cf. Jn 17:6-19).
Let us not think that we have the wisdom to differentiate; let us
confess, once again, our nothingness and implore God’s help, with the
intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
I will conclude with a passage from
the author to the Hebrews: Consider him who endured from sinners such
hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet
resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation which
addresses you as sons? “My son, do not
regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are
punished by him.
For the Lord
disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for
discipline that you have to endure. God
is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? If you are left without
discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children
and not sons. Besides this, we have had
earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the
Father of spirits and live? For they
disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for
our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful
rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to
those who have been trained by it. Therefore,
lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight
paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but
rather be healed. Strive for peace with
all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace
of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the
many become defiled; that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold
his birthright for a single meal. For
you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was
rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears…[21] See
that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused
him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape if we reject him who
warns from heaven.[22]
[1]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ge 22:1-2, 6-9a, 10–13.
[2] Ibid.,
Ex 12:8–9.
[3] Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Genesis: With Introduction, Commentary, and
Notes, eds. Revised Standard Version and Second Catholic Edition, The
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 45
[4]
George Leo Haydock, Haydock’s Catholic
Bible Commentary, (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1859),
Ge 22:9.
[5]
Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Genesis: With
Introduction, Commentary, and Notes, eds. Revised Standard
Version and Second Catholic Edition, The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010), 45.
[6]
George Leo Haydock, Haydock’s Catholic
Bible Commentary, (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1859),
Ge 22:9.
[7]
Clement of Rome, The Gospel of Peter, the
Diatessaron of Tatian, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Visio Pauli, the
Apocalypses of the Virgil and Sedrach, the Testament of Abraham, the Acts of
Xanthippe and Polyxena, the Narrative of Zosimus, the Apology of Aristides, the
Epistles of Clement (Complete Text), Origen’s Commentary on John, Books I-X,
and Commentary on Matthew, Books I, II, and X-XIV, 1897, 9, 238.
[8]
Ambrose of Milan, St. Ambrose: Select
Works and Letters, 1896, 10, 12.
[9]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 116:10.
[10] Ibid.,
Ps 116:15.
[11] Ibid.,
Ps 116:16–17.
[12]
Tertullian, Latin Christianity: Its
Founder, Tertullian, 1885, 3, 170.
[14]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Mt 26:35.
[15] Ibid.,
Mt 26:35.
[16] Ibid.,
Ro 12:1.
[17] Ibid.,
Ro 12:2.
[18] Ibid.,
1 Jn 2:15–16.
[19] Ibid.,
1 Jn 4:5.
[20] Ibid.,
1 Jn 5:19.
[21] Ibid.,
Heb 12:3–17.
[22] Ibid.,
Heb 12:25.
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