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The City of God

Chapter 32.--Of Abraham's Obedience and Faith, Which Were Proved by the Offering Up, of His Son in Sacrifice, and of Sarah's Death.

Among other things, of which it would take too long time to mention the whole, Abraham was tempted about the offering up of his well-beloved son Isaac, to prove his pious obedience, and so make it known to the world, not to God. Now every temptation is not blame-worthy; it may even be praise-worthy, because it furnishes probation. And, for the most part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation; when, if it has acknowledged the gift of God, it is pious, and is consolidated by steadfast grace and not puffed up by vain boasting. Of course Abraham could never believe that God delighted in human sacrifices; yet when the divine commandment thundered, it was to be obeyed, not disputed. Yet Abraham is worthy of praise, because he all along believed that his son, on being offered up, would rise again; for God had said to him, when he was unwilling to fulfill his wife's pleasure by casting out the bond maid and her son, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." No doubt He then goes on to say, "And as for the son of this bond woman, I will make him a great nation, because he is thy seed." ¹ How then is it said "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," when God calls Ishmael also his seed? The apostle, in explaining this, says, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." ² In order, then, that the children of the promise may be the seed of Abraham, they are called in Isaac, that is, are gathered together in Christ by the call of grace. Therefore the father, holding fast from the first the promise which behoved to be fulfilled through this son whom God had ordered him to slay, did not doubt that he whom he once thought it hopeless he should ever receive would be restored to him when he had offered him up. It is in this way the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews is also to be understood and explained. "By faith," he says, "Abraham overcame, when tempted about Isaac: and he who had received the promise offered up his only son, to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: thinking that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;" therefore he has added, "from whence also he received him in a similitude." ³ In whose similitude but His of whom the apostle says, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all?" ⁴ And on this account Isaac also himself carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he was to be offered up, just as the Lord Himself carried His own cross. Finally, since Isaac was not to be slain, after his father was forbidden to smite him, who was that ram by the offering of which that sacrifice was completed with typical blood? For when Abraham saw him, he was caught by the horns in a thicket. What, then, did he represent but Jesus, who, before He was offered up, was crowned with thorns by the Jews?

But let us rather hear the divine words spoken through the angel. For the Scripture says, "And Abraham stretched forth his hand to take the knife, that he might slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him from heaven, and said, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy beloved son for my sake." ⁵ It is said, "Now I know," that is, Now I have made to be known; for God was not previously ignorant of this. Then, having offered up that ram instead of Isaac his son, "Abraham," as we read, "called the name of that place The Lord seeth: as they say this day, In the mount the Lord hath appeared." ⁶ As it is said, "Now I know," for Now I have made to be known, so here, "The Lord sees," for The Lord hath appeared, that is, made Himself to be seen. "And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham from heaven the second time, saying, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy beloved son for my sake; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess by inheritance the cities of the adversaries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." ⁷ In this manner is that promise concerning the calling of the nations in the seed of Abraham confirmed even by the oath of God, after that burnt-offering which typified Christ. For He had often promised, but never sworn. And what is the oath of God, the true and faithful, but a confirmation of the promise, and a certain reproof to the unbelieving?

After these things Sarah died, in the 127th year of her life, and the 137th of her husband for he was ten years older than she, as he himself says, when a son is promised to him by her: "Shall a son be born to me that am an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" ⁸ Then Abraham bought a field, in which he buried his wife. And then, according to Stephen's account, he was settled in that land, entering then on actual possession of it,--that is, after the death of his father, who is inferred to have died two years before.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXXII: De oboedientia et fide Abrahae, qua per oblationem immolandi probatus est filii, et de morte Sarrae.

Inter haec, quae omnia commemorare nimis longum est, tentatur Abraham de immolando dilectissimo filio ipso Isaac, ut pia eius oboedientia probaretur, saeculis in notitiam proferenda, non deo. neque enim omnis est culpanda tentatio, quia et gratulanda est, qua fit probatio. et plerumque aliter animus humanus sibi ipsi innotescere non potest, nisi uires suas sibi non uerbo, sed experimento tentatione quodammodo interrogante respondeat; ubi si dei munus agnouerit, tunc pius est, tunc solidatur firmitate gratiae, non inflatur inanitate iactantiae. numquam sane crederet Abraham, quod uictimis deus delectaretur humanis; quamuis diuino intonante praecepto oboediendum sit, non disputandum; uerumtamen Abraham confestim filium, cum fuisset immolatus, resurrecturum credidisse laudandus est. dixerat namque illi deus, cum de ancilla et filio eius foras eiciendis uoluntatem coniugis nollet inplere: in Isaac uocabitur tibi semen. et certe ibi sequitur ac dicitur: et filium autem ancillae huius in magnam gentem faciam illum, quia semen tuum est. quomodo ergo dictum est: in Isaac uocabitur tibi semen, cum et Ismaelem deus semen eius uocauerit? exponens autem apostolus quid sit: in Isaac uocabitur tibi semen: id est, inquit, non qui filii carnis, hi filii dei, sed filii promissionis deputantur in semine. ac per hoc filii promissionis, ut sint semen Abrahae, in Isaac uocantur, hoc est in Christo uocante gratia congregantur. hanc ergo promissionem pater pius fideliter tenens, quia per hunc oportebat inpleri, quem deus iubebat occidi, non haesitauit, quod sibi reddi poterat immolatus, qui dari potuit non speratus. sic intellectum est et in epistula ad Hebraeos, et sic expositum. fide, inquit, praecessit Abraham Isaac tentatus et unicum obtulit, qui promissiones suscepit, ad quem dictum est: in Isaac uocabitur tibi semen, cogitans quia et ex mortuis suscitare potest deus. proinde addidit: pro hoc etiam eum et in similitudinem adduxit; cuius similitudinem, nisi illius unde dicit apostolus: qui proprio filio non pepercit, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit eum? propterea et Isaac, sicut dominus crucem suam, ita sibi ligna ad uictimae locum, quibus fuerat inponendus, ipse portauit. postremo quia Isaac occidi non oportebat, posteaquam est pater ferire prohibitus, quis erat ille aries, quo immolato inpletum est significatiuo sanguine sacrificium? nempe quando eum uidit Abraham, cornibus in frutice tenebatur. quis ergo illo figurabatur, nisi Iesus, antequam immolaretur, spinis Iudaicis coronatus? sed diuina per angelum uerba potius audiamus. ait quippe scriptura: et extendit Abraham manum suam sumere machaeram, ut occideret filium suum. et uocauit illum angelus domini de caelo et dixit: Abraham. ille autem dixit: ecce ego. et dixit: non inicias manum tuam super puerum, neque facias illi quicquam; nunc enim sciui quia times deum tuum, et non pepercisti filio tuo dilecto propter me. nunc sciui dictum est nunc sciri feci; neque enim hoc nondum sciebat deus. deinde ariete illo immolato pro Isaac filio suo uocauit, ut legitur, Abraham nomen loci illius: dominus uidit; ut dicant hodie: in monte dominus apparuit. sicut dictum est: nunc sciui, pro eo quod est nunc sciri feci: ita hic dominus uidit, pro eo quod est dominus apparuit, hoc est uideri se fecit. et uocauit angelus domini Abraham secundo de caelo dicens: per me ipsum iuraui, dicit dominus, propter quod fecisti uerbum hoc et non pepercisti filio tuo dilecto propter me, nisi benedicens benedicam te, et multiplicans multiplicabo semen tuum tamquam stellas caeli et tamquam harenam, quae iuxta labium maris. et hereditate possidebit semen tuum ciuitates aduersariorum, et benedicentur in semine tuo omnes gentes terrae, quia obaudisti uocem meam. hoc modo est illa de uocatione gentium in semine Abrahae post holocaustum, quo significatus est Christus, etiam iuratione dei firmata promissio. saepe enim promiserat, sed numquam iurauerat. quid est autem dei ueri ueracisque iuratio nisi promissi confirmatio et infidelium quaedam increpatio? post haec Sarra mortua est, centensimo uicensimo septimo anno uitae suae, centensimo autem et tricensimo septimo uiri sui. decem quippe annis eam praecedebat aetate; sicut ipse, quando sibi ex illa promissus est filius, ait: si mihi annorum centum nascetur filius, et si Sarra annorum nonaginta pariet. tunc emit agrum Abraham, in quo sepeliuit uxorem. tunc ergo secundum narrationem Stephani in terra illa est conlocatus, quoniam coepit ibi esse possessor; post mortem scilicet patris sui, qui colligitur ante biennium fuisse defunctus.