Accounting that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Whereupon also he received him for a parable.

“Isaac is a type of the infant Lord as son, and, in fact, Isaac was the son of Abraham as Christ is of God, victim as was the Lord. But he was not cut down like the Lord; no, Isaac only carried the wood of the sacrifice, as the Lord did his cross. He laughed mystically by way of prophesying that the Lord fills us with joy, we who have been redeemed by his blood. He did not suffer but left to the Logos, as is fitting, the first fruits of suffering. What is more, because he was not immolated, he signifies also the divinity of the Lord. For after his burial, Jesus was raised up, thus leaving suffering behind, just as Isaac had escaped the sacrifice.”

“And how this was, the Apostle himself has taught us, by saying, "accounting that God was able to raise Him up, even from the dead." By the same faith (he means) by which he believed that God gave what was not, and raised up the dead, by the same was he persuaded that He would also raise him up after he had been slain in sacrifice. For it was alike impossible (to human calculation, I mean) from a womb which was dead and grown old and already become useless for child-bearing to give a child, and to raise again one who had been slain. But his previous faith prepared the way for things to come. And see; the good things came first, and the hard things afterwards, in his old age. But for you, on the contrary, (he says) the sad things are first, and the good things last. This for those who dare to say, "He has promised us the good things after death; perhaps He has deceived us." He shows that "God is able to raise up even from the dead," and if God be able to raise from the dead, without all doubt He will pay all that He has promised. But if Abraham so many years before, believed "that God is able to raise from the dead," much more ought we to believe it. Thou seest (what I at first said) that death had not yet entered in and yet He drew them at once to the hope of the resurrection, and led them to such full assurance, that when bidden, they even slay their own sons, and readily offer up those from whom they expected to people the world. And hence he was not afraid to say, that God was "able to raise him up, even from the dead." "From whence also he received him in a figure," that is in idea, by the ram, he means. How? The ram having been slain, he was saved: so that by means of the ram he received him again, having slain it in his stead. But these things were types: for here it is the Son of God who is slain. And observe, I beseech you, how great is His lovingkindness. For inasmuch as a great favor was to be given to men, He, wishing to do this, not by favor, but as a debtor, arranges that a man should first give up his own son on account of God's command, in order that He Himself might seem to be doing nothing great in giving up His own Son, since a man had done this before Him; that He might be supposed to do it not of grace, but of debt. For we wish to do this kindness also to those whom we love, others, to appear first to have received some little thing from them, and so give them all: and we boast more of the receiving than of the giving; and we do not say, We gave him this, but, We received this from him. "From whence also" (are his words) "he received him in a figure," i.e. as in a riddle (for the ram was as it were a figure of Isaac) or, as in a type. For since the sacrifice had been completed, and Isaac slain in purpose, therefore He gave him to the Patriarch.”

“Above, the Apostle commended the faith of Abraham as to his dwelling and his begetting; here he commends it as to his manner of life up to death. And concerning this he does three things: first he shows what he did through faith; second he sets down one thing that pertains to faith, at the place, For they that say these things; third he shows what he received through faith, at the place, Therefore God is not ashamed. He commends the faith of Abraham and his sons from perseverance, because they persevered in faith even until death. Matthew 10:22 and 24:13: But he who shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. Therefore he says, according to faith all these died, except Enoch. Or, all these, namely Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this is better said, because the promise was made to these alone. Likewise he commends them from the long delay of the promises. Hence he says, not having received the promises. But on the contrary, it seems that they did receive the promise. Ezekiel 33:24: Abraham was one, and he possessed the land by inheritance. I answer. It must be said that he "possessed," that is, he first received the promise of possessing, yet he did not actually possess it, as is clear in Acts 7:5. There follows, but beholding them afar off, which was through faith, as if he were to say: gazing upon them with the sight of faith. And perhaps from this passage that responsory for the first Sunday of Advent was taken: Beholding from afar, etc. Isaiah 30:27: Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar. And greeting them, that is, venerating them. And he speaks, according to Chrysostom, by way of a likeness to sailors, who, when they first see the harbor, burst forth into praise, and greet the city to which they are going. So the holy fathers, seeing through faith Christ who was to come, and the glory which they were to obtain through him, greeted him, that is, venerated him. Psalm 117:26: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, God is the Lord, etc. John 8:56: Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day; he saw it, and was glad. Likewise he commends their faith from sincere confession; because, as is said in Romans 10:10: with the heart, belief is unto justice, but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. And therefore he says, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers upon the earth; for these three called themselves sojourners and pilgrims. For, in Genesis 23:4, Abraham says: I am a sojourner and a pilgrim among you. It is also said by the Lord to Isaac, Genesis 26:2f: Stay in the land that I shall tell you, and journey as a pilgrim in it. Jacob too, 47:9, says: the days of the pilgrimage of my life. Now he is called a pilgrim who is on the way of journeying toward another place. Isaiah 23:7: her own feet shall carry her far off to journey. But a sojourner is one who dwells in a foreign land, and does not intend to go further. But these confessed themselves to be not only sojourners, but also pilgrims. Thus also the holy man does not make his dwelling in the world, but is always at pains to press on toward heaven. Psalm 38:12: I am a sojourner with you, and a pilgrim, as all my fathers were. Then, when he says, For they that say these things, he shows that this confession pertains to faith. For no one is a stranger and a pilgrim, except him who is outside his homeland and is tending toward it. Since therefore these confess themselves to be strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, they signify that they are tending toward their own homeland, namely the heavenly Jerusalem. Galatians 4:26: That Jerusalem which is above is free. And this is what he says, For they that say these things, signify that they seek a homeland. But because perhaps someone might say — which is true — that they were pilgrims in the land of the Philistines and the Canaanites, among whom they dwelt, yet they intended to return to the land from which they had gone out, he removes this, saying, And truly if they had been mindful of that, namely of their own homeland, from which they went out, they had indeed time to return, since it was near. But now they desire a better one, that is, a heavenly one; hence in Genesis 24:6, Abraham said to his servant: Beware that you never bring my son back there. Psalm 83:11: I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. Likewise, 26:4: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. They therefore sought this homeland, not the paternal house from which they had gone out. In which it is signified, that those who go out from the vanity of the world ought not to return there in mind. Psalm 44:10: Forget your people and your father's house. Luke 9:62: No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Philippians 3:13: Forgetting the things that are behind, stretching myself forth to those that are before. Now it is clear that this confession of theirs, in word and in deed, pertains to faith, because they most firmly believed, even unto death, that very thing which had only been promised to them and not yet delivered. Hence, according to faith, that is, having their faith with them as an inseparable companion, they died. Apocalypse 2:10: Be faithful unto death. Then, when he says, therefore he is not ashamed, he shows what they merited to receive from their faith, and this was the greatest honor. Now it is reckoned the greatest honor when someone is named after some solemn office or service of a great and excellent lord or prince, as the notary of the Pope, or the chancellor of the king. But it is a greater honor still when that great lord wishes to be named after those who serve him. And so it is with these three, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose Lord, the great King above all gods, specially calls himself their God; hence Exodus 3:6: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; hence he says, therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. And a threefold reason can be assigned for this. The first, because God is known through faith. Now these are recorded as being the first to separate themselves by a special worship from unbelievers; hence Abraham too was the first to receive the seal of faith, Romans 4:18: that he might become the father of a multitude of nations. And therefore they are set before us as an example, as those through whom God was first known, and through whom God was named, as the object of faith. And therefore he willed to be named from them. The second, according to Augustine in the Gloss, because in these there lies hidden some mystery. For in these we find a likeness of the generation by which God regenerated spiritual sons. Now we see in them a fourfold manner of begetting. The first manner is of free children through free women, as Abraham through Sarah begot Isaac, who through Rebecca begot Jacob. And Jacob begot eight patriarchs through Leah and Rachel. The second manner was of free children through handmaids, as Jacob through Bala and Zelpha begot Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. The third manner was of servants through free women, as Isaac through Rebecca begot Esau, of whom it was said: the elder shall serve the younger. The fourth manner was of servants through a handmaid, as through Hagar Abraham begot Ishmael. In this, then, is designated the diverse manner by which the Lord begets spiritual sons: for sometimes good through good, as Timothy through Paul; sometimes good through evil, and this is the begetting of free children through handmaids; sometimes evil through good, as Simon Magus through Philip. And this is the begetting of servants through free women. But the begetting of the evil through the evil is reckoned in the seed. Hence Galatians 4:30: Cast out the handmaid and her son. The third reason, which seems more according to the intention of the Apostle, is that it is customary for a king to be named from his principal city, or from his whole country, as the king of Jerusalem, of the Romans, the king of France. And therefore God is properly called the king and God of those who specially belong to that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, of which God is the maker and founder. And because these, in word and deed, showed themselves to belong to that city, therefore he is called their God; hence he says, for he has prepared for them a city, that is, he is the founder of that city, which he had as his own. Then, when he says, by faith he offered, he sets down another notable example concerning the faith of Abraham, insofar as it regards God, namely that greatest sacrifice of his, when at the command of the Lord he was willing to immolate his only-begotten son, Genesis 22:1ff. And concerning this he shows three things. First, what he did; second, that this pertains to faith, at the place, and his only-begotten; third, what he received from this, at the place, wherefore he received him also in a parable. He says therefore, when Abraham was tried, he offered, that is, was willing to offer, by faith, Isaac, as is clear throughout the whole twelfth chapter of Genesis. Here there is a twofold question. One, because to kill an innocent is against the law of nature, and thus a sin; therefore in willing to offer him he sinned. I answer. It must be said that he who kills by the command of a superior — if that superior lawfully commands, the other lawfully obeys, and can lawfully carry out his service. But God has authority over death and life. 1 Kings 2:6: The Lord kills and makes alive. But God, in taking away life from someone, even an innocent, does injury to no one. Hence also daily, by divine disposition, many guilty and innocent die. And therefore he could lawfully carry out the command of God. Likewise a question is raised about this, that he says, when he was tried. For God tries no one, because to try is the act of one who does not know. I answer. It must be said that the Devil tries in order to deceive. 1 Thessalonians 3:5: lest perhaps he who tempts should have tempted you. This is clear in the temptation by which he tempted Christ, Matthew 4:1ff. But man tries in order to know. 3 Kings 10:1, it is said of the queen of Sheba, who came to Solomon to try him with riddles. In this way God does not try, since he knows all things; but he tries, that man may become known to himself, of how much strength and how much frailty he is. Deuteronomy 8:2: that he might try you, and that the things that were in your mind might become known; 2 Chronicles 32:31, concerning Hezekiah being tried, that his heart might be known. Likewise, that others may know the one tried, who from this is set before them as an example, as Abraham and Job. Ecclesiasticus 44:21: Abraham was found faithful in trial. Then, when he says, and his only-begotten, etc., he shows very subtly that this obedience pertained to faith. For as was said above, Abraham, although a very old man, believed God promising that in Isaac he would be blessed in his seed; he also believed that God was able to raise the dead. When therefore it was commanded him that he should kill him, there was no longer any hope, from Sarah now very aged, of being able to have a son, since Isaac was already a young man. And therefore, since he believed that the command of God must be obeyed, nothing remained but that he should believe that Isaac would be raised up, through whom his seed was to be called. Hence he says, and his only-begotten, namely of Sarah, in whom, that is, in the son born, God was to fulfill the covenant he had promised, as is clear in Genesis 17:19. Or, only-begotten, namely among the free children. Genesis 22:2: Take your only-begotten son Isaac. In whom he had received the promises. To whom also it was said, that is, by reason of whom, etc. Accounting, that is, firmly believing, that God is able to raise him up from the dead. This therefore was the greatest proof of faith, because the article of the resurrection is one of the greater ones. Then, when he says, wherefore he also received him back in a parable, he shows what he merited through faith: because when nothing now remained but that he himself should be immolated, an Angel called to him, and he immolated a ram caught by its horns in place of his son. Now this was a parable, that is, a figure, of the Christ who was to come. For the ram caught by its horns among the briars is the humanity fastened to the cross, which suffered. Isaac, that is, the divinity, escaped, when Christ truly died and was buried. And thus it is clear that this figure very completely matches the thing figured. He received him therefore, namely Isaac, in a parable, that is, as a figure of Christ who was to be crucified and immolated.”

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau,.... The history of this is in Gen 27:33. The former of these was a good man, and, though the youngest son, he is set before, and was blessed before the eldest; and the latter was a wicked man, and yet had a blessing; for temporal blessings are enjoyed in common: and this blessing was prophetic, it was concerning things to come. Jacob's blessing was plenty of temporal things, and under which may be signified the dews of divine grace, the fatness of God's house, the bread of life, and wine of divine love, which true Israelites partake of; also dominion over his brother, and government over nations, which had their accomplishment in his posterity; and may be expressive of the spiritual reign of the saints, and their dominion, by grace; and of the kingdom that shall hereafter be put to their hands; and of the extensiveness of Christ's kingdom in the latter day, who was to spring front him. Esau's blessings were merely temporal ones, and respected things future, which were fulfilled in his posterity; and these several blessings Isaac pronounced upon them by faith, believing they would be bestowed upon them; and so his faith answered to the account of faith in Heb 11:1. It may be asked, how Isaac can be said to have blessed Jacob by faith, when he was deceived by him? It is certain he took him to be Esau, when he blessed him, wherefore it was not the design of Isaac, though it was the will of God that he should bless him, Gen 27:18, but yet notwithstanding this, Isaac might do it in faith, believing that the person he blessed would be blessed, though he was mistaken in him; and which he confirmed when he did know him, Gen 27:33 to which the apostle may have respect; and besides, he blessed him after this, Gen 28:1. . Hebrews 11:21 heb 11:21 heb 11:21 heb 11:21By faith Jacob, when he was a dying,.... Which was the usual time of blessing with the patriarchs; and the reason of it was, that what was said might be more attended to and regarded, and more strongly impressed upon the mind; and this is a proof that it was done in faith by Jacob, when there was no appearance of the fulfilment of these things, and it was not likely that he should see them; and this shows the truth of what the apostle says in Heb 11:1, blessed both the sons of Joseph; whose names were Ephraim and Manasseh; the form of blessing them is recorded in Gen 48:15 and which was done in faith, and under the direction and inspiration of the Spirit of God, as appears by his setting Ephraim before Manasseh, Gen 48:13 and when he delivered the blessing he firmly believed it would be fulfilled, though they were then in a strange land: and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff; not that he "worshipped the top of his staff", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, either his own, or Joseph's, or any little image upon the top of it; which would be an instance of idolatry, and not faith, contrary to the scope of the apostle; nor is there any need to interpret this of civil worship and respect paid to Joseph, as a fulfilment of his dream, and with a peculiar regard to Christ, of whom Joseph was a type; whereas, on the contrary, Joseph at this time bowed to his father, as was most natural and proper, Gen 48:12 nor is there any necessity of supposing a different punctuation of Gen 47:31 and that the true reading is not "mittah", a bed, but "matteh"; a staff, contrary to all the Targums (f), and the Talmud (g), which read "mittah", a bed, seeing it is not that place the apostle cites or refers to; for that was before the blessing of the sons of Joseph, but this was at the same time; and the apostle relates what is nowhere recorded in Genesis, but what he had either from tradition, or immediate revelation; or else he concludes it from the general account in Gen 48:1 and the sense is, that Jacob, having blessed the two sons of Joseph, being sat upon his bed, and weak, he leaned upon the top of his staff, and worshipped God, and gave praise and glory to him, that he had lived to see not only his son Joseph, but his seed also, see Gen 48:2. (f) Onkelos, Jonathan & Jerusalem in Gen. xlvii. 31. (g) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 16. 2.”

“To raise him up, even from the dead - Abraham staggered not at the promise through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. The resurrection of the dead must have been a doctrine of the patriarchs; they expected a heavenly inheritance, they saw they died as did other men, and they must have known that they could not enjoy it but in consequence of a resurrection from the dead. He received him in a figure - Εν παραβολῃ· In my discourse on parabolical writing at the end of Matthew 13, I have shown (signification #9) that παραβολη sometimes means a daring exploit, a jeoparding of the life; and have referred to this place. I think it should be so understood here, as pointing out the very imminent danger he was in of losing his life. The clause may therefore be thus translated: "Accounting that God was able to raise him up from the dead, from whence he had received him, he being in the most imminent danger of losing his life." It is not, therefore, the natural deadness of Abraham and Sarah to which the apostle alludes, but the death to which Isaac on this occasion was exposed, and which he escaped by the immediate interference of God.”

“Whence also he received him for a parable. [7] Some understand by this, that both Abraham and his son became hereby an example of a perfect obedience to God, which all nations should admire. St. Chrysostom, says, that Abraham received again his son safe in a figure, by being ordered to sacrifice for him a ram, which was a figure of Isaac. Others, that Abraham received again his son Isaac, who was a figure of Christ sacrificed on the cross, and risen again. Christ carried the cross on which he was to suffer, as Isaac carried the wood up to the mountain where he was to have been offered. (Witham) — Parable; that is, as a figure of Christ slain and coming to life again. (Challoner)”

“Faith answered the objections which reason brought against God's command to Abraham to offer Isaac, by suggesting that what God had promised He both could and would perform, however impossible the performance might seem (Rom 4:20-21). able to raise him--rather, in general, "able to raise from the dead." Compare Rom 4:17, "God who quickeneth the dead." The quickening of Sarah's dead womb suggested the thought of God's power to raise even the dead, though no instance of it had as yet occurred. he received him--"received him back" [ALFORD]. in a figure--Greek, "in a parable." ALFORD explains, "Received him back, risen from that death which he had undergone in, under, the figure of the ram." I prefer with BISHOP PEARSON, ESTIUS, and GREGORY OF NYSSA, understanding the figure to be the representation which the whole scene gave to Abraham of Christ in His death (typified by Isaac's offering in intention, and the ram's actual substitution answering to Christ's vicarious death), and in His resurrection (typified by Abraham's receiving him back alive from the jaws of death, compare Co2 1:9-10); just as on the day of atonement the slain goat and the scapegoat together formed one joint rite representing Christ's death and resurrection. It was then that Abraham saw Christ's day (Joh 8:56): accounting God was able to raise even from the dead: from which state of the dead he received him back as a type of the resurrection in Christ.”