The Sacrifice of Isaac and the Renewal of the Promise
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[1b] God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." [2] 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." [3] So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, an arose and went to the place of which God had told him. [4] 0n the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. [5] Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the ass; and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." [6] 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. [7] 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?" [8] Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
[9] 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. [10] Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. [11] But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." [12] 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." [13] 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. [14] So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."
[15] And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, [16] and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, [17] I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, [18] and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice." [19] So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
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Commentary:
22:1-19. God has been true to his promise: he has given Abraham a son by Sarah. Now it is Abraham who should show his fidelity to God by being ready to sacrifice his son in recognition that the boy belongs to God. The divine command seems to be senseless: Abraham has already lost Ishmael, when he and Hagar were sent away; now he is being asked to sacrifice his remaining son. Disposing of his son, meant detaching himself even from the fulfillment of the promise which Isaac represented. In spite of all this, Abraham obeys.
'"As a final stage in the purification of his faith, Abraham 'who had received the promises' (Heb 11:17) is asked to sacrifice the son God had given him. Abraham's faith does hot weaken ('God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering'), for he 'considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead' (Heb 11:19). And so the father of believers is conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own son but will deliver him up for us all (cf. Rom 8:32). Prayer restores man to God's likeness and enables him to share in the power of God's love that saves the multitude (cf. Rom 4:16-21)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 2572).
By undergoing the test which God set, Abraham attains perfection (cf. Jas 2:2 1) and he is now in a position for God to reaffirm in a solemn way the promise he made previously (cf. Gen 12:3).
The sacrifice of Isaac has features which make it a figure of the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. Thus, there is father giving up his son; the son who renders himself to his father's will; the tools of sacrifice such as the wood, the knife and the altar. The account reaches its climax by showing through Abraham's obedience and Isaac's non-resistance, God's blessing will reach all the nations of the earth (cf. v. 18). So, it is not surprising that Jewish tradition should attribute a certain redemptive value to Isaac's submissiveness, and that the Fathers should see this episode prefiguring the passion of Christ, only Son of the Father.
22:2. "The land of Moriah": according to the Syrian version of Genesis this is "land of the Ammorites". We do not in fact know where this place was, although in 2 Chronicles 3:1 it is identified the mountain on which the temple Jerusalem was built, to stress the holiness of that site.
22:12. God is satisfied just by Abraham's sincere intention to do what he asked of him. It is as good as if he had actually done the deed. "The patriarch turned sacrificer of his son for the love of God; he stained his right hand with blood in intention and offered sacrifice. But owing to God's loving kindness beyond telling he received his son back safe and sound and went off with him; the patriarch was commended for his intention and bedecked with a bright crown; he had engaged in the ultimate struggle and at every stage given evidence of his godly attitude" ("Homiliae in Genesim", 48, 1).
Making an implicit comparison between Isaac and Jesus, St Paul sees in the death of Christ the culmination of God's love; he writes: "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?" (Rom 8:32).
If staying Abraham's hand was really a sign of God's love, an even greater one was really a sign of God's love, an even greater one was the fact that he allowed Jesus to die as an expiatory sacrifice on behalf of all mankind. In that later sacrifice, because "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8), "the abyss of malice which sin opens wide has been bridged by his infinite charity. God did not abandon men. His plans foresaw that the sacrifices of the old law would be insufficient to repair our faults and reestablish the unity which had been lost. A man who was God would have to offer himself up" (St. J. Escriva"Christ is Passing By", 95).
22: 13-14. Some Fathers see this ram as a prefigurement of Jesus Christ, insofar as, like Christ, the ram. was immolated in order to save man. In this sense, St Ambrose wrote: "Whom does the ram represent, if not him of whom it is written, 'He has raised up a horn for his people' (Ps 148:14)? [...] Christ: It is He whom Abraham saw in that sacrifice; it was his passion he saw. Thus, our Lord himself says of Abraham: 'Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad' (Jn 8:56). Therefore Scripture says: 'Abraham called the name of that place 'The Lord will provide,' so that today one can say: the Lord appeared on the mount, that is, he appeared to Abraham revealing his future passion in his body, whereby he redeemed the world; and sharing, at the same time, the nature of his passion when he caused him to see the ram suspended by his horns. The thicket stands for the scaffold of the cross" ("De Abraham", 1, 8, 77-7.8).
Crossing the Red Sea
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[15] The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. [16] Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go on dry ground through the sea. [17] And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horse men. [18] And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." [19] Then the angel of God who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, [20] coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed[a] without one coming near the other all night.
Crossing the Red Sea
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[21] Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. [22] And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. [23] The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. [24] And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down upon the host of the Egyptians, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily; and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel; for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians."
[26] Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen." [27] So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its wonted flow when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled into it, and the Lord routed the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. [28] The waters return and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. [29] But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
[30] Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. [31] And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Song of Victory
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[1] Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song the Lord, saying, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
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Commentary:
14:17-18. The military language and the depiction of God as a warrior should cause no surprise: it is a daring anthropomorphism which shows that God is almighty and therefore can deliver the elect from any danger that threatens: "You, too, if you distance yourself from the Egyptians and flee far from the power of demons," Origen comments, "will see what great helps will be provided to you each day and what great protection is available to you. All that is asked of you is that you stand firm in the faith and do not let yourself be terrified by either the Egyptian cavalry or the noise of their chariots" ("Homiliae in Exodum", 5, 4).
14:19-22. At the wonderful moment of the crossing of the sea, God, man and the forces of nature play the leading role. In the person of the angel of the Lord, God the person of the angel of the Lord, becomes more visible; he directs operations; he plays a direct part. Moses' part consists in doing as the Lord commands; he is his vicar. The sons of Israel have no active part; they benefit from what happens. Even the forces of nature come into play: the pillar of cloud which marked the route by day now blocks the Egyptians' way; night, the symbol of evil become, as in the Passover, the time God's visitation; the warm west wind, always feared for its harmful effects, now proves a great help; and the waters of the sea, so often the symbol of the abyss and of evil, allow the victorious passage of the sons of Israel.
The prophets see this event as an instance of the creative power of God (cf. Is 43:1-3), and Christian writers comment along the same lines. Thus, Origen will say: "See the goodness of God the Creator: if you submit to his will and follow his Law, he will see to it that created things cooperate with you, against their own nature if necessary" ("Homiliae In Exodum", 5,5).
The book of Wisdom turns the account of the crossing of the sea into a hymn of praise to the Lord who delivered Israel (cf. Wis 19:6-9), and St Paul sees the waters as a figure of baptismal water: "All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:2).
14:31. The main effect the miraculous crossing of the sea had on the Israelites was the faith it gave them in the power of God and in the authority of Moses. This section of the account of the escape from Egypt ends as it began--that is, showing that the people's faith (4:31) is now strengthened. So, too, Christian faith is strengthened when we do what God desires.: "Following Jesus on his way. You have understood what our Lord was asking from you and you have decided to accompany him on his way. You trying to walk in his footsteps, to clothe yourself in Christ's clothing, to be Christ himself: well, your faith, your faith in the light our Lord is giving you, must both operative and full of sacrifice" (St J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 198).
15:1-21. This victory anthem, along with that of Deborah (Judg 5), is one the oldest hymns of Israel. It probably goes as far back as the 13th century BC, long before the redactor of this be decided to include it as a colophon to Exodus account. It is called the "Song of Miriam" (v. 21) because, as we know from Ugarit poems of the period (13th-9th centuries BC) it was the practice to put at the end (not the start) the reason why the poem was written, the author's name and the poem's title (vv. 18-21). It is very likely that this canticle was recited in the liturgy and that the entire people said the response (vv, 1, 21) after each stanza was said or sung by the choir.
It is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving which the three stages of the deliverance of Israel are remembered--the prodigies of the Red Sea (vv. 4-10), the triumphal pilgrimage in the desert (vv. 4-16) and the taking possession of the land of Canaan (vv. 17-18).
In this poetic re-creation of these events the divine attributes are extolled one by one (might, military power, redemption, etc); they reflect the theological implications of exodus, wilderness and land: it is God who has done all these wondrous things; he has done them because he has chosen the people to be his very own; he himself requires that they respond by acknowledging him to be God, Lord of all, the only deliverer.
15:1-3. Victory over the Egyptians has revealed the glory arid might of God. Strength, power, salvation can be taken as meaning the same thing, for the sacred author does not regard the divine attributes as abstract qualities but as particular actions: only God could truly save the people.
"The Lord is a man of war": this daring description indicates that this is a very ancient poem. Some translations, possibly because they thought it might be misunderstood, toned it down a little: the Samaritan Pentateuch has "powerful in combat" and the Septuagint "he who breaks through battles". We in our Spanish version coincide with the RSV and the New Vulgate, retaining the blunt military imagery, which is very descriptive of the almighty power of God: "He is the Lord of the Universe [...]. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 269).
"The Lord is his name": literally, "his name is Yah", using an abbreviation of Yahweh which may have been customary in more ancient times. It may well be that there is an echo of this name in the "Alleluia" of the Psalms.
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(Navarre commentary for the reading from Isaiah 54:5-14 is not available)