And he said,
Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you anything unto him: for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.
All Commentaries on Genesis 22:12 Go To Genesis 22
Jerome
AD 420
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.” Abraham accordingly came into Palestine; he was in Abramiri; he sojourned a long time in Gerar. When his son Isaac was born, he had received the promise: “In your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” He took Isaac and offered him to God, and a voice from heaven was heard to say, Spare him. 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.” 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; let us walk therefore in Christ, and then God the Father will know our way.
