And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
All Commentaries on Genesis 22:13 Go To Genesis 22
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Many persons say that our sacred writers did not write in accordance with the rules of rhetoric. We do not take issue with them: the sacred writers wrote not in accord with rules but in accord with grace, which is above all rules of rhetoric. They wrote what the Holy Spirit gave them to speak. Yet writers on rhetoric have found rhetoric in their writings and have made use of their writings to compose commentaries and rules. In rhetoric, these qualities in particular are demanded: a cause (aition), a subject (hul&#;) and an end or purpose (apotelesma). Now, when we read that blessed Isaac said to his father, “Behold, you have the fire and the wood, but where is the victim,” are these qualities lacking? The one asking the question is in doubt; the one who answers the question gives the answer and removes the doubt. The fire is the cause; the wood is the subject, called materia in Latin; the third item, the purpose, is that which the child sought and which the father showed him when he asked, “Where is the victim?” “God himself,” he said, “will provide the sacrifice, my son.” Let us discuss the meaning of the mystery for a little while. God showed a ram sticking fast with its horns; the ram is the Word, full of tranquillity and restraint and patience. By this is shown that wisdom is a good sacrifice and belongs to one who is duly wise and making atonement to understand the purpose of an action. The prophet David therefore says, “Offer up the sacrifice of justice.” Sacrifice belongs to justice as it does to wisdom.
