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
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
But when the ram was killed and Isaac was not killed, it happened thus because Isaac was a figure and not the reality; for in him was designated what was later fulfilled in Christ. Behold, God is contending with people in great devotion. Abraham offered God his mortal son who was not to die, while God surrendered in death his immortal Son for the sake of humankind. Concerning blessed Isaac and that ram it can be further understood that in Isaac was signified the divinity of Christ, in the ram his humanity. Just as in his passion not the divinity but the humanity is believed to have been crucified, so the ram but not Isaac was immolated: the onlybegotten Son of God is offered, the firstborn of the Virgin is sacrificed. Listen to another mystery. Blessed JRM, a priest, wrote that he knew most certainly from the ancient Jews and elders that Christ our Lord was afterward crucified in the place where Isaac was offered. Last, from the place whence blessed Abraham was commanded to depart, he arrived on the third day at the place where Christ our Lord was crucified. This too is mentioned in the account of the ancients, that in the very place where the cross was fastened the first Adam once was buried. Moreover, it was called the place of Calvary for the very reason that the first head of the human race is said to have been buried there. Truly, brothers, not unfittingly is it believed that the physician was raised up where the sick man lay. It was right that divine mercy should bend down in the place where human pride had fallen. The precious blood may be believed to have corporally redeemed the ashes of the sinner of old by deigning to touch it with its drops. We have gathered these facts as well as we could, dearly beloved, from the different books of Scripture for the progress of your soul, and we suggest them to the consideration of your charity. If, with the Lord’s help, you will read over the sacred Scriptures rather frequently and heed them carefully, I believe that you can find an even better explanation.
