Caesarius of Arles : When Abraham offered his son Isaac, he was a type of God the Father, while Isaac prefigured our Lord and Savior. — SERMON 84.2 Jerome : (Chapter 22, Verse 2.) And God said to him: Take your beloved son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the high land, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you. It is difficult to translate the Hebrew language into Latin. Where it is now said, go to the high land, in Hebrew it has Moriah, which Aquila translated as 'the visible', that is, clear, and Symmachus, 'the vision', that is, sight. Therefore the Hebrews say that this mountain is the one on which the temple was later built, in the area of Ornan the Jebusite, as it is also written in the Chronicles: 'And they began to build the temple in the second month, on the second day of the month, in the mountain of Moriah' (2 Chronicles 3:1). This is interpreted as "illuminating" and "shining" because there is the Dabir, that is, the oracle of God: both the Law and the Holy Spirit, who teaches people the truth and inspires prophecies. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis Origen of Alexandria : And when the other had answered, "here I am," He says to him: "take your most beloved son, whom you love, Isaac, and offer him to me. Go," He says, "into the high land, and there offer him as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will show you." Why God bestowed this name upon him and called him Abraham, He Himself has interpreted: "because," He says, "I have set you as a father of many nations." God gave him this promise when he had a son, Ishmael, but He promised him that in the son who would be born of Sarah this promise would be fulfilled. He had therefore kindled Abraham's own spirit into love of that son, not only for the sake of posterity, but also by the hope of the promises. But this son, in whom these great and marvelous promises were placed for him—this son, I say, in whom his name was called Abraham—he is commanded to offer as a "burnt offering" to the Lord upon one of the mountains. What do you say to this, O Abraham? What and what sort of thoughts are stirred in your heart? A voice has been uttered by God that would shake and prove your faith. What do you say to this? What do you think? What do you reconsider? Do you suppose you turn over in your heart the thought that, if in Isaac the promise was given to me, but I offer this one as a burnt offering, it remains that that promise is not to be hoped for? Or rather do you think these things and say that it is impossible for Him who promised to lie; whatever it may be, the promise will stand firm? But since I "am the least," I am not able to search out the thoughts of so great a patriarch, nor can I know what thoughts the voice of God, which had gone forth to tempt him, stirred in him, what feeling it brought when he was ordered to slay his only son. But since "the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets," Paul the Apostle, who through the spirit had learned, I believe, what mind, what counsel Abraham had carried out, indicated it, saying: "by faith Abraham did not hesitate, when he offered his only son, in whom he had received the promises, considering that God is able to raise him even from the dead." The Apostle therefore has disclosed to us the thoughts of the faithful man, that faith in the resurrection had already then begun to be held in Isaac. Abraham therefore hoped that Isaac would rise again and believed that would come to pass which had not yet been done. How then are they "sons of Abraham" who do not believe as accomplished in Christ what he believed as future in Isaac? Nay rather, that I may speak more openly, Abraham knew that he was prefiguring the image of the future truth; he knew that Christ would be born of his seed, who was both to be offered as the truer victim of the whole world and to rise again from the dead. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 8.1 Origen of Alexandria : But now meanwhile "God was tempting," it says, "Abraham, and He says to him: take your most beloved son, whom you love." For it had not been enough to say "son," but "most beloved" is also added. Let this be so too: why is "whom you love" still added further? But see the weight of the temptation. By dear and sweet appellations repeated again and often, the paternal affections are aroused, so that, with the memory of love awakening, the paternal right hand might be delayed from immolating the son, and the whole warfare of the flesh might fight back against the resolve of the mind. "Take," therefore, He says, "your most beloved son, whom you love, Isaac." Be it so, Lord, that You remind the father of his son; You add also "most beloved," the one You command to be slain. Let this suffice for the father's torment; You add again also "whom you love." Let there be for the parent in this too a threefold torment. What need is there yet that You should also mention "Isaac"? Did Abraham not know that this most beloved son of his, the one whom he loved, was called Isaac? But why is this added at this moment? So that Abraham might recall that You had said to him: "that in Isaac shall your seed be called and that in Isaac shall be your promises." A mention is made also of the name, so that the despair of the promises too, which were made under this name, might come upon him. But all these things, because God was tempting Abraham. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 8.2 Origen of Alexandria : What after these things? "Go," He says, "into the high land, into one of the mountains that I will show you, and there you shall offer him as a burnt offering." Behold through each detail how the increases of the temptation come about. "Go into the high land." Could not Abraham have been led first with the boy to that high land and set first upon the mountain, whichever the Lord had chosen, and there be told to offer his son? But first he is told that he must offer his son, and then he is ordered to go "into the high land" and to ascend the mountain. To what does this look? So that while he walks, while he makes the journey, he may be torn apart along the whole way by his thoughts, so that here, with the command pressing hard, and there, with the affection for his only son struggling against it, he may be tortured. Therefore for this reason both the journey is enjoined and the ascent of the mountain, so that in all these things the affections and faith, the love of God and the love of the flesh, the pleasure of things present and the expectation of things to come, might receive room for the contest. He is sent therefore "into the high land," and the high land is not enough for the patriarch who is to accomplish so great a work for the Lord, but he is also ordered to ascend the mountain, namely so that, uplifted by faith, he may leave behind the earthly things and climb up to the things above. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 8.3