{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-5618","native_reference":{"book_number":10,"chapter_from":11,"chapter_to":11,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":30,"verse_to":30},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Bede</b>: But Sarai was barren and had no children. By the counsel of Divine Providence, it happened that she was barren in her youth, so that in her old age, by bearing the son of promise, she might symbolize the holy Church, to whom it is said, \"Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear\" (Galatians IV, 27), and so on. For it was fitting that she, who in the figure of unique faith and our hope was to bear one son of promise, should give birth to him not in Chaldea, nor in Mesopotamia, but in the land of promise.<br/><i>— Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: WHEN WAS ABRAHAM ESTABLISHED IN THE LAND OF CANAAN? — How is it that the Scripture says that Terah, the father of Abram, fathered Abram at the age of seventy and then remained with all his people in Harran and lived two hundred and five years in Harran and died, and that the Lord commanded Abram to come out of Harran, (Cf. Gen. 12:1-4) and he went out, Abraham being seventy-five years old? The answer would be that the Scripture says as a recapitulation that the Lord spoke while Terah was still alive, Abram left Harran, according to the command of the Lord, at the age of seventy-five years, when his father was one hundred and forty-five, if the years of his father's life were two hundred and five, so it is written that the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five in Harran, because he lived all his years there. The question, therefore, is solved by way of recapitulation; for it would remain unresolved if we consider that after the death of Terah the Lord commanded Abram to leave Harran because he could not be only seventy-five years old when his father died, who begat him at seventy, so Abram would be a hundred and thirty years old, after the death of his father, if all that he lived were two hundred and five. In summary, if one takes into account this type of recapitulation that Scripture uses, many problems that otherwise appear mysterious are solved, as we have said above with respect to other questions that we have also solved by appealing to it (recapitulation). However, there are others who solve the problem differently, saying that Abram's years of life are calculated from the moment he was released from the fire of the Chaldeans, in which he was cast out for not worshiping it (the fire) according to their superstition. And although the Scripture does not say that he was freed from that fire, we recall it from Jewish tradition. The problem may be solved as follows: The text that says: When Terah was seventy-five years old he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran, (Gen. 11:26) it does not mean, of course, that he begat all three at the age of seventy; the Scripture recalls the year from which he began to have children. But it may be that Abram was later begotten, and because of his excellency, which is frequently advanced in Scripture, he was mentioned earlier, just as the prophet first mentioned the younger one: I loved Jacob and hated Esau (Mal. 1:2-3). And in the book of Chronicles, Juda is mentioned first, in spite of occupying the fourth place in the order of birth, because it is he who gives the name to the Jewish stock because his tribe was the royal tribe (Cf. 1 Chron. 4:1). In short, to solve the difficult questions there are certainly different solutions. It is necessary to take into account, of course, Stephen's account (Cf. Acts 7:2-3) on this subject, to see which of these expositions agrees more. And this, of course, compels us not to think, as Genesis (Cf. Gen. 12:1) seems to indicate, that God commanded Abram to leave his family and his father's house after the death of Terah, but to understand that, being in Mesopotamia before living in Harran, God spoke to him during that journey, once he had obviously left the land of the Chaldeans. But what Stephen says: Then Abram, coming out of the land of the Chaldeans, dwelt in Harran, and then after his father was dead, he removed him into this land (Acts 7:4); he presents no small difficulties to this explanation, which is based in a kind of recapitulation. For it seems that he received the commandment of the Lord, who had spoken to him on the journey from Mesopotamia, after he had come out of the land of the Chaldeans and when he went to Harran, and that after his father's death he truly obeyed this command, when it is said: And he dwelt in Harran. And then, when his father died, he removed him into this land. Therefore, it continues the problem of how it may be true that he was seventy-five when he left Harran, as is clearly stated in the text of Genesis. Perhaps the words of Stephen: Then Abram came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Harran, not to be understood thus: He went forth, after the Lord had spoken to him, for he was already in Mesopotamia, as was said before, when he heard that from the Lord. But Stephen, with that rule of recapitulation, wanted to unite both things and say at the same time where he had come from and where he dwelt, when he added: Then Abram left the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Harran. God spoke to him at the middle, that is, between the departure from the land of the Chaldeans and their settlement in Harran. Afterwards, however, Stephen adds: And from thence, after his father was dead, he removed him into this land; it is to be noted that he did not say: And after his father's death he left Harran, but: Then God set him in this land, so that he was put in the land of Canaan after dwelling in Harran. He did not leave after the death of his father, but was placed in the land of Canaan after the death of his father, so that the order of the words are: Dwell in Harran, and then put him in this land after the death of his father. So it must be understood that Abram was put or placed in the land of Canaan when he received that offspring, whose whole descendants would reign there, according to the promise that God made, to give to him the land as an inheritance. For there was born of Abram himself, Ishmael, the son of Hagar. There also were born the children of Ketura, to whom the inheritance of that land would not belong. Esau was also born of Isaac, (Cf. Gen. 25:25; 29:32-35; 30:5) who was also deprived of that inheritance. But all the sons who were born to Jacob, son of Isaac, that is, all his offspring belonged to that inheritance. Therefore, if one correctly understands the fact that Abram was put and placed in that land because he lived until Jacob's birth, the problem is solved through a recapitulation, although other solutions cannot be rejected either. [<br/><i>— QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 24 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)</i></p><p><b>Ambrosiaster</b>: ON ABRAHAM. — The faith of this patriarch was so perfect and so admirable that all the righteous by a wise judgment of God proclaim him the father of their faith, and that no one is worthy of God and of his affection if he bears the name of Abraham's sons. What makes his greatest glory in the eyes of God is that he did not hesitate to believe in things that seemed incredible, which deserves him among other rewards to see the Savior, in the hope of God, as our Lord Himself declared to the Jews: Abraham your father rejoiced in the hope of seeing my day; he saw it and rejoiced in it (Jn. 8:56). It was right that he who became a father by the merit of his faith should live the hope of his children in the distant past, a hope which God in his providential goodness should transmit as the Father, inheritance from a deeply religious father to his imitating sons of his obedience. Let us now see what was the object of this faith, that God might have judged it worthy of so great an honor, and of such a glorious reward. We praised Abraham's faith, but we have not yet told the object of his faith: God brought him out of his tent, and showing him the stars of heaven said to him: \"Count these stars, so shall your offspring be. Abraham believed God, and this was imputed to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:5; Rom. 4:3). He would have no great merit in believing in God, had he not believed an incredible and insane thing in the judgment of the world, because one could not naturally hope for what God promised him. Therefore, Abraham was the only one in the world having believed this promise, was separated from the world and justified. The incredulity of human wisdom serves to raise the greatness of this faith, and that heroic hope which believed against hope. The hopelessness of the worldly is the merit of the hope of the Christians. The defiance of the wicked here makes the reward of the faith of the good, for faith is stronger and more complete when its object is naturally incredible. This almost desolate man believed that his wife, of a very advanced age, would give him a posterity so numerous that it could not be counted, because he considered the act itself promised to him less than he who promised it, and that he knew he could not lie. So his faith was imputed to him for righteousness. There would be stupidity in believing an absurd thing, the impossibility of which is known, if we had no guarantor for the authority of the person who proposes this thing to our belief. Abraham, therefore, demonstrates with admirable faith and great prudence, believing what is naturally incredible, and by confiding himself fully to him to whom one cannot refuse to believe without folly and without danger. What proves that our faith is reasonable is that it recognizes only God alone the power to do all that he promises. This is the strength and triumph of faith. Certain sages of the world, considering only the natural impossibility of these things, declare that it is a madness to believe them. They forget this maxim of the Apostle: and what appears in God as folly is wiser than men (I Cor. 1:25). They would have the right to treat us as fools, if we knew here what nature evidently does not have in nature. Now, what is impossible to nature, we believe that God can do it if he promises it. What can be found unreasonable in this conduct? If the fact to the fulfillment of which we believe is indignant with God, it would be right to accuse our faith of stupidity, but if it is worthy of God, by the very fact that it is impossible for the creature, how can it not fill with praise the faith which gives as much to the Creator as it refuses to the feebleness of the creature! Abraham is therefore truly great and worthy of admiration for not having hesitated to believe in God's promise against the judgment of the world, because God can do what He promises. Although he was a native of Chaldea, he showed himself to be the teacher of the faith, and though he was competent in astrology, he preferred God's thoughts to the thoughts of man, considering that he was worthy to believe that God could do a thing whose fulfillment would escape the investigations of the human mind. He gave to his weakness the power of God, who, in order to bring forth the unique and incomparable grandeur of his majesty, had resolved to do things unbearable and impossible to the world. He thus wished to show that he was the master of creation, and that every creature must submit to his empire. The promise he made seemed impossible to all other men, but their unbelief is all the more the lively faith of Abraham. His faith is the chastisement of unbelievers, just as the iniquity of unbelievers makes his glory. He is at the same time the father of the faithful and the judge of the infidels. By his example, the good will receive as reward eternal life, Abraham is not troubled by this strange order, and he does not argue about whether he should obey God, who commands him to kill his son, while he defends homicide under the most severe penalties. The will of God inspires him with firmness, and he does not hesitate to believe in the providential wisdom of what God commands him. And yet it was this child who was the child of their old age and a divine promise, the reward of their faith, the testimony of their virtue, and on which rested all the hope of the posterity which God had given them promised. In order to accomplish this commandment more religiously, he did not inform the mother of the child, lest she should put obstacles to this sacrifice. He knew all the tenderness of the love of mothers for their children, and that is why he hides from him the sacrifice which is asked of him, because he does not want to put any delay in doing what God commands him, to teach us by his example that care and eagerness we must fulfill the commandments of God. For if Abraham, this faithful servant, has obeyed such a harsh and severe command, what obedience to much easier commandments ought not be? O faith full of devotion to God! O unwavering hope in the Lord, which is so dear and sweet, that it prevails over the tenderness of the fathers for their children according to these words of Scripture: \"Glorify and see that the Lord is full of sweetness (Ps. 33:8)!” The holy patriarch was a prophet, and knew what the future had in store for him. He therefore did not hesitate to practice what our Lord recommends us in his Gospel, and to prefer the love of God to the affection he had for this beloved son, obeying the words of the Savior: \"Whoever loves his father, or his mother, or his children more than me, is not worthy of me (Mt. 10:33).” It is thus that this patriarch, to be preferred of God above all others, did not hesitate to sacrifice his son to him. [Questions On The Old And New Testaments, Pl 35,<br/><i>— QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, Q. 108 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"aeb037aee1be62728dc833028122e72dec0a9623cc4fafb0f53c375e66b202b8","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":5618,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"64613def3dbae96c774f5cab057463f887fa8eb2bb0971331de0a14df4ef72a4","translator":null,"work":null}