The Binding of Isaac (2nd Sunday of Lent)

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The binding of Isaac is one of the most significant events in the Bible’s redemptive history. It is pivotal because it marks Abraham’s faithfulness to God’s covenant promises, wherein God promises to bless him and his progeny, and make them as numerous as the sand and the stars (Genesis 12, 15 and 17). We see here that God reaffirms those promises and adds the additional detail that his descendants shall be triumphant over their enemies.

This episode also figures prominently in the New Testament, which comments upon it as a sign of his faithfulness. Hebrews, for example tells us that Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he knew that if God was able to give him Isaac in his old age, He would also be able to give Isaac back to him even after he was sacrificed:

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Likewise, St. James uses Abraham’s act of obedience as an example of how man is justified by works and not by faith alone:

Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:20-24)

Finally, the Binding of Isaac is significant for Christians because it prefigures the sacrifice of Christ. Although the New Testament does not explicitly make this connection, it appears in the writings of the early church fathers and has been the standard Christian interpretation ever since. The ram which is found stuck in the thicket is a type of Christ, and just as the ram is sacrificed that Isaac may live, Jesus gives His life that we may live. As St. Paul declares in the epistle reading: "He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?" (Romans 8:32)

J. Luis Dizon