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Theophylact, like Chrysostom, gives alternative explanations: ajnti; tou' ejn tuvpw/, eij" e[ndeixin musthrivou tou' kata; Cristovn ... h] ajnti; tou' ejn tw'/ kriw'/ ejkomivsato aujto;n oJ jAbraavm, toutevstin ejn th'/ ajntidovsei tou' kriou' .

OEcumenius offers confusedly several interpretations, but prefers that which represents the whole action of Abraham and Isaac as typical of the gift of the Son by the Father.

Primasius gives the sense which became current in the West, that the ram represented the manhood of Christ in which He was not only offered but slain: Occisus est Isaac quantum ad voluntatem patris pertinet. Deinde redonavit illum Deus patriarchae in parabola, id est, in figura et similitudine passionis Christi...Aries significabat carnem Christi. Isaac oblatus est et non est interfectus sed aries tantum: quia Christus in passione oblatus est sed divinitas illius impassibilis mansit.

The word parabolhv occurs again Heb. 9:9. Besides, it occurs only in the Synoptic Gospels.

( b ) The patriarchal blessings: the reversal of natural expectations (11:20, 21).

The Faith of the patriarchs in looking towards the fulfilment of the promise was able to set aside the expectations which were based on the rules of human succession, whether, as in the case of Isaac, they accepted the divine will when it was contrary to their own purpose (11:20), or, as in the case of Jacob, they interpreted it (11:21).

An element beyond human calculation entered into the gradual accomplishment of the promise as into its initial foundation.

11:20. The blessing of Isaac forms a crisis in the fulfilment of the divine counsel. A choice is made between those through whom the promise might equally have been fulfilled. The choice was not, as in the case of Ishmael and Isaac, between the son of the bondwoman and the son of the free, but between twin brothers. And the will of God inverted the purely human order. Both sons were blessed, but the younger had the precedence and became heir of the promise ( to;n jIakw;b kai; to;n jHsau' ). Compare Mal. 1:2, 3 (Rom. 9:13); Heb. 12:16.

Isaac acknowledged the overruling of his own purpose (Gen. 27:33). kai; peri; mell. eujlovg. ] Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau and that concerning things to come (Gen. xxvii), concerning things to come as well as ( kaiv ) in regard to their immediate position. (Syr. vg. by faith in that which was to come. )

The blessing of Isaac reached beyond the immediate future which could be realised by his sons in their own life-time. His words pointed onward to a distant order ( mellovntwn not tw'n mell. ). The faith of Isaac was shewn by his acceptance of the destination of his highest blessing, ‘the blessing,’ to the younger son which was against his own will; and by his later blessing of Esau. In itself the supreme value attached to ‘the blessing’ (Heb. 12:17) with its unseen consequences was a sign of faith.

Throughout the later history of the O. T. the fortunes of the children of Israel and of the children of Esau are in constant connexion and conflict.

With the indefinite mevllonta contrast ta; ejrcovmena John 16:13. Heb. 11:21. The blessing of Jacob, like that of Isaac, marked a fresh stage in the fulfilment of the promise. The providential office was then entrusted not to one but to a whole family the members of which had


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