Gênesis 15
Ambrose of Milan · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Gênesis 15:1
Because Abraham did not seek recompense from man, he received it from God, as we read in Scripture: "After these words the Lord spoke to Abraham in a vision saying, Fear not, Abraham, I will protect you. Your reward will be exceedingly great." The Lord is not slow to reward. He is eager to promise, and he gives in abundance, lest any delay cause weak souls to repent of having despised visible things. He pays back, so to speak, at high interest, rewarding with great abundance the one who has not been seduced by the things of this world that were offered to him. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:2-3
Let us also consider what recompense he requests from the Lord. He does not ask for riches, as would a greedy person, nor for a long life in this world, as would one who fears death, nor for power. Rather he asks for an heir worthy of his work. "What will you give me?"—he says—"I am about to depart without children." And then he says, "Because you have not given me posterity, a slave born in my house will be my heir." Let everyone learn therefore not to despise marriage. Let them not unite with disreputable persons, so as not to have children of such a standing that they are unable to be their heirs. In view of the inheritance to be transmitted, if they are not moved by any consideration of decency, they at least should desire a worthy marriage. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:2-3
But the holy and prophetic mind is more concerned with an eternal posterity. What Abraham desires is in fact the offspring of wisdom and the inheritance of faith. This is why he says, "What will you give me, since I am about to depart without children?" What he desired was the progeny of the church. What he was requesting was a descendancy that would be not servile but free, not according to the flesh but according to grace. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:4
But if the words of Abraham are not enough to correct, consider the word of God, who condemns such a mode of transmitting inheritance. "This man shall not be your heir," he says, "but the other who will come out from you, he will be your heir." Who is this other of whom he speaks? In fact Hagar too bore a son, Ishmael, but he is not speaking of him. Instead, he is speaking of holy Isaac. For this reason he added "who will come out from you." In fact, the one who truly came out of Abraham is the one who was born of a legitimate marriage. But in Isaac, the legitimate son, we can see the One who is the true legitimate son, the Lord Jesus, of whom at the beginning of the Gospel according to Matthew we read that he is the son of Abraham. He was the true heir of Abraham, bringing renown to the descendants of the progenitor. Through him Abraham looked up to heaven and understood that the splendor of his posterity would be no less luminous than the radiance of the stars of heaven. As "one star differs from another in brightness, so it is also for the resurrection of the dead," said the apostle. The Lord, in joining to his resurrection people whom death was accustomed to hide in the ground, made them sharers in the heavenly kingdom. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:5
What is the meaning then of the expression "he brought him outside"? The prophet is as it were led out, so that he goes outside of the body and sees the limitations imposed by the flesh that is his garment and the infusion of the Holy Spirit who makes a kind of visible descent. We too must exit from the confinement of this our temporary dwelling. We must purify the place where our soul dwells from all uncleanness, throw out every stain of wickedness, if we wish to receive the spirit of wisdom, because "wisdom will not enter a wicked soul." Abraham believed, not because he was drawn by a promise of gold or silver but because he believed from the heart. "It was reckoned to him as righteousness." A reward was bestowed that corresponded to the test of his merit. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:6
And how did Abraham's progeny spread? Only through the inheritance he transmitted in virtue of faith. On this basis the faithful are assimilated to heaven, made comparable to the angels, equal to the stars. This is why he said, "So will your descendants be. And Abraham," the text says, "believed in God." What exactly did he believe? Prefiguratively he believed that Christ through the incarnation would become his heir. In order that you may know that this was what he believed, the Lord says, "Abraham saw my day and rejoiced." For this reason "he reckoned it to him as righteousness," because he did not seek the rational explanation but believed with great promptness of spirit. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:16
The history of the Jews, who went down into Egypt and came out from Egypt, seems to accord with this. The years they spent there were 430, but not all of them lived a hundred years and more, as did Moses and Joshua, so that the time of the fourth generation would be appropriate in this context. So let us search rather for a mystical sense. In fact, the number four adapts well to all numbers, and it is in a certain sense the root and base of the decimal. It also represents the midpoint of the number seven. In fact, the ninety-third psalm is entitled "fourth day of the week" because this number is the intermediary between the first three and those that follow. In fact, three days precede it: the first, the second and the third; and three follow: the fifth, the sixth, the seventh. One who sings this psalm is proceeding through the life of this world, so to speak, in accordance with aptly placed numbers, like a quadrangle stable and perfect. In four books the Gospel is complete and perfect. There are four mystical animals; and there are also four parts of the world, from which the assembled children of the church have propagated the most holy kingdom of Christ, coming from east and west and north and south. The holy church, therefore, has arisen with four sides. The decade too derives from this number. For if you total up the numbers from one to four you will have the number ten. Count one, add two to this: this makes three. Add three to three, this makes six. And to six add four, and this makes ten. Four then generates the decade, and the decade includes all numbers. Four is also the number of ages of a man: childhood, adolescence, virility and maturity. He rises gradually, and his wisdom is consolidated. Thus the fullness of wisdom comes, considering the ages, in fourth place. For this reason even if one has formerly been subjected to the king of Egypt, nevertheless with the age of maturity he is freed from his power and acknowledges his duty to follow the law. Then the sea of this life opens up to him. — On Abraham
Gênesis 15:18-19
Foreign peoples are given to Abraham as though for education and so that the most scrupulous mind of the just person might cut away their vices and correct their errors. But what is most evident here is rather the mystery of the church. Through its apostles, "who are Israelites, to whom belong the patriarchs," and from whose patriarchs "Christ was born according to the flesh" under the law, the church was to be constituted from the gathering of pagan peoples who would believe. And it is not by accident that these are indicated by the number ten but rather to show that these, at first unbelievers, when they had completed the measure of impiety, would certainly obtain the crown of faith. — On Abraham