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Compare & Correlate · Interpretive

The binding of Isaac and the cross

Abraham's son, the wood laid on him, the lamb God will provide, the mountain — set beside the crucifixion by a reading as old as the second century. No verse makes that connection. One New Testament verse does read Genesis 22, of Isaac received back; it is shown, and it does not carry the rest.

Interpretive: No verse makes this link. It is a reading, and it is named.

Genesis 22The crucifixion, as the reading sets itThe only son, lovedyour son, your only one, whom you love, Isaacyachid, only · ahav, loveGenesis 22:2this is my beloved sonMark 1:11The wood laid onhimAbraham laid the wood of the offering on Isaachis sonets, woodGenesis 22:6carrying his own crossJohn 19:17The lambGod will provide for himself the lambseh, lambGenesis 22:8behold, the Lamb of GodJohn 1:29What is offered in Genesis is a ram (Genesis 22:13), and that verse has no lamb in it. The lamb of 22:8 is neverprovided in the chapter.The ram in hisplacea ram caught by its horns, offered instead of hissonayil, ram · no sehGenesis 22:13no verse names the ramThe mountainone of the mountains in the land of MoriahMoriyyah, MoriahGenesis 22:2no verse puts the cross on Moriah2 Chronicles 3:1 builds the temple on Mount Moriah — a Hebrew text placing the house there. None places Golgothathere.Not withheldyou have not withheld your son, your only onechasakh, withhold · yachid, onlyGenesis 22:16he who did not spare his own SonRomans 8:32Paul does not cite Genesis here; the echo is a reader's.Received backdo not lay your hand on the boyGenesis 22:12he received him back, figuratively speakingHebrews 11:19The one row a New Testament verse makes. Hebrews reads Isaac received back as a figure of rising from the dead,not Isaac offered as a figure of the cross — and even so, in an entry that is a tradition's, it draws no arrow.

The binding of Isaac and the cross. Interpretive — no verse makes this connection. It is a reading, named and labelled below.

The words, as the corpus holds them (each checked present, or absent, in the verses cited beside it):

  • יָחִיד yachid, “only”
  • אָהַב ahav, “love”
  • עֵץ ets, “wood”
  • שֶׂה seh, “lamb”
  • אַיִל ayil, “ram”
  • מֹרִיָּה Moriyyah, “Moriah”
  • חָשַׂךְ chasakh, “withhold”

Whose reading: Christian typology from the second century: the Epistle of Barnabas 7:3, Melito of Sardis's fragments on Genesis 22, Tertullian, Against the Jews 10 · confidence: moderate. No verse makes this connection.

Sources:

  • Hebrew words checked in the verses cited beside them by tests/test_correlations.py; Greek references checked against SBLGNT for existence only.
  • The typology is named in the caption as the tradition's. Jewish reading of the Akedah developed its own tradition of Isaac's merit, which is a different reading and is not drawn here.

Row by row

Genesis 22The crucifixion, as the reading sets it
The only son, lovedyour son, your only one, whom you love, IsaacGenesis 22:2this is my beloved sonMark 1:11
The wood laid on himAbraham laid the wood of the offering on Isaac his sonGenesis 22:6carrying his own crossJohn 19:17
The lambGod will provide for himself the lambGenesis 22:8behold, the Lamb of GodJohn 1:29
What is offered in Genesis is a ram (Genesis 22:13), and that verse has no lamb in it. The lamb of 22:8 is never provided in the chapter.
The ram in his placea ram caught by its horns, offered instead of his sonGenesis 22:13no verse names the ram
The mountainone of the mountains in the land of MoriahGenesis 22:2no verse puts the cross on Moriah
2 Chronicles 3:1 builds the temple on Mount Moriah — a Hebrew text placing the house there. None places Golgotha there.
Not withheldyou have not withheld your son, your only oneGenesis 22:16he who did not spare his own SonRomans 8:32
Paul does not cite Genesis here; the echo is a reader's.
Received backdo not lay your hand on the boyGenesis 22:12he received him back, figuratively speakingHebrews 11:19
The one row a New Testament verse makes. Hebrews reads Isaac received back as a figure of rising from the dead, not Isaac offered as a figure of the cross — and even so, in an entry that is a tradition's, it draws no arrow.

Where it appears in the text

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