Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Remains of the Second and Third Centuries/Melito, the Philosopher/Chapter 12

V.

From the Catena on Genesis.

In place of Isaac the just, a ram appeared for slaughter, in order that Isaac might be liberated from his bonds.&#160; The slaughter of this animal redeemed Isaac from death.&#160; In like manner, the Lord, being slain, saved us; being bound, He loosed us; being sacrificed, He redeemed us&#8230;

For the Lord was a lamb, like the ram which Abraham saw caught in the bush Sabec. &#160; But this bush represented the cross, and that place Jerusalem, and the lamb the Lord bound for slaughter.

For as a ram was He bound, says he concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and as a lamb was He shorn, and as a sheep was He led to the slaughter, and as a lamb was He crucified; and He carried the cross on His shoulders when He was led up to the hill to be slain, as was Isaac by his father.&#160; But Christ suffered, and Isaac did not suffer:&#160; for he was but a type of Him who should suffer.&#160; Yet, even when serving only for a type of Christ, he smote men with astonishment and fear.

For a new mystery was presented to view,&#8212;a son led by his father to a mountain to be slain, whose feet he bound together, and laid him on the wood of the sacrifice, preparing with care whatever was necessary to his immolation.&#160; Isaac on his part is silent, bound like a ram, not opening his mouth, nor uttering a sound with his voice.&#160; For, not fearing the knife, nor quailing before the fire, nor troubled by the prospect of suffering, he sustained bravely the character of the type of the Lord.&#160; Accordingly there lies Isaac before us, with his feet bound like a ram, his father standing by, with the knife all bare in his hand, not shrinking from shedding the blood of his son.