On this day, September the Third, Mesra 28th, The Church celebrates
the holy Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
1. Our father Abraham.
Who can describe the virtues of he
who became a father to many nations? He believed in God, obeyed Him, and did
not doubt His promises. The Lord appeared to him in a vision at night and told
him, "Get out of your country, away from your family and from your
father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing."
(Genesis 12:1-2) Then the Lord appeared to Abraham in the form of three men. He
welcomed them, for they were strangers, and God promised him the birth of
Isaac. Abraham was then one hundred years old; Sarah, his wife, was advanced in
age, and they believed the promise of God.
When Isaac was born, Abraham, his
father, circumcised him on the eighth day of his birth. Although he was sure
that through his procreation all the nations of the earth would be blessed, God
told him, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and
offer him there as a burnt offering." He did not doubt the promise of God.
He began to offer his son as a sacrifice, confident that God would raise him,
and raise offspring through him. When he fulfilled the sacrifice of Isaac by
intention, God revealed his virtues to the generations to come by saying,
"By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing,
and have not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you,
and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the
heaven." (Genesis 22:1-18) That was fulfilled and he was called the father
of Christ in flesh. (Luke 3:34) He departed in peace when he was one hundred
seventy-five years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
He was born by a divine promise, and
he was perfect in piety and obedience to God and to his father. He was willing
to be sacrificed by his father as an offering to God, although he was the son
of the promise, and his father begot him when he was one hundred years old.
Isaac was not a child then, for the Bible said, "So Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and went to the place which
was afar off." Some historians say that Isaac's age then was about
thirty-seven years old. He obeyed his father and laid down his neck for the
slaying, but the angel of the Lord ordered his father not to lay his hand on
the lad. As it was considered that Abraham had fulfilled the sacrifice of his
son by intention, it was also considered that Isaac was sacrificed by intention.
He suffered many tribulations and
sorrows. God gave him two sons, Esau and Jacob. Isaac loved Esau for his
bravery. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, he
called Esau, his older son, and said to him, "My son ... behold now, I am
old. I do not know the day of my death. Now, therefore, please ... go out to
the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food ... that I may eat,
that my soul may bless you before I die." Rebecca was listening when Isaac
spoke to Esau his son. She spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "... Go now to
the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make
savory food from them for your father, such as he loves ... that he may bless
you before his death." Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau
my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father
will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him, and I shall bring a
curse on myself and not a blessing." But his mother said to him, "Let
your curse be on me, my son." (Genesis 27:1-29) She did that by a divine
inspiration. Jacob did as his mother ordered him, and his father ate and
blessed him. Isaac departed in peace when he was one hundred eighty years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Esau, his brother, hated him for he
took the blessing of their father from him. Jacob feared Esau and fled to
Laban, his uncle. He shepherded Laban's sheep for seven years and Laban gave
Jacob his daughter, Leah, in marriage. Then Jacob served another seven years,
and Laban gave him his second daughter, Rachel, in marriage. (Genesis 29:15-30)
Then Laban, his uncle, told him, "The sheep that are streaked shall be
your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked." (Genesis 31:4-8)
God made him exceedingly wealthy. He
returned with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and God blessed him with twelve
sons. He saw God face to face and wrestled with him until the breaking of day,
and God called him Israel
He suffered many sorrows and
tribulations, such as the selling of Joseph his son as a servant to the
Egyptians, the loss of his sight, the severe famine, and others as mentioned in
the Holy Bible. His son Joseph then rose to power and became the second man in Egypt Egypt Judah Shiloh comes;
and to Him shall be the obedience of the people." That was a prophecy about
the coming of the Lord Christ from his seed. When he was one hundred
forty-seven years, he departed in peace, after commanding that he be buried in
the tomb of his fathers. Joseph carried him in the chariot of Pharaoh, brought
him to the land Canaan
May his prayers be with us and Glory
be to our God forever. Amen.