Homilies on Genesis 18–45

Homily 36

HOMILY 36 "Now, after these events Abram received an oracle from the Lord in a vision by night, with these words, 'Don't be afraid, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward will be exceedingly great.' "1 HE [332] VIRTUE OF THE JUST resembles a treasure that contains great wealth beyond all telling. Just as any person who managed to take from that treasure even a slight part would gain for himself considerable prosperity , exactly the same you will find happening also in the case of the patriarch. Notice, in fact, how almost every day we propose to you some instruction from the narrative about him, providing you with sustenance in generous measure without ever being able to deal adequately with the slightest part of his good deeds even today-such is the abundance of his virtue. It is like the waters flowing generously from a spring: even if people draw from them all, the waters emerging from the spring not only suffer no diminution, but the greater number of people drawing water so much the greater force does the water have in issuing forth. Well, exactly the same thing do we see happening in the case of this wonderful patriarch: despite the great numbers of people drawing from the spring of his good deeds from the time he lived up to the present, not only have they not exhausted the waters but the wealth of his good deeds abounds even further. In fact, we will find commentary on him occurring in the pages of Sacred Scripture stitched together like some golden thread:2 on I. Gen 15.1, with the addition of the words "by night," perhaps by Chrysostom himself, since the words are not in Hebrew or the LXX generally, and yet Chrysostom makes some play on them. 2. This homily, like many others, eases the congregation into the subject matter through a series of figures to do with the rich fare being offered in a scriptural homily, as we noted in Introduction (12) in FOTC 74. This homily protracts the series more than most. 324 HOMILY 36 325 each occasion he is first observed giving evidence of his characteristic good sense, while immediately there follows reward from God. (2) For you to learn that this is the case, we need to summarize for you his story from the beginning, [333] so that you may see both the extraordinary degree of the just man's faith shown in regard to God's promises and rewards provided generously by the loving God. In fact, this just man is capable of instructing us all to embrace with enthusiasm the struggles of virtue in our trust in rewards from above, to realize the generosity of our Lord and to accept with ease all the things considered difficult in this world's terms, nourished as we are by the hope of recompense. Pay close attention , I beseech you, how from the outset he brought to bear his own innate resources arising from the knowledge inherent in our nature and had no teacher from any external source; rather, he was raised by infidel parents and yet enjoyed the divine vision. You see, since, far from following in the erroneous footsteps of his father, from his earliest years he gave evidence instead of devotion to divine things, he soon had the good fortune to enjoy attention from above while still in Chaldea . This, remember, was what blessed Stephen explained clearly to us in these words, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before settling in Charran.'''3 Do you see how the vision induced him to move from there? After all, it was to be expected that with his devotion to divine things he would have shown respect for his parents and won his father over to a loving frame of mind, and thus become the cause of his moving from there: on account of the son's love the father would have consented to abandon his own country and dwell in a foreign one. Consider , precisely, however, I ask you, how the attention given him by God on account of his anticipated virtue once more causes his virtue to be more patent: he chose to leave the paternal country and dwell in a foreign one so as to put into effect the command from God. In my opinion he was ready 3· Acts 7.2 . [3.140.185.123] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 21:36...