Commentaire sur La Genèse 22:4

ביום השלישי ON THE THIRD DAY — Why did God delay and not show it to him at once? So that people should not say, “He confused and confounded him suddenly and bewildered his mind. If, however, he had had time for consideration, he would not have obeyed” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22).

AND HE SAW THE PLACE AFAR OFF. He saw a cloud attached to the mountain,³⁸²Bereshith Rabbah 56:2. and through this was fulfilled the Divine assurance, which I will tell thee of.³⁸³Verse 2 here.
It is possible, in line with the simple meaning of Scripture, that the verse, And he saw the place afar off, means that he saw the land of Moriah for he knew that entire land [although he did not know the specific mountain].

And he saw the place from afar: But not from close. As he saw the light of the Presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is called the Place of the world. [This was] a sight of the senses that was specifically from afar. It was like staring at the sun, since a person is able to stare at the sun from afar, but not from close. For the sense of vision does not have the ability to stare at the sun when it is close to a person. All the more so and all the more so, the splendor of the light of His Presence, may He be blessed. Likewise did Moshe say (Exodus 3:3), "Allow me to turn aside, and I shall see, etc." "Allow me to turn aside," meaning to say, to move away from the holy place, and not to be close to it. And all of this is in order to see [it]. And likewise did Yirmiyah say (Jeremiah 31:3), "From afar did the Lord appear" - it is implied, but not from close.

וישא אברהם את עיניו וירא את המקום, the place for offering the sacrifice on the mountain of Moriah.

ביום השלישי וישא אברהם, the letter ו is something additional, a phenomenon we encounter frequently, such as in Genesis 36,24 ואלה בני צבעון ואיה וענה. The Torah could also have written ביום השלישי נשא אברהם את עיניו, “on the third day Avraham raised his eyes.” (using the ordinary past tense, instead of the future tense with the vav hahipuch. It is possible to justify the use of the form with the letter ו by understanding this verse as a continuation of the previous verse and reading that one as if it had been written: וילך אל המקום ביום השלישי, “he went (arrived) to the place on the third day.” At that time he raised his eyes in the direction of the site in question, i.e. Jerusalem. In other words, once Avraham had entered the general area known as ארץ המוריה, he raised his eyes to look for the specific site G’d must have had in mind. At any rate, he did not yet know which mountain G’d had chosen for him to erect the altar on which to sacrifice Yitzchok. According to Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 31 and other Midrashim, the words וירא את המקום מרחוק refer to Avraham actually seeing the mountain in question. He identified it as he saw a column of fire on that mountain. He asked his son if he saw anything specific on any of the mountains, to which Yitzchok replied that he saw a column of fire on one of the mountains. When Avraham repeated the same question to Ishmael and Eliezer previously described as נעריו, his lads, they both answered in the negative. Upon hearing that both of these men did not notice anything out of the ordinary, he told them to remain near the donkey which could also not see anything unusual. שבו לכם עם החמור, with those who are like donkeys.

And Avraham raised his eyes: Why [there was a need for] this raising of the eyes is unclear. If it was in order to see the place, is it not that it was not a sensory sight but rather a spiritual sight? So when the will of the Omnipresent, may He be blessed, would arrive at showing him, he would see even without raising the eyes. Rather the explanation is that he lifted his eyes to the Omnipresent (Makom, the word used in this verse to mean, the place he wished to see). For the journey irritated him greatly, and he would have absolutely preferred to finish this deed, and not to endure the test [so] long. And it was also because he needed to conceal the matter from the lads, such that it would not also become difficult in their eyes - 'where is the lamb?' Hence he asked from God that he should see. And so is it in Rabbah (Bereishit Rabbah 56:1), that he was saved from this on the third day, like many righteous people that were saved from their distress on the third day.

וירא את המקום מרחוק, “he saw the place from a distance.” He observed that only this particular mountain was covered by a cloud. According to the plain meaning of the text, the verse means that Avraham could recognize the region already from a distance, as he had been familiar with it.

וירא את המקום מרחוק, “he saw the place from a distance.” According to Tanchuma Vayera 23, at that point Avraham asked Yitzchak: “Do you see what I see?” Yitzchak answered: “I see a beautiful mountain which has a cloud attached to it.” Thereupon Avraham said to the two lads: “Do you see anything unusual?” They said: “we do not see anything unusual at all, only deserts and a bare mountain.” Thereupon Avraham said to them: “you and the donkey stay here,” (seeing they had not noticed anything beyond what also the donkey must have seen). He added that he and Yitzchak would go somewhat further, i.e. ואני והנער נלכה עד כה. Avraham may have unwittingly chosen the expression כה (a Freudian slip) seeing that at the covenant between the pieces in Genesis 15,5 G’d had assured him כה יהיה זרעך, “so will be your descendants.” He must have wondered how this statement could be reconciled with what he was being asked to do at that time. Alternatively, he meant he would go to face the G’d who had assured him of numerous offspring at a time when he had not yet fathered even Ishmael.
It is remarkable that the Torah describes a man of 37 years of age such as Yitzchak as נער, “lad.” When you peruse Scripture you will see that this is not as remarkable as it appears at first glance. Joshua is described as a נער at a time when he was 56 years old (Exodus 33,11).

Nicht ויהי ביום השלישי וישא וגו׳ sondern: am dritten Tage, als da Abraham seine Augen aufhub, sah er den Ort. נשא עין ist immer ein absichtliches Auf- und Umschauen. Er hatte die ganze Zeit immer sich umgesehen, aber nichts geschaut, woraus er hätte erkennen können, dass dies der von Gott bestimmte Ort sei, hatte immer gezittert, ihn zu sehen, bis endlich am dritten Tage er ihn gewahrte.

וישא אברהם את עיניו, “Avraham raised his eyes;” The letter ו in the word וישא is superfluous. [I confess that I have not understood this. Ed.]

וירא את המקום AND HE SAW THE PLACE — He saw a cloud lowering over the mountain (Genesis Rabbah 56:1).

מרחוק, he was granted additional eyesight to espy this place from a greater distance than he would normally have been able to see.