פירוש על בראשית 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.