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וישכם AND HE ROSE EARLY — He was alert to fulfil the command (Pesachim 4a)

AND HE CLEAVED THE WOOD FOR THE BURNT-OFFERING. This illustrates Abraham’s zeal in performing a commandment for he thought that perhaps there would be no wood in that place, and so he carried it for three days. It may be that Abraham disqualified for use as an offering any wood in which a worm is found, as is the law of the Torah,³⁸¹Midoth 2:5. and so he took from his house sound wood for the burnt-offering. Hence it says, And he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering.

וילך אל המקום, to the land of Moriah.

וישכם אברהם בבוקר. Abraham arose early in the morning. Abraham acted in line with what we know from Leviticus 7,38, that sacrifices may be brought only by day. Our sages also said (Zevachim 98) that one must not bring an offering at night. Abraham therefore set out at an hour that was suitable for bringing an offering. He did not know how far he had to travel and he wanted to have enough time left to offer the sacrifice once he would be at the right place. In view of G'd having addressed Abraham by day, perhaps he should not have waited until the following day; it is possible that he received the instructions in the late afternoon or that Isaac was not at home at the time. By reporting that Abraham rose early, the Torah explains that the day's delay was not due to any negligence on Abraham's part.

וישכם אברהם, he rose early to carry out G’d’s bidding without telling Sarah anything about it. He was afraid that she might do harm to herself out of her love for Yitzchok.

And [Avraham] awoke early in the morning: That is right after the breaking of the dawn. And see what I wrote on the book of Exodus 34:4 (Haamek Davar on Exodus 34:4).

ויבקע עצי עולה, “He split the kindling for use in the burnt offering.” He had made all these preparations in the event there would be no trees on that mountain. Alternately, he brought the wood from his house after he had examined that it was free from worms. We have a halachah, according to which worm eaten wood must not be used on the altar of the Temple.

ויבקע עצי עולה, “he split the wood for the burnt-offering.” Avraham did this already at this stage as he was concerned that when he would arrive at the site he might not find suitable kindling. This demonstrated that he was so eager to carry out G’d’s command that he carried the wood with him a distance of three days’ journey.
It is also possible that Avraham was aware of the halachic ruling that firewood for the altar which is worm-infested is unfit, and that this is the reason he took wood from his home which he had had a chance to examine for the presence of worms. According to Bereshit Rabbah (55,8) G’d paid Avraham his reward for having troubled himself to split the firewood when He split the sea of reeds for Avraham’s descendants to walk through on their march out of Egypt. This is alluded to in the text when the Torah describes the splitting of the waters in terms of splitting wood, i.e. ויבקעו המים, ”the waters were split” (Exodus 14,21). There is an opinion expressed in the same Midrash that such an interpretation does not do justice to the event, but that both G’d and Avraham respectively each did what they could to bring about a desired result.

Yishmael and EliezerRashi knows this] because otherwise, what does “his two assistants” mean? Did Avraham have only two assistants? Perforce, it means his special assistants Yishmael and Eliezer. See Bamidbar 22:22 where I answered why Rashi explained Bilaam’s [need for] two assistants differently, [saying: “An esteemed person who travels should take along two people to serve him, and for one to serve the other.”] But the Maharshal answered that Rashi explained that Bilaam’s assistants served one another because Bilaam was arrogant and needed service. But Avraham was humble and did not require service; he took care of himself. He took along two assistants only so he would not be alone when one of them needs to relieve himself. Thus Rashi explained here as he did.

— —"nahm seine beiden Leute mit sich und Jizchak seinen Sohn". Die Reihenfolge ist nicht bedeutungslos. Er sagte Jizchak so spät als möglich davon. Ferner ויקח את שני נעריו אתו, dieses ויקח ist noch nicht auf der Reise. Der Aufbruch zur Reise folgt erst: ויקם וילך. Vielmehr bevor er Jizchak weckte, nahm er seine Leute zu sich. Er wollte Jizchak den Kampf so lange als möglich ersparen und wollte es auch vermeiden, mit ihm allein zu sein. Jizchak war kein Kind mehr, er war ein siebenunddreißigjähriger selbständiger Mann. Seine Seelengröße tritt daher in dieser ganzen Handlung derjenigen Abrahams ebenbürtig zur Seite. Jizchak hatte den Auftrag nicht unmittelbar empfangen, kannte ihn nur aus dem Munde seines Vaters als תשב"פ. Wie bei Adam und Chawa, wo Chawa mit bestraft wurde für ein Verbot, das sie nur aus Adams Munde kannte, so opfert sich hier der erste jüdische Sohn für eine Tradition hin, die er nur aus des Vaters Munde erfahren hatte. Hier ward der Keim gelegt für die Hingebung der späteren Geschlechter an die Überlieferung der Väter. So auch die Weisen (Sanhedrin 89.b.): wie hat Jizchak einer solchen הוראת שעה Abrahams glauben mögen, ja glauben dürfen? היכא דמוחזק שאני, lautet die Antwort, nicht auf Grund eines besonderen Beglaubungswunders, sondern auf Grund des ihm bereits feststehenden Charakters des Vaters. Auch unsere Hingebung an die Überlieferung der Väter beruht auf ihrem Charakter. So wenig wie Abraham waren unsere Väter Hierarchen. Aus ihrem Munde ging keine Überlieferung, der sie nicht in erster Linie sich selbst zum Opfer gebracht — keine zarteren Stellen enthält der Midrasch als die, worin alle die Zweifel dem Sohne in den Mund gelegt werden, welche Abraham und Isaak auf ihrem schweren Gange wohl hätten schwankend machen können. In diesen drei Tagen ward wenig gesprochen, aber unendlich viel gefühlt und gedacht. Abraham scheint also dadurch, dass er zuerst seine Leute weckte und sie zu sich nahm, sich sebst gegen die Übermannung seines Gefühles verbarrikadiert und das Alleinsein mit Isaak gemieden zu haben.

Avraham awoke early in the morning: To saddle his donkey, as he was alacritous and driven to do the will of his Maker.

ויקח את שני נעריו, “he took his two attendants;” here Rashi does not interpret what he had explained in connection with a similar expression when Bileam took his two servants (Numbers 22,22). There he had explained that prominent people must always travel in the company of two attendants so that one of them has to follow a call of nature so the prominent person will not have been left alone.

ויחבוש AND HE SADDLED [HIS ASS]—He himself: he did not order one of his servants to do so, for love disregards the rule imposed on one by his exalted position in life. (“Love” here means Love of God as displayed in obedience to His command.) (Genesis Rabbah 55:8)

His two lads with him (ito): Here, it is written, "ito," whereas with Bilaam, it is written, "imo" (another way of saying, with him); and likewise in the book of I Samuel 28:8. The difference between ito and imo is explained (Haamek Davar on Numbers 5:4): That imo implies more equality and friendliness together than the expression, ito. And that is why this difference comes up - as Avraham did not become friendly with his lads then, like Bilaam and [did].

את שני נעריו, the ones who usually accompanied him on any journey.

Onkelos translates it וצלח [he split] as in וצלחו [they split]... It seems that Rashi is not proving from Onkelos [that ויבקע means “splitting”]. Rather, he is explaining that [also Onkelos’s translation of] צלח is “splitting,” as in (Shmuel II 19:18): “They split (וצלחו) the Jordan.”

את שני נעריו HIS TWO LADS — Ishmael and Eliezer. For a man of high standing should not travel without two men as attendants (Leviticus Rabbah 26:7) so that if one needs to ease himself and goes aside for this purpose the other will still remain with him (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 8)

And he split the wood of the burnt-offering: After he took them outside of the city, he then split the wood of the burnt-offering. And he did this so that Sarah would not notice. As it is certain that he told her that he was going and taking Yitzchak for [some] elevated purpose, but he did not reveal the matter. And it is already known that he told her that he was taking him to the study hall of Shem and Ever. And so he did at the end - as will be explained on verse 19 (Haamek Davar on Genesis 22:19). Consequently, he needed to hide the work of splitting the wood.

אל המקום אשר אמר לו, to the land known as Moriah, seeing that G’d had not yet revealed to him on which mountain he was to offer Yitzchok as a burnt offering.

ויבקע AND HE CLEAVED [THE WOOD] — Its rendering in the Targum וצלח has the same meaning as the verb in (2 Samuel 19:18) And they rushed into the Jordan”, which signifies cleaving the waters; old French fendre; English to split.

The wood of the burnt-offering: That which is fit for a burnt-offering. It is as we learned in Middot, Chapter 2 (Middot 2:5), "Any wood that has a worm in it is disqualified from being on the altar." And there are several other laws about this - and it is known that Avraham, our father, studied Torah. And see also what is proximate.

And he rose and went: Up until here, he went from his home slowly, without alacrity. As behold, he still had to choose the wood and to prepare. After this, it is written, "and he rose" - with alacrity.

To the place: If the intent is the Land of Moriah in general, it needs [to write], "to the Land." Rather the intent is the mountain. However this is ostensibly difficult, as he surely did not yet know [which] mountain. Rather the intent of the verse is that, from the Heavens, he chanced to go in the direction that one goes to approach that place. For behold, one who goes from one land to another land has several paths. But the one going [usually] knows which path is close to the specific place in that land to which he is going. However this was not the case with Avraham. He did not know the specific place [to which he was going]. And if so, he did not know upon which path to go; but he chose a path nevertheless. And his steps were guided from the Heavens to the place that [God] told him.