Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
(Genesis 22:13-14)

God gave a near fulfillment of the question Isaac asked. God provided the sacrifice. Because of what Abraham was willing to do, centuries later God would also provide THE sacrifice. THE child of the promise who would be the payment for Sin and our iniquities. Who would release salvation in its fullness and open the Way for us to be right with God again: Messiah Jesus.

Based on the wording Abraham used on the way up the mountain, Abraham had been looking for the sacrifice. I’m sure Isaac had too. They had looked and paid attention, even as they obeyed and were willing to submit to God about the situation. In some way this ram had been hidden from them. Either it was there before and hidden, or it suddenly showed up from down the mountain, or God manifested it into existence right then. Only God knows. But whatever the methodology, this thing that had previously not able to be seen was suddenly seen. Abraham untied his son, Isaac got down from the altar, and the two of them took the ram and sacrificed it in Isaac’s place. They used the sacrifice God provided and worshipped the Lord.

Right there on Mount Moriah, Abraham named the altar Jehovah-Jireh. It is the only time it appears in scripture. It means ‘Jevohah will see’ or ‘Jehovah will provide’. This is the same mount that the Temple ended up being built on. The location of Jerusalem. The same mount where Jesus was brought, put on trial, and as quiet as a sheep being led to the slaughter, gave Himself up as a sacrifice for our sins. Right here, God provided the sacrifice. Right here, Sin was paid for. Right here, salvation was open to humanity in all times and in all places. Jesus paid the price. God provided. He saw our situation and provided what we needed to leave it. To get back to Him. To be what we were created to be in the fullness of what we were created to walk in. God provided.

The sage Rashi writes: ‘והנה איל BEHOLD, A RAM — It was predestined for that purpose from the six days of Creation (Avot 5:5; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 23). אחר AFTER the angel had said to him “Lay not thy hand upon the lad” he saw it being caught in the thicket. And that is what we mean when we translate it in the Targum by “And Abraham lifted up his eyes after these (i.e. after these words)”. Other versions of Rashi have: according to the Midrashic explanation, after means after all the words of the angel and the Shechinah, and after all the arguments of Abraham. בסבך IN A THICKET— a tree. בקרניו BY ITS HORNS — because it was running towards Abraham, but Satan caused it to be caught and entangled among the trees (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 31). תחת בנו IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON — Since it is written, “He offered it up for a burnt offering”, surely nothing is missing in the text; what then is the force of “in the stead of his son”? At every sacrificial act he performed on it he prayed saying, “May it be Thy will that this act may be regarded as having been done to my son — as though my son is being slain; as though his blood is being sprinkled; as though his skin were being flayed; as though he is being burnt and is being reduced to ashes” (Genesis Rabbah 56:9).’

The sage Sforno writes: ‘והנה איל אחר נאחז בסבך, this incident indicated to him that G’d must have arranged for this ram to be at his disposal, and that there could be no question of his committing robbery if he took this ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering. The fact that there had been no such ram when he prepared the altar and bound Yitzchok and suddenly this ram materialised, was ample evidence of its purpose. תחת בנו, in exchange for what he had had in mind to do with his son. The phrase reminds us of Psalms 15,2 ודובר אמת בלבו, “he spoke truthfully in his heart.” אשר יאמר היום, the place of which the Israelites had said on the day that the Torah was written (or given) that G’d manifests Himself on the mountain. G’d would reveal which mountain this is only in the future, in the days of David, seeing that even in Deuteronomy 12,11 only veiled reference is made to such a mountain. It was this mountain, subsequently known as the Temple Mount which Avraham now named ה’ יראה.’

The sage Rav Hirsch writes: ‘V. 13. וישא. On that he looked around. He felt the urge to dedicate the sacrifice, this עקוד and העקד, this free-willed surrender of one’s whole being with hand and foot on the altar, which he had been ready to do in actuality, now, by a symbolic offering, to be the tenor of the whole future life of his son and the descendants of his son. Just as Isaac had been ready to sacrifice himself on the altar of God, and had risen up to life from the altar of God, so is this same feeling and the same cheerful readiness for sacrifice to be the vow expressed in offerings by him and his children, and fulfilled in life. Isaac’s life and the life of his children are to form an eternal Akeida. V. 14. By the name ה׳ יראה Abraham bequeathed the הוראה which Moriah is to bring to his descendants by the remembrance of this event, ה׳ יראה (somewhat reminiscent of ה׳ יראה לו וגו׳) God sees. Even when we, and where we, do not see, God sees, freely and willingly have we to subordinate our own judgment to His. “God sees” thus Abraham expresses the general meaning of Moriah. But today, after this general conviction of God has manifested itself for us in a special act of revelation, and God has given us His insight into what is good and right for us in His Torah—for which a Sanctuary is to be erected on this Mount — so that we are to live the whole of our lives in accordance with it, today this great Truth is not expressed by the general term “God sees”, but that each one of us “is seen by God”, and has to present himself repeatedly on this Mount “to be seen” to be testingly inspected. Thrice yearly יֵרָאֶה, every son of Abraham and Isaac must be seen on this mount, and not ריקם, with mere inner, passing devotion, but with the sacrificing dedication of the whole of his being as expressed in עולת ראיה. Everybody who henceforth appears on Moriah with his עולת ראיה attaches himself to the עולה which Abraham brought תחת בנו, and vows to do his part of the Akeida task which his ancestor undertook for his son and his descendants on that spot, and in accomplishing it himself had pilgrimed up to the heights of Moriah as an example for all time.’