Genesis 22:3
He clave the wood
The wood is prepared at the start of a three day walk, before the mountain is even identified. Nothing about the preparation is left to the destination.
Objects of the Bible
The altar and the ram in the thicket
Everything needed for the sacrifice was carried up the hill except the animal, and the animal was already there.
The inventory is given twice and it is the same both times. Fire in his hand, a knife, and wood that he had cleaved himself before setting out three days earlier. What is missing is named by a boy: behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering. The altar is built on the spot from whatever the hill provides, the wood is laid in order on it, and the account slows to one action per clause.
Scroll down to the story
The movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of The altar and the ram in the thicket
- 01
- 02
Genesis 22:6-8
Where is the lamb
The fire and the knife stay in the father’s hand and the wood goes on the son. The question is asked on the way up and answered without being evaded.
- 03
Genesis 22:9-10
He built an altar, and laid the wood in order
Five verbs in one verse, each one finished before the next begins. The account refuses to hurry the part a reader most wants hurried.
- 04
Genesis 22:13
Behind him a ram caught in a thicket
It is found rather than delivered, and it is behind him, which means it was there the whole time he was looking forward.
- 05
Genesis 22:14
Jehovahjireh
He names the place for the provision rather than for the test, and the saying that outlives him is about seeing, not about obeying.
Why it matters
The ram is not sent, it is found. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns, which means it had been there through the building and the binding and the knife. He offers it up in the stead of his son, and names the place for what he has just learned rather than for what he brought: Jehovahjireh. The saying attached to it is in the passive and in the future, in the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
2 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
