Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 22:4

"On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off." — Genesis 22:4 (ASV)

On the third day. —We may compare the patriarch's feelings during these two weary days of travel with those of Hagar as she wandered in the wilderness, and each day felt the death of her child growing nearer and more certain. But hers were human sorrows only, while Abraham was giving up the son on whom his spiritual hopes depended.

Afar off. —The summit called the Mountain of the House, usually identified with Mount Moriah, cannot be seen by a traveler from Beersheba at a greater distance than three miles (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 251). Hence it has been argued that some more widely conspicuous hilltop must be meant.

But the phrase afar off is used very indefinitely, and three miles exactly agrees with what Abraham did. For he left the servants at the spot, and laid the wood on Isaac, and went the rest of the way on foot. It must have severely taxed the strength of the boy to be compelled to carry the wood a distance of three miles, while to have carried it from the spot where Gerizim becomes visible would have been impossible.

In Isaac thus carrying the wood on which he was to be sacrificed, the Fathers discerned a type of Christ carrying his cross (John 19:17).