Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 22:5

"And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you." — Genesis 22:5 (ASV)

I and the lad will ... come again to you. —In these words Abraham expresses the hope ascribed to him in Hebrews 11:19. The belief in the resurrection of the body was not a new thing for Abraham, as it was part of the creed of both Chaldea and Egypt (Tomkins, Studies, p. 127).

God will provide himself a lamb. —Hebrew, the lamb. We learn from Hebrews 11:17-19 that Abraham expected that he was to consummate the sacrifice, but that Isaac would be restored to him from the dead, and the promise that his seed was to be born of him would thus be fulfilled. The bestowal of Isaac had been so extraordinary that Abraham would not feel staggered by what otherwise would have seemed incredible.

Apparently, therefore, he meant Isaac by the lamb, thus showing that it was not he who chose the victim, but God. The few words that passed between father and son, the notice by the latter that amid such careful preparation no victim had been provided, the father’s answer that the matter was left to God, the resolute faith of the one, and the trusting submission of the other, as they went both of them together, form a picture full not merely of interest, but even of tragic pathos.