And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
13. and behold, behind him] The R.V. marginal note refers to a difference of reading, arising from the similarity of the two Heb. letters for r ( ) and ( ) d. The word, rendered “behind,” would, by the alteration of r into d, appear with the same consonants as the word meaning “one”: and this reading is found in the LXX, Sam., Peshitto, Targums, and many Heb. MSS. But the text, “behind him,” is to be preferred.
For the sudden appearance of a ram, cf. the similar suddenness of appearance in Gen 18:2, Gen 21:19. God’s gifts may be near at hand, and not yet discerned; the recognition of God’s voice brings a sudden realization of His gifts.
a ram ] The conjecture that the word rendered “ram” ( ayil) should, with different vowel points, be rendered a “hart” ( ayyl) is not to be approved. For (1) wild animals were not usually sacrificed by Hebrews; (2) Gen 22:7-8, by the mention of “lamb,” prepare us for “a ram”; (3) the word “thicket” seems to imply the twisted horns of a ram being entangled in brushwood.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behind him; which way he looked, either because the voice came that way, or because he heard the noise made by the motion of the ram in the thicket, which had gone astray from the rest of the flock, and whose errors were directed hither by Gods wise and powerful providence; and being young, though horned, it might be called either lamb, as Gen 22:7, or
ram, as it is here. There needs no curious inquiry how he could offer up that to God which was not his own, both because it was found in a public place, and in all probability utterly lost to its owner, and because he had no doubt a warrant and inspiration for it from the great Lord and supreme Owner of all things.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13-19. Abraham lifted up his eyes .. . and behold . . . a ram, &c.No method was moreadmirably calculated to give the patriarch a distinct idea of thepurpose of grace than this scenic representation: and hence ourLord’s allusion to it (Joh 8:56).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Abraham lifted up his eyes,…. They were before fixed upon his son lying upon the altar, and intent upon that part he was going to thrust his knife into; but hearing a voice from heaven above him, he lift up his eyes thitherward:
and looked, and, behold, behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; the ram making a noise and rustling among the bushes behind the place where Abraham was, he turned himself, and looked and saw it: the Targum of Onkelos introduces the clause thus, “after these things”; and so the Arabic version: after Abraham had heard the voice of the angel, and had lift up his eyes to heaven, he was directed to look behind him; and both that and the Targum of Jonathan paraphrase it,
“and he saw and beheld one ram;”
and so the Septuagint, Syriac and Samaritan versions, reading instead of . This ram was caught and held by his horns in a thicket of briers, brambles, and thorns, or in the thick branches of the shrubs or bushes which grew upon the mount; and the horns of a ram being crooked, are easily implicated in such thickets, but not easily loosed. From whence this ram came is not known; it can hardly be thought to come from Abraham’s fold, or to be his property, since he was three days’ journey distant from home; very likely it had strayed from neighbouring flocks, and was by the providence of God directed hither at a seasonable time. The Jewish writers k say, it was from the creation of the world; and there is no absurdity or improbability to suppose it was immediately created by the power of God, and in an extraordinary manner provided; and was a type of our Lord Jesus, who was foreordained of God before the foundation of the world, and came into the world in an uncommon way, being born of a virgin, and that in the fulness of time, and seasonably, and in due time died for the sins of men. The ram has its name from “strength”, in the Hebrew language, and was an emblem of a great personage, Da 8:3; and may denote the strength and dignity of Christ as a divine Person; being caught in a thicket, may be an emblem of the decrees of God, in which he was appointed to be the Saviour; or the covenant agreement and transactions with his Father, in which he voluntarily involved himself, and by which he was held; or the sins of his people, which were laid upon him by imputation, were wreathed about him, and justice finding him implicated with them, required satisfaction, and had it; or the hands of wicked men, sons of Belial, comparable to thorns, by whom he was taken; or the sorrows of death and hell that encompassed him, and the curses of a righteous law which lay upon him; and perhaps he never more resembled this ram caught in a thicket, than when a platted crown of thorns was put upon his head, and he wore it;
and Abraham went and took the ram; without regarding whose property it was, since God, the owner and proprietor of all, had provided it for him, and brought it to him at a very seasonable time, and directed him to take it:
and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead of his son; in which also was a type of Christ, who was made an offering for sin, and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savour; and its being a burnt offering denotes the sufferings of Christ, and the severity of them; and which were in the room and stead of his people, of God’s Isaac, of spiritual seed of Abraham, of the children of God of the promise, of all his beloved ones; who therefore are let go, justice being satisfied with what Christ has done and suffered, it being all one as if they had suffered themselves; as here in the type, the ram having, its throat cut, its blood shed, its skin flayed, and the whole burnt to ashes, were as if Isaac himself had been thus dealt with, as Jarchi observes. Alexander Polyhistor l, an Heathen writer, has, in agreement with the sacred history, given a narrative of this affair in a few words,
“God (he says) commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac to him for a burnt offering, and taking the lad with him to a mountain, laid and kindled an heap of wood, and put Isaac upon it; and when he was about to slay him, was forbidden by an angel, who presented a ram to him for sacrifice, and then Abraham removed his son from the pile, and offered up the ram.”
k Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 31.). Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. l Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 19. p. 421.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. And, behold, behind him a ram. What the Jews feign respecting this ram, as having been created on the sixth day of the world, is like the rest of their fictions. We need not doubt that it was presented there by miracle, whether it was then first created, or whether it was brought from some other place; for God intended to give that to his servant which would enable him, with joy and cheerfulness, to offer up a pleasant sacrifice: and at the same time he admonishes him to return thanks. Moreover, since a ram is substituted in the place of Isaac, God shows us, as in a glass, what is the design of our mortification; namely, that by the Spirit of God dwelling within us, we, though dead, may yet be living sacrifices. I am not ignorant that more subtle allegories may be elicited; but I do not see on what foundation they rest.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Behind.By a slight change in the shape of a consonant, many ancient authorities read one ram instead of a ram behind (him is not in the Hebrew). This correction is almost certain, as nowhere else is the word translated behind used as an adverb of place. The ram was probably that with four horns, still common in the East.
A burnt offering in the stead of his son.We have here the fact of substitution, and the doctrine of a vicarious sacrifice. The ram took Isaacs place, and by its actual death completed the typical representation of the Saviours death on Calvary. In The Speakers Commentary it has been well shown, that there is no difficulty in this representation being composed of two parts, so that what was wanting in Isaac should be supplied by the ram. And while it would have been most painful for Isaac to have actually died by his fathers hand, the doctrine of the possibility of a vicarious sacrifice would have been even less clearly taught thereby. He therefore rises again to life from the altar, and the ram dies in his stead, and by the two combined the whole mystery is set forth of God giving His Son to die for mankind, and of life springing from His death. Compare the mystery of the two birds, Lev. 14:4; and the two goats, Lev. 16:8.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Lifted looked behold These verbs afford another vivid word-picture . The startled patriarch hears, stops short, looks up and all around to see and know all that Jehovah wills .
A ram The Samaritan, Sept . , Syriac, and many MSS . read one ram, which would result from the mere changing of into in the word , translated behind. Such a reading would emphasize the ram as being single and separate from the flock, thus typifying, as some think, the Lamb of God as being “separate from sinners . ” Heb 7:26. The same thought, however, may be held with the common reading . God had truly provided a lamb for a burnt offering . Comp . Gen 22:8.
Caught in a thicket by his horns “What, then, did he represent,” asks Augustine, “but Jesus . who before he was offered up, was crowned with thorns by the Jews?”
Offered him up in the stead of his son Here comes out prominently the idea of substitution in sacrifice; the animal for the human life . But it is scarcely proper to hold up this incident as designed to teach or enhance the doctrine of vicarious atonement . That doctrine is, indeed, implied; but the prominent thought is not that either Isaac’s or Abraham’s life was now demanded in order to atone for sin . The typical lessons of the whole procedure are rather incidental, and to be presented as by accommodation and analogy, (see below,) not as the great thought, which is to show the perfection of Abraham’s faith in God .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.’
To us it may seem an afterthought, but to Abraham it is one great swell of praise to Yahweh. Never had he offered a ram with more gratitude and with more praise in his heart. Whatever the normal significance of the burnt offering it is clearly stated that in this particular case it is substitutionary. It replaces his son. The burnt offering was in fact more of a total offering to God of worship and praise and dedication, and it was this for Abraham. But as ever it included the shedding of blood and was thus a reminder that sin produced death, the death of the victim in the place of the guilty one.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Job 33:24 . Another type of Jesus, as a substitute. 1Pe 1:19 ; 1Co 5:7 . Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Ver. 13. Behold, behind him a ram. ] Be like the angel called behind him; which when he turned to listen to, he spied the ram caught in a thicket, Heb., Sabbech , which signifies the perplexity; winding or binding of a bush or brier. And to this both David seems to allude, Psa 116:19 and the son of David in that famous “Lama Sabachthani” of his. Mar 15:34
And Abraham went and took the ram, &c.
a Bastard’s Serm. on Gen 22:1 .
b Act. and Mon., 1667.
c Itinerar. Scripturae , fol. 99.
d Bucholc. in Chronol., p. 187.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lifted up his eyes. Figure of speech Pleonasm, for emph, (App-6).
looked. See note on Gen 13:14.
behold. Figure of speech Asterismos.
a ram. Some Codices (with Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, Septuagint, and Syriac) read “one ram”, i.e. a solitary ram.
a thicket. Hebrew the thicket.
in the stead. Here is the doctrine of substitution, clearly stated.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
behind: Gen 22:8, Psa 40:6-8, Psa 89:19, Psa 89:20, Isa 30:21, 1Co 10:13, 2Co 1:9, 2Co 1:10
in the: 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8, 1Pe 1:19, 1Pe 1:20
Reciprocal: Gen 15:9 – General Gen 22:14 – Jehovahjireh Gen 46:1 – and offered Exo 29:18 – a burnt offering Lev 1:3 – a burnt Lev 17:5 – in the open Num 23:3 – burnt 2Ki 3:27 – offered him Heb 11:19 – from the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 22:13. Behold a ram Though that blessed Seed was now typified by Isaac, yet the offering of him up was suspended till the latter end of the world, and in the mean time the sacrifice of beasts was accepted, as a pledge of that expiation which should be made by that great Sacrifice. And it is observable, that the temple, the place of sacrifice, was afterward built upon this mount Moriah, 2Ch 3:1; and mount Calvary, where Christ was crucified, was not far off.