Genesis 22:7

7 Yitz'chak spoke to Avraham his father: "My father?" He answered, "Here I am, my son." He said, "I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Genesis 22:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 22:7

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father
As they were walking together:

and said, my father;
a cutting word to Abraham, who knew what he was going to do with him, so contrary to the relation and affection of a parent:

and he said, here [am] I, my son;
what hast thou to say to me? I am ready to answer thee; he owns the relation he stood in unto him, a sense of which he had not put off, and curbs his affections, which must be inwardly moving towards him, and showed great strength of faith to grapple with such a trying exercise:

and he said, behold the fire and the wood;
the fire which his father had his hand, and the wood which was upon his own, shoulders:

but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?
he perceived by the preparation made, by the fire and the wood, that it was to be a burnt offering which they were going to offer; but there being no creature provided for the sacrifice, he puts this question, by which it appears that as yet he was quite ignorant of the true design of this journey, and little thought that he was to be the sacrifice: however, from what he said, it plain he had been used to sacrifices, and had been trained up in them, and had seen them performed, and knew the nature of them, and what were requisite unto them.

Genesis 22:7 In-Context

5 Avraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you."

6 Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz'chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.

7 Yitz'chak spoke to Avraham his father: "My father?" He answered, "Here I am, my son." He said, "I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

8 Avraham replied, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son"; and they both went on together.

9 They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz'chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood.