And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh - i:e., the Lord sees, or the Lord provides (cf. Genesis 22:8).
As it is said, [Hebrew, 'ªsher (H834), so that (Genesis 13:16) it is said].
In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Gesenius renders, 'it is provided.' It is justly objected, however, by Delitzsch that the Niphal of the verb does not bear the sense of providing, but of being seen, appearing. 'On the mount of the Lord He appears, or will appear' [Septuagint, en too orei kurios oofthee]. 'The name of the place, in its special form, occurs in Genesis 22:2, and is assumed to be universally known. For this reason an explanatory paraphrase is substituted for it [in Yahweh-yir'eh (H3070)], and in such a case, throughout Genesis, it is usual to give, not a strict etymological derivation, but only an allusion to the etymology. That God's seeing here, where it is mentioned with a reference to Genesis 22:8, is only so far noticed as it is inseparably connected with His being seen, His appearing, the following words prove: "As it is said to this day," etc. The hope of the future appearing rests upon the certainty of the present appearing. On Moriah, the place of God's appearing, He has appeared, and faith trusts he will manifest himself in the future. Thus the proverbial expression, "as it is said to this day," etc., is to be regarded as a prophetic anticipation of a future and more glorious revelation of God upon the site (cf. Exodus 15:17; 2 Chronicles 3:1; Hengstenberg, 'Pent.' 50: p. 276-7, English edition).
The remembrance of Abraham's offering up his son was perpetuated both by the name of the place and by a proverbial saying the name having been probably in use from the time of Abraham, and a sufficient interval having elapsed between that patriarch and Moses to justify the formula, "as it is said to this day." It has been supposed that the design of this extraordinary transaction was in consequence of a request of Abraham, not recorded in the sacred history, but intimated by our Lord, "Abraham rejoiced (rather, vehemently desired, earnestly longed) to see my day," and alluded to in other passages (Luke 10:24), to show him by a symbolic action, instead of words, the office which the promised Saviour was to perform. 'Two great ends seem to be gained by this interpretation-the one to free the command from a supposed violation of natural law, the other to support the connection and dependence between the two revelations: for this interpretation makes the history of the command a direct prophecy of Christ, as the Redeemer of the world' (Warburton's 'Divine Legation,' b. 5:, ch. 5).
It has been objected to this view that it implies a clear revelation of Christ to Abraham much earlier than the progressive development of revelation warrants. True, so far as relates to a direct revelation in words, but not by type or symbolical action; and that this transaction was pre-eminently typical, appears from the close analogy between the whole details and corresponding circumstances in the history of the Redeemer. The pre-intimation of the birth of Isaac to his mother (Genesis 18:10), his miraculous conception (Genesis 18:14), his name fixed by the angel previous to his birth (Genesis 17:19), his commanded sacrifice, the selection of the mountain Moriah-not by chance or for convenience, but by divine appointment-his being the sole victim, his carrying the wood, his being three days virtually doomed to die, and his resurrection х en (G1722) parabolee (G3850)] in a parable, or similitude conveyed either by words or actions-all prefigured the leading events in the life of the Saviour.