Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes. Stanley, who follows the Samaritan version in reading Moreh here, and consequently considers that the place appointed for the sacrifice was mount Gerizim, describes Abraham and his escort as traveling from Beer-sheba along the Philistine plain; and then, on the morning of the third day, arriving on the plain of Sharon, 'exactly where the massive height of Gerizim is visible "afar off" whence half a day more would bring him to its summit.' But it is not said that the journey occupied three days, or that he reached the spot at the end of three days; but on the third day - i:e., after the Lord had appeared or called to him-he saw the place afar off. Since there is nothing said of a night vision, we are warranted to suppose that the command was given late on an afternoon or evening; that having risen very early on the morning of the next or second day, to make his few simple preparations, he set out on the journey, traveling the whole of that day, and that on the morning of the third he came in sight of the place of his destination.
According to the Hebrew method of reckoning time, part of a day was counted as a whole (as in the parallel case of our Lord's resurrection); and although Abraham's encampment is not mentioned, yet from his protracted residence in the land of the Philistines (Genesis 21:34), at Eltolad (see the note at Genesis 21:2), which was situated about twelve or fifteen miles southwest of Beer-sheba ('Negeb'), it is most probable that he started from that point. The journey, therefore, which is somewhat more than thirty Roman miles, might well, if he traveled the entire day at the usual slow rate in the East, be so far accomplished that on the morning of the third he would be near its end. "Afar off" does not necessarily indicate a remote distance; on the contrary, the word х meeraachoq (H7350)] is often used to express the idea of a comparatively small space (see the note at Genesis 21:16); and the circumstances of the case require it to bear a restricted sense here.
"The mountains" are still round about Jerusalem, even as in days of yore; and hence, there is but one point in all the surrounding country from which this begirded district can be "seen afar off." On the west, though a small portion of its loftiest elevations can be seen at Dier Mar Elias, remote about three miles, yet it is not before reaching the crest dividing the valley of Hinnom from the plain of Rephaim, two or three hundred yards off, that any considerable portion can be seen, and even then no part of mount Moriah is in sight. But from the top of a high promontory, jutting into the deep valley of the Kedron, a few miles south of the city, the hill upon which the temple was built can be plainly seen through the opening made among the mountains by the ancient brook; and so narrow is the opening, that scarcely any part of the city is visible except this ridge. I had often thought, in looking down that valley, that it was from this very point, or from the summit of a ridge still lower down, that the heart-stricken patriarch 'lifted up his eyes on the third day of his journey, and saw the place afar off' (Barclay, 'City of the Great King').