Abraham and the Ram

[dak]

The following image file is from a Pinterest page.
Source: Panoramio (which is no longer available).

Photo of Petroglyphs of Har Karkom, the engraving of an ibex and a...man (?) | Petroglyphs, Pictograph, Rock art

According the Scripture Text from Genesis 22:


Har Karkom information:
Prof. Emmanuel Anati: Mount Sinai has been found: Archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom

A seh is typically a small member of the flock, such as a lamb, or a sheep, or a goat, but can also be used for a portion: a portion of just about anything, (like bread). In the rock inscription above the seh is caught in the thicket or copse of the horns of the ram. An ayil or ram is also an ayil or palm tree, and the date palm also has a thicket or copse with portions in the copse of its horns.



Genesis 22:13 Hebrew Text (Consonants Only)
וישא אברהם את עיניו וירא והנה איל אחר נאחז בסבך בקרניו וילך אברהם ויקח את האיל ויעלהו לעלה תחת בנו׃

The word following אחר, ('achar, behind), is ne'echaz, which is H270 אחז 'achaz, and often means to sieze or something seized, (rendered herein most often as caught), but it also means a possession and is also used in the Torah for a portion, in the sense of a possession, and is so rendered as a portion in the KJV in the following passage.

Numbers 31:30 KJV
30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.

If we read the second occurrence of 'eth, (את), as H854 את instead of H853 את we have the following reading.

וישא אברהם את עיניו וירא והנה איל אחר נאחז בסבך בקרניו וילך אברהם ויקח את האיל ויעלהו לעלה תחת בנו׃

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram with a portion in the copse of his horns: and Abraham went and took it from the ram, and offered it up for an ascending offering instead of his son.

In this reading it is not the ram itself that is offered up as a slaughtered animal burnt offering, but rather, it is the portion which was in the copse of its horns that is offered up for an ascending offering. In the image file from the top this is precisely what we see portrayed in the rock inscription or carving found at Har Karkom, the mount of Elohim, (Sinai-Horeb). The seh, (Gen 22:7-8), achaz, (Gen 22:13), or portion, is being held in the horns of the ram, and Abraham is taking, (or receiving), the portion from the ram to offer the portion as an ascending offering.

The minhah, (oblation), flour offering for a lamb is one tenth of an ephah of fine flour, and this is the smallest minhah. The minhah for a ram is two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. The minhah for a bullock, son of the herd, heifer, etc., is three tenths of an ephah of fine flour. Abraham does not offer the Ram! He offers the smallest minhah, which is one tenth of an ephah of fine flour: the size which pertains to a seh, that is, a lamb, (or a kebes-lamb, etc.), just as he states to his son earlier in the text of Gen 22, for Yitzhak already knows the offering is supposed to be a lamb or seh, (Gen 22:7), and Abraham responds accordingly, that Elohim himself will provide the lamb or seh, (Gen 22:8).

Why the seh of Gen 22:7-8 cannot be the ram of Gen 22:13.

Genesis 22:7-8
7 And Yitzhak spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb [H7716 seh] for an ascending offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, Elohim himself will provide a lamb [H7716 seh] for an ascending offering: so the two of them went together.

It is clear enough by English translations that seh herein is rendered as a lamb, however, again, a lamb is not the same size offering as a ram. And in the Torah we are taught the difference by way of the sizes of the flour offerings for each of the three different sizes of the sacrifices, as explained above, (and in reality the animals themselves represent the three different sizes of the flour offerings, which are, again, called minhah or minchah).

To hopefully drive this point home:

A lamb, the smallest minchah, is one tenth of an ephah of fine flour.
A ram, the middle size minchah, is two tenths of an ephah of fine flour.
A member of the herd, the largest minchah, is three tenths of an ephah of fine flour.

Numbers 15:1-16 KJV
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,
3 And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock:
4 Then shall he that offereth his offering unto the LORD bring a meat offering [H4503 minchah] of a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of oil.
5 And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.
6 Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meat offering [H4503 minchah] two tenth deals of flour mingled with the third part of an hin of oil.
7 And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of an hin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
8 And when thou preparest a bullock for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice in performing a vow, or peace offerings unto the LORD:
9 Then shall he bring with a bullock a meat offering [H4503 minchah] of three tenth deals of flour mingled with half an hin of oil.
10 And thou shalt bring for a drink offering half an hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
11 Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid.
12 According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.
13 All that are born of the country shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
14 And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.
15 One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.
16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

Thus an ayil, (ram), is not a seh, and by the context the text itself points the observant reader and hearer to the correct understanding of Gen 22:13 by the fact that we find seh written in Gen 22:7-8. Neither the author, nor Abraham, nor Yitzhak made a mistake in using the word seh in Gen 22:7-8.

Genesis 22:10-14
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son:
11 And the Malak of YHWH called to him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do any thing unto him: for now I know that you fear Elohim, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram with a portion in the copse of his horns: and Abraham went and took it from the ram, and offered it up for an ascending offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place HE WHO IS SHALL BE SEEN, because he said that day, In the mountain, HE WHO IS has been seen!

RELATED:

Revelation 1:10
10 I was in the Spirit on the day pertaining to the Master, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a shofar, [ram's horn]

John 1:26-27
26 Yohannai answered them, saying, I immerse with water: in the midst of you stands one whom you know not:
27 the One coming behind me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose.

John 8:56
56 Your father Abraham exulted that he might see my day: and he saw it, and rejoiced.

 

[Muna]

Wouldnt the former prophets be "seeing before" he that would come after them and the latter apostles be looking "behind them?"


Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

The son of Abraham (who is with his Father in this figure) asks

Gen 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Abraham "seeing before"

Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My Son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

The law having shadow of the good things to come not the very image of things

And when he arrived on the scene, John (the messenger sent before His face) would show it

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

As with Abraham and His only Son (according to the promise) spared not his Son, after the same similitude it say

Romans 8:2 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Of Abraham here is shown the gospel was preached, "foreseeing"

Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

These having seen them "afar off"

Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises , but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

God spake by the prophets using similitudes, showing before the shadow, but not the very image of things

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Heb 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

And Abraham's faith in the resurrection is also shown in the same similitude

Heb 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

And what was shown in Abraham "in a figure" is shown here in Christ

Acts 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly

One is shown to us in the shadow (not the very image of things) but of the true and demonstrated in Jesus Christ (God's only begotten Son) "openly"

Although Jesus is the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world also.


Edit: added in

 

[dak]

Wouldnt the former prophets be "seeing before" he that would come after them and the latter apostles be looking "behind them?"


Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

The son of Abraham (who is with his Father in this figure) asks

Gen 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Abraham "seeing before"

Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My Son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

The law having shadow of the good things to come not the very image of things

And when he arrived on the scene, John (the messenger sent before His face) would show it

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

As with Abraham and His only Son (according to the promise) spared not his Son, after the same similitude it say

Romans 8:2 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Of Abraham here is shown the gospel was preached, "foreseeing"

Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

These having seen them "afar off"

Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises , but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

God spake by the prophets using similitudes, showing before the shadow, but not the very image of things

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Heb 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

And Abraham's faith in the resurrection is also shown in the same similitude

Heb 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

And what was shown in Abraham "in a figure" is shown here in Christ

Acts 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly

One is shown to us in the shadow (not the very image of things) but of the true and demonstrated in Jesus Christ (God's only begotten Son) "openly"

Although Jesus is the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world also.


Edit: added in

I agree very closely with what you have posited. However I would like to add that the ancients, especially including Abraham, Yitzhak, and Yakob, had two understandings: one anthropomorphic, or more accurately zoomorphic, and that one was the Ibex, which was not the Almighty but the Son. That one was known as Yah, or El, or Yah El, or El Yah, and the Ibex was thus the zoomorphic representation of the Son, especially in the Negev region of Yisrael, and the Ibex motif is found thousands of times in Mount Karkom, in rock inscriptions, and it emanates outward from that location throughout the Negev, (all of southern Yisrael).

The Names of God

The Almighty is the name which YHWH tells Mosheh in Exodus 6:3, El SHDIY, and He speaks this name to Abram in Gen 17:1, and Yitzhak uses this name in Gen 28:3, and YHWH speaks this name again to Yakob in Gen 35:11. The second portion of this name, (SHDIY), contains two relative pronouns: the letter shin prefixed as a short form of asher, (the relative pronoun), and diy, a relative pronoun from Chaldean/Syriack/Biblical Aramaic (H1768). Mosheh introduces this to the Hebrew in several places such as like in the name Diy-zahab, (Deut 1:1).

Thus the name El Shaddai is much more likely EL SHDIY, which is either EL WHO WAS WHO IS, or EL WHO IS WHO WAS, which is likely the reason for Mosheh being commanded to say to Yisrael that EHYH, (I am HE WHO IS), has sent him to them. And thus He says to Mosheh in Exo 3:18a that they will hearken to his voice, (for they knew both the name from the patriarchs, EL SHDIY, and they also spoke Hebrew, EHYH). I understand this probably seems like a lot of information that seems irrelevant to those not studying Hebrew but it was necessary for me to explain where I am coming from scripturally speaking.

 

[Muna]

That is way more complicated than I would even want to make the picture when it certainly doesnt need to be that complicated to show Jesus Christ in that shadow.

My thing is just comparing between pictures, to bring forth Jesus Christ and him crucified in them where/when they show it in a way I can follow the patterns between them, but I definately prefer to leave all the technicalities to those who are much smarter then myself and who love to get into all of those sorts of things.

What I also liked in the picture of Abraham and His only Son is that it also shows us the Father and the Son walked together even as Jesus said to his disciples that they would leave him all alone when his time came but told them that he was not alone that His Father was with him.

And the wood was on the Son and the knife in the Fathers power, I was just looking at this on another thread, I love seeing those kinds of details.

Edit:typo

 

[dak]

And now that, (from my perspective), we have the background information fairly understood:

John 8:12-28
12 Therefore again Ι̅Η spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world: the one following me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of the life.
13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, You testify concerning yourself: your testimony is untrue.
14 Ι̅Η answered and said to them, Though I testify concerning myself, yet my testimony is true: for I know from where I came, and to where I go, but you cannot tell from where I come, and to where I go.
15 You judge after the flesh: I judge no one.
16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I myself, and my Sender, the Father.
17 And in the Torah, also pertaining unto you, it is written that the testimony of two men is true.
18 I am one testifying concerning myself, and my Sender, the Father, bears witness concerning me.
19 Then they said to him, Where is your father? Ι̅Η answered, You neither know me, nor my Father: if you had known me, you would have known my Father also.
20 These words Ι̅Η spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple, and no man laid hands on him: for his hour was not yet come.
21 Then Ι̅Η said again to them, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: where I go, you cannot come.
22 Then said the Yhudim, Will he kill himself? for he says, "Where I go, you cannot come".
23 And he said to them, You are from beneath, I am from above: you are of this world: I am not of this world.
24 I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am ___ _____ __ ___ _____, you shall die in your sins.
25 Then they said to him, You are who? [for they recognized that he did not complete the "I am" statement]. And Ι̅Η said to them, That which I also said unto you at the commencement [John 8:12].
26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: but the One having sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him.
27 They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father.
28 Then Ι̅Η said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am ___ _____ __ ___ _____, and that I do nothing of myself: but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.

John 8:56-58
56 Your father Abraham exulted that he might see my day: and he saw it, and rejoiced. [Gen 22]
57 Then the Yhudim said to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?
58 Ι̅Η said to them, Amen, amen, I say unto you, Before Abraham is done, I am ___ _____ __ ___ _____. [Gen 22:10-14]

"Before Abraham is done", (not "was" or "was born", see genesthai link here).

 

[ProverbsInPink]

Has it been noticed how Abraham did not hesitate when God asked for a human sacrifice?

 

[ProverbsInPink]

Judges 11:29-40
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manas’seh, and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If thou wilt give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer him up for a burnt offering.”

Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And when he saw her, he rent his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! you have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me; for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”

And she said to him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone forth from your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me; let me alone two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions.” And he said, “Go.”

And he sent her away for two months; and she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had made. She had never known a man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

 

[Muna]

Here Jesus even said,

Matt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Gen 22:8 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Gen 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Which is an unnatural reaction of a man, as we are told here

Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

He shows up a second time, when it was said to him here

Gen 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

Gen 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

This Son (Isaac) which came by Sarah which he did not withold and said here when he appeared the second time

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

In that same seed the nations of the earth would be blessed

Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Who had offered the seed that came by Sarah which is Isaac (a figure of Jesus Christ)

Heb 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

The children of Abraham's bondmaid said, and Jesus responded

John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children,
ye would do the works of Abraham.

The works of Abraham mentioned here also.

James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

Abraham's seed through Jesus Christ,

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise

 

[ProverbsInPink]

Here Jesus even said,

Matt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Gen 22:8 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Gen 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Which is an unnatural reaction of a man, as we are told here

Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

He shows up a second time, when it was said to him here

Gen 22:15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

Gen 22:16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

This Son (Isaac) which came by Sarah which he did not withold and said here when he appeared the second time

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

In that same seed the nations of the earth would be blessed

Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Who had offered the seed that came by Sarah which is Isaac (a figure of Jesus Christ)

Heb 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

The children of Abraham's bondmaid said, and Jesus responded

John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children,
ye would do the works of Abraham.

The works of Abraham mentioned here also.

James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

Abraham's seed through Jesus Christ,

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise

I love Galatians 3:29. And especially when we recall Abraham was not a Jew. He was a Gentile. That fact puts the passage into a whole new blessed realm.
Genesis 12

 

[Muna]

Has it been noticed how Abraham did not hesitate when God asked for a human sacrifice?

Yeah, same with how it pleased the LORD to bruise his own Son?

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

It can sometimes be hard to wrap your mind around how these things are shown or written

 

[ProverbsInPink]

Yeah, same with how it pleased the LORD to bruise his own Son?

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

It can sometimes be hard to wrap your mind around how these things are shown or written

True. Jesus being the final human sacrifice for sin.

 

[dak]

True. Jesus being the final human sacrifice for sin.

Aye, aye, aye, do you not realize how bad that sounds? That's what happens when you see all things Torah as physically literal according to the eyes and mind of the flesh: you end up choosing death over life, Deut 30:11-20, for not walking according to the Spirit which even Paul warns about, even telling us all that the Torah is spiritual, (Rom 7:14a).