From
The October 2003 St John's Eagle
"The
Unpleasantness at Moriah" (Genesis 22)
by
Professor John Harcourt
The preacher
glittered, seminary slick,
As he expounded on the near murder of Isaac:
Much on the emergent spirit of humanity
At last discovering
That animal sacrifices effected a considerable saving
Of first born sons.
My third
eye glimpsed a long procession:
Hecatombs, taurobolia, scapegoats, pascal lambs
Burnt offerings, thank offerings, sin offerings
Animal blood gleefully sprinkled on human obduracy;
dumb victims, snared
By our evil, by our dark terrors.
The true Slaughter of the Innocent.
Better
to have stuck to human sacrifices
No cheap grace, that!
Best,
for insupportable guilt,
Self immolation.
Sometimes
it's helpful
To view the old heroic stories aslant,
Enough about Father Abraham,
Exemplar of unswerving, blind faith.
What
of Isaac? How long
Did his limbs tremble, his bowels churn,
Hysterical tears mixed with hysterical laughing?
For how many years was his sleep shattered
By the recurring nightmare:
"That old bastard
Was really going to kill me!"
What
of Sarah,
She who had borne the son
Of her old age. What did she think, after Moriah,
Of Abraham and Abraham's God?
And the ram
What of its dumb terror at finding itself
Inextricably entangled in a thicket of thorns?
What of its brief glory in momentary release
Just before the true natures of man and God
Were lethally revealed?
Professor
Harcourt is the Charles A. Dana Professor of
English English Emeritus at Ithaca College.
"Moriah
Revisited":
A Postscript By Reverend Philip W. Snyder
The story
of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah is one of the most searing in the
entire Bible. It is given that the reader knows from the first that
this is a test and that Isaac is not to be killed. However Christian
interpretation and Jewish interpretation of this story has differed.
In traditional
Christian thinking, Abraham was honored as one of exemplary faith who
so trusted God that he was willing to put his whole future, a future
so preciously gained through long struggle, in God's hand. The story
was called the sacrifice of Isaac, and while Isaac did not die, the
incident was made into a parallel to Jesus' journey to the cross.
However
as John Harcourt suggests, there are some disturbing implications around
the edges of this interpretation and perhaps we can we explore this
passage from other eyes and perspectives. In Jewish tradition this passage
is known as the Binding of Isaac and is read during the High Holy Days
of Atonement. Israel identifies itself closely to Isaac, for it has
seemed that Israel finds itself always being brought right to the brink
of extinction. When the shofar, representing the horn of the ram that
was substituted for Isaac is blown, it becomes a reminder of God's promise
to have mercy and to bestow blessing on the descendants of Abraham and
Sarah, making them as numerous as the stars of the heavens.
Differing
rabbinic interpretations of the story abound. One suggests that Abraham
never intended to sacrifice Isaac, no matter what God had said. Abraham
wanted to put God to the test, so Abraham slowly and deliberately stalled
and strung out the process. Abraham tested his understanding of God
and wanted to be sure that God would say no to such an evil thing.
The contemporary
author and theologian Madeline de'Engle, borrowing heavily from midrasic
traditions, has suggested that Abraham failed the real test. Noah was
criticized by some sages for not speaking up when God announced the
plan to destroy the whole earth, while Moses was praised for sticking
up for the tribes when God announced intentions to start a new nation
after the tribes' sin of worshipping the golden calf. Previously, Abraham
had challenged God "shall not the judge of the Earth do right"
in interceding for the innocent people in Sodom. What if the test was
whether Abraham had learned to cry out in the face of gross injustice,
even if it appeared to be the will of God? Was God hoping that Abraham
would say a resounding no? To be sure, Abraham is praised for his faithfulness,
but the relationship with his family is never the same afterwards. Both
father and son and went up the mountain together, but Abraham came down
alone, and father and son settled in different areas of the country.
After the incident on Moriah, Abraham never again "walked with
God'. Tradition says that Sarah died when she learned what had transpired.
Did Abraham
fail or pass the test? Who was really tested? Is it possible to have
several opposing interpretations of the incident at Moriah each holding
a truth depending on where you are standing?
What do
You think?
