ABRAHAMIC – THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY
Abraham our father is the Patriarch of the three monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His role as father is partly symbolized by his initial entry into history at the age 75. Very little is none about his childhood, not even his mother’s name. This stands in stark contrast to the other patriarchs and most of the other significant personalities discussed in the Torah – the Pentateuch. Abraham was also the father of two sons - Ishmael and Isaac. Both received a blessing from God, as a result of their father’s deep faith and perhaps due to their father’s love of them both. The Torah unfolds through Isaac as Jewish descendants trace their origins from Abraham through Isaac. The Qur’anic tradition, of course, continues with Ishmael since Islamic descendants trace their origins from Abraham through Ishmael.
Isaac is the father of twin sons - Esau and Jacob. Jacob, the younger
son steals the blessing intended for his older brother Esau from their
blind father. Isaac is predisposed to Esau whereas Rebekah, his
wife prefers Jacob. Jewish history continues through Jacob and the
events fashioning his life. Jacob is the father of twelve sons and one
daughter. He confers a special blessing on two of them - Judah and
Joseph. These two sons emerge as the two Messianic figures. Jacob
berates three of his sons - Reuben, Simeon and Levi. The latter sons of
his wife Leah - Issachar and Zebullun we know little about as is also
true of the four sons of Jacob’s two concubines (Gad, Naphtali, Asher
and Dan).
There are four wives (known as the Matriarchs) of the Abrahamic family.
Sarah, the wife of Abraham is, according to Jewish tradition, his half
sister or his niece.1 Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, is Abraham’s
grandniece. Jacob marries Leah and then Rachel, the daughters of Laban,
the brother of Rebekah. In fact there are three additional
wives/concubines /mothers of the extended family; Hagar, the handmaid
of Sarah, Bilah, the handmaiden of Rachel and Zilpah, the
handmaiden of Leah. These three are not considered matriarchs
despite Hagar being the only wife who speaks twice to God.
ABRAHAM AND SARAH
Terah, took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (whose father Haran had
died) and Sarai, his daughter-in-law and left Ur Khasdim to go to the
Land of Canaan. Did Terah have an inkling that Abram was destined to go
the land of Canaan? Sarai is introduced as Abram’s wife and we are told
she was barren. We have no information pertaining to Haran’s wife, why
they leave Ur for Canaan or why Nahor, his wife and children were left
behind? We do not when Haran died nor when Abraham was born
relative to Haran’s death. Was Abraham a replacement child for Haran?
2Were there family problems with Nahor or Milcah (Nahor’s wife) who had
children, or Haran’s wife or economic problems or others we do not
know? Unable to withstand the arduous journey to Canaan, Terah
settled in a town named Kharan, a name that bears a remarkable
similarity to his dead son, Haran. We are told that Terah lived for
another sixty years. 3 Did Abraham who lost one brother, left another
in Ur then leave his father? The Samaritan Pentateuch says Terah died
and then Abram left for Canaan. 4 One has no reason (despite some
Jewish midrashim 5) to believe that Abram had a problem with his
father. We are also told that Abraham will join his ancestors in peace,
suggesting that Terah was an acceptable father for Our Father Abraham
and not necessarily an evil idolater as he is traditionally portrayed.
Chapter 12 of Genesis continues the life of Abram and Sarai. Abram is
told by God not simply to go to Canaan but ‘go to yourself - ‘lech
le’cha’. God emphasizes this by stating ‘from your land, your
birthplace and your father’s house’ (12:1). Abram is to leave his
nationality (land), his community (birthplace) and his individuality
(father’s home). 6 Abram, by obeying this request (and others in
the future) accepts the challenge of changing his total identity and
becomes the first ‘Man of Faith’. He is to go to a place God will show
him. This term ‘go to yourself’ and ‘go to a place I will show you’ is
repeated when God tells him to sacrifice his son (22:2). What does ‘go
to yourself’ mean? Escape from the world, from your nationality, your
community and your individuality and become God’s servant. Only by
becoming alienated from this world can he become God’s servant - His
‘Man of Faith’. By being ‘of God’ he can leave everything behind him
and go to a place God will show him. Only by being ‘of God’ can
he obey God’s commands regardless of their severity - even sacrificing
his own son. Abram follows God wherever God will lead him. Abram comes
to the land of Canaan as stranger and sojourner and remains so all his
life (23:4). He worshipped his own God, the God of Abraham known to him
as El Shaddai (Ex. 6:3). He understood that other peoples worshipped
other gods (12:6).
In the second verse of chapter 12, Abram receives his first blessing –
the first covenant - to be ‘a great nation’ and ‘to be a blessing’. In
the third verse he is told that his nation shall become a blessing for
the entire world. He is to be a blessing for himself and for the entire
world. The great nation is the Jewish people who by parenting the
Christian and the Muslim worlds have become a blessing for a large part
of the world. Jews, Christians and Muslims are all descendants of
Abraham - biologically and/or spiritually, and comprising nearly one
half of the world.
Abram departed from Kharon accompanied by his nephew Lot and wife
Sarai. God had promised Abram to be a’ great nation’, and yet he had no
biological children, Lot may have been a surrogate son to him.
After a famine in Canaan, Abram goes down to Egypt. He has just been
told by God to go to the land of Canaan, his promised land and that he
will be blessed. On the road Abram tells Sarai that because of her
beauty ‘they will kill me’ and take you, but if we tell them you are my
sister ‘then they will show themselves friendly towards me hoping to
get you through my good offices ’ (12:12-13). 7 Rabbi Burton Visotzky
translates this as’ so I’ll turn a profit on it’ 8 Abram is saved but
Sarai is taken into the harem of the Pharaoh. Abram’s fear led him into
endangering his wife. 9 Pharaoh gives Abram many gifts in exchange for
his ‘sister’. She is saved by God who plagues Pharaoh and his house. 10
Pharaoh says ‘I took her to be my wife’ (12:18). Was she saved?
According to one Jewish Midrash the plague was impotence. 11 According
to Qur'anic tradition Pharaoh’s hand froze when he attempted to touch
Sarah. 12
Did Abram consider Sarai part of the promise of many descendants or
expendable in view of her barrenness? Did Abram ever share with Sarai
God’s promise? Abram leaves (with his gifts) and Sarai is given the
daughter of Pharaoh, Hagar, as a gift. 13 We are not told of Sarai’s
reaction to her husband’s request, although she did obey him, 14
nor are we informed of her reaction to her rescue by God. This
tale is repeated again when Abraham moves to Gerar, when
unbeknownst to Sarah Abraham informs the King Abimelech that Sarah is
his sister. The king dreams that night that Sarah is Abraham’s
wife and thereby is forbidden to him. Abraham is given sheep, cattle,
men and women slaves and a thousand pieces of silver (20:14) and heals
Abimelech’s household. Both Pharaoh and the King of Gerar had chosen
not to lie with a married woman. Isaac will later follow his father’s
incident in Gerar; he too presents his wife Rebekah as his sister.
Isaac is also is blessed ‘a hundredfold’ (26:12).
Shortly thereafter a conflict arises between Abram and Lot’s herdsmen.
Abram says to Lot, I do not want a conflict with you, for we are
kinsmen. Abram graciously says let us separate, if you go left and I
will go right or if you go right, I will go left. Abram is more focused
on conciliating conflict than prospering on the land. It seems odd that
Abram would allow a conflict between his servants and Lot’s servants to
intervene in their quasi-father son relationship. We do not know for
certain what was the problem. Sarai had long been barren, had no child
and perhaps felt frustrated and incomplete. Lot was apparently married
and had children. We will discover later that Sarai may take out her
frustrations on others and perhaps Lot as an adoptive son was a problem
for her. Perhaps Mrs. Lot and their children represented a
problem for Sarai. Later Lot was captured and Uncle Abram recruited an
army and freed him (14:12-16). Uncle Abram still felt a
responsibility for his nephew and adoptive son. Still later as will be
seen, Lot is rescued once again and spared from the destruction
of Sodom by virtue of being Abraham’s nephew.
Abram felt deeply frustrated by the family’s infertility and when he encountered God in a vision he approached God with his concern of being childless. Abram says to God that he is childless and ‘a member of my household will be my heir’ (15:3). According to Jewish Tradition and a Qumram text Abram is referring to his servant Eliezer’s son. 15 It would appear that by now Abram recognized that Lot cannot be his descendant. God reassures Abram that he will have a biological child owing to his righteousness(15:4). It is then that Abram receives the second part of the covenant ‘to your descendants I give this country, from the River of Egypt to the great River’ the River Euphrates (15:18). This covenant is known as the ‘Covenant Between the Pieces’. In between the two promises God defined a ritual for Abram to perform. Abram sacrifices nine animals (three cows, three goats and three rams) and two birds, dividing them in half. He then enters into a deep trance. He dreams in two parts. The first part entailed ‘Know this, for certain, that your descendants will be exiles in a land not their own and be enslaved and oppressed’ (Gen. 15:13).
This blessing encompasses a prophetic glimpse of the history of his
descendants. They will be exiled and alienated as he was by ‘lech
la’cha’, by being exiled, but will eventually enter the promised land.
This is the blessing of Abraham that Isaac gives to Jacob as he is
about to enter his own personal exile (Gen. 28:4). But all of Abraham’s
direct biological descendants will be so ‘blessed’.
This covenant is to Abram’s direct descendants. His descendants will
numbering as the stars in the sky. This blessing as defined in chapter
15 is an unconditional promise given by God, nothing is required of
him.
Sarai, eventually assumes personal responsibility for the family’s
infertility; concludes she must take action to rectify the
situation. She develops a plan and instructs Abram, her husband
‘go take my servant [Hagar] marry her and her child shall be mine’
(16:2). A servant’s child belonged to the Mistress and thus the
child would have been tantamount to Sarai’s. Just as Abram had given
Sarai to Pharaoh, so Sarai gave Hagar to Abram. 16 Abram agreed
to his wife’s plan. 17 Sarai appears to develop this plan for her
benefit ‘her child shall be mine’.
‘And Sarai, Abram’s wife took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid . . . and
gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife’ (Gen. 16:3). Not a
concubine, but a wife. 18 Abram had previously complained to God about
not having an heir and God promised him from his own seed who would be
counted as the stars in the sky. (Gen. 15:4-5). And Abram believed and
a covenant was formed between God and himself (Gen. 15:9-12).
Hagar conceived through Abram. Abram assumed that Ishmael was the
‘promised’ son.
Hagar’s pregnancy resolved any doubts and conclusively proved
Sarai to be the infertile partner. 19 Under ancient and jewish law this
would allow Abram to divorce Sarai – did he ever consider that? Sarai
earlier feelings of frustration and lack of self worth were
understandably exacerbated by the result. She then blamed both
Abram and Hagar for the problem and said to Abram, ‘this outrage done
to me is your fault’ (16:5). In fact, of course, the relationship
between Hagar and Abram had been entirely contrived by Sarai. Abram had
never asked Sarai or God for another wife to fulfill the
promise. Hagar may indeed have felt more worthy than Sarai, after
all she was fertile - a major value of women during the age - and Sarai
was not. Sarai, the rich wife of Abram takes her poor servant as a
surrogate mother. The servant becomes a wife to the Master of the
House, the wealthy Abram and shortly will become the mother of his
child. Not only is there a class difference between Sarah, the rich
wife and Hagar the slave, but Hagar is Egyptian, from a different
nation and likely a darker colour. 20 What precisely where Sarai’s
expectations? Had she miscalculated the emotional impact of the sexual
liaison on herself, Hagar and Abram, not to mention the impact of a
child? Abram then instructed Sarai to take Hagar back as your slave.
Does this mean that she is no longer his wife - was the sexual union a
one night stand? Did Abram continue to have sexual relations with both
women - Hagar was his wife? (16:6) Sarai abused her slave so
badly during her pregnancy that she fled. 21 God encountered her and
told her to return and that He would guarantee protection for her and
her child. Is this problem created by Sarai through Hagar punishment
for Abram’s giving Sarai to the Pharaoh? In her jealousy or
helplessness Sarai blames Abram. One Jewish commentator stated
that for this ill treatment Ishmael’s children afflicted Sarai’s
children. 22
God first tells Hagar she must submit to Sarai, but He provided
consolation to Hagar, telling her that her descendants will be ‘too
numerous to be counted’ (Gen. 16:10), confirming the blessing
previously given to Abram for his descendants (Gen. 13:16). She is
given a ‘matriarchal’ blessing 23 one not yet given to Sarai. She is a
‘chosen’ women. Her son, whom God names Ishmael will be a
free man but live his life in conflict. Your son will be free,
different from you who are a slave. Hagar who survives Sarai will also
eventually be free to marry. She gave birth and the child was named
Ishmael, the first child named by God in the Torah. And we are told
that Abram named his son Ishmael. Did God independently tell him to
name the child Ishmael or did Hagar tell Abram of God’s intervention?
Does Sarai ever get to be the surrogate mother for which she planned
the whole ‘Hagar affair’? 24 That seems unlikely; Hagar is the
only mother in the Biblical text to choose a wife for her son. Not
unlike Abraham who chooses a wife for his son Isaac, she chooses a wife
for Ishmael from her own people - the Egyptians.
Thirteen years later Abram is told by God ‘walk before Me and be
blameless’ (17:1). The distinction between ‘Noah who walked with God’
(6:9), and Abram is that the latter could walk alone before God.
Finally God has someone who can walk alone (and later with his son
Isaac) because God already knows he is ‘tam’ the Hebrew for ‘perfect’.
25 Abraham will prove his ‘perfection when he demands justice from God
on behalf of the people of Sodom and when he then acts in ‘perfect’
obedience in the sacrifice of Isaac.
Abram whose name is now changed to Abraham (by adding the ‘h’) now his
a new identity. For most commentators the name Abram meant father
of a nation whereas Abraham means father of nations as the text
itself notes. 26 The national covenant of chapter 15 has become an
international covenant. ‘And your name shall be Abraham, for I make you
the father of a multitude of nations’ (17:5). This is repeated three
times in the three verses (17:4-6). In this section the ‘seed’ of
Abraham is not longer mentioned as it was in the previous covenant.
This section is stated in the future tense. It no longer relates to his
biological descendants, Ishmael or Esau but other nations. It
refers to a way of life based on God, the creator of the world. As
noted by Williamson the two uses of ‘av’ (meaning father in
Hebrew) have a different vowel than anywhere else in the Bible. Other
than these two uses ‘av’ the vowels are a ‘shva' and 'patah’, only here
is it only a ‘patah’. This use of ‘av’ father, is metaphorical. 27
Then God refers back to the earlier covenant of his own biological
descendants (17:7-8). Thus this covenant has two distinct parts, one to
expand the covenant internationally and the second to maintain the
original national covenant. But God adds to the original covenant
conditions. In this instance it is the rite of circumcision, a sign
between you and Me for all generations. Later on when the
covenant with Moses is given additional conditions will be added. This
issue of an unconditional promise versus a contractual covenant
will come up again with the Davidic covenant.
God then renames Sarai as Sarah, making her a critical part of the
covenant The couple has become significant, not just Abraham. Both are
transformed by this change. God then reveals to Abraham that his aged
wife - the newly renamed Sarah - will give birth to a son, despite her
being post-menopausal. The original covenant (Chapter 15) made no
reference, even indirectly to Sarah. Thus Abraham believed for thirteen
years that Ishmael was his heir for the covenant. Suddenly Sarah is
part of the covenant. Abraham reacts to this news in two ways. First
with laughter (Gen. 17:17), can his old wife have a child after decades
of barrenness? Second his superbly humane reaction is to beseech God to
guarantee and protect his son Ishmael. (17:18) Abraham is not unaware
of the problems between Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael. God response that
Ishmael will be part of the universal blessing, but not part of this
national covenant.
Abraham goes on to the rite of circumcision. Who are the first
persons to be circumcised under this covenant? - Abraham and his
thirteen year old son Ishmael (Gen. 17:23). 28 As we shall see this new
national covenant is not yet ratified, not until after the ‘akeda’ (the
Hebrew word for the ‘binding of Isaac). The Qur’an does not state which
of Abraham’s children is the ‘intended sacrifice’; Islamic tradition
states that it is Ishmael.
Does Abraham suspect that his wife Sarah will react poorly to sharing their home and their new son with Hagar’s son? What was the status of conjugal relations with Hagar, was she still a wife/concubine or simply Sarah’s slave? We have no knowledge of Sarah’s behavior in her capacity as Ishmael’s adoptive mother. Did she mother him? Given the conflict with Hagar, perhaps she treats him as the maid’s son. How does Ishmael perceive of himself? As Sarah’s adoptive son, as the maid’s son or the master’s son. Did Abraham not dote on the precious son of his very old age? For thirteen years Abraham has no expectation of an additional son and assumes Ishmael would be the heir to his blessing. How does he continue to relate to Sarah, his barren wife after Hagar has granted him a son - the son of the promise? No doubt Ishmael sensed that he was the son of the promise. What does Ishmael know or sense of the relationship between Sarah, Hagar and Abraham? He has grown up for thirteen years in this household fraught with complexities. 29
Gunn and Fewell suggest that Abraham’s statement about Ishmael meant he
did not need Sarah, he already had a son. 30 God’s plans, however
include Sarah. God responds to Abraham question ‘I will establish my
covenant with [Isaac] . . .And for Ishmael I have blessed him . . . I
will make him a great nation’ (17:19-20). Just a few moments earlier,
God had said to Abraham ‘This is my covenant . . .every male child of
yours shall be circumcised’ (17:9-10). The covenant of the circumcision
is mentioned five times in the following four verses. And then Abraham
and Ishmael are circumcised. In Arabic the term for circumcision is
‘chatana’ which also conveys a faith relationship with God. In
Hebrew the same word ‘chatana’ means wedding. In Islamic culture one
can not get marry until one is circumcised.
How are we as readers expected to interpret this event - are there two
covenants, one with Isaac and one with Ishmael? Do both sons receive
the covenant? God said to Abraham ‘I bless him [Ishmael]’, he is a
‘chosen’ one. (17:20). Perhaps the promise of land shall flow
through the younger son, Isaac (Gen. 17:21) and the promise of ‘ a
great nation’ of descendants as great as the sands on the sea and stars
in heaven will go through Ishmael. God promises that Ishmael will have
twelve princes as materializes as well with Esau and Jacob. Are
Ishmael, Esau and Jacob all blessed with the blessing of twelve sons
and a covenant? 31
Immediately following this covenant, three men (traditionally seen as angels) appear to Abraham. And Abraham bows to them and graciously offered them food, drink and his hospitality. After the meal prepared by Sarah they bless her to have a child. They have come to inform Sarah the news because Abraham had not yet told her what he had been told by God. He may still not have believed that she could become pregnant. 32 Sarah back in the tent laughed inwardly, saying ‘after being shriveled, shall I have pleasure, my husband being old’ (18:12) It seems that Abraham and Sarah may no longer engaged in physical intimacy. Sarah’s may be implying that Abraham is too old to have sexual relations. That he is still virile we know since after Sarah’s death he remarries and father’s more children. God said to Abraham why did Sarah laugh saying ‘shall I really give birth, I being old’. (The comment by God, interestingly ignored the issue of Abraham being too old.) Sarah said I did not laugh (18:14). 33 This response by God to Abraham about Sarah’s laughter was the only time God spoke to Sarah but only through Abraham.
Some time after the birth of Isaac, and during his ‘weaning’ party,
Sarah sees Ishmael and Isaac ‘m’tzahak’, playing together. The Hebrew
word ‘m’tzahak’ has the same root as the name of Isaac (Yitzchak),
laughing or playing. Did she see that they were growing up
enjoying each others company? Was she concerned about sharing Abraham’s
inheritance with Ishmael? ‘Cast out this bondswoman and her son; for
the son of this bondswoman shall not be heir with my son’ (21:10). She
demands of Abraham the expulsion of his son Ishmael and Ishmael’s
mother, Hagar. 34 Hagar was not just ‘her bondswoman’ but
specifically denoted as Abraham’s wife. ‘[H]er son’ was also Abraham’s
son and she could not doubt that Abraham loved his son. Sarah anger is
such that she cannot even use Hagar or Ishmael’s name. Her anxiety
about ‘Abraham’s son’ caused her to depersonalize Hagar and Ishmael.
‘This greatly distressed Abraham because it was his son’ (21:11). It
was his son for thirteen years whom he circumcised for God’s
sake. Sarah refers to Isaac as her son. He turns to God for
advice, God replies ‘Listen to her voice’ (21:12). I will take care of
Ishmael. 35 Nevertheless one can imagine Abraham being inconsolable at
the loss and separation of the son who had been for thirteen years his
only heir, the son named by God with His own name, the son who was
circumcised on the day of the announcement of Isaac’s birth. Did it
remind him of his leaving his home, his earlier losses, his brother,
Nahor in Ur , his father in kharon and his surrogate son Lot? 36 How
did Sarah’s inability to tolerate his love for his son affect their
relationship? Had Abraham allowed Sarah to abuse his son and his second
wife for the approximate sixteen years of their relationship? How did
Ishmael react to his father’s allowing him to be exiled by his
step-mother?
Abraham sends off Hagar and Ishmael to the desert. When Ishmael is on
the verge of death, God saves him and blesses Ishmael to become a
‘great nation’. 37 God has assured Abraham ‘for he too is your child’
(Gen. 21:13). The God of Abraham is equally the God of Hagar and
Ishmael. Ishmael will remain, as we will see, an integral part of
Abraham’s family. Why does Abraham not supply sufficient
water and food to ensure their survival? 38
THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
The most dramatic and traumatic event in Abraham’s life is God’s
commandment to sacrifice the son of his old age. The event is clearly
critical to the Abrahamic family. For Judaism the covenantal son is
scheduled to die at the order of the God. Christianity portrays
this event as a prelude to the crucifixion of Jesus ‘by faith Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that received the promises
offered up his only begotten son’ (Heb. 11:17). In the Qur’an the event
is described with only slight variations to the text in Genesis. 39
God decided to test Abraham (Gen. 22:1). 40 “Take, I beg you, your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to yourself ‘lech la’cha’, to the land of Moriah and offer him up there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you” (22:1-2). Jewish commentators tell us that Abraham responded to ‘your son’ that he has two sons, ‘your only son’ that he has two ‘only sons’ from different mothers, ‘whom who love’ that he loved both his sons, and then God said ‘Isaac’. This is first time the word love ‘ahava’ appears in the Hebrew Bible. And Abraham loved both his sons. This ‘perfect’ man, a ‘walking blessing’ (12:2), the man who insisted on confirming God’s justice, is now being asked for the perfect act of obedience, the most incomprehensible commandment God ever demanded of a human being, to sacrifice his child who is the promise of his immortality. The phrase ‘go to yourself’ has appeared in the Bible once before when God told Abraham to leave his land, his family and his father’s house - to abandon his land, his family, his father. In the second ‘lech lecha’ he is to abandon his fatherhood, his only remaining family and the basis of his covenant. This mission of sacrificing his son is the second time Abraham is commanded to escape from this world. It is also the second time he is asked to exile a son. 41
This is also the second time God commanded him is to go a place
undefined by God. When he leaves his ‘land’ he is to go to a land ‘I
will show you’ (12:1). Why does God not specify the destination of the
land - it is the land of Canaan. And why does God specify
the mountain ‘I will tell you’ (22:2) - it is Mount Moriah. Perhaps an
inherent change will ensue by virtue of the commandment and its
accomplishment. When Abraham, the first ‘Man of Faith’ goes to the land
‘I will show you’ and to ‘a mountain I will tell you’ he will transform
them. Cultivation by Abraham will make for a transformation. It will no
longer be the same land nor the same mountain.
Who accompanies Abraham to the akeda (the Hebrew name for the binding) 42 of Isaac - two young men. Jewish tradition holds he was accompanied by his servant Eliezer and his other son Ishmael. It would seem that Abraham dispatched Eliezer to request Ishmael to meet them on the road, since Sarah would not understand or accept Abraham’s need to ask for his other son to meet with him. The tradition thereby upholds the idea that Abraham had a continued relationship with his eldest son, Ishmael, despite Sarah’s demand for his expulsion. Ishmael left his father’s home after being approximately sixteen years of age when Isaac was an infant. His father did not suddenly remember Ishmael, but must have had a ongoing clandestine relationship with him. The exact age of Isaac and therefore Isaac was an adult (one Midrash places him as thirty seven years of age 43). Isaac was old enough to sense two extraordinary events, the sudden reappearance of his older brother and the sacrifice itself.
Abraham journeyed in silence for three days the land of Moriah, then he
lifted up his eyes (22:4). He is questioned by Isaac, who after three
days of silence mustered the courage to ask “Father here are the
fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? The
knife is conspicuously not mentioned. Perhaps Abraham was hiding this
weapon of death. Abraham replied, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb
for the burnt offering, my son’. God and Isaac - are noted at the
polarities of the sentence. Then according to a Midrash ‘and if not,
you will be the lamb and Isaac wept’. The two - the one being offered
and the one doing the offering - understood the task - before the task,
during the task and after the task. And the two of them went on
together’. (22:7-8) This is the only instance of dialogue between the
two; Abraham is called ‘my father’ and Isaac ‘my son’. They both
implicitly understood the enormity of the moment and ‘went on
together’. 44
Why did Abraham require Ishmael’s presence? Did he feel
that if Isaac were going to die he wanted his other son, his only
remaining son with him? Did he consider that Ishmael would become the
son of the promise as he had been once before?
What were Abraham’s thoughts after God’s request and during the three
days he traveled to ‘the mountain I will tell you’ (22:2)? How will God
continue the blessing He had promised through Abraham’s descendants and
more specifically through Isaac. The first blessings were before and
after the birth of Ishmael 45 but Ishmael was sent away. And then God
promised the blessing through Isaac that he Isaac ‘will become nations’
(17:16). How is this to take place when Abraham is about to slaughter
Isaac at God’s command? It is superfluous to stress the agony and
dilemma for Abraham. The Bible disregards the question of Abraham’s
agony. He simply obeys God’s command as he had earlier the need to
forfeit his older son, Ishmael. Abraham subsumes all of his
individuality when he obeys God’s command to ‘go to himself’. He has
become an extension of God. The son who God said to Abraham will
‘maintain my covenant with [you], a covenant in perpetuity, to be his
God and the God of his descendants after him’ (Gen. 17:19). What of
God’s promise for Abraham to have numerous descendants; will they come
from Ishmael? But Isaac is the covenantal promise! God effectively
orders Abraham to relinquish His – God’s - promise. Abraham, a
man of justice, who disputed with God over the death of the evil men
and women of Sodom, to murder his son defies our comprehension. Why
does Abraham not reiterate his plea which attempted to forestall the
destruction of Sodom? 46 ‘Is the judge of the world not to act justly?
(18:25) Abraham intuitively understood that while he could pray for
strangers, but this was a personal test. Nothing short of ‘the leap of
faith’ was required of him. Isaac’s birth itself was an experience in
an act of faith, can Abraham’s obedience to slaughter his son also be
viewed as a creditable act of reason? But reason contradicts
itself: Abraham must believe that while Isaac will be lost to him he
will get him back. This is what psychologists call a ‘double bind’. It
creates madness. Kiergegaard calls this the separation of faith and
reason. But what kind a world survives with that separation? Can an
ethical human being not assume as Kant did that ‘I ought never to act
except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a
universal law’. 47
Abraham and Isaac ‘walked together’ - this phrase repeated three times,
en route to Mt. Moriah (Gen.22:6) upon ascending the mountain (Gen.
22:8) and post the akeda (Gen. 22:19).
The Bible clearly states God’s reaction. The angel of God
intervenes at the critical moment preventing Abraham from slaughtering
his son. ‘Do not cast your hand upon the boy . . . for now I know that
you are a fearer of God’ (22:12). Just as when Hagar cried out God
‘heard the voice of the boy’ (21:16-17) God heard the silenced voice of
Isaac. In both cases God is concerned with the life of young. The angel
returns a second time and states: “By myself have I sworn, says
God, because you have done this thing and have not withheld from me
your son, your only son” (22:16). Abraham fulfilled God’s condition and
God will ‘shower his blessings on him’. Abraham’s act of submission
guarantees the blessings. Abraham’s willingness to give up his
covenantal son guarantees his victory. The blessing is defined as
numerous descendants, victory over your enemies and you as a blessing
for the world (22:17-18). The covenant has become an oath and
appears unconditional to Abraham’s children.
What is the meaning of the oath? To swear is to take an oath,
usually by God as a witness. What does it mean for God to have
sworn by himself as a witness? Did Abraham surprise God
with his unswerving faith? Apparently so! God learnt from Abraham. And
He therefore blesses Abraham that his descendant(s)
48 ‘will be like the stars in the sky and the sands on the
sea’ (22:17). This blessing has been fulfilled. Abraham can be
considered the father of almost half of humanity encompassing Jews,
Christians and Muslims.
According to Jewish tradition the akeda took place on the tenth of
Tishra, Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. After the event Abraham
senses a burning drive to communicate with God. According to a Midrash
Abraham re-negotiated the terms of the covenantal contract. His
willingness to slaughter Isaac gives him the courage to request of
God. Since I agreed to your request for Isaac to be a burnt
offering I have a request - when my descendants trespass forgive them.
God responses. ‘You have said what you have said, and I will now say
what I have to say. If they blow the ram’s horn (shofar) .. I mindful
of the ram that was substituted for Isaac as a sacrifice, will forgive
them their sins’. 49 The horns of the ram - the shofar -
blown at the end of Yom Kippur became the symbol of atonement.
Levinas sees the angels as a metaphor. God appears in the face of
Isaac. The face of Isaac proclaims ‘Thou shalt not kill’. Thus instead
of a suspension of the ethical the event is the beginning of the
ethical. The face of Isaac can overcome the voice of God. Abraham
encounters God in the face of his child. 50 This is consistent with
Levinas’ view that protecting the ‘outsider’ the widow, orphan and the
poor are the basis of Judaism.
In a twentieth century Midrash George Steiner suggests that Abraham had
a paralyzing rage after the akeda. Abraham was seized with anger
towards God en route traveling back home - for two opposing reasons.
The first states Abraham’s anger ‘because the Almighty had not kept
faith in him. Because God had not been absolutely certain that
Abraham would fulfill His commandment and strike the knife into the
boy. ... during the unendurable march to the mountain, Abraham had died
many deaths. . . His steps were like those of a bullock when it was
stunned, when the blood is already out of its throat. Those who looked
upon Abraham saw death walking. The faith in him had grown so mighty,
the sinews of obedience so stretched, that there was no room for life.
. . Abraham, the father of our fathers, had been made for faith .
. . harder than steel. [He feared] the blade might snap. But God did
not know this. He did not choose to know it. His trust in Abraham, His
servant, fell short. Now the Almighty would never have proof of
Abraham’s faith. He would never have proof of Abraham’s infinite faith.
He would never know how tight was the knot of Abraham’s obedience. As
life came back into the old man, as pain came home to him, so did a
towering anger.’
The second ‘that Abraham’s anger was the very opposite. He could not at first, and may he be forgiven, find it his heart to praise, to thank God for the saving of Isaac. The terror had been too sharp. The temptation too severe for a man to hear. Unendurable because twofold. The temptation to obey was murderous and beyond human understanding. How could God ask such a thing of Abraham, his most faithful servant? But is there any thing worse than to deny God’s voice, to close one’s ears against His calling? That the Almighty had saved the child did not take away even an atom, an atom’s breath of terror from His commandment and the three days thereafter. And what if God had taken Isaac? What if Abraham’s knife had struck? What then? How could the boy’s resurrection make up for the sacrifice, for the Abraham’s act of slaughter? On the way back to Beersheba, Abraham could not speak to God. The hurt, the doubts gagged his soul. .. How could Abraham live after that moment on the mountain, how could Abraham draw breath after he had carried inside him the slaying of his son? .. hence the total silence.’ 51
An ancient Midrash describes the event as follows:
“Again the day had come on which the hosts of heaven gathered before
God. Among them there was also Satan. God asked him: ’When you visited
earth, did you see Abraham also? Did you notice how God-fearing he is?’
Satan answered: ‘No wonder! He serves you only because You have given
him a son In his old age. Just try to demand of him to offer this son
to You as a burnt offering. You will see that he will refuse to obey
your command’.52
Then the word of God came to Abraham: . . When Abraham and Isaac were
on the road, Satan made every effort to divert both of them from their
undertaking. At first he changed into the form of an old man and said
to Abraham: ‘I see you are leading your son to sacrifice. Are you
crazy? How can a father be so cruel?’ But Abraham recognized right away
that this was Satan. He scolded him, shouted at him, and Satan
disappeared. The Satan changed into the from of a beautiful young
man and addressed Isaac: ‘Don’t you know that this dumb senile man who
calls himself your father is leading you to slaughter? Why should you
die in the bloom of your years? You still have the whole beautiful
world before you. Flee from here?
But Isaac replied: ’God’s command and my father’s will are a guiding
star for me’. When Abraham had arrived at the top of Mount
Moriah in Jerusalem and wanted to sacrifice his son, Abraham stretched
out his knife to slaughter his son, Isaac replied and said to his
father: ‘bind my hands and feet firmly, so I will not instinctively
react to the blade’. In the Qur’an Abraham says to his son ‘My son I
see in a dream that I shall sacrifice you; consider what you think’?
The son replied ‘My father do as you are bidden; you will find me, God
willing, steadfast’. 53
‘My father, tie my hands securely so that I do not disturb you, and
your sacrifice might be found unsuitable.’ The eyes of Abraham turned
toward the eyes of Isaac, and the eyes of Isaac looked into he eyes of
his father. In this hour the angels high in heaven came out and said to
each other: ’Come and see the only two righteous ones in the midst of
the world. The one sacrifices and does not hesitate - and he is being
sacrificed willingly puts forth his neck.’ 54
Kierkegaard called the event ‘an enormous paradox’ and pronounced
Abraham the ‘prince of faith’ for his obedience to God and his
willingness to sacrifice his ‘son of the promise’. Jewish commentators
had long before agreed that the akeda was a test of Abraham’s faith.
Abraham had already established the principle of human justice before
God in the incident at Sodom. But that came through a dialogue between
God and Abraham. Here Abraham surrendered to God and obeyed His
command. Was it a command? The Hebrew text has God say ‘kakh na’
(22:2). ‘Kakh is a command, the ‘na’ makes it a request. Abraham
certainly could have made this the beginning of a dialogue.
Did Abraham pass the test? God offered no explanation. And implicitly said to Abraham, forget my past promises. Could God realistically have expected Abraham to argue with him as he did at Sodom? Gunn And Fewell suggest that just as God said no to his promises, Abraham should have said no. 55
Is possible to conceive that Abraham failed the test? After the angel
stays Abraham’s hand God never again contacts Abraham. Immanuel Kant
suggests that Abraham may have righteously rejected God request. How
could God demand such a thing and therefore could Abraham be
certain it was God? Could such a task emanate from God? ‘In some
cases man can be sure the voice he hears is not God’s; if the voice
commands him to do something contrary to moral law’. 56 How can God ask
Abraham to sacrifice the promised child- the promise would remain
unfulfilled? In the first ‘go to yourself’ God asked Abraham to break
with his past. In this the second ‘go to yourself’ he is asked to break
with his promised future. Can the God Abraham believed in ask Abraham
to be involved in contradicting Himself? Can Abraham believe in the
theological suspension of the ethical? 57 Can one also suggest
that Abraham was testing God? Would God subvert his promise to Abraham?
L. Bodoff suggests that Abraham never, in fact, intended to
sacrifice his son, but rather expected God to intervene. 58 After
all God saved Sarah twice, saved Hagar and Ishmael and Lot and his
family. That assumption also involved a deep level of faith. If God had
not intervened what code of ethics and morality would come from a
religion based on child sacrifice? 59 Judaism, Christianity and Islam
could not exist. 60 As only Franz Kafka could suggest ‘[Abraham[
would make the sacrifice in the right spirit if only he could believe
he was the one meant. He is afraid that after starting out as Abraham
with his son he would change on the way to Don Quixote’. 61
God’s desire to publicize Abraham is the basis of another Midrash. ‘When God commanded the father to desist from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham said: ‘One man tempts another, because he knoweth not what is in the heart of his neighbor. But Thou surely didst know that I was ready to sacrifice my son!’ God: ‘It was manifest to Me, and I foreknew it, that thou wouldst withhold not even thy soul from Me.’ Abraham: ‘And why, then, didst Thou afflict me thus?’ God: ‘It was My wish that the world should become acquainted with thee, and should know that it is not without good reason that I have chosen thee from all the nations. Now it hath been witnessed unto men that thou fearest God’.’ 62 Abraham is to become the perfect exemplar for the world. This Midrash also will make God’s name known.
Isaac’s reaction are a fascinating focus of another Midrash. How did
Isaac react (especially if he is an adult) to being tied by his father
to an alter piling up wood, holding a fire and taking a knife and
placing it on his neck?
‘My father seized me and brought me to the heap of wood. He bound my
hands and feet tightly. My eyes stared wide, desperately wide:
‘Adonai.’ I tried to whisper ‘Adonai.’ Adonai?’ I asked. And my father
unsheathed the knife, and it drew closer and closer and closer.
“Adonai!!’ I cried out inaudibly, ‘Adonai, Lord of the universe, where
are you?’ And my father placed the blade to my throat ...’What are you
doing? Are you crazy? I do not want to die Why are you
doing this? ... Let me go! ... Let me go, I tell you!’ 63
Is it conceivable that Isaac could not be massively traumatized? Can he ever overcome the post traumatic stress of being ‘near sacrificed’ by his father? Can he ever be expected to function normally? Can he ever not be preoccupied and obsessed with fear? He was exposed to the ultimate in family violence. Can he be likened to a holocaust survivor? Elie Wiesel has concluded ‘Since then Isaac has never forgotten the terror of the scene which destroyed his youth. He will always remember the Holocaust and remained marked to the end of time.’ 64
Can Isaac ever reconcile his feelings for his father whom he previously
seen as loving father? What impulses will impound upon him - rage,
revenge, hate - or complete passivity? Is any relationship with his
father possibly after this? Can Isaac ever have forgiven his father? In
fact, in the text they never speak again! Did Isaac hear the voice of
the angel, twice and recognize God’s role in this affair?
Did Abraham reveal to Isaac that the akeda, his sacrifice was a direct
commandment from God? Did he reveal the agony he went though? Did
the entire affair become a family secret? 65 Did Abraham ever try to
reconcile himself with his son Isaac? Did his father ever ask him if he
wished to be sacrificed for God? He feels like a ‘kurban’. The Hebrew
word means both victim and holy sacrifice and its root is ‘karov’
meaning to be close or make one close. Does Isaac feel closer to his
father or to God as a result of the akeda? Isaac is a victim of his
father’s attempt to make him a holy sacrifice. Jewish commentators tell
us that the sacrifice was in opposition to human sacrifice as a holy
deed which was prevalent at the time. But what happens to Isaac,
the holy victim?
What did Isaac think of Ishmael coming at his father’s request to his slaughtering? What was his relationship with his brother Ishmael, considered illegitimate, unwanted and dangerous by his mother? Why had his father invited him to his sacrifice? What does he feel towards his brother who did nothing to protect him? Did it occur to him that Ishmael would replace him, in fact was brought to replace him? Or did he equate Ishmael’s expulsion to his slaughter? And what he think of his father’s servant Eliezer, who came to his slaughter - who would later bring him a wife?
Abraham parts from Ishmael after the akeda since there is no
place for him in Sarah’s house hold. But did Isaac return with his
father? ‘The young men walked together’, Isaac is not mentioned
(22:19). Did Abraham come home alone and thus did Sarah suspect
something was amiss? The Bible implies that Abraham did not share God’s
command with his wife Sarah. Why? Undisputedly she would have
attempting to prevent Abraham from fulfilling his mission. We
have seen her attempts to control events in two incidents regarding her
husband’s son Ishmael. Ironically she is more like Ishmael who is the
subduer of nature, the one who seeks control of events. She would not
agonize or obsess about the meaning of this sacrifice, she would simply
prevent it, at all costs. Abraham is the ‘Man of Faith’, Sarah is not.
Might she have suggested that Abraham was deceived by the voice of
Satan? Would the God who had granted her a child in her old age,
torture Abraham and Sarah by telling Abraham to slaughter the child? A
Midrash confirms this view. “Shall I tell Sarah? Women tend to think
lightly of God’s commandments. If I do not tell her and simply take off
with him - afterward, when she does not see him, she would strangle
herself. 66
On the other hand does Abraham have the right to withhold this
information from Sarah? Does Isaac belong to him alone? What did he, in
fact, do? he said to Sarah ‘prepare food and drink for us, and we will
rejoice today.’ ... During the meal, Abraham said to Sarah, “You know,
when I was only three years old, I become aware of my Maker, but this
lad, growing up, has not yet been taught [about his Creator]. Now,
there is a place far away where youngsters are taught [about Him]. Let
me take him there.’ Sarah said ‘Take him in peace’.” 67
But did Sarah see Abraham leaving in the morning with the wood, the
rope and the knife, but with no lamb for the burnt offering? 68 Could
she divine her husband’s intentions? Did she live in a state of
unbearable anxiety and panic. Did she have to wait six days to discover
the truth. After the akeda Abraham settled in Beersheba (22:19),
but Sarah lived in Hebron (23:2). Did Sarah separate from Abraham when
she understood what he had agreed to do? Did she expel Abraham after
learning what he had attempted?
Sarah dies immediately after the akeda, her lack of control over events seemed to have killed her. Jewish commentators recognize that her death immediately following the Akeda, comes from her the knowledge of the attempted sacrifice. Many Midrashim claim Satan came and told her what Abraham was doing. Did Isaac know that the mother who overprotected him all his life died in fact in reaction to the events of the akeda?
After mourning, crying 69 and burying Sarah Abraham, according to a Midrash, goes to visit Ishmael, but he is out hunting. His Egyptian wife does not recognize her aged father-in-law, whom she apparently had never met and sends him away. Abraham experiences incredible existential loneliness. His wife Sarah is dead, Isaac is traumatized, Ishmael is not home and Ishmael’s wife sends him away. When Ishmael returns home his wife tells him of the old man, he realizes it is Abraham his father and sends the Egyptian wife away. Ishmael remarries a Canaanite woman and sends a message to his father begging him for forgiveness telling him he has sent the Egyptian wife away. 70
Abraham, we are next told in the text then marries Keturah and has six
children. Why does Abraham, an old man marry again? Perhaps he finally
wants and has a normal uneventful life, to be the archetypal family man
as opposed to ‘Our father Abraham’. Can Abraham only become ‘normal’
after his relationship with God is over? Does Abraham find it difficult
to live with his powerful daughter-in-law Rebekah and his weak son? He
then goes to live with Ishmael. Despite the great enormous burden
Abraham allowed to take place by expelling he and his mother, Ishmael
divorced a wife who was inhospitable to his father and took his old
father in the last years of his life. In another Jewish version Ishmael
takes his family to Canaan to live with his father Abraham. 71
Who is Abraham’s new wife Keturah? She is Hagar! 72 Rashi
suggests that Isaac went to Hagar to have her marry his father, an
attempt to compensate for what his mother did to Hagar and his brother
(24:62). In the Book of Jubilees (2nd century BCE) Ishmael and Isaac
celebrate the festival of Pentecost together with their father. 73
‘At Abraham’s death we are told ‘Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried
him’. (25:9) Did Isaac visit with his father when he remarried
Hagar and lived with Ishmael? One Midrash explains the precedence of
Isaac mentioned before Ishmael is due to Ishmael’s respecting
Sarah’s honor over his mother Hagar. 74 All of this suggests a
reconciliation between Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac.
Abraham is the ‘Prince of Faith’ according to Soren Kierkegaard and the ‘Lonely Man of Faith’ according to Rabbi Soloveitchik. He had faith that God would make his descendants as numerous as the sands on the sea and stars in the heavens, despite being 90 years old and having no children. After his impossible dream was actualized he has two sons. His first son is exiled and his second son, Isaac to be sacrificed. Abraham agrees to end his dream. Abraham is indeed ‘[God’s] legacy to the people’s of the world’. 75 He walked before God and was blameless (17:1), he did righteousness and believed in Justice (18:19,23) and he joined in a covenant with God by circumcised himself and his two children Ishmael and Isaac. Abraham became God’s friend (18:18). 76 His first people, Israel, become the universal blessing of humankind.
We have previously asked the question about the paradox of
Abraham sacrificing his promised future. Another question arises;
assuming that Abraham believed God would go through with the sacrifice,
does a father have the right to sacrifice his son? Does the son
belong to the father - what of the mother? Does Isaac not equally
belong to Sarah? During the expulsion of Ishmael, Sarah referred to
Isaac as her son and Ishmael as the bondswoman’s son. It is possible to
consider that Isaac is Sarah’s son 77 and Ishmael Abraham’s. Thus some
Rabbis have claimed that Abraham’s forced expulsion of Ishmael was the
most difficult moment in his life, even more difficult that the akeda
become of his love of Ishmael. The expulsion’ greatly distressed
Abraham’ (21:11) And even if Sarah had agreed (which seems extremely
unlikely 78) do parents have the right to sacrifice their child?
‘No said Sarah to the voice I will not be chosen nor shall my son - if
I can help it. You have promised Abraham, through this boy, a great
nation. so either this sacrifice is a sham or it is a sin . . . she
spoke to Isaac ‘you can be chosen or you can choose. not both’ 79 Sarah
died - should this as Phyllis Trible suggests be called the sacrifice
of Sarah? 80 Could she have said as Norman Cohen suggests ‘If this God
of Abraham is a God that requires the death of [my] son, I want out’. 81
Kierkegaard asks the question what if a man says he wishes to offer his
very ‘best’ to God, to sacrifice his son. A man knows that his sacred
duty is to protect his son, but if God tempts him is not his higher
sacred obligation to God? ‘If faith does not make it a holy act to be
willing to murder one’s son, then let the same condemnation be
pronounced upon Abraham as upon every other man’. 82 It is Abraham’s
faith that allows him to suspend the ethical for a higher ethic.
In January 6,1990, the day of Epiphany, in California, a man named
Crests Valiant (The Valiant Christ), a long time reader of the
Bible sacrificed his son, he said God told him to do it. 83 His
defense attorney claimed that the ‘trial is a struggle between two
directors over who controls the script’. 84 Abraham claimed to be
God centered; so did Crests Valiant. Most of us consider Crests Valiant
a murderer and a probably a madman. How does he differ from
Abraham? Does Abraham attempt to ‘sacrifice’ his son or murder him? As
Kierkegaard stated Abraham’s ‘faith is a paradox which is capable of
transforming a murder into a holy act well pleasing to God. 85
The story of the akeda is a ‘foundation story’ for Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. It is the self sacrifice par
excellence, 86 the symbol of Jewish martyrdom. When Hannah
refused to allow her seven sons to become Hellenized, the narrator
tells us ‘not even her affections for her young caused the mother,
whose soul was like Abraham’s, to waver. 87
Abraham was God’s friend; why did he not ask God for justice for an
innocent lad as he did for the unknown people of Sodom, why not suggest
himself as the sacrifice - he is an old man - and save the
promised one? Freud, interestingly concentrates on the son in the
Oedipus story and ignores the father and the mother. 88 This is
particularly odd given that Freud believes that Judaism
is a ‘Father religion’. 89 Abraham, about whom we know nothing as
a son - we meet him when he is 75 years old - is ‘our father’, yet he
allows his two sons to go their death; they are saved only by God.
1 Abraham twice calls Sarah his sister. Jewish tradition suggests she
may have been the daughter of Haran and thus Abraham's niece. In
Genesis where Abraham's family is introduced, his brother Nahor has, we
are told, married Milcah, Abraham's other brother Haran's daughter.
Haran had another daughter called Iscah, never again mentioned. Jewish
tradition says Iscah is Sarai.
2 Abramovitch, H.H., The First Father, (Lanham, N.Y., 1995) pg. 45.
3 Terah was seventy years when Abraham was born (Gen. 11:26) and Abram
was seventy five when he left Kharan (Gen. 12:4). Thus Terah was one
hundred and forty five when Abram left and Terah lived until the age of
two hundred and five. It seems very odd that Abram would leave his old
father alone in Kharan (noted by Rashi, an important medieval Jewish
commentator).
4 Numbers of the ages of people in the Torah are considered by many to
be allegorical.
5 The Bible (Josh. 24:2) and most Jewish Midrashim suggest Terah was an
idol-maker. Another suggests that he in fact aligned himself as a
believer with his son Abram. ‘ It’s clear that Abraham learned this
[setting their sites on the future] from his father, Terah’. Quoted by
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Jerusalem Post, November, 10, 2000, pg. B9.
6 Abram had already left his land and birthplace Ur and goes with his
father.
7 As translated by Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, The Pentateuch, Genesis (Judaica
Press, N.Y., 1971) pg. 238.
8 Visotzky, B.L., The Genesis of Ethics, (Crown Publishers, N.Y., 1996)
pg. 25
9 The Ramban ( a great medieval commentator) claimed it is because of
this sin that his children were later exiled in the land of Egypt.
Ramban, Commentary on the Torah, Genesis, (Shilo Publishing Co, N.Y.,
1971 pg. 173.
10 A prefiguring of Moses and the deliverance of the Hebrews from
Egypt. God says to Abram ‘I am God you brought you out’ of Ur’ (15:7).
These are almost the exact words God will use about the exodus from
Egypt as the opening phrase of the Ten Commandments’ (Num. 20:2).
11 Rabbi Burton Visotzky in Moyers, Bill, Genesis: A Living
Conversation, (Doubleday, N.Y., 1996) pg. 158.
12 Azizah Y. al-Hibri in Moyers, pg. 158.
13 According to Rashi.
14 The difficulty in explaining Abraham’s action made ancient Jewish
commentators to suggest that Sarah was ‘taken by force’ rather than
what the text clearly stated. Jubilees 13:11-13, and Dead Sea Scrolls
iQ20, Genesis Apocrypha col. 20:10-16, quoted in Kugel, James,
Tradition Of The Bible, (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1998),
pgs. 254-255.
15 Qumram Scroll, The Genesis Apocrypha.
16 Phyllis Trible, in Rosenblatt,J.P., and Sitterson, J.C., eds. Not In
Heaven, (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1991) pg. 184.
17 This system of taking a servant to have a child can be seen as an
ancient form of adoption. In ancient days the rich infertile wife could
have her servant impregnated to have a child for herself. In much
of the twentieth century rich couples could in fact buy and adopt
children from poor women. In the latter part of the twentieth century
an infertile wife could contract to a surrogate mother to impregnate
from her husband. That is exactly what Sarah did with Hagar, Leah with
Zilpah and Rachel with Bilah.
18 Just what ‘wife’ meant is unclear. Hagar was Sarai’s servant, this
‘marriage’ would certainly change her relationship to Sarai and
Abraham. The concept of concubines was known, but Hagar is not called a
concubine.
19 The Hebrew describing Sarah’s states that ‘she was barren and had no
children’ (11:30). Abramovitch suggests that the meaning was her
inability to conceive. Abramvitch, The First Father, pg. 41. This makes
her giving birth to Isaac a miracle. We do not know what people
assumed about infertility 3,000-4000 years ago. Is it possible
that Sarai thought Abram was infertile and was angry at him for not
providing her with a child? Did she therefore set him up to prove it
was Abram’s fault - to prove to him and herself that she was not the
reason they had no children?
20 The importance of levels of acceptance and differences in nations
are known in the Bible. The acceptance or lack of it with people of
colour is an issue between Moses and his sister Miriam in Numbers 12:2.
21 The term abuse or afflicted in Hebrew (ta’ane’) is the same term
used for the Hebrew slaves in Exodus 1:11.
22 Ramban, Genesis, pg. 213. One wonders how history would have
differed had Ishmael and Isaac lived with brotherly love. But brotherly
love is a rare event in the Genesis.
23 The Qur’anic tradition considers that Hagar is the Matriarch. In the
Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca one half of the rites performed are
based on the life of Abraham and one half on the life of Hagar.
24 When Rachel offers Bilah as a surrogate mother and when Leah offers
Zilpah as a surrogate mother, both Rachel and Leah name the children
and in fact become the ‘mothers’ of the children. Sarah was not able to
accomplish that task.
25 The only other person called ‘perfect’ in the Bible is the non-Jew
Job.
26 The ‘h’ also has a meaning in Hebrew as the name of God.
27 Williamson, P.R., Abraham, Israel and the Nations, (JSOT, 315,
Sheffield, 2000) pgs. 58-60.
28 Is that the basis of the Jewish tradition of the ritual of Bar
Mitzvah, the entering into the covenant, at the age of thirteen? It is
why the Islamic circumcision is done no later than at thirteen years of
age.
29 We will later see a different relationship that developed between
Jacob’s two wives, their two servant concubines who indeed act as
surrogate mothers.
30 Gunn, D.M. and Fewell, D.N., Narrative In The Hebrew Bible, (Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1993) pg. 94.
31 Just as Ishmael was circumcised, no doubt Esau and Jacob as
descendants of Abraham were also circumcised and presumably their
descendants.
32 The next incident after Sodom involving Abraham is a repeat of the
Pharaoh story. Abraham tells king Abimelech of Gerar the Sarah is his
sister. This suggests on the one hand that Abraham did not believe that
she could become the mother of his son. On the other hand it suggests
that her beauty would still intrigue men sexually, see Gunn and Fewell
pg. 96.
33 When Abraham was told this in the previous chapter he also
laughed inwardly (17:17), God ignored his thought.
34 Ha’gar can mean in the Hebrew, the sojourner.
35 As we have noted before and will note again the Bible includes the
God factor and the Human factor. Whatever the reason for God’s choices
He has to accept the personalities as they are. Sarah simply cannot
accept Abraham’s elder son as legitimate, as an heir and as competition
to her own son.
36 Cohen, N.J. Self Struggle & Change, (Jewish Lights Publishing,
Vermont, 1995), pg. 64.
37 According to Qur'anic tradition, the wild man Ishmael kicked in
anger and he struck a spring of water. Al-Hibri, in Moyers, pg. 198.
38 A Midrash explains that sin of Sarah and Abraham (not leaving
sufficient water and bread for Hagar and Ishmael) is the reason for the
binding or sacrifice of Isaac.
39 The Qu’ran, Sura 37. While Islamic legends refer to Abraham
sacrificing Ishmael the text of the Qu’ran does not name the child to
be sacrificed.
40 Abraham and Job are the only people, in the Bible God tested. In the
Book of Job, God is convinced to test Job by Satan. While the reason
for Abraham’s testing is not explained in the text, in Jubilees an
angel (traditionally named Satan) tells God that if Abraham
agrees then ‘you will know if he is truthful in every affliction which
he had told him’ (17:17). Quoted by Kugel, Tradition pg. 59.
41 Exile becomes a major motif in Jewish history - the exile of Jacob
from his home, the exile of Joseph, the exile of the Hebrews to Egypt
(at Joseph’s suggestion), the exile to Assyria, the exile to Babylon
and again by the Romans. All this is prefigured in the Covenant
of the Pieces (Gen. 15:9-11) after the promise (Gen. 15:5) and before
the Covenant of the Circumcision.
42 Binding rather than sacrifice because Isaac is not sacrificed.
43 Sarah died immediately after the akeda at the age of 127 (23:1).
Isaac was born when she was 90 years old.
44 In the Book of Judith it is Isaac who is tested (8:26).
45 Genesis 12:3;15:18 and 17:4.
46 Perhaps he learnt, given the destruction of Sodom, God’s will is
done.
47 Quoted by James Mensch, Abraham and Isaac: A Question of Theodicy,
(Saint Fancis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada) pg.
6. Kant, Immanuel, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of morals,
translated by H.J.Paton, (Harper and Rowm N.Y., 1964) pg.70.
48 The term in Hebrew can be singular or plural.
49 Ginsberg, L., Legends of The Bible, (JPS, Philadelphia, 1975)
pg.134-135.
50 Developed by James Mensch, pg. 11 from The Paradox of Morality: An
Interview with Emmanuel Levinas, ‘T. Wright, P. Hughes, A. Ainsley
(interviewers), trans.A. Benjamin and T. Wright, in The Provocation of
Levinas: Rethinking the Other, ed. R. Bernasconi and D. Wood
(Routledge, London, 1988).
51 Steiner, George, A Conversation Piece, Granta, 15, (Granta
Publications, Cambridge, 1985) Pg. 167-168. In the essay Steiner has
one voice suggesting that the God of the Christians could order this
act, but not the God of Israel. The other voice then suggests that the
God of Israel slew the first born of Egypt and Job's children.
52 Note how close to Satan’s comments in Job these are. In both cases
God abuses His friends for the sake of His servant Satan.
53 Sura 37:102
54 Lapide, P., The Resurrection of Jesus, (SPCK, London, 1983) pg.
106-108.
55 Gunn and Fewell, pg. 99.
56 Immanuel Kant in The Conflict of the Faculties, quoted in an article
Delaney, C., in Brenner, A., Genesis, Second Series, (Sheffield
University Press, Sheffield, 1998) pg. 143.
57 Maimonides tells us that a prophet who obeys a command of God that
is against Jewish law is a false prophet. Maimonides, Mishna Torah,
Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah, 9:3. Thus Maimonides rejects the idea of a
theological suspension of the ethical. The Talmud tells us ‘better
observance without God than God without observance’ JT Hagigah 1:7.
58 Bodoff, L., Bible Review, Vol. 9 #5, Oct. 1993, and also in an
expanded version in Judaism, Vol. 42, #1, 1993
59 Phyllis Trible and Norman Cohen have suggested that Abraham’s love
of the promise had become Abraham’s idol and this was sacrificed on the
Mountain of Moriah. Moyers, pg. 227.
60 Some have asked what kind of religion abuses a child and asks that
he be sacrificed.
61 Kafka, Franz, Parables and Paradoxes, (Fontana, London, 1975) pg. 43.
62 Ginzberg, Legends, pg. 134.
63 Cohen, Self Struggle, pg. 87
64 Quoting in Kuschel, Karl-Joseph, Abraham: A Symbol of Hope for Jews,
Christians and Muslims, (SCM London, 1995) pg. 29.
65 We will not later on find a similar and devastating family secret,
when Jacob’s sons kidnap Joseph, their father’s favorite and send him
off to Egypt. They tell their father he was killed. That family secret
lasted twenty years.
66 Bialik, H.N., Ravnitsky, Y.H. eds., The Book of Legends, Translated
by William Braude, (Schocken Books, NY, 1992) Pg. 40.
67 Bialik, Book of Legends, Pg. 40.
68 Steiner, Pg. 175.
69 In the Hebrew scroll the letter in the midst of the word crying is
written in miniature, perhaps to recognize that finally Abraham shows
emotion and realized what he had lost with the death of Sarah.
70 Ginsberg, pg. 123-125. Almost exactly the same story is told
by Muslim commentators see Ayoub, M, The Qur’an and its Interpretors,
Vol 1, (SUNY, Albany, 1984) pg. 163
71 Sefer ha’Yashav, chapter 21:1, pg. 41a-b, quoted in Cohen, Self
Struggle, pg. 74.
72 Genesis Rabbah 61:4, pg. 542-543.
73 The Book of Jubilees, chapter 22.
74 Genesis Rabbah, 62:3, pg. 552.
75 Kuschel, pg. XXVIII. Kuschel calls him Israel’s legacy, equally
accurate.
76 In Islam the most important title of Abraham is God’s friend
(‘halil’ in Arabic). Islamic tradition explains that at the akeda
Abraham could not say no to his friend. In Arabic ‘halil’ – friend – is
the name of Hebron where Abraham is buried.
77 When Isaac meets Rebekah he will state that his marriage comforted
him for the death of his mother.
78 Despite the unlikeness to the author some ancient Rabbis held she
went with Abraham to the sacrifice. ‘I’m going to be an equal partner.
I’ll dig up the dirt and make the altar. Let my hair be binding to tie
up Isaac’. Visotzky, Moyers, pg. 238.
79 Eleanor Wilner, Sarah’s Choice, quoted in Delaney Carol, Abraham On
Trial, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1998) pg. 133.
80 Bach, Alice, Women in the Hebrew Bible, (Routledge, N.Y.,
1999) pg. 280.
81 Cohen in Moyers, pg. 238.
82 Keirkegaard, Soren, Fear and Trembling and the Sickness unto Death,
trans. Walter Lowrie, (Doubleday and Co., Garden City, 1954) pgs.
39-41, quoted in James Mensch, Abraham and Isaac: A Question of
Theodicy, Saint Francis University
83 Delaney, Abraham pg. 5.
84 Delaney, pg. 53.
85 Kierkegaard, Soren, Fear and Trembling, (Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1941) pg. 1:64.
86 One of the many reasons this story horrifies us is that we all know
people, God centered or human centered, who ‘sacrifice’ their children
for their own reasons and whose children remain traumatized. Because
this story and the story of Job, both tests of faith, are told as
God centered and we by definition are human centered God cannot look
good.
87 4 Macc. 14:20
88 Delaney, pg. 197. Delaney also notes that Jesus at his death cried
out ‘Father, Father, why have you forsaken me? P. 229.
89 Freud, Sigmund, Moses and Monotheism, (Vintage Books, N.Y., 1939)
pg. 211.