Abraham and Isaac: The real story
Dedicated to my father, who could not stand the official version.
“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”.
That is how the official version goes. Here is where I tell you what really happened. I asked him about the lamb for the sacrifice, but he only said “God will provide one”. I thought it was odd, but I didn’t suspect anything until he came at me with a rope in his hand, and that dreadful knife. I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance once that rope was on me, so I got out of the way of it quickly and then seized it. I didn’t have time to think.
I asked him furiously what he thought he was doing. He said “God said, ‘Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’”
I said, “You're mad. You don’t go sacrificing sons and daughters. I don’t see that God wants sacrifice at all. Why should he take all this trouble to create a beautiful world filled with marvellous things and then want them destroyed? Will it please him? Do you think you can influence God in this way”?
All he said was “It is not for me to question God, no more is it for you to question me, my son.”
“But you have told us over and over again how God said to you that through me you will have as many descendants as stars in the sky. Have you noticed I am not married yet? Don’t you take any care at all to judge what you think God is saying to you? I should have thought this was obviously false on this test alone”.
“Judge God?” he said, “You horrify me, my son.”
“You are very free with ‘my son’ but it means nothing to you. You are supposed to feed me, guard me, discipline me if you must, educate me, bring me up to manhood, love me even”
“Of course I love you, my son. Don’t you see how heavy this commandment is upon me”?
“If you are proposing to sacrifice me, I really don’t care if you say you love me, or you don’t. It comes to the same corpse in the end.”
“But my son, you are so wrong to think like this. I am your father. I gave you life. I created you. You don’t live apart from me”.
“Right. I have spoken to you on the spiritual level, on the intellectual level, and on the emotional level. Now it’s physical.”
I took the knife from him quickly, before he knew what I was doing.
“You try anything like this again and I will brain you. Do you understand”?
I was shocked at my own daring. I am not a tearaway. I felt dread at going against everything I knew, but I could also see my burnt corpse on that pile of faggots, and the prospect didn’t please. I could feel red power that I had never felt, and I knew that I had only this moment in which to act.
I think he saw me then for the very first time. “I understand” he said.
“What shall we do?” he said.
“Look, if you are really determined to have a sacrifice, there is a ram caught by his horns in that thicket.”
There it is. I see in the official version that an angel of the Lord stopped him. I am not an angel of the Lord, of course, but I suppose that I was the presence of the Lord at that time and place. Do you know the funniest thing? The official version has been held up ever since as an example of faith, so you could say that he had the last laugh.
The official version is in Genesis 22.
“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”.
That is how the official version goes. Here is where I tell you what really happened. I asked him about the lamb for the sacrifice, but he only said “God will provide one”. I thought it was odd, but I didn’t suspect anything until he came at me with a rope in his hand, and that dreadful knife. I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance once that rope was on me, so I got out of the way of it quickly and then seized it. I didn’t have time to think.
I asked him furiously what he thought he was doing. He said “God said, ‘Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’”
I said, “You're mad. You don’t go sacrificing sons and daughters. I don’t see that God wants sacrifice at all. Why should he take all this trouble to create a beautiful world filled with marvellous things and then want them destroyed? Will it please him? Do you think you can influence God in this way”?
All he said was “It is not for me to question God, no more is it for you to question me, my son.”
“But you have told us over and over again how God said to you that through me you will have as many descendants as stars in the sky. Have you noticed I am not married yet? Don’t you take any care at all to judge what you think God is saying to you? I should have thought this was obviously false on this test alone”.
“Judge God?” he said, “You horrify me, my son.”
“You are very free with ‘my son’ but it means nothing to you. You are supposed to feed me, guard me, discipline me if you must, educate me, bring me up to manhood, love me even”
“Of course I love you, my son. Don’t you see how heavy this commandment is upon me”?
“If you are proposing to sacrifice me, I really don’t care if you say you love me, or you don’t. It comes to the same corpse in the end.”
“But my son, you are so wrong to think like this. I am your father. I gave you life. I created you. You don’t live apart from me”.
“Right. I have spoken to you on the spiritual level, on the intellectual level, and on the emotional level. Now it’s physical.”
I took the knife from him quickly, before he knew what I was doing.
“You try anything like this again and I will brain you. Do you understand”?
I was shocked at my own daring. I am not a tearaway. I felt dread at going against everything I knew, but I could also see my burnt corpse on that pile of faggots, and the prospect didn’t please. I could feel red power that I had never felt, and I knew that I had only this moment in which to act.
I think he saw me then for the very first time. “I understand” he said.
“What shall we do?” he said.
“Look, if you are really determined to have a sacrifice, there is a ram caught by his horns in that thicket.”
There it is. I see in the official version that an angel of the Lord stopped him. I am not an angel of the Lord, of course, but I suppose that I was the presence of the Lord at that time and place. Do you know the funniest thing? The official version has been held up ever since as an example of faith, so you could say that he had the last laugh.
The official version is in Genesis 22.