Time for this week’s Torah portion. As regular visitors here know, we post the portion in its entirety every Friday. Since antiquity, this text has been interpreted and commented from every conceivable perspective. That’s what makes it a living document. We hope readers will engage this tradition, using the comments section below to offer their own thoughts on the passage. This happens to be one of the most dramatic passages in the whole Torah - Abraham pleads with God to spare the cities of the plain but finally is able to save only Lot and his daughters; Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt when she turns to stare at the burning cities; Abraham marches his only son up a mountain to sacrifice him before God…
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18:1 And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
18:2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth,
18:3 and said: ‘My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.
18:4 Let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and recline yourselves under the tree.
18:5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and stay ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on; forasmuch as ye are come to your servant.’ And they said: ‘So do, as thou hast said.’
18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said: ‘Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.’
18:7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it.
18:8 And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
18:9 And they said unto him: ‘Where is Sarah thy wife?’ And he said: ‘Behold, in the tent.’
18:10 And He said: ‘I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.–
18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.–
18:12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: ‘After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’
18:13 And the Lord said unto Abraham: ‘Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?
18:14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord. At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.’
18:15 Then Sarah denied, saying: ‘I laughed not’; for she was afraid. And He said: ‘Nay; but thou didst laugh.’
18:16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
18:17 And the Lord said: ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing;
18:18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
18:19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.’
18:20 And the Lord said: ‘Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous.
18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.’
18:22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
18:23 And Abraham drew near, and said: ‘Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
18:24 Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
18:25 That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the judge of all the earth do justly?’
18:26 And the Lord said: ‘If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will forgive all the place for their sake.’
18:27 And Abraham answered and said: ‘Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes.
18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.’
18:29 And he spoke unto Him yet again, and said: ‘Peradventure there shall be forty found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not do it for the forty’s sake.’
18:30 And he said: ‘Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not do it, if I find thirty there.’
18:31 And he said: ‘Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.’
18:32 And he said: ‘Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there.’ And He said: ‘I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.’
18:33 And the Lord went His way, as soon as He had left off speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.
19:1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he fell down on his face to the earth;
19:2 and he said: ‘Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way.’ And they said: ‘Nay; but we will abide in the broad place all night.’
19:3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him: ‘Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.’
19:6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him.
19:7 And he said: ‘I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.
19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.’
19:9 And they said: ‘Stand back.’ And they said: ‘This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs play the judge; now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.’ And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door.
19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and the door they shut.
19:11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
19:12 And the men said unto Lot: ‘Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out of the place;
19:13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.’
19:14 And Lot went out, and spoke unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said: ‘Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy the city.’ But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that jested.
19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying: ‘Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here; lest thou be swept away in the iniquity of the city.’
19:16 But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
19:17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said: ‘Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept away.’
19:18 And Lot said unto them: ‘Oh, not so, my lord;
19:19 behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die.
19:20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one; oh, let me escape thither–is it not a little one? –and my soul shall live.’
19:21 And he said unto him: ‘See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken.
19:22 Hasten thou, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither.’ –Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.–
19:23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar.
19:24 Then the Lord caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
19:25 and He overthrow those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
19:27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
19:28 And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
19:31 And the first-born said unto the younger: ‘Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth.
19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.’
19:33 And they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
19:34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first-born said unto the younger: ‘Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.’
19:35 And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
19:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
19:37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab–the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
19:38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi–the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife: ‘She is my sister.’ And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him: ‘Behold, thou shalt die, because of the woman whom thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.’
20:4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said: ‘Lord, wilt Thou slay even a righteous nation?
20:5 Said he not himself unto me: She is my sister? and she, even she herself said: He is my brother. In the simplicity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.’
20:6 And God said unto him in the dream: ‘Yea, I know that in the simplicity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
20:7 Now therefore restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.’
20:8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears; and the men were sore afraid.
20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him: ‘What hast thou done unto us? and wherein have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.’
20:10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham: ‘What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?’
20:11 And Abraham said: ‘Because I thought: Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.
20:12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so she became my wife.
20:13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her: This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me: He is my brother.’
20:14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
20:15 And Abimelech said: ‘Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.’
20:16 And unto Sarah he said: ‘Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and before all men thou art righted.’
20:17 And Abraham prayed unto God; and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bore children.
20:18 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
21:1 And the Lord remembered Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken.
21:2 And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
21:5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.
21:6 And Sarah said: ‘God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh on account of me.’
21:7 And she said: ‘Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age.’
21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport.
21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham: ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.’
21:11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son.
21:12 And God said unto Abraham: ‘Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall seed be called to thee.
21:13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.’
21:14 And Abraham arose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
21:15 And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow-shot; for she said: ‘Let me not look upon the death of the child.’ And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: ‘What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast by thy hand; for I will make him a great nation.’
21:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
21:20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
21:22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spoke unto Abraham, saying: ‘God is with thee in all that thou doest.
21:23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son; but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.’
21:24 And Abraham said: ‘I will swear.’
21:25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
21:26 And Abimelech said: ‘I know not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to-day.’
21:27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and they two made a covenant.
21:28 And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves.
21:29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham: ‘What mean these seven ewe-lambs which thou hast set by themselves?’
21:30 And he said: ‘Verily, these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.’
21:31 Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them.
21:32 So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba; and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
21:34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him: ‘Abraham’; and he said: ‘Here am I.’
22:2 And He said: ‘Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, 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.’
22:3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he cleaved the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
22:4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men: ‘Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come back to you.’
22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.
22:7 And Isaac spoke 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?’
22:8 And Abraham said: ‘God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son.’ So they went both of them together.
22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
22:11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said: ‘Abraham, Abraham.’ And he said: ‘Here am I.’
22:12 And he said: ‘Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou art a God-fearing man, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.’
22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Adonai-jireh; as it is said to this day: ‘In the mount where the Lord is seen.’
22:15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven,
22:16 and said: ‘By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
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 seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
22:18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast hearkened to My voice.’
22:19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
22:20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying: ‘Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor:
22:21 Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram;
22:22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.’
22:23 And Bethuel begot Rebekah; these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
22:24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.
hearing Ishmael’s cries
Today I am captivated by the line about God hearing Ishmael’s cries *where he is*. What does it mean that God hears Ishmael where he is? Of course God hears him there; where else would God hear him?
I think “where he is” is more than just a geographic locator, though — it tells us that God hears Ishmael’s cries from the spiritual and personal place where he is. May this tell us something about how God hears us, too. No matter where we are spiritually, no matter what our relationship to this text, if we call out God will hear us, will come to meet us wherever we are.
***
“Why write unless you praise the sacred places?” — Richard Howard
Finding God finding us
Oh, that’s lovely. I also love that habit, of finding God not in whole stories in the Torah but in individual lines and phrases.
Especially this week, when the stories are so violent and confusing.
Andrew Schamess
Violence and Sacrifice
I find this portion very difficult in various ways. First there’s the lurid scene in Sodom - the men of the city gather around and ask Lot to let the angels out of the house so they can - evidently - rape them. Lot offers his daughters instead, the crowd gets angry, and the angels pull Lot inside before they can maul him. Perhaps this is intended to show just how degraded the city of Sodom had become, so that we have no regrets over its destruction (even though God had previously promised never again to destroy life).
Abraham had earlier argued with God, asking that he spare Sodom if even ten good men could be found in the city. The author makes a point of saying that all the men there gathered around Lot’s house, “both young and old, all the people from every quarter” - as if to emphasize that, with the exception of Lot and his family, they were corrupt to a man.
And then there’s the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. My father, somewhat of an anti-theist, always pointed to this as evidence that God is evil, or at least, can be evil. What sort of deity would ask a man to make a burnt offering of his child? Even given that Isaac is spared in the end - what purpose was served by putting Abraham through this? Test, shmest. There are some things a merciful God does not ask His followers to do.
If you think seriously on the story, it really is quite disturbing. I love my wife and my children more than anything. Is there any cause or belief that would induce me to knowingly kill my own child?
Consider the current debate on whether there are circumstances that justify torture. There’s a question floating around the internet, traceable, I think, to Harvard law professor and Israel-advocate Alan Dershowitz:
My modern-day answer to this is that such decisions should be made by societies exactly so that they are not made by individuals. In the scenario above, I would probably say yes. And that is why torture should be unconditionally illegal. A decision like that should not be made by someone who is affected by the outcome.
But let’s try using the example to explicate the Isaac story. Abraham is basically put in a similar position. He is called to choose between his most deeply held belief - his allegiance (and thus obedience) to God - and the life of his son. In taking Isaac for the sacrifice, he shows that his belief is unconditional.
The sequence of stories in this passage may outline steps in Abraham’s moral development. He argued with God to spare Sodom and was proved wrong. Here, though the life involved is much closer to his heart, he makes no argument.
The biblical answer to Dershowitz, then would be: the police should not resort to torture. An act that is wrong is wrong in every circumstance and cannot be justified even by a good that would come of it. Better to sacrifice one’s own child than to abandon God.
This is an important lesson in a world where ends - the survival of the state, the promotion of democracy - are increasingly seen as justifying any means needed to achieve them. We do sacrifice our children - in sending them to war, for example. And we sacrifice them as well, when we exercise restraint in the face of an attack, when we forgive, and risk further attacks, rather than retaliating. The question, then, should not be “how can we overcome the enemy?” but rather, “what are we called to do by our principles - by the sanctity of Creation?”
Incidentally, it’s not altogether clear, when you break the text down by sources, that Isaac was actually spared in the original story. The story is found only in the E (Northern Israel) source. Richard Elliott Friedman (The Bible with Sources Revealed) makes a good case that 22:11-15 - the verses in which an angel tells Abraham to spare Isaac - are a later addition, presumably by an editor who felt the need to mitigate the passage. With those lines removed, the story reads:
Thus it’s possible that, in the Northern Israeli tradition, from which the E source derives, Abraham did sacrifice Isaac. The covenant was of such importance that it had to be sealed by a human sacrifice. Isaac is never mentioned again in the E source. It has Abraham taking additional wives, and it is possible that one of them gave birth to the father of Jacob and Esau, although that part of the source was not preserved.
The Northern Kingdom represented a breakaway sect from what ultimately became the main branch of Judaism. It was destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.E. However, the people of the region, later known as Samaria, probably maintained the stories, traditions and cultural relics of the sect even without a formal religious structure. In the first few centuries C.E., Samaria was a center of early Christian activity.
James Kugel, in “The Bible as it Was,” points out that Christian interpreters of the bible found many concordances between the sacrifice of Isaac and the crucifixion of Christ. For example, he quotes Irenaeus:
And Augustine:
In fact, it may be that the sacrifice of Isaac was the narrative percursor of the crucifixion. In other words, that the Isaac story, retaining a special significance to the Samarians and Jewish dissidents, was retold centuries later as the story of God sacrificing His son for man.
Of course, in this context, the story has a somewhat different meaning. Christianity is, perhaps, more forgiving than Judaism of human weakness. Maybe no human should be held to the standard against which Abraham was measured. Retelling it in this way releases man from the obligation to act in perfect accordance with God’s law. This is replaced, if I understand correctly, with an invitation to believe in God’s forgiveness, as expressed in His sacrifice.
In the early Bronze age - the period from which the stories of the Torah derive - unconditional morality was a new idea and needed clear illustration. It should be said that Judaism does not adhere in practice to the sort of moral absolutism that this passage depicts. The rabbinic literature is famous for its careful weighing of obligations and circumstances. But Judaism certainly emphasizes the centrality of human action - moral action, the fulfillment of mitzvot - in the relationship to God.
Andrew Schamess
The sacrifice of Issac and related matters
Andrew,
It is fascinating to read the entire text, and I greatly appreciate your making it available here. While I agree with what you say about the importance of maintaining social constraints against murder, torture, etc. and distinguishing them from actions determined by the passionate love parents have for their children, I still think it better to deny God than to sacrifice one’s child (to who/what? An abstract ideal? A system of beliefs? A greater purpose? Or … ?).
It is often said that humans cannot know God’s purpose and accordingly cannot judge Him. I think that because we are human,we can only understand God’s purpose and behavior in the light of who we are, what we know, what we think and what we feel. I respect the view that God is unfathomable (and that the universe is a mystery), but I still do not agree that I should follow directives that I do not/cannot understand, and that I think are morally wrong. Which, I guess, does make me an anti-theist.
Its fascinating to read that Sarah was Abraham’s half sister; conceived by his father with another woman. If I understand Jewish law correctly. only the mother is recognized as the parent; confer Jewish identity on her children. Which apparently, means that Sarah was and was not considered to be Abraham’s sister (didn’t a similar dilemma arise earlier in the Torah when Abraham and Sarah went to Egypt?). Of course, Issac was viewed as Abraham’s as well as Sarah’s son.
Also, the text does seem to suggest that God may have “gone into” Sarah to conceive Issac; which does echo the story of Jesus’ conception. Also,in suggesting that Issac was actually sacrificed to affirm Abraham’s covenant with God, the Northern version is very close to the crucification story; except in the sense that the Samarian version emphasizes Abraham’s relation to a God who demands absolute obedience to fulfill the “covenant,” while the Christian version emphasizes the Jesus’ crucification as an expression of God’s love for humanity and His forgiveness of our tendency to sin … and to sin again, Not a small difference,
Lots to think about.
Love,
Dad
An Authentic Reading
Thanks for such a thoughtful, thought-provoking comment!
I’ve been considering the passage in the past few days and have come to a similar conclusion. It’s awfully tempting to try to place meanings in these stories, rather than finding the meanings that are there. It’s especially true with disturbing stories like this, which subvert our notion of a just and merciful God.
But I think the most authentic reading of the story in the unedited E version is that Abraham sacrificed his son to guarantee the Covenant. This was not the case in the southern (Judean) tradition (at least, no sacrifice story has been preserved from the J source); and in the north the nature of the covenant was ultimately transformed by the retelling of the story as God’s sacrifice for man.
Andrew Schamess
Sacrifice of Abraham
I was talking to Yechaiel last night about the Northern Israeli view that Issac was actually sacrificed. He commented that in the third century of the Christian era, toward the end of the time when Jews and Christians maintained a close, cooperative relationship, a story was recorded that Issac was taken into heaven after being sacrificed, and was subsequently resurrected by God so he could return to earth, marry Rebecca and propogate the Israeli people (an alternate explanation to the one in which Abraham marries other women after Sarah’s death and then fathers other children, one of whom marries Rebecca and …). Yechaiel said that, historically, this “resurrection” story arose at a time when the Jews were beleagured and Christianity was rapidly gaining in influence and popularity. Generally speaking, the historical record suggests to me that the fabric of related stories and myths that develop at particular points in time, reflect attempts by different ethnic populations to deal with cultural/religious/moral, economic and political issues that are perplexing and seem to require some coherent explanation, often to justify particular historical developments and/or initiatives..
Parenthetically, stories of fathers killing their children for different reasons were very prevelant in the Mediterranian basin during Greece’s ascendency. Among others, there is the Greek myth about Saturn eating his children to prevent them from allying with their “earth mother” to challenge his ascendency, and of course, there is the Oedipus myth. The common theme seems to be eliminating children who might threaten patriarchal power. From that perspective, God’s demand that Abraham sacrifie Issac could be interpreted as a warning to Abraham that he should remember and stay in “his proper place;” in that sense, not dissimilar to God’s injunction that Adam and Even NOT eat of the “Tree of Knowledge.”
Of course, ruminations of this kind challenge the view that the Torah represents divine revelation, and replaces it with the view that the Torah and its commentaries should be viewed as important, evocative historical documents.