The Sacrifice on Mount Moriah
Anh Duy
Nguyen
Sacrifice,
in a religious understanding, is an act of giving. Through the act of
sacrifice, an individual seeks to appease a given deity. Often time, sacrifice
is a symbol of friendship between the people and the deity. As the people give
the deity a portion of their possession, the deity in return is expected to
provide the people with rewards or blessings. In other instances, sacrifice can
also be understood as a way to appease the deityŐs anger, and in return the
deity will protect the people from his anger.
For
Judaism, sacrifice lives at the core of its existence. During the Mosaic and the
Temple era, the Jews were called to offer many sacrifices throughout the year.
Some sacrifices, like the holocaust or the purification offerings were offered
at important junctions of oneŐs life, like childbirth (Leviticus 12). Others
were offered simply out of personal gratitude or sense of guilt (Leviticus
22:29, 5). These sacrifices exist within a covenant system, covenants that were
established between God and the patriarchs of Israel. Within the system, the
sacrifices function as a sign of radical allegiance and obedience to God.
Sacrifices to other deities, therefore, is seen by God and by the Israelites as
a treasonous act (Exodus 20:3). In return for their loyalty, the covenant binds
God to the nation of Israel, and requires Him to protect and bless the nation
as long as it continues to offer sacrifices and remains steadfast to his rules.
This understanding of sacrifice and covenant creates a stronger emphasis on
obedience to God. The act becomes depersonalized as it becomes intricately
linked to the well-being of the tribes, and later on
the nation.
Because
sacrifice is an act of giving, it is important to understand Biblical sacrifice
as extending beyond the formal act of temple sacrifice. In a way, any acts of
faith that require an individual to give away a part of himself/herself could
be understood as an act of sacrifice. In this context, the trials of Abraham,
which found its climax in the Akeda, can be read as a narrative of sacrifice, for each trial requires
Abraham to give away a part of himself for God. But what do these trials
require Abraham to give up? While some trials requires Abraham to give up the
physical (the first trial which requires Abraham to leave behind his homeland,
the fourth trial which requires him to raise an army against the five kings to
rescue Lot, the sixth trial requires Abraham to sacrifice his own foreskin),
others require him to sacrifice his relationship (the abandonment of Ishmael
and Hagar, the handing over of his wife to the Pharaoh, the Akeda in which his relationship
with Isaac is never restored). Each trial functions as a test of both
AbrahamŐs willingness to act as well as his willingness to believe in GodŐs
arbitrary instructions. For each sacrifice Abraham makes, God rewards him with
the promise that he will bless AbrahamŐs descendants (Genesis 12, 22).
AbrahamŐs compliance therefore moves away from just a personal desire to please
God to the desire to preserve the well-being of his
descendants and their future nation.
By
viewing AbrahamŐs trials as a series of personal sacrifices, a clearer
understanding of the Akeda can slowly emerge. The Akeda is not just a binding, or a test. It is a sacrifice
where Abraham is forced to sacrifice his relationship to Isaac, his sonŐs
filial love, for the promise of GodŐs blessing. Through his sacrifice,
AbrahamŐs sacrifice, the nation of Israel and the Jewish people secures the
promise of land, blessing, and protection. While one may argue that it was
IsaacŐs sacrifice, not Abraham, it is undeniable that the story concludes with
GodŐs declaring his promise to Abraham, not Isaac. Isaac did not lose anything,
but Abraham lost his sonŐs trust and affections.
But
what is it that makes the Akeda so profoundly
powerful in the Jewish consciousness? While it is true that it is a story that
seals GodŐs promise to Abraham, and establishes GodŐs favoritism of the Jewish
people over all other nations and races, there is another dimension to this
story that makes it impactful. The Akeda, at its
core, is story of the struggle between the nature of man and the will of God.
For it is natural that a parent wants to protect their childrenŐs lives.
Therefore, what God commanded in the Akeda is a
violation of natural law. Furthermore, GodŐs expectation that Abraham should
sacrifice something physical, his son, for something immaterial, GodŐs promise,
is unrealistic if not ludicrous. The Akeda is not the
only story of this struggle. The Genesis account of the creation portrays the
same struggle of nature and divinity which manifests
itself in the struggle between divine prohibition and human natural curiosity.
The migration of the Jews out of Egypt provides another example of manŐs
struggle between his sedentary natures against GodŐs demand that they should
move forward. Again and again, the struggle between nature and divinity is
dramatized in the history of the Jewish people, and remains within the
consciousness of the Jewish faith.
The
reimagined ending of the Akeda must capture this
struggle in order to create a lasting impact in Jewish consciousness. The
original Akeda ends with an angelic intervention as
Abraham about to carry out the act. Both acts, AbrahamŐs sacrifice and the angelŐs
intervention, represent manŐs surrender in the face of the divine. Abraham is
reduced to a character who lacks wit and
audaciousness. He becomes a character whose existence is to carry out GodŐs
will. While a sense of struggle could be gleaned off of the story in the
process of interpretation, it is not clear in the text itself. In the alternate
ending of the Akeda, Abraham must defy God by his
refusal to commit the murder of his own son. This refusal will represent the
struggle between human nature and divine will more clearly. But the story must
not stop there. This cannot be another Eden story of disobedience. No, it must
transform into something else. This must move beyond manŐs defiance of divine
will. This could be a story of manŐs subjugation of divine will. A sacrifice
must be made in order for the covenant to be established, but the sacrifice
will be the angel himself. Whether or not the angel is actually killed is not
important. What is important is the imagery of God giving in to manŐs ethical
resistance against his tyrannical demand. The ending, while provocative,
solidifies the concept of ethical protest, emphasizing morality above blind
obedience.