Some
time later the Evil One disguised himself as a still small voice and went out
to test Abraham. He said to him: ‘Abraham’.
‘Here I
am,’ Abraham replied. ‘Here I am, O Sovereign Lord’.
And then
the Evil One said: ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go
to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains I will tell you about.
And
Abraham went out to do this thing. Early the next morning he got up and saddled
his donkey . He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he
had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place the Evil
One had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in
the distance. He said to his servants: ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and
the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’
Abraham
took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he
himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
Isaac spoke up and said to his Father Abraham, ‘Father?’
‘Yes, my
son?’ Abraham replied.
‘The
fire and the wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt
offering?’ Abraham answered ‘God himself
will provide the lamb for the burnt offering., my son.’ And the two of them
went on together. When they reached the place Abraham had been told about, he
built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. he bound his son Isaac - his
only son Isaac, whom he loved - and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Then
Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel
of the Lord called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ And the Evil One
made to speak, but was prevented.
‘Here I
am,’ Abraham replied.
‘Lay
down your knife’ said the Angel of the Lord. ‘Do not do a thing to the boy. How
could you believe that the Lord your God would ask such a thing of you? Only
the Evil One would ask such a thing. Now I know you fear God, but you do not
know God, for you were prepared to do such a thing in the name of He who
created heaven and earth in pure love!’
And
Abraham looked up, and say a ram with its horns caught in a thicket; and he
took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering on the altar where he had
bound his son. So Abraham called that
place ‘The Lord will provide”; as it is still said today, ‘On the mountain of
the Lord He will provide’.
The
angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, ‘I
swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this, and not
withheld from the Evil One your son, your only son, whom you love, your
descendants will drink to the full the cup you have filled today. In your
blindness you would have killed your only son at the command of the Lord; you
will mourn not one son, but sons and daughters beyond counting. As numerous as
the stars in the sky will be your descendants; as numberless as the sand on the
seashore; and they will not be withheld from the Evil One. You fear God, but
you have not known God; In every land and in every time your sons and daughters
will be slain by those who fear God, but
do not know God. They will make burnt offerings not of one boy, but of cities
and nations, and the face of the earth will be darkened with the blood of your
children’.
And he lay in the dust and
covered his head, and waited for the fire from heaven to devour him.
And the angel of the Lord spoke:
‘The Lord says: know that no curse is laid upon you, but only the knowledge of
that which you foreordained when you lifted your hand. Do not despair; for your
children have the better part. How much easier is it to walk the road of the
oppressed than that of the oppressor! On the last day, your descendants shall
possess the gates of their enemies, and theirs will be the power to bind and to
loose, and through them only shall all nations of the earth be blessed.’
Then
Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And
Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
