The Sacrifice of Isaac
What is remarkable is the presence of the angel
Who stayed the hand of Abraham, bearing
The knife or whatever would be taking away
Isaac from his life
And is it remarkable
The surrender of the spirit of the son
To be carried away from the promise not of prophecy
But of parenthood
It happened
It would never be forgotten
My father took me to a place and set me down
To steal my life
Rams could not do this time
I must be the sacrifice
He is the offering to God
For what
Sorrow of the people
Plea for repentance
Future abundance in the land
Is it enough
To give up himself,
The words promised his father and his mother,
The dealing out of Ishmael,
His mother
Once sacrificed, always gone
Even spared, what should be left
Of hopes and dreams
And a father’s guard
If not affection
What is left for Isaac:
Was he blinded by the presence of the angel
Suffuse with the strength and majesty
Of God’s own following,
Will he live in love and faith and
Aspiration for a lifetime?
So much later, David weeps for Absalom
We might also wonder about the tears
Of Abraham
Relief, sorrow, the temerity of
Surrendering all sides to
Barter with the future
Of a parent
Of a people
Of a child
C L Couch
(caption) The sixth-century C.E. floor mosaic from the Beth Alpha synagogue, in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. The mosaic lay near the door, so that anyone who entered was confronted by the scene. Walking from here to the apse, visitors crossed a large mosaic zodiac and then a panel depicting a lulav (palm branch) and etrog (citron), menorahs, and the Ark of the Law—the same objects that accompanied the Akedah image at Dura-Europos 300 years earlier.
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