Isaac the Archetypal Martyr
Jon Levenson’s deeply Jewish account of aqedah, the binding or sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22), pays more attention to Isaac than Christian accounts usually afford. He depicts Abraham’s heroism here in terms of obedience rather than (Kierkegaard’s) faith, tested to see whether his love for God is greater than his love for Isaac his beloved son. Isaac alongside him is a willing participant in that obedience. Isaac carries the wood, his cross, upon which he is to be sacrificed, asking and most likely discovering that it is he who is to be sacrificed—yet he says nothing and walks on with his father. “He was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).
Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. (Gen 22:7–8.)
In midrashic tradition, Abraham binds Isaac only because Isaac begs him to. He fears death, and knows that only by being bound will he be able to submit to what the Lord has demanded of his father. “If the point of Gen 22:6–8 is indeed to expose Isaac’s resolute acceptance of his fate, then these verses begin the long trajectory that culminates in the medieval Jewish notion that the aqedah is as much a test of Isaac as of Abraham—Isaac the archetypal martyr in a race exemplary for its martyrs” (134). And Levenson names “one influential point on that trajectory” what Christians would name as the ultimate instance of such sacrifice, Jesus’ voluntary death on the cross.
Source: Jon D. Levenson, Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son, ch. 12.
10 September 2007 |
tags: Genesis, Martyrdom
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This is excellent. There is definitely a point of contact between Levenson’s Jewish reading of Gen. 22 and Karl Barth’s Christian reading of the same passage.
A sculpture of the Abraham and Isaac episode was done in commemoration of the Kent State killings and now stands at Princeton University (I attend Princeton Seminary). The sculpture is interesting because it shows an adult Isaac who seems to be asking Abraham to sacrifice him. You can see the sculpture here.
Can you name the place where Barth does his reading of this passage? I’d love to read that.