Tag: sacrifice

Abraham

God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a burnt offering
on a height that I will point out to you.”
Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey,
took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well,
and with the wood that he had cut for the burnt offering,
set out for the place of which God had told him.

Genesis 22:1b-19
“And will you take the righteous with the wicked?”
You had the courage, then, to question God.
Before you see the ram caught in the thicket,
you climb the mountain and you break your heart.

You lay your only son upon the altar
without a word of protest for his sake,
prepare yourself your very soul to offer,
and in your hand the sharpened knife you take.

Where is the courage that could fight for Sodom?
Where is the strength that dared a Pharaoh's wrath,
the tears that fell for Hagar and your lost son?
How has the hope within you turned to ash?

Is it the test itself that makes you falter,
to hear God ask you for the death of love?
Or do you lay your faith upon the altar,
let heaven witness as you call its bluff?

Does even God look down this day in horror
to see the rotten harvest of despair,
and does he give you back again your courage
to wrestle with him in the depths of prayer?

Then pray for me, O Abraham, in my doubt,
when I must bear the fire and the knife,
that I may cling, through all the waves I ride out,
to love as surely as I cling to life.

עקדת יצחק (1947) מאת משה קסטל. צבע על זכוכית, 46×45 ס”מ. מוזיאון קסטל. By Moshe Castel – Taken by Talmor Yair – שיחה), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17939939

Hold Fast to What You Know

My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
 and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
 Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
 and you will find favor with God.
 What is too sublime for you, seek not,
 into things beyond your strength search not.
 The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
 and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
 Water quenches a flaming fire,
 and alms atone for sins.

Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
My child, hold fast to what you know
through worlds of mystery:
The seed into the ground must go;
the river to the sea.
The sacrifice goes on the pyre;
the ash flies on the wind,
then water quenches flaming fire
and alms atone for sins.

The rich and mighty hold their sway;
the oxen pulls the plow,
but still the poor will have their day
and kings to time will bow.
Then love your neighbor as yourself
and worship God alone,
for flowing streams the flames will quench
and alms for sin atone.

The seed will spring up from the ground;
the seas will fall as rain.
The sun will rise and then go down,
and we will live again.
The sacrifice upon the pyre
will rise and lead us home,
as streams of mercy quench the fire
and living waters flow.
The Altar of Incense, Altar of Burnt-Offering, and Laver from the biblical Tabernacle; illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible By illustrators of the 1890 Holman Bible – http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/altarofincensealtarofburnt-offeringlaver.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9424389