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[mari4212]

Religion class got cancelled for the day. Apparently, Dr. Stein is sick. That means that since I really liked the readings for today and wanted to discuss them with someone, I'm going to discuss them with you guys.

We've been reading over some more modern midrash, focusing on the book Sisters at Sinai, by Jill Hammer, a collection of midrash that focuses on the women for the most part. Today we were going over the section on mothers. There were four stories, but the one that sticks in my mind the most is one called "The Switch". It deals with what is one of the hardest biblical passages to come to terms with, the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. The way she aproaches it is from the perspective of the angel Michael. She has him be upset and unsure about this test, and actually trade places with Satan, so that Satan is the one to tell Abraham to continue, while he attempts to dissuade Abraham. And in the end, Abraham is portrayed as having failed the test, because God wanted him to object to this cruelty, as he did earlier to the proposed distruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even the blessing Abraham recieves is a lesser blessing than the one he would have gained if he had refused, for the one he gained was that he would be victorious over his enemies, while the one he would have recieved was that he would have no enemies.

Now, do I believe that this story is how it happened? No, probably not. But what are the implications of this midrash? What questions does it raise? Certainly for me this image of God is easier to understand, and easier to accept. But how does this change of the perspective of the story change the message that we take from it? Is that change of perspective good or bad?

Comments

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I'm oddly okay with the Akedah. Of course whenever I hear about it my brain goes to the paper I wrote about it for OT class last year (and then the BtVS section I added to make it into my writing sample for a grad school application). Will probably need to post both those versions when I get home tonight. Anyway, even without that, I feel like if you really are in that Biblical mindset where God is real and present in your life and is the source of all you have, then it's perfectly valid for God to ask you to sacrifice anything -- especially because Isaac was so obviously a gift from God (child of Sarah's old age and all).

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

I have problems with the Akedah on one level, but on another level, I do go back to what you say. My main problem is that I'm fine with sacrificing anything of mine, but from my more modern perspective, Isaac belongs to himself, not to Abraham. I understand intellectually that at that time they would have considered Isaac to be Abraham's property, but it is hard for me to accept emotionally.

[ljmckay.livejournal.com]

How interesting! I won't try to comment intelligently right now, but that certainly does raise some interesting questions.

Thanks for sharing. It's always nice to run across thoughtful discussions on the web.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

I await your thoughts with baited breath.