This piece invites us to enter the reading from the perspective of the Servants, Isaac and Abraham. Perhaps you might want to take the opportunity to write your own piece for Sarah, or God, or rewrite one for the other characters.
The Servants
Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24
We do as we’re told.
We always do as we’re told. We’re servants
and servants do as they’re told.
It was early in the morning,
very early,
when Abraham our master called us
and told us we were going on a journey.
There was us and Abraham
and Abraham’s son Isaac
and a donkey.
Abraham’s wife Sarah stayed at home.
We took wood with us,
wood for an offering.
Abraham our master
is very religious.
It was a long journey.
It took three days.
We had to camp each night,
us, Abraham, Isaac and the donkey
On the third day Abraham said to us
“Stay here with the donkey.
Isaac and I will go and worship
and we will come back to you.”
Abraham took the wood from the donkey’s back
and gave it to Isaac to carry,
and Abraham took fire from the fire
we’d made to keep ourselves warm
and he took a knife
and he and Isaac
walked on together up a mountain.
We stayed by the fire.
We knew that Abraham was going to make an offering,
but he had no lamb to offer,
it was all rather odd.
We waited a long time by the fire.
We waited and waited.
Abraham had told us to wait,
so we kept on waiting.
It was getting dark
when we saw them returning in the distance,
we’d hobbled the donkey
and kept the fire going.
They both looked very tired,
you could tell something
had happened to them,
and there was blood on Abraham’s clothes
but none on Isaac’s.
They said very little that night.
They seemed wary of each other.
The next morning we packed our things together
and set off home for Beersheba.
On the journey home
Abraham and Isaac walked with each other,
they talked sometimes,
but they were also silent for long periods.
Something had obviously happened to both of them,
something important,
something too important to be discussed with servants,
something that had changed them.
In the days that followed
rumours abounded.
Sarah seemed really upset about something
and kept Isaac very close to her.
People asked us what had happened
but we could tell them very little.
It was between Isaac and Abraham
what had happened on the mountain.
Between Abraham and Isaac
and that God they believe in.
Isaac
Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24
When I think of that day I shudder.
It was years ago
but I remember it as clearly as yesterday
that trip up the mountain:
me asking questions,
dad strangely silent.
How would you feel if your dad
for no reason
tied you up
and picked up a knife
and raised his hand in the air
and you thought he was going to kill you?
Yes we talked about it afterwards
we talked about it all the way home.
At times he seemed as scared as me about what had happened
but he still trusted that God he believed in.
Mum was incandescent
when I told her what had happened.
She was so angry
she didn’t talk to him for days.
I was wary of him after that,
our relationship changed,
it had to really.
I sometimes hear people talking
about the God of Abraham and Isaac
as if me and dad had the same kind of trust in God
I don’t think we do.
When I think of that day I still shudder
It was years ago
but I remember it as clearly as yesterday
that trip up the mountain.
Abraham
Source: Spill The Beans Issue 24
When I heard God calling me
I always answered:
“Yes, here I am.”
That day part of me wished I hadn’t.
I will go down in the history of my people
as the one who was obedient to God,
as the one who God blessed.
I will also go down
as the one who was ready to sacrifice his son
when God asked him to.
Isaac, Isaac
what did I do to you that day?
God, what was I thinking of?
God, what were you thinking of?
God, please never ask me to do anything like that ever again.