XXI. THE SACRIFICE OF ABRÂHÂM.1 XXII. 1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abrâhâm, and said unto him, Abrâhâm; and he said, Here am I. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Yiçe'hâq, and get thee into the land of Môriyah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And Abrâhâm rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Yiçe'hâq his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 1 There seems to be no question that the latest editor took this narrative from the Jehovistic document, and all critics are agreed upon this point. But in the editing of the Jehovistic narrative, which is evident in several places (e.g. in verses 11 and 14-18), a previous editing can be traced as distinctly which is due to a writer whose manner of writing is neither that of the Elohist nor that of the Jehovist, and who used the expressions ha'elôhîm (which we have translated 'God') or simply Elôhîm to designate the Almighty. We have here, therefore, one of those passages in which the Jehovist has inserted in his book a narrative already complete, taken from some older writing, as we have already shown in chap. xiv. Many critics think that this fragment has been taken by him from the writer whom they call, with more or less precision, the second Elohist.' Whatever the truth of this conjecture, which is still very undecided, may be, the fact which seems beyond doubt here is that the Jehovist has adopted an older narrative, which he has gone over again, and to which he has made certain additions which bear the mark of his own hand. In order to show with more clearness this origin of the fragment, and the way in which two authors are traced in it, I have once more used two different kinds of type. All that is written by the first author, who uses the words ha'elóhîm or Elôhîm, is in ordinary type, while the additions which are themselves the witness that they are the personal work of the Jehovist are printed in italics. 4 On the third day Abrâhâm lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abrâhâm said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. 6 And Abrâhâm took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Yiçe'hâq his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Yiçe'hâq spake unto Abrâhâm his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abrâhâm said, Elôhîm will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abrâhâm built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Yiçe'hâq his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abrâhâm stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of Yahveh called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abrâhâm, Abrahám: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he (the angel) said,1 Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest Elôhim, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. 1 The original narrative must have made Elohim, who was speaking to Abrâhâm, interfere here without any intervention. 13 And Abrâhâm lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and Abrâhâm went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place YahvehYireh (Yahveh will provide): as it is said to this day, In the mount of Yahweh it shall be provided. 15 And the angel of Yahveh called unto Abrâhâm a second time out of heaven, 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith Yahveh, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19 So Abrâhâm returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together. XXII. THE CHILDREN OF NÂ'HÔR. XXII. 20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abrâhâm, saying, Behold, Milkâh, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nâ'hôr; 21 'Uç his firstborn, and Bûz his brother, and Qemûêl the father of Arâm; 22 And Kesed, and 'Hazô, and Pildâsh, and Yidlâph, and Bethûêl. 23 And Bethûêl begat Ribqâh: these eight did Milkâh bear to Nâ'hôr, Abrâhâm's brother. 24 And his concubine, whose name was Reûmâh, she also bare Teba'h, and Ga'ham, and Ta'hash, and Ma'achâh. XXIII. THE MARRIAGE OF YIÇE'HAQ AND RIBQÂH. XXIV. 1 And Abrâhâm was old, and well stricken in age and Yahveh had blessed Abrâhâm in all things. 2 And Abrâhâm said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: 3 And I will make thee swear by Yahveh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Kena'any, among whom I dwell; 4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Yiçe'hâq. 5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? 6 And Abrâhâm said unto him, Beware that thou bring not my son thither again. 7 Yahveh, the God of heaven, that took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and that spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife for my son from thence. 8 And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath; only thou shalt not bring my son thither again. 9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abrâhâm his master, and sware to him concerning this matter. 10 And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed; having all goodly things of his master's in his hand; and he arose, and went to Aram Naharaîm, unto the city of Ná'hôr. 11 And he made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, O Yahveh, God of my master Abrâhâm, send me, I pray thee, good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abrâhâm. 13 Behold, I stand by the fountain of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water; 14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Yiçe'hâq; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. |