#forgive me i was possessed by ishmael for a second

[citr0nnade]

smash, but also gently hold her hand, walk with her along the beach, kiss her cheek, her lips, blush furiously when i see her smile, longingly envision our wedding, hold onto her tightly as i hug her, fall deeper and deeper in love with her with each passing day

[thomasgmcelwain]

Genesis 22

Genesis 22

1 It happened after these things that

Ælohim tested Abraham,

And then said to him, "Abraham!"

And he said "Here is where I'm at."

2 Then He said "Take now then your son

Your only son Isaac, the one

You love, and go to Moriah,

And offer Isaac there as a

Burnt offering on one of the mountains

Which I shall show you with its fountains."

There never was a time when Isaac was

The only son of Abraham, because

Ishmael his brother was the older one.

That clearly shows this text to be in fun,

Corrupted, or a liturgy of passing

From childhood status to adulthood classing.

Such rites are known throughout the blessèd world

Where masks and mock death pageants are unfurled

To end in resurrections finely staged.

Since most men have one wife alone engaged,

The words of rite speak of the eldest child

As being only one. We're not so mild

We moderns, but insist on human gore.

Primitives enjoyed celebration more.

3 So Abraham rose early in

The morning, saddled for the spin

His donkey, and took two of his

Young men, also Isaac who is

His son, and he split wood for burnt

Offering, rose, went to where he'd learnt

From Ælohim to go. 4 Then on

The third day Abraham was drawn

To lift his eyes and saw the place

Afar off. 5 "We'll just go a pace

Up yonder and worship, and we

Shall come back where you wait freely

Here with the donkey," so said he.

I'm not much one for rites and celebration.

I'd let father and son go to their station

And stay myself to take care of the donkey,

Preferring silence to the honkey-tonkey

And din of Christian worship. Prayer is made

Best when the shepherd before the parade

Of Your creation stands alone to call

To prayer and then prostrating before all

The crowds of bugs and beetles prays alone.

Better than Persian carpet's sand and stone.

I guess I'm wild ass of some sort myself

And cannot stay upon the mosquely shelf.

With Ishmael I run out alone, Beloved,

Avoiding being hit and kicked and shoved.

SJ 6 Abraham took wood for the offering

And laid it on Isaac his son

And took the fire in hand and proffering

The knife, they went as they’d begun.

7 But Isaac Abraham was asking

“O father!” He said “”Son, it’s I.”

He said "Look, fire and wood for tasking,

But where's the lamb offering to die?”

8 And Abraham told him in answer

"Son, Ælohim, He will provide

A lamb for offering or ram prancer.”

So they both went on side by side. SJ

9 Then they came to the place in love,

The place Ælohim had told of.

And Abraham built there above

An altar and placed wood in order,

And bound Isaac his son a warder,

And laid him on the altar and

Upon the wood. 10 And then his hand

Did Abraham stretch out and take

The knife to cut his son like cake.

The ritual in theatre goes on,

Each spoken line is hallowed since the dawn

Of time. How many sons and fathers have

Repeated, aborigine to Slav,

A variant on the theme. And Abraham

Himself had once before this holy sham

Enacted, re-enacting course of life

That all must live upon the edge of knife.

He stretched his hand on Ishmael once before

And heard once then the ritual in store

For every faithful father and first son.

And yet the heart beats higher when it is done.

In rite there is reality of meeting,

As You, Beloved, bend down to human greeting.

11 The Angel of YHWH called to him

From heaven and he said "Abraham,

Abraham!" He said "Here I am."

12 And He said "Do not lay a grim

Hand on the lad, nor do him harm,

For now I know beyond all charm

That you fear Ælohim, since you

Have not withheld your son, but drew

The knife on your darling for Me."

13 Then Abraham delightedly

Lifted his eyes and looked, and there

Behind, a ram caught in the hair

Of thicket by its horns. So he

Went, took the ram, and thankfully

Offered it for a burnt offering

Instead of his own son. 14 To bring

The story to a close he named,

Did Abraham the place (unblamed

For human sacrifice) YHWH-Will-

Provide, and as it is said still

To this day, "In the Mount of YHWH

It shall be all provided too."

No lesson for mankind was ever clearer,

That You, Beloved, in drawing ever nearer

The human heart, reject the sacrifice

Of human life from gate of Paradise

To threshold of atomic war. You take

No blood in bond or prosecution for

Sin or forgiveness. Grace alone is more

Than any offering of blood can bring.

The living sacrifice of love is king.

Who trust in blood of Jesus Christ mistake

Reality and temple metaphor.

Obedience and love are all You take.

The sacrifice of rising up to live

Is what I must be satisfied to give.

15 The Angel of YHWH called to him,

To Abraham a second hymn

Out of heaven, 16 and said "By Myself

I have sworn, says YHWH, since no elf

But you have done this thing, and not

Withheld your son, your only got,

17 "I will surely bless you, and I

Will your descendants multiply

As much as the stars in the sky

And as the sand upon the shore,

And your descendants, what is more,

Shall possess their enemies' door.

18 "In your seed all the nations of

The earth shall be blessed from above,

Because you have obeyed My voice."

19 So Abraham turned to rejoice,

Came to his young men, (Isaac too),

And they rose and without ado

Went together to Beersheba;

Abraham lived at Beersheba.

Each son must learn the lesson of the father,

Or otherwise there is no use to bother.

Each generation has to give a life

To You, Belovèd, or renew the strife

Of trying to be self and self alone

Instead of self in Self, and not atone.

So Isaac learned, as Ishmael had before him,

To lie beneath the knife till You restore him

To live a life of faith and trust in You,

And when You give commandment, then to do.

Then blessings rain on father and on son

Like stars for multitude, and when that's done,

Like sand upon the shore. The open gate

Invites to enter life proportionate.

20 It happened after these things that

It was told Abraham out flat

That "indeed Milcah also bore

Children to your brother Nahor,

21 "Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother,

Kemuel Aram's father another,

22 "Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph,

And Bethuel." 23 Bethuel had last laugh

Producing Rebekah. These eight

Milcah bore to Nahor, her mate

And Abraham's brother. 24 He had

Also a concubine, (a fad),

Whose name was Reumah, also she

Gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, see,

And Thahash, and Maachah for free.

The brother of the prophet also had

A concubine, the first man who's not bad

To have that fling. His brother who invented

The just polygamy, if not demented,

Set that example for the future woe

Of every man and woman who should go

That route to familial unhappiness.

Yet You, Beloved, did never fail to bless

But granted Reumah four sons for her pain.

She named them strangely Slaughter and a Burning

And Badger or a Seal and Bruising. Vain

Indeed to curb a mother's only earning,

Yet Maachah shows the feminine in ending

Can be a man's name too without offending.