JIREH [PT III]

Continued...

Abraham opened his eyes abruptly... but his breathing wasn't hard... it was mellow and flooded with serenity... Sarah stirred in her sleep and mumbled calming words... even after 75 years; she still loved in her dreams... 

The dream he just had was difficult to explain, yet it had a soothing effect on him... 

He had seen a hand... mightier than any he had ever seen.... without aforethought, he had known that the hand was YHWH's... it had glowed in translucence yet it was solid, bold and fiery... electric currents had sparked off it as it descended from the skies... 

Abraham had been back at the open fields... there was a grain of millet in his hand... the fields where bare just like in the vision he had the previous day... and as the hand descended, it opened... Abraham instinctively dropped the grain of millet in the hand... before his eyes... the hand threw the grain of millet up and down rained millions of millet grains... 

As Abraham watched... the grains of millet germinated and sprouted... grew into mature stalks... a fruitful field rose before Abraham in a matter of seconds... 

Instinctively he knew... sacrificing Isaac was the right thing to do... 

*** 

For two days, Abraham, Isaac and their three servants had traversed the rugged terrains in the wilderness of Beersheba... finally they arrived the plains of Moriah in the wee hours of the evening... the three graduating rugged hills of Moriah peaked like monstrous spikes in the night skyline... To Abraham, the three hills, in their gait and dominion over all nature in Moria, represented the Almightiness of The Trinity... 

In the last two nights, the tempter had tormented his thoughts with fear, disdain, distrust, doubt and even retreat... yet, the dream he had the night before he departed his home kept him in perfect peace... As they set camp and Abraham set Isaac to sleep, he knew deep within him that the tempter would pay him a visit again... 

While the rest of his camp snored in the early hours of their third day on the journey to Moriah, Abraham walked over to the edge of the camp to worship YHWH despite the lump lodged in his throat... 

As he knelt, he felt the slithering creepiness of the tempter... 

"Hi Abe" the tempter whispered again "You know, your loins will not be stirred up again?" 

"Same was said of me at 100" Abraham replied 

"But you are 113 now" the tempter retorted 

"Wouldn't the same YHWH who did it at 100 do it at 200?" Abraham said calmly 

"The God you speak about set down natural laws... He wouldn't go against his word" the tempter hissed again 

Then the dream flashed before him again and he smiled... "Let it be known this day, that even if YHWH would not restore Isaac to me again... I will obey him still... for He who has promised is MORE than ABLE to redeem" 

And the tempter left Abraham alone for a while... 

At that instant a beam of the eastern sun tore through the nights cloak and lit up a spot on the third hill of Moriah... from where Abraham stood, he saw what he imagined to be an altar and knew deep within him that that was the altar YHWH wanted him to sacrifice Isaac on... 

He quickly walked back to the camp and woke his servants in haste... His haste was partly borne out of the trepidation of the task ahead... a little delay could lead to thought reversals and abdication from received mission... 

"Three of you will wait here" Abraham whispered to his chief servant, Mirah "I will go up Mt. Moriah with Isaac to offer burns sacrifices to YHWH... when we are done, we will meet you here" 

"Abe..?. Did you just say 'we will return'?" the tempter surfaced again "How will you return with the boy after slaughtering and burning him? Okay... I get it... You'll bring his ashes back with you... by the way, did you remember to bring his urn along?" 

Abraham bit his tongue in an effort not to respond... "Silence doesn't change the fact that you are about to commit cold murder" the tempter snickered as he spat more doubt at Abraham "worse off, you are about to lose the son you waited 25 days for... oh sorry, make that 25 gruelling, excruciating, heartrending years" 

Abraham walked over to his tent and woke Isaac as he muttered "YHWH is able to restore"

"Dad?" Isaac stirred 

"It's time son"

The Tale continues next week