The Moriah Nightmare: Hermeneutics of the Grotesque Temptation (original) (raw)

I re~e Isak: eve ogan i drva, no kade e `rtvenoto jagne?" 1 Vo taa pesna go tolkuvav, na poetski na~in, obidot na Gospoda da ja testira vernosta na Avraam kon nego, 2 stavaj}i go vo situacija da bira me|u Nego-Bog i svoeto ~edo, sin mu Isak. Gospod Bog go stava Avraam vo groteskna situacija da se otka`e od svojot sin, da se otka`e od najmiloto, i pove}e od toa, da go sotre najmiloto, da go usmrti, da mu nanese smrt, da go ubie, da go spali, pod forma na (obredno?) `rtvuvawe. Pri~inata za takvata `rtva e kapricioznata `elba na Gospod Bog da ja isku{a vernosta na Avraam sprema nego, vrhovniot tatko, bo`jiot zakon. Avraam, za da doka`e deka vernosta sprema Boga e pogolema i pova`na od qubovta sprema sopstvenoto ~edo, i so mnogu strav od Boga, trgnuva na ma~niot pat kon zemjata Morija, {umata na isku{enieto, no}nata mora na ~ove{tvoto, 3 kade {to ja podgotvuva kladata na koja{to treba da go polo`i, namesto jagne ili kako jagne, svojot sin Isak, i da mu nanese smrt. Choosing between Two Evils Several years ago, around 1998, I wrote a poem entitled 'Temptation', with a motto taken over from the Old Testament, the First Book of Moses (Genesis) 22:7: "My Father: and he said, Here am I my son. And he said, Behold the fi re and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 1 In that poem I poetically interpreted God's attempt to test Abraham's loyalty 2 by putting him in a position to choose between Him-God and his own child, his son Isaac. God Almighty puts Abraham in a grotesque position to give up his son, to forsake his dearest and, which is more, to destroy his dearest, to put him to death, slay him, kill him and burn him with the excuse of (ritual?) sacrifi ce. The reason for such a sacrifi ce is God Almighty's capricious wish to test Abraham's loyalty to Him, the supreme father, to the law of God. To prove that his loyalty to God is greater and more important than his love for his own child, god-fearing Abraham sets forth on an agonising journey to the land of Moriah, to the woods of temptation, the nightmare of humankind, 3 where he builds the pyre upon which to lay his own son instead of a lamb or like a lamb, and put him to death.